Event calls attention to incredible courage of Tahirih’s clients and of women and girls around the world facing violence and oppression.

The United States has just begun to take notice of the problem of forced marriage domestically; however, there is very little shared understanding among non-profits and government agencies of the problem’s full dimensions, nor any coordinated effort to envision strategies and solutions.

The court decision reflects a critical course-correction from earlier decisions by both the judge and the nation’s highest immigration court that held asylum claims by women who have suffered FGM to a higher legal standard than claims by other asylum applicants.

Every day, girls as young as eight or nine are forced to marry men who are often decades older. If we do nothing, an estimated 142 million girls will be married as children by the end of this decade.

This powerful article highlights the plight of several Tahirih clients who have suffered female genital mutilation and whose lives continue to be affected by the violence they have suffered.

She wisecracks like a sassy college kid and teases her lawyer like an older sister. She delivers speeches without notes and tosses off legal phrases without hesitation.