Asma Rassem

Asma Rassem was most recently a Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellow at the Friends Committee on National Legislation Education Fund. She gathered research for the Prevention and Protection Working Group, a coalition of nongovernmental organizations in Washington, DC, that are focused on shifting US foreign policy away from conflict and towards peacebuilding. In this role, she focused on peacebuilding missions in Myanmar/Burma, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Kashmir, Colombia, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Yemen, Ethiopia, and Somalia.

A native of Hodeidah, Yemen, Asma came to the United States in 2014 and served as a young ambassador for Yemen in Colorado through the US Department of State Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange & Study Abroad exchange program. In 2016, she participated in multiple peacebuilding and intercultural conflict resolution workshops through the Community College Initiative Scholarship Program.

Asma graduated summa cum laude from Virginia Commonwealth University with a bachelor’s degree in international studies and a minor in Arabic & Middle Eastern studies and religious studies. As an intern with UNRWA USA, she conducted research for the first nationwide virtual Gaza-5k, which raised money to provide mental health support for Palestinian refugees in Gaza and those who were affected by the Lebanon explosion of 2020. As a master of global affairs student, Asma is the recipient of a Kroc Institute Fellowship.