At the age of 17, Fauziya Kassindja fled Togo and sought asylum in the United States to avoid a forced marriage and female genital mutilation. Instead of finding protection, she spent more than 17 months in detention. Then-law student Layli Miller-Muro helped bring her case to the highest immigration court in the nation, and Fauziya was granted asylum in 1996 by the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals. The decision set national precedent and established gender-based persecution as grounds for asylum.
Tahirih’s Founder Involved in Landmark Asylum Victory
Latest News
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AAPI Heritage Month: Honoring the History and Achievements of the AAPI Immigrant Community
May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month – a time to recognize and celebrate the contributions, achievements, and rich cultural heritage of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community […]
May 31, 2023 -
U.S. National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence Promises Necessary Protections for Survivors
The Biden administration has presented the first-ever U.S. National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence: Strategies for Action, a long-awaited, comprehensive, whole-of-government plan that aims to address and prevent gender-based violence (GBV) in this country.
The Tahirih Justice Center celebrates this milestone which represents a promise to protect human rights and support safety and justice for survivors of sexual violence, intimate partner violence, stalking, child and forced marriage, and other forms of gender-based violence. This plan is the result of years of work by administration officials and stakeholders like Tahirih who convened listening sessions with the White House Gender Policy Council to share our collective knowledge informed by years of providing direct legal and social services to survivors.
May 26, 2023
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Survivor Voices
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Camila
“I hope my story is helpful to someone else…and can inspire many women to be stronger. We need to help young women identify toxic relationships, so that there are fewer Camilas that go through such difficult things, let alone have our children suffer.”
November 21, 2022 -
Brenda
When I was 15 years old, I left my parents’ home in Mexico. I was sexually abused by my stepfather, and I thought I would be safer moving out with […]
November 14, 2022
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