Asylum Access campaign on the right to work for refugees

Asylum Access is an American NGO campaigning, among others, for the right to work of refugees around the world.

Asylum Access provides legal aid  refugees each year to help them access their labor rights. Their problems include discrimination in the workplace, non-payment of salaries, and unlawful firing. Asylum Access helps refugees through non-judicial means, and when necessary help them file cases in court.

Asylum Access gives refugees information about their rights, training them about how to defend themselves against exploitation.

Changing the agenda

Asylum Access successfully urged the U.S. State Department to include information about refugees’ right to work in the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.

Working with other organizations, Asylum Access played a key role in promoting a new United Nations policy toward urban refugees that emphasizes their ability to access human rights, especially the right to earn a livelihood.

 Changing the law

Asylum Access helped enshrine refugee rights in the Ecuadorian constitution, providing a legal basis for refugees’ right to work. Asylum Access is working toward clearer interpretations of international human rights law that will remove any ambiguity about the right of refugees to work.