Honorable Mentions and Quarterly Highlights
- 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. The statement was streamed live from the UN Web TV on July 19, and is available for viewing here (1:47:20).
- Prior to the UNHCR Annual Consultations with NGOs in Geneva, Asylum Access and the University of York held a Refugee Rights Leadership Training for refugee response practitioners. Read about the training here.
- ED Emily Arnold Fernandez’s article, “The Problem With The Impact Genome Project,” published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, calls into question whether initiatives like the Impact Genome Project can accurately predict programs that yield policy change. Read the article.
- Global Policy Director Jessica Therkelsen and Global Legal Services Associate Director Amalia Greenberg Delgado participated in “Refugee Protection Outside of the International Legal Framework: Expanding Cross-National and Cross-Disciplinary Collaborations”, an international workshop organized by the Center for Forced Migration Studies that engages researchers, practitioners and policy makers from around the world.
- AAE and 23 other civil society organizations published, “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.” The report is currently only available in Spanish, however, an English translation of the Executive Summary is available here.
- ED Emily Arnold-Fernandez participated alongside Cindy McCain and other topic experts in a working session on Transitional Justice in Post-Conflict Societies at Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U).
- In an interview with Al Jazeera, Global Policy Director Jessica Therkelsen responded to concerns about increases in number of refugees and asylum seekers globally. Watch the interview.
- Asylum Access alumnus Daniel Berlin successfully completed a 500 km journey from Zimbabwe to South Africa, following the route taken by thousands of refugees and asylum seekers and raising $3,376 for the refugee rights movement.
- Asylum Access and Bar Council of Malaysia hosted a training on international refugee law led by Professor James C. Hathaway in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
- The Asylum Access global policy team met with UN delegates from around the world at the 58th meeting of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York.
- AAE Community Legal Advocate Luz Mery was invited to participate in this year’s UNHCR Annual Consultations with NGOs along with several other refugee women from around the world.
- Asylum Access Global Policy Director Jessica Therkelsen presented on the right to work in Ecuador at the American Bar Association 2014 Spring Meeting in New York.
- Legal Services Coordinator Mwajabu Khalid represented AATZ at a three-day seminar organized by the Tanzania Network of Legal Aid Providers on Alternative Dispute Resolution where the Tanzania People with Disability Act was under review.
- AATZ’s legal advocates helped a client win a case after being falsely accused of rape and sent to prison for a period of no less than 30 years. The case was transferred to the High Court of Tanzania and, with the help and persistence of AATZ’s legal advocates, our client was acquitted.
- AAT Legal Services Coordinator Chantal Hudson and VLA Jessica Marsh went to Bangkok Immigration Detention Center with a group of newly arrived AYAD volunteers to show them the reality of refugees in Bangkok. Apart from promoting awareness, the visit allowed detained family members to meet (since male and female are separated).
- AATZ Strategic Litigation Coordinator Erick Rutaihwa’s Op-Ed, “Why we need an urban refugee policy in Tanzania”, published in a local Tanzanian paper, the Guardian, describes life in a refugee camp and discusses the importance of allowing refugees to live outside the camps.
