AIRE Centre

The AIRE (Advice on Individual Rights in Europe) Centre is a specialist law centre, based in the UK.  Its mission is to promote awareness of European law rights and assist marginalised individuals and those in vulnerable circumstances to assert those rights.

The Centre does this by:

• Advising individuals and their family members - in coordination, where appropriate, with other advisors – on their rights under European law and putting them in touch with other advisors in the voluntary sector for matters on which it is unable to assist.
• Representing applicants and assisting applicants’ representatives before the European Court of Human Rights and other international bodies.
• Training lawyers, judges, and State officials on individual rights under European law.
• Writing reports, petitions, and third-party interventions on issues relating to the implementation of European rights guarantees.
• Hosting a year-round internship programme with the participation of law students and lawyers from all over Europe, the United States and elsewhere.
• Providing second-tier advice to the legal representatives of marginalised individuals who are asserting their rights under European law.

While the AIRE Centre works on a broad range of issues, it has a particular interest in using European law, where possible, to assist in the following areas:

• The promotion of human rights in Central and Eastern Europe (with a specific focus on the Balkans).
• The rights of those subjected to expulsion, including their right to be free from torture and inhuman and degrading treatment and their right to family life.
• The rights of foreign prisoners.
• The human rights of parents and children in family proceedings.
• The rights to enter, remain, and access benefits for EEA citizens and their family members, including in particular:

- The rights of domestic violence victims who are themselves or are family members of EEA nationals.

- The rights of victims of human trafficking.

- The rights of workers, particularly in situations of vulnerable employment or forced labour.

- The special needs of women migrants.

- The special needs of LGBT migrants.

- Access to homelessness services.

- Access to healthcare.

Further information about the AIRE Centre is available here.