Borne from both her experience of international development and her work at the Bar, Sangeetha’s passion is working with refugees and asylum seekers.
Sangeetha is uniquely placed to have experienced some of the humanitarian crises that people are fleeing from first-hand, to have viewed the changing position of governments through the eyes of the European courts and to have worked directly in reception countries on the first shores of Europe.
Borne from both her experience of international development and her work at the Bar, Sangeetha’s passion is working with refugees and asylum seekers.
Sangeetha is uniquely placed to have experienced some of the humanitarian crises that people are fleeing from first-hand, to have viewed the changing position of governments through the eyes of the European courts and to have worked directly in reception countries on the first shores of Europe.
Sangeetha has spent time in Athens with Refugee Legal Support (RLS), a voluntary organisation run by experienced British asylum lawyers. In this role she provided pro bono advice and support to asylum seekers and refugees in Athens. This project went on to win the Lexis Nexis Pro Bono Award 2018 for its profound positive impact.
This led to her forging a partnership between her Chambers and Fenix Humanitarian Legal Aid. Through this partnership asylum seekers in Lesvos whose cases are complex or involve multiple member states will now have access to a pool of expert asylum barristers in London. This will exponentially increase asylum seekers’ access to legal advice and assistance in Lesvos and ease the strain on over-burdened organisations in the camp. Sangeetha now sits as Director of the Board of Fenix.
Beyond improving refugees’ access to legal rights and securing international protection, Sangeetha’s work includes striving to change the European narrative around migration and refuge, supporting the humanisation of the ‘refugee experience’ through activism and advocacy and improving the way Governments are managing the in-flow of persecuted people.
Sangeetha is always keen to learn about, support and collaborate with people working in this space.