This Platform www.ua.support (“Platform”) is operated by Linking Help z.s., ID: 14430681, with a registered office at Za Poříčskou bránou 365/21, Praha 8 – Karlín, 186 00 (“Platform Operator”).

1.1 How does the Platform work

The Platform is a distribution platform that permits users to connect a request from Ukrainian refugees for legal support related to migration to different countries with a lawyer who has agreed to provide pro bono legal support in this field.

The essence of the Platform is a task tracking system, which allows the request for legal support from the Ukrainian refugee to reach the relevant pro bono lawyer, who responds to it. The Ukrainian refugee sends a request by filling in a request form on the website; the system then makes this request available to the lawyers of the country concerned. The lawyer who selects the request in the system will process it and contact the request sender – i.e., the Ukrainian refugee.

1.2 Liability

The Platform Operator is liable only for the functionality of the Platform and is not liable to Ukrainian refugees for the provision of legal support and its quality. The Platform Operator is not liable to either the recipient of legal support for the accuracy of the information provided, nor is the Platform Operator liable to the lawyer providing legal support. The Platform Operator only assumes that the legal support provided by pro bono lawyers, as experts in the law of their country, is correct.

2. Information for Ukrainian refugees

The Platform  provides links to useful legal and other information in different countries. Ukrainian refugees are advised to check these links first. If they do not find a solution to their situation on the websites listed, they can use our chatbot or fill in the legal support request form.

2.1. Chatbot

The Platform uses a chatbot. A chatbot is a computer program that can reply to messages from computer users. Our chatbot can answer simple legal questions and help Ukrainian refugees in the most commonly encountered situations. The chatbot is configured based on data provided by volunteer lawyers registered on our Platform. The chatbot is available only in some countries.

Ukrainian refugees can write their legal problem in the chatbot. If the chatbot knows the answer, it will be displayed on the screen.

If the Ukrainian refugee does not get a satisfactory solution to his or her problem, the chatbot communication will be transformed into a request form (Art. 2.2) and forwarded to pro bono lawyers.

The Platform Provider does not guarantee the functionality of the chatbot, nor the accuracy of the information provided via chatbot. Information provided by the chatbot is computer-generated and therefore can lead to misunderstanding. The Ukrainian refugee should always write their problem clearly, so such misunderstanding can be avoided.

2.2 Request form

In order to be provided with legal support, a Ukrainian refugee must fill in the request form on the Platform (available at this link: https://www.ua.support/contact-refugee).

The following information is filled in the request form: name, contact e-mail, contact phone number, country of current location / planned location, problem identification, spoken language and a specification of the legal problem they want help solving.

All filled-in personal data are only collected for the purpose of processing the request and are not further processed in any way.

After pressing the “REQUEST HELP” button, the request is sent to the Platform system and the sender should subsequently receive an email message that the request has been received.

The Platform system will make the submitted request available to the group of pro bono lawyers from the country concerned. The lawyer from this group who chooses to deal with the request will send a response to the sender of the request by email or contact the sender by telephone.

There is no guarantee of processing time, we will try to process the request within a reasonable period.

3. Information for pro bono lawyers

3.1 Registration

If a lawyer or a law firm wants to provide pro bono legal services to refugees from Ukraine and thus help to fulfill the main purpose of the Platform, a registration form on the UA.SUPPORT website must be filled in (available at this link: https://www.ua.support/contact-lawyer). If a law firm is registered, it must name a contact person who would primarily communicate with the Platform.

If a lawyer who is not fully qualified (lawyer without Bar Certificate, law student, etc.) wants to join Platform, proof of supervision by a fully qualified lawyer/advocate must be provided. Such lawyer would then guarantee the quality of the legal advice.

Other organizations, e.g., NGOs, can participate in the project under the same conditions as qualified lawyers. Those organizations declare they are authorized to provide legal advice in their jurisdiction. Those organizations acknowledge they bear the same responsibility for the provision of legal services as qualified lawyers from their jurisdiction.

