Bangkok, 21 January 2013 — Increasing numbers of asylum seekers are arriving in Bangkok each year. It is currently home to more than 1,000 registered refugees and 1,037 asylum seekers, according to statistics from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).  In the past year, Jesuit Refugee Service’s Urban Refugee Programme (URP) served more than five hundred refugees and asylum seekers from Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and other African countries, providing legal aid, psychosocial counselling, and material assistance. In total, JRS AP serves more than 200,000 refugees and asylum seekers in camps, urban settings and detention centres.