The Migration and Asylum Project is India’s only law centre working on forced displacement. It seeks to end the marginalisation of refugees/migrants, using the Rule of Law to ensure grassroots justice.

The Migration and Asylum Trust was set up in 2013 by former UN lawyers to fuel systemic change in India’s approach towards migration and displacement. Their work aims to end the marginalisation of forcibly displaced and migrant communities by assisting them with access to mainstream legal systems. A woman-led organisation, their work centres around legal awareness, legal assistance, and advocacy for domestic and strategic legislation and targeted research. They leverage the power of the arts as a tool for their outreach and advocacy.

MAP involves the communities they work within the discourse and regularly engages with various displaced populations through community meetings and focus group discussions. They create handbooks for their clients on legal representation — ‘Know Your Rights’ around refugee rights and gender-based violence. They work with a network of like-minded NGOs, paralegal volunteers, Anganwadi workers and community leaders to address sexual and gender-based violence issues. After the pandemic, MAP launched a platform for legal students practitioners and civil society organisations to sustain discourse and share information and resources around migrant worker issues. They work with transnational alliances for coordinated legal advocacy on the rights of refugees and migrants.

Why are they the right choice for others:

• Taking a multipronged approach to address the systemic problem of migration and displacement in India by seeking policy interventions and accessible legal support for communities, building the capacity of judicial stakeholders and civil society organisations to respond to migrant and refugee issues and working in context with barefoot advocates from target communities.
• Creating the first dedicated law centre to address the issue of internal migrants, refugees and internally displaced persons due to conflict, natural disasters, persecution and poverty and ensuring they have legal rights and representation
• Working with the local context and organisations therein to address post-displacement rehabilitation of migrants and refugees
• Using a rule of law framework to ensure access to universal human rights and institutionalising the concept of legal representation in the asylum process at UNHCR India