The following information is entered in the registration form: name, e-mail, phone number, verification of legal license (e.g., link to the bar association), and specification of the legal support that the lawyer can provide. LinkedIn is provided optionally. The Platform system then verifies the filled-in information.

For the purposes of providing legal support, the lawyer agrees to his/her name being shared within the group of registered lawyers from the same country.

After verification, the lawyer is included in the list of pro bono lawyers providing legal support in a particular country. The lawyer will receive access details to his/her account in the system and further instructions.

By registering, the lawyer undertakes to provide pro bono legal support for Ukrainian refugees to the extent of his/her discretion.

If the lawyer is the first registering lawyer from a particular country, he/she is asked to fill in the basic information on refugee legal help in his/her country in the Platform system at the same time they register.

3.2 Acceptance of the request

As soon as a new request related to a lawyer’s country appears in the Platform system, the lawyer will receive an email notification and has the option to choose to deal with it or not.

If the lawyer decides to process the request, he/she sets a name as an “assignee” for the particular request in the Platform system and handles the cases following the instructions from the Platform Operator. The instructions are provided for each country and are available in a “Knowledge base module”.

The lawyer is obliged to maintain the confidentiality of all facts learned about specific requests and refugees through the Platform or directly in connection with the provision of pro bono legal support.

3.3 Processing of the request

As soon as the lawyer is assigned to a specific request, he/she is obliged to process the selected request by sending a response to the sender of the request by e-mail or by telephone.

3.4 Notifications

The lawyer acknowledges and agrees that he/she will receive notifications from the Platform about new requests related to lawyer’s country, which the lawyer can accept and about the processing of the selected request. The notification will be sent to the lawyer’s email address, as indicated in their registration form.

The lawyer further consents that he/she may receive notifications from the Platform Operator, which are necessary for the effective using of the Platform and for further development of the Platform.

4. Data protection

4.1

Ukrainian refugees acknowledge that for the purposes of provision of legal support Platform Operator is authorized to process their personal data within the following scope, in particular: name, surname, address or other contact address, date of birth, e-mail address, and telephone number. Their data would be provided to all volunteer lawyers available in the country where the legal aid is to be provided. All personal data shall be stored only for the period stipulated by law or for the necessary period of time.

4.2

Pro bono lawyers acknowledge that Platform Operator is authorized to process their personal data within the following scope, in particular: name, surname, e-mail address, phone number, verification of legal license (e.g., link to the bar association), specification of the legal support that the lawyer can provide and LinkedIn profile address, if provided. The Ukrainian refugee would be provided only with the pro bono lawyer’s e-mail address for purpose of communication with the refugee. Provision to the refugee of additional data is at the discretion of the pro bono lawyer. All personal data shall be stored only for the period stipulated by law or for the necessary period of time.

4.3 Chatbot

The information gathered by the chatbot is shared with the chatbot provider, so it can improve the functioning of the chatbot. The full identification of the chatbot provider is following:

PUBLIC ORGANIZATION “FUTURUM UKRAINE“

ID: 42958426

Seat: MOLODOHVARDIISKA street, building 24, apart. 24, Dnipro (city), Dnipropetrovsk region (oblast), 49022 Ukraine.

The data is stored in Netherlands, but some of the co-workers in Ukraine can have access to it. Therefore, the data might be transferred outside the European Union, to Ukraine. The Platform provider and the chatbot provider have entered into a contract and the data transfer is based on standard contractual clauses.

Further information can be found here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MNI8bFy6FR0rbkvDHqfgfQwqNOcEnU8y/view.

4.4

All data subjects, i.e., Ukrainian refugees and/or pro bono lawyers, have with respect to personal data the following rights:

• right of access;
• right to rectification;
• right to erasure under the conditions of Article 17 GDPR;
• right to object against data processing under the condition of Article 21 GDPR;
• right to file a complaint with the supervisory authority, which is the Office for Personal Data Protection, Pplk. Sochora 27, 170 00 Prague 7, Czech Republic, uoou.cz.

This document was last updated on September 21, 2022.