Office: Tanzania Age: 25 Hometown: Letterkenny, Ireland What type of law did you practice before volunteering with Asylum Access? Prior to Asylum Access, I worked mainly in immigration and refugee law. I worked with an NGO called the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland, then I did an internship with UNHCR and just before I moved to Tanzania, I worked […]

The report is the first study of cross-comparison of its kind, shedding light upon the laws, policies and practices impeding work rights in 15 different countries. Warranting concern, nearly half of the 15 countries examined in the report completely bar refugees from working or starting a business. In many countries where refugees are legally allowed […]

Asylum Access’s expansion plans were born from the idea that by developing a critical mass of countries within a region that abide by international conventions relating to refugees, these countries would begin to raise the bar on refugee rights and stimulate the development of region-wide frameworks for refugee rights protection. Over the last two years, […]

Asylum Access Ecuador won a landmark victory when Ecuador’s Constitutional Court struck down key provisions of a restrictive refugee law, Decreto 1182, that had imposed serious barriers for refugees seeking safety in Ecuador. Read more about this success or read the official press release. We launched our ‘Global Refugee Work Rights Report 2014: Taking the […]

ED Emily Arnold-Fernandez joined Devin Thorpe, of Your Mark On The World, to discuss the work of Asylum Access. Watch the interview. Global Policy Director Jessica Therkelsen presented an oral statement at the Human Rights Council to ensure that labor and employment rights of refugees are mainstreamed into the discussion on business and human rights. […]

Name: Andrew Damron Office: Asylum Access Thailand Age: 28 Hometown: New York City, United States What type of law did you practice before volunteering with Asylum Access? Before coming to Asylum Access, I practiced refugee and asylum law in the United States. I worked with the Hofstra Law School Asylum Clinic where I served as […]

Professor James Hathaway who will be joining the Asylum Access team as Senior Advisor, providing strategic advice and training for staff and leading a thought provoking interdisciplinary workshop at Stanford University discussing human rights and refugee response. Videographer Lennon Flowers interviewed ED Emily Arnold-Fernandez on how Asylum Access was founded and the rights-based approach used […]

Name: Oltesh Abraham Office: Asylum Access Tanzania Age: 28 Hometown: Arusha, Tanzania What type of law did you practice before volunteering with Asylum Access? I used to practice international law in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), and human rights law in the Legal and Human Rights Centre. I also worked on civil cases […]

**NOTE**  – The executive summary of the report, “Cartagena Initiative +30: International Protection and Effective Integration: Civil Society Recommendations from the Front Lines of Asylum and Statelessness in Latin America and the Caribbean”, can now be downloaded here (Spanish only, translation forthcoming). This November marks thirty years since the adoption of the Cartagena Declaration on Refugees, Latin America’s […]

Imagine raising two children on less than $1 per day. This was one of the challenges Suzanne faced as a teenage mother. After witnessing the death of her parents at the hands of the Mai Mai rebels, Suzanne was forced to marry one when she was just sixteen. One day, while pregnant with her second […]