• We launched our new website, an improved platform for refugee rights activists worldwide to stay informed and inspired by our work.
• We’re celebrating our 10th anniversary year by hosting two intimate dinners in San Francisco and Palo Alto on September 29th and October 6th, respectively. To reserve tickets or tables, or for more information on sponsorship, visit https://asylumaccess10thanniversary.splashthat.com
• ED Emily Arnold-Fernandez was a notable speaker at this year’s Humanitarian Innovation Project annual conference Facilitating Innovation. During the conference, participants explore what facilitation means across the field of humanitarian aid and how to better utilize the talents of all humanitarian actors.
• Asylum Access was a finalist for the Global Namati Justice Prize, which rewards grassroots justice organizations for impact, sustainability, and innovation in the developing field of legal empowerment.
• Asylum Access leadership staff participated in the UNHCR Annual Consultations with NGOs for a three-day-long dialogue on a wide variety of topics including urban refugees, refugee law, and detention of refugees and migrants.
• AALA Regional Director Karina Sarmiento attended Stanford University’s Draper Hills Summer Fellowship on Democracy and Development Program. This highly selective program offers emerging human rights leaders activities and seminars to enrich their knowledge and advance their work.
• AAE and the Women’s Refugee Commission published a new report: “Gender-Based Violence Prevention & Response: Opportunities & Challenges for Serving Urban Refugees in Ecuador.”
• AATZ Nondo Nobel Bwami joined the Namati Learning Exchange Program and traveled to South Africa meet and learn from other legal aid practitioners. Read about his experience in this article.
• Watch our video on global refugee work rights, created as part of Right To Work campaign to put refugee employment rights on the international agenda, and expand common understandings of refugee protection. Follow our Right to Work campaign by visiting our Right To Work blog and Facebook page.
• In commemoration of World Refugee Day, AATZ hosted an event that brought together 60 clients and eight stakeholders for musical and theatrical performances as well as speeches by AATZ Director Janemary Ruhundwa and other community leaders.
• AATZ conducted a workshop with the human rights club at Banjamin William Mkapa High School to raise awareness about refugee rights and the challenges refugees face in Tanzania.
• In a Stanford Social Innovation Review article, the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project acknowledged Asylum Access as a key actor in refocusing the global discussion from ‘refugee needs’ to ‘refugee rights’.
• AAE Strategic Litigation Coordinator Estefanía Pólit traveled to El Salvador to share best practices and tools with the Salvadoran judiciary at a workshop on the defense of ‪‎human rights‬ of migrants in Mesoamerica.‬‬
• Program Officer Laura Parker’s article, “Access to ‪citizenship‬ in transitional Myanmar: Seeking ‪Rohingya‬ rights the wrong way?” was published in the Refugee Law Initiative ‘Working Papers’.‬‬‬‬

Newsletter Summer 2015