• Asylum Access’s 8th Annual Summer Soiree and Auction featured U.S. Olympian Meb Keflezighi on Thursday, June 27, 2013 at The City Club of San Francisco. Thank you to all our wonderful guests who joined us in support of Asylum Access and refugee rights! Photos by Jennifer Zee (www.ginkgophoto.com) available here.
• The UN Human Rights Council has officially confirmed Asylum Access as an ECOSOC member. We’re excited to bring our refugee rights perspective to the UN starting this year.
• At the 2013 UN Annual Consultations with NGOs, Asylum Access organized a panel session on strategic litigation and a side session on RSD in Latin America. AAE Country Director Karina Sarmiento also presented on highlights and key points of the 2013′s sessions as rapporteur of the event.
• ED Emily Arnold-Fernandez was interviewed with alongside Amnesty International’s Sherif Elsayed Ali in an article in The Verge in an article in The Verge, “Edward Snowden’s hunt for asylum”.
• Photographer Erik Tanner visited Asylum Access Tanzania to document the lives of a few refugee clients. View a slideshow of Erik’s final images here.
• AATZ and the Junior Achievement Program continue to empower young refugees and asylum seekers through a series of workshops designed to give them the tools they need to become financially self-sufficient entrepreneurs.
• AATZ hosted Mr. Mwemezi Ngemera from Care International Tanzania to train refugee women on reproductive health issues. The training was very well received and participants suggested the same topic for AATZ’s upcoming Women’s Empowerment training.
• Prior to her departure from Asylum Access, our former Overseas Operations Director Michelle Arevalo-Carpenter led a webinar on the Refugee Rights Toolkit.
• On World Refugee Day, AAE raised awareness through a public graffiti activity, ED Emily Arnold-Fernandez was a panelist in the Guardian’s World Refugee Day Live Debate, and Communications and Development Coordinator Anna Chen spoke about our work at an event organized by the United Nations Association (San Francisco Chapter).
• AAE volunteers Melissa Weiss, Vanessa Leigh and Kate Casey ran Quito’s half marathon to raise funds for refugee legal assistance in Ecuador.
• Global Policy Director Jessica Therkelsen will be an adjunct professor at University of San Francisco School of Law for another Fall semester. Her course, International Law Research and Advocacy, will teach students in both the JD and LLM programs how to research, write and advocate using principles of international law.
• AAT was honored to host Professor James C. Hathaway, founding patron of Asylum Access and leading authority on international refugee law, for a guest lecture on refugee law.
• AAT was invited to provide information on its legal services and community empowerment programs at an Asylum Seeker Orientation organized by UNHCR Bangkok.
• With the support of external specialists, AAT launched our first women’s groups in Bangkok with the Congolese and Iranian refugee women community.

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Quarterly Figures at a Glance

In Ecuador, we assisted a total of 1800 refugees directly, providing 725 new clients with individualized legal assistance, and 1049 with community legal education.

In Tanzania, we assisted a total of 98 refugees, providing 67 new clients with individualized legal assistance and 31 with community legal education.

In Thailand, we assisted a total of 175 refugees, providing 151 new clients with individualized legal assistance and 24 with community legal education.[/box]