Transforming the system so it works for everyone.
GLOBAL SYSTEMS CHANGE
Asylum Access works to transform the global system of displacement response so it prioritizes refugees’ human rights and recognizes their power.
Refugees have already been forcibly displaced from their homelands against their will. Wherever they seek refuge, they should be allowed and supported to rebuild their lives in ways they choose.
But the global response to refugees continues to prioritize stopgap measures designed by outsiders — instead of dismantling the barriers that keep refugees from designing and achieving their own solutions.
Asylum Access believes two key changes are needed:
1. Refugees must enjoy foundational human rights. When national laws and state practices keep refugees from living safely, working under fair conditions, attending school and accessing healthcare, aid-based approaches are insufficient.
Instead, institutions of power must prioritize improvements in the laws and practices of all nations that are home to refugees. This means leveraging their own power to promote and encourage such improvements from the outside, and supporting those best equipped to advocate on the inside: Local civil society actors, including both host community- and refugee-led organizations.
2. Refugees must design and lead solutions. Refugee communities know what they need to thrive — but refugee-led organizations are routinely denied resources and access to decision-making spaces.
Instead, refugees should be at the center of displacement response, as decisionmakers and designers. When refugees have a leadership role in displacement response, it is more likely to be legitimate, accountable, transparent and impactful.
We advocate for these changes by:
- Engaging directly with institutions of power such as UNHCR, World Bank and governments with global influence. Read our advocacy publications.
- Creating opportunities for local civil society to learn and share knowledge, tools, resources and positioning that equip them to advocate for refugees’ human rights in their own countries and in global spaces. Learn more about our collaboration with other civil society organizations.
- Demanding and supporting the inclusion of refugee-led organizations in displacement response decisionmaking and resource allocation. Learn more about our commitment to refugee leadership.
Let’s change the system together
If you or your organization would like to join the movement to push for transformational change in refugee response, check out our Partner With Us page or Contact Us.