ABSTRACT
The right to access free legal aid for migrants plays a key role in overcoming systemic barriers to their integration in the host country’s society. This chapter focuses on the analysis of legal aid as a tool to overcome systemic barriers experienced by migrants to effective access to justice, social inclusion and equality, while adopting a European perspective. While affirming that one of the major obstacles in accessing justice for migrants is the cost of legal advice and representation, it highlights the need to ensure equal access for all migrants to effective legal aid. In the human rights context, legal aid is regarded as central in providing the right to access to justice, which is guaranteed as a fundamental right in the universal and regional human rights instruments. Under the pressure of the so-called “migrants and refugee crisis”, the European Commission launched on 4 May and 13 July 2016 seven legislative proposals aimed at reforming the Common European Asylum System.
