Frontier Justice: Legal Aid and UNHCR Refugee Status Determination in Egypt

Where UNHCR conducts refugee status determination (RSD), itsreactions to legal aid for asylum-seekers have been mixed. Statisticalevidence collected from Egypt in 2002 indicates a correlationbetween receiving some form of legal aid service and an asylum-seeker'sincreased chances of gaining refugee protection from UNHCR.Unconventional forms of legal aid, including limited servicesby supervised non-lawyers (including volunteers from the refugeecommunity) showed a positive impact on first instance cases,while traditional legal aid models showed an impact at the appealstage. Legal aid should form an essential part of UNHCR's RSDprocedures, and NGOs should work to expand both traditionaland innovative forms of legal aid for asylum-seekers.