As we gather with loved ones in this season of light, millions of families are gathering under whatever shelter they can find, far from the place they call home.123 million people have been forced to flee by conflict, violence, and persecution—over half of them women and children—one in every 67 people on earth. By 2050, this number is expected to reach 1.2 billion*.
Against great odds and despite unthinkable loss, brave women lead the way forward, lifting their lanterns high with defiant hope, lighting the way through darkness.
Your donation to the Women’s Refugee Commission helps to protect and empower them and keeps those lanterns burning brightly.
We are immensely grateful for your contributions and hope we can rely on you to make a generous tax-deductible gift in support of WRC today.
For more than 35 years, the Women’s Refugee Commission has been guided by a simple vision: refugee women deserve the best chance at rebuilding their lives. They are also our best chance to build peace and security, and a better collective future for all. By listening to women and centering their voices, we have learned how best to support not only their survival but also their dreams.
We work to transform the humanitarian system so that it better responds to their needs and ensures their rights: tools for self-reliance and leadership; safety from violence; sexual and reproductive healthcare; equality, dignity, and justice.
But 2025 was an unprecedented retreat in humanitarian aid. Governments and institutions slashed funding for essential services and abandoned commitments. Because of your crucial support, when others stepped back, WRC stepped up:
- Delivering evidence and policy solutions directly to leading government and UN officials, holding systems accountable so women’s voices are heard in high-level decisions.
- Launching the first-ever Detention Pregnancy Tracker, working with US Congress, advocates, and legal services providers to expose and end ICE’s ongoing abuses of pregnant, postpartum, and nursing women.
- Elevating women’s testimonies from crises including Gaza, Sudan, Honduras, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, ensuring their voices drive global humanitarian response.
We cannot and will not let harm happen to women in the dark. By working in collaboration with local women leaders, international organizations, the United Nations, and donors, we are gathering evidence and tracking threats—so that women, girls, and young people are at the forefront of awareness and action, and the most vulnerable are not left behind.
Through on-the-ground partnerships and locally-led research and reporting from Sudan, Honduras, Mexico, Guatemala, Gaza, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, WRC shares the testimonies of women and girls, illuminating how despite being overburdened and under siege, these bright, resilient leaders are doing all they can to protect and provide for their families and communities.
In the United States, the administration has directed ICE to prioritize arrests while shrinking budgets for care of detainees. Physical, psychological, and sexual abuse goes unmonitored and unreported as oversight capabilities are shuttered. As Zain Lakhani, WRC Director of Migrant Rights and Justice, told Wired magazine, “Immigration detention has become a black box of impunity.”
WRC is documenting the escalating harms and appalling conditions inflicted on detained immigrant women with our first-ever Detention Pregnancy Tracker. We also continue to file Freedom of Information requests to advance efforts to end this cruel practice and ensure they can have the safe and healthy pregnancies all women deserve.
All of this urgent work around the world, and our ability to act independently, and with integrity and innovation depends on you. We deeply appreciate your vital support and partnership.
This season, we look to the millions of women we serve as beacons of courage and care—burning brightly at makeshift cradles in tent camps, in holding cells and crowded cages, and on the frontlines of humanitarian action and advocacy.
Your compassion fuels their light. Please give generously.
With warm holiday wishes and heartfelt appreciation,
Sarah Costa Alexandra Arriaga Ivonne Dersch
Executive Director Board Co-Chair Board Co-Chair
* United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Institute for Economics and Peace
