JUSTICE CENTRE HONG KONG (JUSTICE CENTRE) CASEWORK PROTOCOL Pro Bono Partner Volunteers Thank you for volunteering with Justice Centre Hong Kong. Our work in supporting the most vulnerable forced migrants in Hong Kong is only possible with your support and pro bono assistance. The following document sets out our Protocol for casework carried out by our pro bono volunteers. TRAINING In order to equip our volunteers with the knowledge and skills to serve the claimant community, we request that all Justice Centre caseworkers complete: the Hong Kong Refugee Advice Centre (HKRAC) Refugee Legal Aid Training and Refugee Legal Aid Training Update, or the Justice Centre Protection Claimant Assistance Training. From time to time, we may also require volunteers to attend additional training. SCOPE OF INDIVIDUAL ASSISTANCE Justice Centre provides individual assistance to protection claimants in the Unified Screening Mechanism (USM) process who are vulnerable or who have complex legal claims, and who do not yet have a lawyer for their claim. We only provide individual assistance in preparing the claim, not legal representation in presenting the claim. All claimants have the right to legal representation by a duty lawyer later. Once they are allocated a duty lawyer, the time to prepare the claim may be short; so at Justice Centre, we try to provide as much assistance in the early stages as possible. Individual assistance includes: Drafting a testimony; Conducting country of origin information (COI) and legal research; Preparing COI and legal analysis; and Assembling supporting documents, including identity documents, documents related to the claim, and documents related to the claimant s medical and/or psychological condition. This information is then collated into a casework assistance package and given to the claimant with a Justice Centre cover letter addressed to the future duty lawyer, so that the package may be used to assist the claimant in his/her claim. EXPLANATORY COMMENTS TO CLAIMANTS There are a number of things which need to be made clear to the claimant at the outset of your interview with a claimant:
1. As we are not acting as solicitor for the claimant (who has the right to legal aid representation under the Duty Lawyer Service), it is important that we clearly explain our role in providing them with individual assistance with respect to their claim, and that this is different from legal representation. 2. It is necessary to explain the procedure of the USM, the purpose of the interview, and the definitions of torture, CIDTP and persecution. 3. At the end of the interview, you will need to explain the next steps after the interview. Please follow the communication attached as Annex 1. SUPERVISION All individual assistance by pro bono partner volunteers is supervised by the Legal Manager. We request that you do not provide the casework assistance package to any claimant unless it has first been signed-off by Justice Centre legal staff. For questions about a case, or the review of draft testimonies and legal analyses, please feel to contact the Legal Manager, Deborah Papworth (deborah@justicecentre.org.hk) CLAIMANT APPOINTMENTS The Legal Manager will coordinate scheduling of your first claimant appointment. Subsequent claimant appointments (where necessary) should be scheduled at the end of each claimant appointment, if possible. Please liaise with the Legal Manager as to the time which is suitable for you, the interpreter and the claimant. All claimant appointments should take place at Justice Centre on Tuesdays or Thursdays 6pm-9pm. If you would like to schedule an appointment at any other location or at any other time, please obtain prior approval from the Legal Manager. If a claimant appointment must be rescheduled, please contact the Protection Claimant Services Support Coordinator, Jocelyn Lala-An (at jocelyn@justicecentre.org.hk), and copy the Legal Manager. Before each claimant appointment, meet with the interpreter and brief them on the background of the asylum seeker and the purpose of the meeting. After each claimant appointment, refer the claimant to the Legal Manager to collect their attendance allowance. REFERRALS While receiving individual assistance, claimants may require referrals for medical and/or psychological reports, non-legal (social welfare) matters, or domestic legal (immigration, criminal, etc.) matters. In such cases, please contact the Legal Manager, who will coordinate with the Social Worker for medical and/or psychological reports and non-legal matters, and will advise on referrals for domestic legal matters.
