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2021 AND BEYOND
In a universally unprecedented year, members of the global legal community came
together to meet - and often exceed - the commitments made at the 2019 Global Refugee
Forum. Essential legal assistance was provided in new and innovative ways and other
significant efforts were undertaken to strengthen access to justice for refugees and others
forcibly displaced - but this is just the start.
In 2021 and beyond, PILnet and the Core Group - working together with those that have
joined the Pledge and other key stakeholders in a spirit of the “whole of society” approach
- will continue to build, mobilize, and engage the global legal community to make and
meet Pledge commitments to increase access to legal assistance and justice for refugees.
We will further support the implementation of the pledge by focusing on the following
priorities:
Refugee Participation - Ensuring greater awareness within displaced communities of
the resources available through the Pledge as well as supporting greater refugee
participation in decision-making around the implementation of the Pledge, the
development of pilot and other pro bono projects and in assessing impact.
Locally-led legal aid initiatives - Fostering greater involvement of local legal service
providers in the Pledge, including working with local providers to identify access-tojustice gaps for refugees and others forcibly displaced, to identify and share good
practices and to support the development of good practice models to increase access to
legal assistance in local contexts.
Mobilizing Resources - Raising awareness among States, donors and other relevant
actors about the current resourcing gaps and need to fund local legal service providers
and other actors to increase the availability of legal assistance.
Advocacy - Exploring interlinkages with humanitarian actors, refugee rights
organizations and the broader legal aid and empowerment community to strengthen
advocacy around the fundamental role of legal assistance to refugee rights and access
to justice for refugees in line with the Sustainable Development Goal 16 ("Equal Access
to Justice for All"), as well as to promote strengthened legal procedures and other laws,
policies and practices regarding refugees and displaced persons.
Building Pro Bono - Activating and strengthening refugee rights pro bono culture at
the local level, including through the identification of regional and national pro bono
champions, greater support for refugee law clinics and training of the legal community.
Partnering for Impact - Building partnerships between and within local legal
communities and with legal networks capable of supporting local needs, including
launching an online "GRF Legal Community Pledge Matching Portal". The latter will
facilitate local legal aid actors and relevant RLOs and NGOs to share refugee rights
projects or individual matters with PILnet, to support matching of these matters with
the pro bono hours pledged by the global legal community.