SolidariTee x AsyLex Rights In Exile Collaboration: call for legal research volunteers

We are delighted to be partnering with AsyLex on updating and maintaining the Rights in Exile platform, which supports people seeking safety and legal practitioners around the world to access comprehensive, reliable, and up-to-date information about asylum law and policy, legal aid, and other support available to refugees. 

More specifically, we support maintaining the Legal Assistance Database, which directs refugees and asylum seekers to an extensive country database, where they can find a breakdown of the international and national legal frameworks in the country they are in, a summary of the process for seeking asylum, and a list of organisations providing legal aid and other assistance. Contact information and a summary of organisations’ work is included so that users with limited internet access can get all the information they need to access support in one place. 

In addition to the Legal Assistance Database, the Rights in Exile platform also constraints further comprehensive databases, such as the country-specific information on sexual orientation and gender identity claims is also listed on dedicated pages, as well as self-help kits to support people seeking asylum in putting together their claim. 

Legal practitioners can also access comprehensive resources on case law, special issues, country of origin information, legal instruments and rights bodies, and the refugee status determination process to support their clients. 

This project provides such an important go-to resource for people forced to flee their homes globally. At SolidariTee, contributing to the project provides a great opportunity for our volunteer community to contribute to the wider sector and stay in touch with the most up-to-date legal and third-sector information on asylum. 

Our cohort of research volunteers is made up of graduates who are looking for ways to support our mission after their campus volunteering has come to an end, using the research and subject matter expertise they’ve gained through their degrees and their time with SolidariTee to continue supporting people seeking safety. 

Since starting our collaboration in October 2024, our team have already researched and updated country information pages for over 25 EU countries. Our volunteers are now moving on to gather information on legal frameworks, legal assistance, and other support in countries around the world.

If you have an interest in asylum and migration law, confident research skills and a keen attention detail alongside approximately 2-3 hours per week, we would love to hear from you!  

In the words of Bex, a current team member: 

This volunteer role is all about finding the most accurate, country-specific information on international and national legal frameworks for an online data-base which a displaced person anywhere in the world can easily access. 

It includes explaining the country's asylum process, any relevant policies or legislation, case law, as well as which charities or organisations can offer free legal aid and other services from within their current host country. 

Basically, you are contributing to a platform that contains anything that a refugee or asylum-seeker needs to know about their rights as well as links and contact details for relevant involved parties. So far I have worked on the UK, Slovenia and Cyprus; with my current project being Anguilla.  

I have really valued deep-diving into these legal infrastructures because you really get more of a sense of how tedious and inaccessible the asylum application is for those going through it - and how geopolitical!'

To express interest, please write to Jess, collaboration manager at hello@solidaritee.org.uk with a cover letter of max 1 page explaining how you feel your skills and interests align with this project, as well as a CV if you have one. Applications for this cohort will close on Friday 20th June, and we are hoping that members of the volunteer team are able to commit to volunteering for 6 months until the end of 2025.

If you’d like to find out more about the project or join our research cohort, please email Jess at hello@solidaritee.org.uk.

We look forward to hearing from many of you soon!