To provide safety, support and advocacy for all people who are driven to seek asylum, for any reason. Asylum seekers are people who, because of fear of persecution in their home countries, have crossed international borders in search of protection. No-one chooses to be an asylum seeker. ASST began in 1989 as the Auckland Refugee Council Incorporated (ARCI) as a result of seeing the plight of people who sought asylum, families who had escaped life-threatening danger and were desperate for a safe haven. They received no help or support while they waited to be granted refugee status. They had nowhere to go and no-one to speak for them. We saw this neglect, and through advocacy and support, offered them a chance for something better.