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Women’s Commission Honors Those Working to Change Asylum and Detention in the United States

The Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children will honor two asylees and two organizations who are working to protect the rights of asylum seekers in the United States at its May 15 Voices of Courage Awards luncheon. Emmy- and Tony-award winning actress Stockard Channing will host the event.

Gaining access to the U.S asylum system is more difficult now than perhaps ever before, and the treatment of those asylum seekers who do make it to the United States to present their claims continues to deteriorate. The Women’s Commission is presenting awards to those who are working to ensure that the rights of asylum seekers, particularly women and children, are respected, that these newcomers are not unnecessarily detained, and that they have a full opportunity to obtain refugee protection.

The awardees include Edwin Munoz, a 16-year-old who was held in INS detention for more than six months; Aster Kidane, an asylee who fled war in Ethiopia and now advocates for asylum seekers detained in the New York area; Latham & Watkins, a leading law firm that specializes in pro bono representation of unaccompanied refugee children; and The Miami Herald, which has consistently highlighted asylum and detention-related concerns.

“The United States has a rich history of opening its doors to those trying to escape tyranny in search of freedom and justice,” says Wendy Young, Director of U.S. Programs at the Women’s Commission. “But increasingly, our asylum system is becoming punitive, abusing those who have come to us for help.”

Women and children seeking safe haven in the United States are often subject to prolonged and arbitrary detention in inhumane and degrading conditions. Cut off from the outside world, they struggle to present their asylum claims, which are often based on rights violations, including rape, sexual exploitation, trafficking, female genital mutilation and forced early marriages.

Every year, 5,000 unaccompanied refugee children are held in INS detention in the United States, many times in juvenile jails. Women asylum seekers are at risk of abuse and neglect in detention. The Women’s Commission in 2000 documented widespread sexual, physical, emotional and verbal abuse of women by immigration officers in INS detention.

New challenges have arisen since September 11, 2001. Refugee and asylum policy has become enmeshed in the debate on national security and the fight against terrorism; tensions between legitimate concerns about public safety and the adherence to our national tradition of welcoming newcomers to our shores have resulted in even more restrictions for asylum seekers.

“The United States has historically been a leader in refugee protection, a tradition which defines us as a nation and makes us unique,” says Young. “Our security concerns, however valid, should not come at the expense of refugees and legitimate asylum seekers who are looking to the United States for protection from persecution. It is vital that we not turn our back on those who—like our predecessors more than two hundred years ago—came to this country in search of freedom and justice. Too often, however, we seem to be doing just that.”

• Click here to read more about the 2003 awardees.