Refugee and Migrant Justice (RMJ, founded as Refugee Legal Centre) was a

charitable organisation A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...

in the United Kingdom which provided legal advice and representation to those who seek protection under the Geneva Conventions and human rights laws. Refugee and Migrant Justice also lobbied on behalf of cases both individually and collectively, and was concerned with monitoring public policy in the area of asylum.

Background

Refugee and Migrant Justice was founded in 1992 to be a centre for the provision of quality legal representation for those seeking protection under the 1951

Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, also known as the 1951 Refugee Convention or the Geneva Convention of 28 July 1951, is a United Nations multilateral treaty that defines who a refugee is, and sets out the rights of individual ...

and those who feared breaches of their human rights. The roots of the Refugee Legal Centre went back to the Refugee Unit of the UK

Immigration Advisory Service The Immigration Advisory Service was a British charity, in existence from 1993 until 2011. Charity The former Immigration Advisory Service was a UK organisation registered as a charity, providing direct legal assistance to refugees, asylum seeker ...

, which was founded in 1976Refugee and Migrant Justice goes into administration
as a legal assistance project for asylum seekers funded by the Office of the

UN High Commissioner for Refugees The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integratio ...

. As well as asylum seekers, RMJ represented unaccompanied children, and women

trafficked ''Trafficked'' is a 2017 American thriller drama film directed by Will Wallace and starring Ashley Judd, Sean Patrick Flanery and Anne Archer. Plot In California, Sara is eighteen and has to leave her foster home; she is offered training to be a ...

into the sex industry.

Governance

Refugee and Migrant Justice was a registered charity. The quality of its work was subject to the regulations of the Legal Services Commission and the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner. It was governed by an independent

Board of Trustees A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

, who were: * President: Professor Guy Goodwin-Gill, Fellow of All Souls College, University of Oxford * Chairman: Charles Morland * CEO: Caroline Slocock * Yemane Tsegai * Andrew Hutchinson * John Humpston * Hilary Pinder * Ruth Bundey * Annie Ledger

Awards

In 2005, Refugee and Migrant Justice was given a human rights award from Liberty, Justice and the Law Society for 'consistent and fearless use of the law to protect human rights and hold immigration and asylum policies up to the scrutiny of the courts'.

Funding and closure

Refugee and Migrant Justice was funded through a contract with the Legal Services Commission and by a relatively small level of donations. In 2009/10 it had annual income of £15 million, and was the second-largest recipient of

legal aid Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right to co ...

. The Ministry of Justice had implemented reforms to the legal aid system, introducing fixed-fee payments in 2007 followed by a transition to payment only on completion of each case. With some cases being protracted and therefore unpaid for up to two years, the amount owed to RMJ by the Commission escalated to £2 million, precipitating a funding crisis. On 16 June 2010, Refugee & Migrant Justice was placed in administration, from which it did not recover. An emergency public appeal raised £76,000 within 24 hours, but this was insufficient to rescue RMJ, and donations were returned. RMJ's 300 staff lost their jobs and 9,000 current clients were left without representation. The Legal Services Commission made arrangements for RMJ's clients to be transferred to new advisers within six weeks, and the Home Office said that they would not be disadvantaged by the transfer. Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke claimed that RMJ's collapse was not due to delayed payments, but to RMJ's failure to improve efficiency as other providers had done.

References

{{reflist Refugee aid organisations in the United Kingdom Charities based in London Defunct organisations based in the United Kingdom