Legal Assistance
9,000+ Asylum Seekers | 80% Women/Children | Access to Justice | Multi-Sectoral Linkages
MAP’s legal assistance programmes are designed to address the lack of legal/domicile status of displaced communities in India, which often causes them to be alienated from mainstream protection systems and get caught in a cycle of exploitation and violence. MAP has a strong focus on extending tailored legal support to survivors or those at risk of Sexual & Gender-based Violence (SGBV) and torture.
Access to Legal Status
Migrant Workers
MAP has launched a dedicated legal desk for migrant workers in Delhi,. The desk is focused on providing information about workers’ rights under the new labour codes, ensuring access to quality legal aid and justice systems including for cases of sexual and gender-based violence, and building capacities of community support structures and legal stakeholders to strengthen legal response systems.
Refugees
MAP is the first and only organisation in South Asia to have a Letter of Understanding with UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to represent asylum claims before the agency which pioneered the concept of legal representation in the asylum process. MAP serves as the first point of contact for UNHCR-mandate refugees in India and provides them comprehensive representation in UNHCR’s Refugee Status Determination (RSD) process. Through the years, MAP has successfully advocated for crucial improvements in this process, infusing transparency & accountability and sensitising the system to asylum seekers.
Hear from our clients
End of Refugee Status Proceedings for Burmese Chins
In 2018, M.A.P was at the forefront of the regional movement opposing UNHCR’s policy to end the refugee status of the Chin community (a predominantly Christian ethnic minority from Myanmar). M.A.P represented over 1000 Chin refugees before UNHCR while simultaneously lobbying with various UNHCR offices to highlight the community’s concerns eventually, resulting in the policy being rolled back.
Access to Justice
M.A.P has an ongoing Access to Justice programme under which it: (a) identifies and refers clients, in need of litigation support, to M.A.P’s network of legal practitioners, (b) tracks and supports ongoing litigation in domestic courts on issues pertaining to rights of displaced communities; (c) develops legal handbooks and training material, to build capacities of legal stakeholders, in collaboration with judicial and state legal aid authorities.
Multi-sectoral Linkages
M.A.P facilitates multi-sectoral linkages to its clients by making referrals to its network of over 30 civil society partners, who provide critical support services and ensure access to socio-economic entitlements. M.A.P also collaborates with Umeed Ki Kiran, the 24x7 clinic operated by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), to render free, quality medical and psychological care for survivors of SGBV.
COVID and Remote Assistance
As traditional delivery models collapsed in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, M.A.P responded to the immediate needs of its clients by creating information pamphlets about the pandemic in various languages, coordinating ongoing service delivery efforts among partners working on the ground, and linking clients to urgent protection services. Further, in light of the escalating SGBV cases owing to the impact of the COVID-19, M.A.P launched a three-year project that will focus on fuelling a transformative change in the current service delivery approaches by pioneering a series of digital tools to facilitate access to legal aid and community support structures.