Association for Legal Intervention
Stowarzyszenie Interwencji Prawnej działa na rzecz osób dyskryminowanych lub zagrożonych wykluczeniem społecznym udzielając im pomocy prawnej i wsparcia integracyjnego.
In cooperation with other organisations, residents of the borderland and activists operating within Grupa Granica (the Border Group), we monitor the situation at the border and support humanitarian action. We advocate towards authorities, politicians, the media and society, by providing reliable information about violations of human rights and the situation of migrants. Notably, we represent migrants in courts and reach out to institutions both at a local and European level; we contribute to recurrent Protecting Rights at Borders (PRAB) reports; we inform the media about the situation at the border; and we share knowledge with other people and organisations involved in helping migrants crossing the Polish-Belarusian border.
We visit detention centres for migrants (the so-called “SOCs”), providing free of charge legal advice i.e. to people who crossed the Polish-Belarusian border and who have been placed, in most cases, in illegal or unjustified detention. With the help of interpreters, we explain their situation in the light of the current legislation, we help them with administrative procedures and represent them in court.
We succeed to obtain a very important judgement, in which the court clearly stated that pushbacks are illegal and inhumane. The case concerned three Afghans who, despite having expressed their willingness to apply for international protection, were taken to the strict reserve of the Białowieża Primeval Forest and pushed back to Belarus. The District Court in Hajnówka ruled that their detention was illegal, unjustified, and incorrect.
Shall the Polish system fail to fulfil its duties, we fight for the rights of migrants before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). By the end of July 2023, the ECHR had reported 11 cases concerning violations of the rights of migrants and asylum seekers on the Polish-Belarusian border. The applicants are predominantly nationals of Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. As an association, we represent 37 migrants before the ECHR.
