• Asylum Access participated in Opportunity Collaboration in Ixtapa, Mexico, asking activists and investors dedicated to ending poverty to ensure their programs do not exclude refugees.
• Asylum Access Executive Director was honored as an Edna Award Winner of Note by the Berger-Marks Foundation and received the 2011 Jack Berman Award from the California Young Lawyers Association.
• Asylum Access Ecuador hosted a training workshop for 6 Community Legal Advocates, refugees who are providing basic legal assistance and organizing in their communities.
• Asylum Access Ecuador Legal Services Director Cristina Ponce won a legal case on behalf of a survivor of sexual violence from Colombia.
• Asylum Access Ecuador had a productive session with the Ministry of Interior presenting alternatives to detention, with more dialogue forth-coming.
• Asylum Access Thailand invited an expert from the Cairo Community Interpreter Project (CCIP) at the American University of Cairo to offer professional refugee interpreter training in Thailand. CCIP Director Alice Johnson delivered two 30-hour training workshops to 39 interpreters from Asylum Access Thailand and other NGOs in September.
• Asylum Access Thailand Country Director Medhapan Sundaradeja recently met with regional partners at the 3rd Asian Refugee Legal Aid Network (ARLAN) meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia to discuss future cooperation possibilities.
• Asylum Access Thailand hosted visitors from the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, who were impressed by the stories of our refugee clients and VLAs.
• Asylum Access Tanzania helped produce protocols for working with Survivors of Gender Based Violence and Violence against Children for use by social workers, health workers and the police.
• Asylum Access Tanzania met with UNHCR’s Senior Protection Officer to discuss trends in refugee protection in Tanzania earlier this year. Watch for a report on Tanzania’s urban refugees coming soon!

 

Ecuador:

Figures: Assisted a total of 745 refugees directly, providing 187 with individualized legal assistance, 504 with community legal education and reaching another 54 through our Community Legal Advisors.

Highlights: Our refugee volunteer Community Legal Advocates held a total of 29 refugee rights and gender-based violence workshops in the provinces, bringing critical information to 834 refugees and NGO staff.

Tanzania:

Figures: Provided individualized legal assistance to 97 refugees and asylum seekers in the last quarter.

Highlights: Asylum Access Tanzania with UNHCR’s Senior Protection Officer to discuss trends in refugee protection in Tanzania earlier this year. Watch for a report on Tanzania’s urban refugees coming soon.

Thailand:

Figures: Provided individualized refugee assistance to a total of 97 refugees in the last quarter.

Highlights: Asylum Access Thailand successfully advocated for the release of 96 Pakistani refugees and asylum-seekers together with partner NGOs, the first mass release in the country’s history.