International Refugee Assistance Project

The International Refugee Assistance Project ("IRAP") is the first organization to provide free and comprehensive legal representation to refugees through the registration, protection, and resettlement processes. We are a dynamic and growing legal, policy, and advocacy organization that works to develop and enforce a system of legal and human rights for refugees and displaced persons around the world. IRAP operates offices in New York, Jordan, and Lebanon. Our legal services are supplemented by a corps of pro bono lawyers from leading U.S. and international law firms and multi-national corporations, and law students who have created IRAP chapters at 29 universities in the United States and Canada. IRAP believes in action, accountability, innovation, and candor. We are nimble, collaborative, and nonpartisan, and believe in the power of individuals to change their own circumstances. IRAP was founded in 2008 by a group of law students with a vision to change the status quo of global refugee processing to assist the most vulnerable refugees. IRAP has grown tremendously over the past year and is currently in the process of spinning off from our umbrella sponsor, the Urban Justice Center, and becoming an independent 501(c)(3) organization. As part of this, we are preparing to engage in a strategic planning process to address the global shift in attitudes toward migrants and refugees, including piloting programming in Europe and North Africa, opening an in-house litigation department, and engaging in creative advocacy strategies to continue to highlight the plight of our clients in an increasingly saturated news environment.