Human Rights League

Human Rights League is a non-governmental non-profit organization, established in 2005 by lawyers and attorneys with a long-term experience in asylum law. Since the very beginning, protection of the rights of foreigners dwelling in Slovakia has been the main aim of the organisation. Human Rights League has been realizing various legal activities (legal counselling and informing, legal procurement at proceedings). These activities focus particularly on foreigners in need of protection in the form of asylum or subsidiary protection or who, for various reasons, cannot return home, to their country of origin. Until recently, most of our clients had been asylum aplicants, asylants (often known as refugees) and foreigners with subsidiary protection. However, our association has been gradually specializing in legal counselling also for foreign nationals, in particular regarding acqusition and maintainance of residence permissions, foreigners’ rights protection (e.g. the right to respect for one’s family life) and applications for citizenship or family reunification. We devote our capacitites to monitoring and protection of rights of the so-called separated children, located in Slovakia without their parents, as well as of rights of foreigners under police detention in centres for foreigners, potentially facing expulsion from the territory of Slovakia. The spectrum of Human Rights League’s activities involves not only legal counselling, but also provision of social services to our clients in terms of assistance with job search, funding various language and requalification courses and help in other areas related to integration in the society in Slovakia. A particular and within Slovakia a unique activity, conducted by Human Rights League, is professional analysis and research of asylum applicants’ country of origin information (so called COI – country of origin information – research). Human Rights League employs two researchers, who have taken professional courses in COI search and processing for asylum proceedings, one of which works also as a certified trainer in the area. Along with the above mentioned important activities, Human Rights League also guides the Asylum Law Clinic at the Faculty of Law of Trnava University and law students education. The Clinic’s aim is to bring up new lawyers – experts in asylum and foreign law.