Amsterdam Asylum Law Clinic

The Amsterdam Asylum Law Clinic (AALC) was set up in September 2026 and is the newest of all UvA law clinics. Law clinics focusing on asylum law are more needed than ever. On 12 June 2026, the instruments of the European Asylum and Migration Pact became applicable. The provisions of the new regulations and directives give rise to numerous legal questions relevant to all EU Member States. Moreover, the provisions of the Pact have raised serious concerns about potential human rights violations of asylum applicants. There is thus plenty of interesting and important work to do.  

The AALC focuses on topics concerning Dutch, European and international asylum and refugee law. This may include questions with regard to asylum procedures, the qualification as a refugee or person in need of subsidiary protection, material rights of asylum applicants and (border) detention.

In the Clinic, students work in diverse groups of three to six international and Dutch students. They closely cooperate with the supervisors, who are all academics with strong knowledge and interest in asylum law. Furthermore, they will regularly have the opportunity to work together with stakeholders and other law clinics in the field. During the meetings of the clinic, students brainstorm, present, discuss and reflect under the guidance of the supervisors. There is ample room for your ideas and suggestions with regard to the project you are working on and your own learning process.

The AALC is particularly interesting and relevant to students enrolled in the:

• Master European Union Law 
• Master Public International Law 
• Track Administrative and Constitutional Law (Master Publiekrecht)

Requirements to join:

The requirements to join the clinic are:

• You are available at least 10 hours per week;
• You have a strong work ethic, excellent communication and English writing skills, and a genuine interest in asylum law.

Monitoring project

In the first semester of the 2026/2027 academic year, the AALC started to set up a project for monitoring the implementation of the new European Asylum and Migration Pact. The aim of the project is to examine how the provisions of, in particular, the Screening Regulation and the Asylum Procedures Regulation operate in practice and to evaluate them in the light of European and international law. Questions that may be addressed are: Do asylum applicants have effective (access to) legal counselling and free legal assistance? Does the accelerated (border) procedure enable asylum applicants to substantiate their asylum application? To answer such questions, the project needs to apply empirical research methods, next to classical doctrinal research. The project will entail a collaboration between law clinics in different EU Member States. 

During the first phase of this project, we will establish partnerships with the other clinics and NGOs in the Member States where the clinics are based. Together with stakeholders and NGOs we will determine the scope and feasibility of the monitoring project. We will also discuss some initial ethical issues and the manner of cooperation between clinic staff and students. Finally, we will develop a training programme for the students starting in the next phase(s). 

In the second semester of the 2026/2027 academic year, students will continue designing the monitoring project. They have to develop a (common) methodology for the monitoring project. This may entail designing survey and/or interview questions and a format for monitoring reports or other means of communicating research findings. In addition, data protection issues and ethical questions must be addressed. Perhaps students will be able to already carry out a pilot of the actual monitoring.