Asylum Access

Asylum Access supports forcibly displaced individuals and communities as they reclaim their rights, agency and power. We use a combination of legal aid, community legal empowerment, and policy advocacy to work to dismantle decades of colonialism, fight for self-representation, and build intersectional coalitions to demand human rights for all forcibly displaced people.

Through our legal empowerment, policy change and global systems change programs, Asylum Access advocates for a world where refugees everywhere can live safely, move freely, work, feed their families, send children to school and contribute to their communities.

Legal Empowerment: As human rights advocates, we know the power of the law, which is why we have developed a legal empowerment program that helps refugee individuals, families and communities to understand, use and shape the law. All our legal services are provided at no cost.

Policy Change: And when current laws are not protecting and empowering refugee families, they must be changed. Through our policy change program, we challenge oppressive laws and help draft new laws that work for everyone.
Global Systems Change: To ensure all refugees can meaningfully rebuild their lives wherever they find themselves, we must find new solutions and create a new response. Through our global systems change program, we are advocating for a refugee response system that prioritizes refugees’ human rights and recognizes their power.

OUR GLOBAL APPROACH
Asylum Access is the only global organization dedicated specifically to advancing refugees’ human rights.

OUR LEADERSHIP
We are a family of national organizations in Mexico, Thailand and Malaysia. Our local organizations are led and staffed by nationals and refugees in these countries. There is a strong mutual trust and respect between us and our clients.

OUR FOCUS
On the international stage, we work with established institutions to shift the global system to better uphold and promote refugees’ human rights. We can help catalyze and lead systemic transformation because, uniquely among NGOs in the refugee response sector, we focus exclusively on rights and governance.

OUR EXPERIENCE
Our field experience using legal empowerment and policy change to turn rights into reality provides us with the credibility and expertise to offer pragmatic, effective solutions.

We've reached thousands of refugees with direct legal aid or community empowerment programs, and have helped changed policies that effect over 2 million refugees.

For example, Asylum Access sustained advocacy has helped lead to the following policy changes:

Ending Child Detention in Mexico (2020)
After years of advocacy by Asylum Access Mexico and our civil society partners, the Mexican Congress unanimously approves closing a legal loophole that continued to permit the detention of migrant and refugee children.

New Refugee Legal System in Thailand (2019/2020)
Through our sustained engagement with the Thai government, Thailand is expected to finalize its new refugee legal status system. For the first time, thousands of refugees currently considered undocumented migrants will have legal status in Thailand.

Ending Child Detention in Thailand (2019)
Through our sustained advocacy, including engagement with the government, use of the UN Universal Periodic Review process, strategic litigation, and coalition building, the Thai government officially agreed to end the detention of refugee children in January 2019.

Ecuador Enshrines Refugee Work Rights in its National Constitution (2008)
Asylum Access brought a group of refugees to speak with legislators drafting Ecuador’s 2008 Constitution, sharing the importance of access to work. Ecuador’s constitution now includes equal work rights for refugees and nationals, enabling equitable labor market access.

Malaysian Government Rescues 7,000 Rohingya Refugees Stranded at Sea (2014)
Asylum Access Malaysia met with MPs and urged Malaysian parliament to allow abandoned boats carrying Rohingya refugees to dock on Malaysian soil. If they had not been allowed to dock, the 7,000 refugees would have perished at sea.

Constitutional Court in Guatemala Blocks “Safe Third Country” Agreement with US (2019)
The Constitutional Court in Guatemala cited a document submitted by Asylum Access Mexico in its decision to block the ‘safe third country’ agreement with the US without prior congressional approval. Asylum Access and several partner human rights NGOs submitted a technical note stating that Guatemala does not have the capacity to ensure that refugees can obtain sufficient protection in Guatemala.