JRS UK is walking 10km across central London’s parks in the London Legal Walk 2024 on Tuesday 18th June. We will be walking for our own in-house Legal Project, which provides free in depths specialist advice and representation to asylum seekers and refugees across Greater London.
We will be walking alongside tens of thousands of legal professionals who will also be walking to raise awareness of the Legal Aid crisis and raise funds. Increasingly, free legal advice agencies are struggling to meet the needs of some of the most vulnerable in our community. By participating in the walk, organisations advocate for some of the most marginalised individual’s right to access justice.
The need for JRS UK’s legal advice service is now greater than ever, with the lack of legal aid available making the UK’s purposefully designed hostile environment and culture of disbelief increasingly harder for refugee friends to navigate.
This means that many of our refugee friends need help dealing with the double trauma of escaping persecution together with the rejection of their claim for safe asylum in the UK. In this legal limbo, many of those who come to JRS arrive exhausted and lacking the mental capacity to engage with their asylum application.
The JRS UK Legal Project provides support through in-depth advice sessions, specialist representation and legal rights awareness and training workshops. Our legal caseworkers accompany refugee friends along every step of their journey to asylum.
A refugee friend shared his experience of the Legal team:
“Being an asylum seeker, you are constantly faced with uncertainty. Working with JRS UK was great, I really felt like Mike (Senior Legal Caseworker) had my back. He is an amazing man and really helped to reassure my anxieties.”
This is why we are walking 10km across London on Tuesday 18th June: to raise money to provide legal services, and to witness to the need for free good-quality legal aid providers in the UK. Without the support of a qualified immigration law practitioner, asylum seekers and refugees are forced to live in legal limbo and endure destitution as their immigration status remains unresolved. JRS UK’s Legal Project provides essential legal help to many so that their asylum claims can move forward.
Why are you walking?
“I love walking in the London Legal Walk and have done it a few times now. It is always really fun and its nice to mix with people I don’t usually and get to make new friends. I am very excited for the walk this year as its part of refugee week so its going to be a really fun week for me!”
Anonymous refugee friend
“I’m excited to be walking this year. Its always a brilliant day of sharing stories and getting to know one another histories with the JRS team and refugee friends. I love walking through Central London in the June sunshine and being reminded of how beautiful our city can be. I expect it to be a day of mixed emotions: happy and overjoyed by seeing all the organisations come together for a worthwhile cause: however, it is also sad how the budget cuts to Legal Aid have resulted in a dependency on charities to fill the gaps in the government’s support”
Andrew Dickson – JRS UK volunteer ESOL class teacher
“The London Legal Walk provides a great opportunity to spend time with our refugee friends – to physically walk alongside them in support for access to justice, It’s a lovely day of walking, talking, getting to know people you may not have had the opportunity to meet before and all whilst raising money for a cause which is so important and makes a significant impact to our refugee friend’s lives. This year, the London Legal Walk is part of the refugee week so even more reason to celebrate and put on your waking shoes!”
Mark Dunn – JRS UK Community Projects Coordinator
“Taking part in the London Legal Walk is a really unique way to show solidarity with our refugee friends, who face insurmountable barriers in accessing legal representation. Our Legal Project is more needed than ever. I loved the opportunity to join refugee friends, colleagues and supporters on our own journey for justice. Taking part yourself is a great way to boost interest in the cause and encourage sponsorship. I’m gutted to be missing this year’s event”
Amy-Leigh Hatton – JRS UK Accommodation Project Coordinator
If you are interested in joining the team and walking with us, please email Jemima Tanner at Jemima.tanner@jrs.net.
Sign-ups close on the 11th June 2024.
If you would be interested in supporting our efforts and making a real difference to the lives of our refugee friends, please donate to our fundraising page below:
London Legal Support Trust: London Legal Walk 2024
