Our Scottish Refugee & Migrant Centre (SRMC) is run by Andy Sirel, a co-founder and Senior Associate at JustRight Scotland. The centre is comprised of collaborative projects targeting 5 key areas of work:
Migrant Destitution & Equalities
Migrant communities in Scotland face various barriers to accessing justice when it comes to destitution and discrimination. Our StrEEt Aware Project tackles a range of complex matters where social security law, housing law, immigration law and European law coincide. We have identified this as a gap in legal service provision in Scotland and we are using our expertise and collaborations to address this.
Women’s Rights
We aim to improve access to justice for, and increase protection of, refugee and migrant women and girls in Scotland who have been affected by violence. We provide specialist, early and targeted legal casework to individuals in the fields of asylum and immigration law and other relevant legal matters, we provide advice to individuals and professionals, and we share expertise at a national and international level.
Children’s Rights
At JustRight Scotland we have a strong reputation in the field of children’s rights. We use our expertise to provide a child-centred legal service which specifically focuses on the areas where refugee and migrant children find it difficult to realise their rights, including in the immigration/asylum and child care system systems. We are also a proud partner of Kids in Need of Defense UK; a pro bono model of legal representation for migrant children and young people where there is inadequate, or no, legal aid representation available.
Refugee Family Reunion
Our Scottish Family Reunion Service (SFRS) is a joint collaboration between JustRight Scotland and the British Red Cross Society working together to provide an enhanced casework service for refugees who wish to bring their family members to Scotland. We deal with cases of family reunion where more time and increased access to a specialist service is required or where there may be a specific urgency to the request.
Brexit & EU Citizens
Working with JustRight for All – our legal policy, training and research hub – we are active in Brexit influencing and promoting the rights of EU citizens in Scotland. We are delivering free training, contributing to policy and research, and conducting two legal surgeries aimed at giving free, confidential legal advice at an early stage to EU citizens.
Listen to Andy Sirel, centre lead, talk about our Scottish Refugee and Migrant Centre here:
