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5.6. Consultative forum and civil society organisations

5.6. Consultative forum and civil society organisations

Consultative forum and civil society organisations

Civil society organisations can bring unique expertise and knowledge to the discourse on asylum and current practices. The Agency’s Consultative Forum, initially established in 2011 as part of EASO, is the main channel for dialogue and cooperation with civil society organisations working in asylum at the local, European and international levels. The organisations actively participate in EUAA activities and provide feedback to publications. 

Following the entry into force of the EUAA Regulation, the Consultative Forum was reinforced, it exercises its tasks independently and advises the Executive Director and the Management Board on asylum-related matters, in accordance with the Agency’s specific needs in priority areas. 

The actvities of the reconstituted Consultative Forum increased considerably. Key priorities in 2023 included:

  • Developing and agreeing to the working methods of the Consultative Forum, which were established with input provided by members themselves and through several rounds of consultations.
     
  • Establishing thematic consultation groups on COI and persons in a vulnerable situation, with both groups convening twice in 2023 to develop their working methodologies, exchange information on activities and plan the activities for 2024. 
     
  • Establishing and maintaining cooperation with the Agency’s FRO, with a number of meetings taking place to discuss the development of the Agency’s Fundamental Rights Strategy and the complaints mechanism, which underlined the important role of civil society organisations in raising awareness about the complaint mechanism. The draft Fundamental Rights Strategy and accompanying Action Plan, as well as the draft rules for the complaints mechanism, were shared with the Consultative Forum for their feedback in December 2023.

Other areas of work which involved the Consultative Forum included consultations on the European Asylum Curriculum and the development of training modules; an exchange of information on the Agency’s monitoring mechanism and the role of civil society organisations in sharing input; and sharing experise in the framework of the Let’s Speak Asylum project (see Section 3.8.1).

For a more detailed overview of the EUAA Consultative Forum in 2023, see the EUAA Consultative Forum Activity Report 2023.