Asylum Access Latin America

Asylum Access was founded on September 27, 2005. From our inception, we have engaged in advocacy at a global level that aims to transform the human rights landscape for refugees in first countries of refuge. Our initial advocacy targeted problems in UN-run refugee status determination proceedings that decide the fate of nearly 100,000 refugees in more than 50 countries worldwide, drawing on the direct, on-the-ground experience of our founding staff and board members who had provided legal assistance to refugees navigating these proceedings in Egypt, Uganda, Turkey, Ecuador and elsewhere.

We launched our first overseas pilot project – a Community Legal Empowerment initiative that trained refugees to provide basic legal advice and advocacy within their own communities – in January 2007 in partnership with the University of Capetown’s refugee legal aid clinic in Capetown, South Africa. In October 2007, we opened our doors in Quito, Ecuador and Bangkok, Thailand.