Since 2009, Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Belize documented a 435% increase in the number of asylum applications lodged by individuals from Central America’s Northern Triangle: El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Among those fleeing are a large number of unaccompanied and separated children escaping violence by organized armed criminal actors and violence in the […]
Name: Annabelle Craft Age: 29 Hometown: Brisbane, Australia What made you decide you wanted to work as a RSD/RST Advisor with Asylum Access Thailand? My role as RSD/RST Advisor involves advising clients on the Refugee Status Determination (RSD) process before the UNHCR and possible durable solutions including resettlement (RST). I wanted to work in this […]
A huge thank you to all those that attended our 10th Anniversary Dinners in San Francisco and Palo Alto! It was a pleasure to celebrate the supporters, ideals, and programs that have impacted the lives of over one million refugees to date. We truly enjoyed getting to know each of you better and look forward […]
Asylum Access has joined Urban Refugees, Center for Refugee Solidarity, U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) in a campaign to respond to the current refugee crisis by supporting urban programs in neighboring countries that offer alternatives to ongoing refugee encampment, restore dignity and provide benefit to refugees as well as the communities hosting them. […]
As Asylum Access celebrates 10 years of making refugee rights a reality, we’re also looking ahead to the next decade. We’ll continue giving refugees the tools to assert their rights, so they can rebuild their lives. In the past year, we opened operations in 3 new countries — we now have a total 15 offices […]
URGENT: Affirm the Importance of Resettlement & Support for Syrian refugees! Background With the administration’s announcement to increase annual resettlement numbers to 85,000 in 2016 and 100,000 in 2017, it is critical that we support this increase and continue to call for an addition 100,000 Syrian refugees to be resettled. Take Action TODAY: We need […]
In our last newsletter, we shared Global Legal Services Director Amalia Greenberg Delgado’s reflections on Asylum Access’s ten years of growth. This time, Ben Lewis, a VLA alum who is currently the Advocacy Coordinator for International Detention Coalition, gives us his perspective: Every international lawyer’s career is filled with lucky breaks—opportunities to enter the field; working […]
“Being a refugee is […] a challenge to rise up, to rebuild my life and contribute to the betterment of society.” -Nondo Nobel Bwami, World Refugee Day Speech Asylum Access Tanzania (AATZ) Community Empowerment and Outreach Coordinator Nondo Nobel Bwami first came to Tanzania as a refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He […]
As a child growing up in rural Colombia, Maribel dreamt of becoming a nurse or a seamstress. She lived on a farm with her parents and siblings, but her childhood was far from idyllic. Barely into highschool, Maribel was forced to drop out and learn to sew to support her younger brothers’ education. At age […]