SPECIAL NON-CONTRIBUTORY BENEFITS FOR EU MIGRANTS: A TRI-CITY PROJECT EUROPEAN COMMISSION VP/2011/004/0120 Esther Lieu, Project Manager 01 March 2012 Dublin

PROJECT PARTNERS LEAD PARTNER: ADVICE ON INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS IN EUROPE (The AIRE Centre), LONDON, UK Mission: To promote awareness of European law rights and assist marginalised individuals and those in vulnerable circumstances to assert those rights. We: Take cases to the European Court of Human Rights (including cases on behalf of non-EU trafficking victims facing expulsion); Provide free legal advice to individuals and their advisers on their rights under EU law (mostly EU law on the free movement of persons) PARTNER 1: FREE LEGAL ADVICE CENTRES (FLAC), DUBLIN, IRELAND Independent Human Rights organisation dedicated to the realisation of equal access to justice for all. Activities: Provide free legal information, advice and representation; Campaign for a state civil legal aid system PARTNER 2: LIZE GLAS, RADBOUD UNIVERSITY, NIJMEGEN, THE NETHERLANDS PhD Student (thesis on the relationship between European Court of Human Rights, the Court of Justice of the EU, the member states, the Parliamentary Assembly and the Committee of Ministers). Previous internships at The AIRE Centre, UNHCR Cyprus, Netherlands Helsinki Committee. 1

PROJECT OBJECTIVES & ACTIVITIES OBJECTIVE: To improve the information that EU migrants in Amsterdam, Dublin and London have about their right to access special non-contributory benefits (Art. 70, Regulation 883/04/EC). ACTIVITIES: 1. Monitoring EU migrants’ access to special non- contributory benefits in the three Member States concerned; 2. Giving advice to EU migrants applying for special non- contributory benefits; 3. Roundtables in Dublin, London and Amsterdam to discuss the problems EU migrants applying for benefits face in those cities; 4. Preparation of Information Notes in multiple languages; 5. Final Report

EXPECTED OUTCOMES EXPECTED OUTCOMES USE OF RESULTS Low-income EU migrants in Amsterdam, Dublin and London will have more information about how and in what circumstances they can access special non-contributory benefits; Law and policy makers at local, national and European levels (including within the EC) will have more specific information about the experience and challenges faced by EU migrants accessing special non-contributory benefits; Advisers working in these three cities will create stronger networks to support EU migrants there, share best practice and develop monitoring and advocacy tools; USE OF RESULTS A purposely-designed webpage will allow advisers and representatives to access the multi-lingual information notes, materials from the round-tables and conference, and other related resources for free; Advisers and representatives working with EU migrants from other Member States or other areas of these three Member States will be invited to the roundtables; The report will be sent to relevant law and policy makers at local, national and EU levels, and towards the end of the project the project staff will arrange meetings with those law and policy makers to discuss the results of the project.