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Immigrant's Rights Coalition - The Current Realities of Female Genital Mutilation

In 1996, the Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA") granted asylum to Fausinga Kasinga, a woman who fled her native Togo to escape forced female genital mutilation ("FGM") and polygamous marriage. The case created the first precedent that gender-based persecution could serve as a basis for asylum. Since In re Kasinga, courts have opened various paths to asylum for women who have been or who fear being subjected to FGM. Recent decisions, however, have begun reversing many favorable holdings, limiting the protections available for claims based on FGM. Please join WCL's Immigrants' Rights Coalition in a discussion with legal practitioners and advocates who are working to expand protections for women and girls fleeing gender-based persecution. Topics to be discussed include 1) the history of U.S. gender-based asylum law; 2) the recent limiting FGM decisions and their implications for gender-based asylum claims more generally; and 3) advocacy efforts and strategies in light of these latest restrictive rulings.

Full post as published by Washington College of Law Podcasts on March 07, 2008 (boomark / email).