By Sophie Kloos, Olivia Baskerville, Maya Pritchard and Serena Sorrenti

Lara Casalotti joined Asylos in autumn 2015 as a volunteer coordinator of the Afghanistan research team. Since then her unyielding commitment to the principle that all asylum-seekers should be able to access meaningful justice, and her efforts to ensure that Asylos sustainably furthered that work, is a gift for which her colleagues at Asylos now, and those who will join us in the future, will be forever grateful.

Lara worked tirelessly, regularly fielding out-of-hours phone calls and late nights before deadlines, to assist individuals in their claim for asylum in a safe place

Lara dove head first into her commitment to Asylos in the role of research team coordinator, taking on the significant demands associated with managing a team of eight international researchers. And Lara led by example. In over five years of dedication to Asylos’ mission, Lara coordinated nearly 50 case-specific research reports. She worked tirelessly with a team of volunteers, regularly fielding out-of-hours phone calls and late nights before deadlines, to assist individuals in their claim for asylum in a safe place. Her team, who worked with Lara from as far afield as Afghanistan, Central African Republic, and Germany, remember her as enthusiastic, motivating, inspiring, always quick to jump on a problem, incredibly generous with her time and endlessly constructive. Lara had a brilliant mind and a kind heart, and she was the ultimate facilitator. She went out of her way to provide her team with regular updates and one-on-one calls, going far beyond what was expected of her role. Lawyers and caseworkers often sent us positive results from Lara’s ‘brilliant work’. By the time that Lara was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in December 2015, she had become an integral part of our organisation. But Lara carried on, and her colleagues were astonished to see that during her long period of illness and recovery it never occurred to Lara to pause or slow down in her commitment to Asylos. 

          

Lara in discussion with colleagues at Asylos, January 2020

"Your reports are particularly useful in cases where the client has been refused legal aid and has no funds to pay for an official expert report. It gives them something to help the case and as in this case might point to documentation that the judge does use even if the report isn't quoted directly. The client is very grateful.” - A lawyer partner in the UK, regarding one of Lara’s reports

Lara took it upon herself to coordinate the production of a substantive interview-based research project, creating the blueprint for a project that is still ongoing

In 2017, several non-governmental organisations came together to discuss the dire situation of young Afghan men who, despite having spent their formative years in the West, were being deported to Kabul. Knowing that none of these organisations had available sufficient financial resources, Lara took it upon herself to coordinate the production of a substantive interview-based research project to uncover what was happening to these young men upon return - entirely on a pro bono basis. The subsequent report was downloaded hundreds of times by lawyers representing these young men in various countries, and cited by the European Asylum Support Office and the UK Home Office in their guidance on how to handle these cases. The research project also provided a blueprint for a series of research initiatives that is still ongoing today. Thanks to the success of this pilot report, Asylos was able to attract funding to develop and publish further reports of this format which have contributed to thousands of asylum claims around the world: most notably we should mention here the recent reports on trafficking in Vietnam and LGBTQI+ rights in Ghana, both of which were co-coordinated by Lara.

It is the little things that demonstrated Lara’s thorough joy in helping others

Next to coordinating an impressive volume of high-quality research reports, it is the little things that demonstrated Lara’s thorough joy in helping others that we will remember her for. We will never forget when Lara independently organised a fundraiser for Asylos raising money to bring our volunteers together in collaboration; the time she recorded a hilarious home video demonstrating to her peers the pitfalls of conducting remote interviews in country-of-origin information research, that time she got our work on Albania and Vietnam covered in the newspaper or that time she cheered us all up by sharing her tips on how to self-isolate during COVID.

       

Group photos taken at our 2018 and 2020 coordination meetings, with Lara at the centre

Feedback on Lara’s training delivery was glowing, with comments such as ‘utterly inspirational’ and being ‘blown away’

In 2020, as lockdown began, Lara made the best of the situation by starting a new project with Asylos, training the legal community in the UK in how to conduct country-of-origin information research. This was another exciting project, as it was Asylos’ first large-scale external training programme, and much of the curriculum still had to be developed and tested. Despite it being a brand new initiative, the feedback from participants on the sessions that Lara delivered was glowing, with comments such as ‘utterly inspirational’ and being ‘blown away by the training’. Even though she was starting to experience a relapse, Lara continued to commit herself wholeheartedly to this project. Lara continued to lead workshops and would use feedback from colleagues and participants to ensure that each session was better than the rest. It is due to her diligence that the training programme has developed into the resource it is now, giving lawyers and caseworkers the tools and skills they need to better evidence their clients' cases and improving access to protection for asylum seekers in the UK.

The impact that Lara has had on the lives of so many asylum-seekers will reverberate for years to come

It has been just weeks since Lara hosted her last training webinar with Asylos, and so our memory of her and her bright smile is still fresh. Despite our shock and sadness, we already know with certainty that the impact that Lara has had on the Asylos community and on the lives of so many asylum-seekers will reverberate for years to come. We will continue her legacy by honouring the high research quality standards that she set for herself and her research team, the commitment to obtaining information to address knowledge gaps, and her habit to care so deeply for her colleagues.

Lara cared deeply about making the world a better place, and Asylos was only one of the causes she championed. Please consider joining your local bone marrow registry in Lara’s memory. Bone marrow registries help people with Acute Myeloid Leukemia find a stem cell match. It’s as easy as spitting into a test tube or using a cheek swab, and it could save someone’s life.

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