International Refugee Assistance Project Inc

IRAP envisions a world where refugees and all people seeking safety have a set of affirmative, vested rights and protections that guarantee them a safe way to get to a safe place to live permanently. Our vision of safety goes beyond freedom from physical danger: it includes protection from psychological and emotional harm, reunification with family, and the freedom to lead a fulfilling life. Under our vision, borders will no longer be the oppressive, violent transitional spaces that they are today for many people seeking safety.

IRAP further envisions a world where global justice prevails. Today, the vast majority of people seeking safety live in temporary conditions in countries that are economically and politically marginalized. But it is often the actions of the wealthier and more powerful nations, unleashing forces such as colonialism, military conflict, and environmental degradation, that have directly caused displacement, and they are the ones with more capacity to provide permanent refuge to people seeking safety. These wealthier and more powerful nations have the moral obligation to live up to their responsibility to provide refuge.

1. Strengthen and grow IRAP’s immigration-related legal services and advocacy to open new pathways to safety, protect and improve existing pathways to safety, and secure pathways to safety for particularly marginalized displaced people.

2. Build organizational sustainability and health in support of our mission and desired impact.

3. Ensure Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) informs all aspects of our organization’s internal and external work. Our commitment to DEIA both stands as its own strategic priority and shapes all other internal and external priorities, goals, and strategies.

IRAP deploys an in-person and remote legal aid and advocacy model with a staff of 125 attorneys, caseworkers, and other professionals in offices in the U.S., Lebanon, Jordan, and Germany. We have built a network of more than 6,300 pro bono attorneys and law student volunteers advocating for displaced people's rights.

IRAP is a global leader in advocating for displaced people and defending refugees rights. Since our establishment in 2010, IRAP has: 
-Provided free legal aid to more than 40,000 individuals from over 100 countries. 
-Achieved litigation victories benefiting, and standing to benefit, more than 494,000 people and their families.
-Engaged in policy advocacy that has protected and expanded pathways to safety in the United States for approximately 423,000 people.
-Reached more than 259,000 people through our self-help legal information website in eight languages.
-Connected with more than 30,000 people seeking information about pathways to safety through our chatbot.

In the fall of 2021, IRAP launched a six-year growth project with the support of multi-year funding through The Audacious Project to serve 2.5 million forced migrants worldwide by 2027 and strengthen refugee-led and local partner organizations around the globe. With forced migration rising, IRAP's scale-up will comprise building out the world's most robust and accessible virtual legal information platform for displaced people, investing significant resources into capacity-building for frontline partners, and extending our presence, partnerships, and systemic change work throughout the world.