CLAIMANT FILES For information security purposes, all claimant files must remain at Justice Centre. The Legal Manager will ensure that you have access to the claimant file. Please do not take home any documents in the claimant file. If you need access to file documents, please make physical or electronic copies. If you are not at Justice Centre, please contact the [Justice Centre Fellow], and copy the Legal Manager. OFFICE LOCATION & HOURS Justice Centre is located at: 18/F, 202 Centre, 202-204 Des Voeux Road West, Sai Ying Pun (between Eastern Street and Centre Street, entrance on Kwai Heung Street, past Mannings Pharmacy) The office is open Monday-Friday 9:30am-6pm, and Tuesdays and Thursdays until 9pm for scheduled claimant appointments. OFFICE SAFETY & INCIDENT PROCEDURES If a claimant becomes agitated or threatening during an appointment, attempt to calm them down in the first instance. If they do not calm down, leave the room (with the interpreter) and seek help from the Legal Manager or other Justice Centre staff. CLAIMANT SUICIDE PROTOCOL From time to time, we deal with claimants who are under great distress and they may exhibit suicidal intentions. If a claimant mentions thinking about suicide or wanting to commit suicide during an appointment, take them seriously but do not panic, and follow the following protocol: 1. Try to obtain their consent to share this information with the Legal Manager and other Justice Centre staff. 2. If the claimant does not consent, try to find out their reasons. However, you must explain that your concern for their welfare means that you must share this information with the Legal Manager and other Justice Centre staff. 3. The Legal Manager will share information about their suicidal ideation only with the Social Worker and other Justice Centre staff for the purposes of ensuring their welfare. 4. If the claimant is a minor (under 18), Justice Centre must also share this information with their family or other caregiver in Hong Kong.
Who you are and your role ANNEX 1 EXPLANATORY COMMENTS TO CLAIMANT My name is and I am a volunteer at Justice Centre. I am here to provide you with individual assistance with preparing your claim for protection under the USM. Because of Hong Kong rules, I cannot act as your lawyer, but I am trained in relation to the law on refugee status, torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. I can t advise you on Hong Kong law, so if you have a question about Hong Kong law, we may also need to refer you to a Hong Kong lawyer. [Once you have told the government you want to apply for protection against being sent back to your country][shortly, the government will contact you about your claim and], you will be offered a duty lawyer, who is independent but whose fees will be paid by the government. That lawyer will represent you in presenting your claim before the Immigration Department. However, I am here to help you to prepare your claim before you even get to that stage, so that we can make sure that your claim is presented as well as possible. I will help you by: preparing a statement this means your story of who you are, what has happened to you, and why you feel you cannot go back to your country; working with you to collect documents to support your claim; preparing some research about the conditions in your country, which can be used to support your claim for protection against being sent back; and putting together some arguments to support your claim. Justice Centre will use this to prepare a package which you can then give to the duty lawyer, to help your duty lawyer to properly present your claim to the Immigration Department. Meeting the Criteria of Persecution, Torture and CIDTP In order to succeed in your claim for protection against being sent back to your country, you need to show one or more of the following: 1. You will be tortured this means there are substantial grounds to believe that you will be subjected to severe pain or suffering which amounts to torture. 2. You will be subjected to CIDTP this means there are substantial grounds to believe that you will be subjected to severe pain or suffering which amounts to CIDTP. 3. You will be subjected to persecution serious harm because of your race, religion, nationality, political opinion or because you are a member of a particular social group. If you show this you may be considered to be a refugee. In each of these cases, you need to show that your own country will not protect you, and that you can t escape the risk of harm by going to another part of your country.
Next steps after the interview [If necessary] I need to ask you to come back for another interview. This is because we need to be sure that we understand all the relevant facts about you and your claim. Will you please come back to this office on [arrange date with the Legal Manager]. [Address any requests regarding obtaining documentary evidence] After we have prepared your testimony, we will also prepare some research about your country and some arguments to support your claim. You will then be asked by someone at Justice Centre to come back to the office to finalise your package, which you can then give to your duty lawyer when you are assigned one.