Dear Friends, 2011 has been a year of exciting growth and change in Asylum Access. All four of our offices are settled into great offices spaces, and our permanent leadership staff has grown by leaps and bounds. In San Francisco, we recently welcomed Erik Schnabel as our Development Director, and I took over the role […]
In September 2010, VLA Ashley Connell and I nervously waited as prison guards searched us before letting us into the Centro de Rehabilitación Social de Varones de Quito #2, one of Quito’s three men’s prisons. We had no idea what to expect once inside. Prior to this visit, Ashley and I corresponded with the Director […]
Ecuador Figures: Provided personalized legal assistance to 138 asylum seekers and refugees in Quito office, and 54 cases outside of Quito. Highlights: In October, AAE brought its first case in front of Child Protection Services and UNHCR officials participated in our volunteer training in Quito. In November, AAE won its first habeas corpus case, freeing […]
Meet Asylum Access’s New Development Manager, Ally Basak Russell! Ally joined the AAHQ development team in August 2010 as its first Development Manager. She holds a B.A. in government from Dartmouth College and a J.D. with high honors from the University of Iowa College of Law. She is a member of the IL Bar and […]
On Thursday, November 18, 2010 Asylum Access and the Georgetown Law Human Rights Institute will present “Spiraling into Desperation: The Connection Between Refugee Rights and Human Trafficking.” The event will take place from 12 to 5pm at the Georgetown Law Center, 600 New Jersey Ave. NW, Washington, DC. This groundbreaking symposium will bring together scholars, […]
Published Autumn 2010 Asylum Access received a $100,000 grant from Google Corporate Giving Council through the Tides Foundation to create the Asylum Access Refugee Rights Toolkit, a replicable, sustainable model of refugee rights advocacy that can be implemented by activists in first countries of refuge worldwide. The toolkit will serve as a blueprint for other […]
Our office in Thailand looks like a private townhouse, an attached brick-and-plaster building with a gated driveway. A small sign on the gate reads “Asylum Access Thailand”. “We had to put the sign up because refugees were afraid to go to a house with no sign. They were afraid it was a trap.” Arrests by […]
Honorable Mentions Asylum Access leadership staff attended a convening on LGBTI refugee issues in Washington, DC with other human rights NGOs, UNHCR representatives and funders. Asylum Access Thailand Country Director Medhapan Sundaradeja had her profile published in a magazine in recognition of the fact that she is the first Thai Country Director of Asylum Access […]
“I remember one man in particular, who was living homeless with his two year old son. I told him the bad news: “You are not going to get any assistance and there is nothing more I can do.” He looked straight at me and said, ‘Thank you, Rania. I know you probably feel right now […]
The well-publicized image of life in tents on dusty camps is not the only setting of the refugee story. Today, almost half of the world’s 10.5 million refugees reside in urban areas, with only one-third in camps (UNHCR, 2009). The assumption that urban refugees have a greater ability to pursue a living, and thus need […]