About us
The Council uses the power of people and the law to advance the rights of displaced communities across the world. We unite and support our members to use coordinated strategic litigation and legal advocacy to change the narrative and change lives.
Every day, people across the world are forced to flee their homes due to war, persecution and the adverse effects of climate change. They are then pushed back at borders; denied the right to work; separated from their families and subjected to further discrimination. This situation persists despite laws existing to uphold their access to basic rights.
The Council was founded in 2021 by 28 organizations, predominantly from the Global South, to unite actors to close the troubling gap between the promises of rights protection and the practices of rights denial. The Council is governed by a Steering Committee comprised of leaders of refugee-led social movements, litigators and academics from every region of the world.
Today, the Council unites and supports a growing global coalition of over 550 refugee and migrant leaders, NGOs, lawyers, academics and advocates. Centring migrant and refugee communities, we support our members’ efforts to secure access to justice through coordinated strategic litigation and advocacy.
With five regional networks spanning the globe, the Council drives impactful change by building strong regional communities fighting with and for displaced communities. We support members with high-impact legal cases and advocacy, strategy development to drive cross-border change, and global training and resources to empower them to tackle present and future challenges.
To date, the Council’s strategic legal work has positively impacted the lives of over 400,000 displaced people. Together, we use our collective power to work towards a world where all forcibly displaced people can rebuild their lives in dignity and in safety.
Our team
Meet our multidisciplinary global team who run the Council.
Our regional staff are embedded in local member organizations to ensure they are connected to issues on the ground.
Legal
Director
Bella Mosselmans
Regional Litigator for Africa
Maureen Okoth
Regional Litigator for South Asia
Nandini Shinde
Regional Litigator for Central America and Mexico
Silvia Serna Román
Operational
Communications and Fundraising Lead
Laura Karan
Student Assistant
Geoffrey Borabien
Student Assistant
Jens Jaanimägi
Student Assistant
Shruti Kulkarni
Meet our Steering Committee who govern the work of the Council and help shape its strategy.
This Committee is comprised of leaders of refugee-led social movements, litigators and academics from every region of the world.
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Asylum Access
Ian Kysel
Cornell Law School
Rachel Levitan
HIAS
John Mwariri
Kituo Cha Sheria
Roshni Shanker
Migration & Asylum Project
Lublanc Prieto
Refugiados Unidos
Alex Aleinikoff
Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility
Our membership
Our membership is a growing coalition of over 550 migrant and refugee leaders, organizations and advocates, working to advance the rights of displaced communities across the world through strategic legal and advocacy work.
