Legal aid to those who were forced to leave their homes: Ukrainian and international experience

In April 2024, a delegation from Ukraine visited Poland to study the experience of legal aid provision to refugees. Here’s an account of the study visit and its background written by Ukrainian journalist, Viktoriia Nazaruk.

“A person needs a friendly community to live,” says the staff member at Baobab Refugee Assistance Space in Lublin. This space was established during the migration crisis resulting from the war in Ukraine. “Baobab” serves not only as a place where one can get help, advice, and a safe haven but also as a platform for organizing events and fostering interactions between migrants and the Polish community.

The Baobab space was one of the locations visited by the participants of a study visit as part of the Swedish-Polish-Ukrainian projects that explored the issue of legal aid provision to Ukrainian IDPs and refugees in Ukraine, Poland, and Sweden.

Background of the Study Visit

In the autumn of 2023, the Association of Legal Clinics of Ukraine (ALCU) joined two international projects to study the provision of legal and informational assistance to Ukrainians who were forced to leave their homes due to the war or lost their homes altogether. The ALCU research team analyzed the legal support provided to internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine. At the same time, the research was conducted in Poland and Sweden. Experts from the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Sweden have coordinated the projects.

During the Ukrainian phase of the study, it was found that the requests for legal aid from IDPs arose after the resolution of basic humanitarian issues. “From those who can provide legal advice, people primarily seek advice on how to find housing, a new job, and medical care”, – said Roman Serhiienko, head of the Kyiv-based charity foundation «Let’s Change Our Lives».

Olena Kulbashna, director of the legal clinic at the Bohdan Khmelnytsky Cherkasy National University, notes that in her practice, legal clinics are used by citizens who do not have access to paid consultations.

Mariia Tsypiashchuk, a representative of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union in the Rivne region, says that IDPs often seek advice during public legal education events, underscoring the importance of such events.

Not all requests are purely legal, but without a solid knowledge of the law, many issues are difficult to resolve.The legal issues faced by IDPs are also dynamic and closely linked to the security situation in a particular region.

The list of key requests of IDPs that legal educators work with is as follows:

  • Housing (individual permanent/temporary)
  • Financial support
  • Food
  • Clothing
  • Medical services
  • Employment in the specialty
  • Retraining
  • Business relocation
  • Opportunity to start your own business
  • Continuation of own education, education of children
  • Integration into the community.

As a result of the project, the research team from Ukraine, the involved respondents, including IDPs, and legal educators were able to see how the process of providing legal aid to refugees is set up in Poland.

The Study Visit

In April, project participants from Ukraine, Poland, and Sweden met in Warsaw. They visited several organizations working with refugees in Warsaw and Lublin.

The first location was the Ukrainian House in Warsaw, often called the heart of the Ukrainian community in Poland. Since 24 February 2022, thousands of Ukrainians have been turning to the organization’s stationary counseling center every month. Since the start of the full-scale war, the organization has received 38,513 in-person and 84,996 telephone inquiries. Ukrainian House provides legal advice, helps people find a job legally, understand their employment contracts, find training and retraining opportunities, receive social support, seek medical care, translate documents, and enroll their children in education. A separate area of activity of the organization is the documentation of war crimes.

The Ukrainian House in Warsaw is also a place, where Ukrainian culture is nurtured and developed. It hosts the Ukrainian Women’s Club, a Ukrainian library, and regular cultural events. The organization’s members have also set up a Ukrainian school, staffed by Ukrainian teachers who became refugees.

“Migration, especially forced migration, is a great challenge for a person. We are working to create an environment where people who find themselves away from home due to difficult circumstances can get support and encouragement in their steps”, – says Myroslava Kerik, Chair of the Board of the Ukrainian House, historian, and researcher.

The head of the Ukrainian House adds that the problems, Ukrainians face are becoming more and more complicated as the war continues. The number of people who need not only basic assistance with food and accommodation is increasing, and although this is a significant challenge, many have nowhere to return to. People need housing, work, and educational opportunities for themselves and their children to be able to stay in Poland.

The participants of the study visit also had the opportunity to engage with Malgorzata Dziewanowska, the head of the refugee section of the Warsaw Legal Clinic, which operates at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw. Legal clinics at Polish universities function like small law firms. “Students’ work here, is an integral part of the lawyers’ educational process”. The work of students is supervised by lecturer-coordinators each supervising up to 12 students at a time. Annually, up to two hundred 4th and 5th year students join the clinic. The clinic at the University of Warsaw has its own office, which has rooms for general meetings, as well as small private rooms where clients can work with the clinic in confidence.

Another interesting organization visited as part of the study visit is «Baobab» – Integration Space in Lublin. Here, migrants and refugees from different countries who have been forced to leave their homes receive help in terms of integrating into the local community.

“The lush crown of the baobab tree gives shelter to everyone who needs it”, – explains Anna Dombrowska, head of the Homo Faber Foundation, which oversees the Baobab’s activities. “Baobab is a place for networking, integrating new people into the local community, introducing migrants and residents of Lublin, and organizing joint activities. “When we were creating this space, it was important for us to involve Lublin residents as representatives of the host society”, adds Anna.

“Baobab” has become a symbol of the united efforts of many NGOs and initiatives, including international ones, as well as, companies operating in Lublin. Visitors are consulted by the information center’s specialists who assess their needs, register them, and provide appropriate guidance. “Last year, about 10,000 people sought counseling”, says Kristina, an employee of the space. She came to the space as a client and now works here.

“Baobab” provides psychological assistance to adults and children and has created a children’s corner so that children are not left unattended while adults receive the necessary counseling. The center offers Polish language courses for children and adults, provides advice on administrative matters and medical care, and organizes cultural events and meetings with artists. There is also a Plast branch, with photographs of fallen Ukrainians, members, and teachers of Plast, on the walls. One of the employees says that despite never having been to Ukraine, but having Ukrainian roots in his family, he speaks Ukrainian well and tries his best to help those affected by the war.

Not only Ukrainians, but also individuals of other nationalities come to «Baobab», but Ukrainians have been the most frequent in recent years. Most of the requests are related to housing, legalization of stay, legal assistance, access to healthcare services, and job search.

The space is well thought out: music rooms, Polish language courses, computer classes, psychological assistance rooms, meeting rooms, and workshops where one can make own products, and learn to work with fabrics, wood, and other materials.

In Lublin, the participants of the study visit also had the opportunity to learn how the Legal Clinic of the Catholic University of Lublin works and talked to Tomasz Senow, the coordinator of the refugee section of the legal clinic. At the clinic, he and the students often deal with the clients’ inquiries concerning the review of employment contracts and legal employment opportunities.

The delegation from Ukraine also visited the Warsaw Family Support Centre, which is a municipal institution that also helps refugees integrate into the local community.

The study visit concluded with a seminar with the representatives of the Association for Legal Intervention and the Coordination Centre for Legal Aid at the National Council of Legal Advisers, who shared their experiences related to the provision of legal aid to Ukrainian refugees.

In many cases, government agencies play a crucial role in working with refugees, but, in every country, there are public initiatives that do their best to help those who have been forced to leave their homes to integrate into local communities.


The study visit was part of the project “Standing with Ukraine by Providing Enhanced Rights Protection for IDPs and Refugees” funded by the Swedish Institute and the project “Strengthening the Rights of Ukrainian IDPs and Refugees through Public Legal Education” funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers.

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