DLA Piper Luxembourg celebrates third edition of its legal programme for asylum seekers and refugees

DLA Piper launches this month its third consecutive ‘Know Your Rights’ initiative, a pro bono programme for the legal empowerment of refugees and asylum seekers in Luxembourg.

The month-long programme aims to empower asylum seekers and refugees by increasing their core legal knowledge and associated soft skills. The firm provides weekly trainings on various legal issues and asylum seekers’ rights to share knowledge of relevant topics and provide guidance on where to go for legal help.

DLA Piper lawyers and commercial clients will run the classes online this year, with every course being taught in both French and English, and translated in Arabic, Tigrinya and Farsi. The programme has also received support from NGO partners Passerell, RYSE and Croix-Rouge as well as a number of DLA Piper’s clients. The topics will include employment law and housing law. A new topic on women and LGBTQI+ community rights in Luxembourg, covering, among others, women’s rights and protection, marriage annulment requests, complaint mechanisms and reproductive rights has been added this year.

Country Managing Partner in Luxembourg, Catherine Pogorzelski, said: “ ‘Know Your Rights’ has delivered many positive outcomes for refugees and has been a valuable experience for our lawyers. Although we have had to adapt our approach this year, we aim to make the most of our new online format. We’ve also received many requests to cover women and LGBTQI+ rights, so we’re proud to be able to discuss these topics in our new programme.”