Since its creation in 2016, Passerell asbl has met with thousands of people in exile in Luxembourg to listen to them, inform them about their rights and support them in exercising these rights. Among them are women and girls in exile who are also survivors and sometimes still victims of gender-based violence (such as forced marriage, female genital mutilation, sexual violence and domestic abuse).

Upon arriving in Luxembourg, these women and girls are not automatically informed about their rights and supported in ensuring that they are respected. As a result, they particularly need to be informed and supported in their legal and administrative procedures, in order to ensure that their rights are respected in Luxembourg.

To address this gap, we dedicate a significant part of our time and resources to welcoming them with dignity at our legal contact point.

Without this service, dozens of women would struggle to obtain reliable information about their rights and the procedures to follow to safeguard them. They would no longer be supported by us to apply for asylum and make sure the violence they endured is acknowledged, to take steps to reunite with their children via family reunification, or to obtain a residence permit specifically for victims of domestic violence.

How Passerell supports women and girls in exile in practice

• We meet women by appointment only, to ensure they receive the care and attention they need. When we schedule the appointment, we assess the urgency of the situation and gather key details, such as whether children are involved, health conditions, and any specific vulnerabilities;

• At the first meeting, we introduce our services, listen and ask questions to assess needs as accurately as possible. We provide information on rights, raise awareness of gender-based violence and identify potential vulnerabilities that need to be taken into account.

• We then offer individualised support and sign a consent form to outline the framework of our assistance.

• Our support begins: we connect the woman with a lawyer, assist with the asylum process and appeals, accompany her to administrative appointments, support her in her communication with the authorities lawyer, refer her to other services to meet her needs for which we are not trained.

• Needs are constantly re-assessed in consultation with the woman received.

If you know a woman or girl who may need information or help, please contact us by phone at +352 621 811 162 or by email at contact@passerell.lu

This essential service of active listening, information sharing about rights and individualized legal or administrative support offered at Passerell is unique in Luxembourg. To ensure we can continue offering this vital assistance, we are asking for your support and generosity.

In addition to this essential service, Passerell engages in two other key activities, which complement the individual support provided to women and girls in exile and directly result from our exchanges with the women met:

• we carry out legal research on the rights of women in exile in Luxembourg and make our findings available for free to all so that they are then used in particular by legal practitioners in Luxembourg who support women and girls in exile (lawyers, for example). In practice, we regularly publish legal newsletters with relevant rulings and case laws and reports on countries of origin or transit.

• we offer free training to professionals in contact with women in exile in Luxembourg and who survived gender-based violence in Luxembourg. In these sessions, we share our legal expertise on preventing such violence, protecting victims, and best practices for working with survivors.
  
  

  How will your donation be used?
  
  

  

  
  
  
  

  1st stage : € 5 000

  This first level would allow us to receive 20 women at our legal contact point, inform them of their rights and support them with legal and/or administrative procedures.
  
  
  

  2nd stage : € 10 000

  With €10,000, we could assist 30 women at our legal contact point, inform them about their rights and help them with their legal and/or administrative procedures. We will also be able to continue our research and free dissemination of legal information, by publishing 2 newsletters each featuring around ten relevant rulings and 4 reports on countries of origin or transit.
  
  
  

  3rd stage : € 15 000

  We aim to reach this final goal so that we can receive 40 women at our legal contact point, inform them of their rights and support them in their legal and/or administrative procedures. In addition to that, we could provide free training for 25 professionals in contact with women in exile on preventing gender-based violence and protecting victims.
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Who is behind this project?

As Passerell a.s.b.l is a non-profit association recognised as being of public interest (Grand-Ducal Decree of September 5th, 2023), your donation may be tax-deductible.

Would you like your donation to be tax-deductible*? Please contact Passerell directly at contact@passerell.lu to receive your tax certificate and benefit from the tax exemption for yourdonation.

(*): Your donations may be deducted from your taxes if they total at least 120 euros per year and do not exceed 20% of your total net income or one million euros.

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