Who we are
We are Christians and lawyers who see an urgent need of legal, social, humanitarian and spiritual help for foreigners, especially those who seek international protection. Our goal is to found an organisation based on Christian values offering highly qualified and comprehensive services for refugees with its headquarters in the Czech Republic.
What we know yet
Refugees are people in a difficult life situation. Without help, they often have extremely little chances for any change of their present state. For a long time, we have been involved in representing Christian refugees from China. This made us realize how urgently we need to become centralized and more effective and how important it is to cover costs and services, which we were no longer able to provide pro bono. We found out that when comprehensive, coordinated help for asylum seekers is not provided, an asylum request is usually rejected although it could end by a positive decision if the seeker was well informed and provided with qualified services.
The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God
Leviticus 19:34
What we offer
We offer and provide legal services, intent to form a network of professionals, create educational materials, educate society on migration issues and cooperate with other NGOs in helping refugees. We offer legal services as a preventive step to help protect human rights, especially foreigners’ right to a fair trial.
Who else?
In the Czech Republic, there is now hardly any organization on a Christian basis that provides qualified help covering all the needs foreigners currently have— from legal, social and medical to spiritual ones.
What we believe in
- The Bible is God’s word. (2 Timothy 3: 16-17)
- Scripture is alive and has a positive effect on our lives. (Hebrews 4:12)
- We believe in the Holy Trinity, which is revealed to us through the Scripture – God the Father, God Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 9: 6, Matthew 28:19, 2 Corinthians 13:14)
- All people are sinners and need to be saved. (Romans 3:23)
- God cares about all people and desires to save them (John 3:16)
- Salvation is not based on our works, but we can receive it only thanks to the grace of God through our faith. (Ephesians 2: 8-9)
- Good works, evangelism, and sincere efforts to help others naturally come from our gratitude to God and at the same time express obedience to the Scripture (Psalm 9: 1, John 15:12)
- The Church is made up of people of different ages, ethnicities, and backgrounds and cultures (Revelation 7: 9)
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Our Team
Mgr. Ilona Machandrová
CRS CHAIRMAN, LAWYER
Ilona currently works as a CRS lawyer and at the same time as an attorney, which she started practicing in 2019. She graduated from the Faculty of Law of Masaryk University and she specializes in asylum and migration law in her practice. She dedicates much of her free time to missionary and humanitarian volunteering among refugees on the Balkan road. She started this in 2014 and to support these activities financially, she founded Hope for Nations Fund in 2016 (nowadays one of CRS projects). In summer 2018, she gained experience in functioning of JRS Malta. She is a vice-chairman of the Christian Lawyers Association.
Mgr. Ludmila Špoková
CRS VICE-CHARIMAN, LAWYER
Ludmila graduated from the Faculty of Law of Masaryk University. In 2016, she started to work at Janíková, Novák and partners law firm. In addition to general law, she got there an opportunity to get familiar with the world of asylum and migration law. Now she works there as a legal trainee. She gained valuable insights in asylum and migration law not only in Czech settings, but she was as well a legal intern in JRS Malta (summer 2017 and 2018), where she further enriched her theoretical knowledge directly in detention and other migration camps. Nowaday she joins Hope for Nations journeys. Also, her master thesis was based on an asylum topic (Specifics of Transit Countries in the Common European Asylum System).
Mgr. Ondřej Novák
LAWYER
Ondřej is a lawyer at CRS and also an attorney, practicing since 2009. He graduated from the Faculty of Law of Masaryk University in 2012. In 2016, he was awarded a prestigious prize Talent of the Year (3rd position) in a Czech competition Lawyer of the Year, covering all judicial fields. He is a founder of Janíková, Novák and partners law firm. For long, he has worked on asylum and migration cases in his practice.