For Immediate Release

February 2, 2004

Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security considers Major Decision to Grant Fair and Equal Treatment to Women Applying for Asylum Protection

Harvard Law School Immigration and Refugee Clinic at Greater Boston Legal Services To File Brief endorsed by over a hundred individuals and organizations from around the country

             The Harvard Law School Immigration and Refugee Clinic at Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) is filing this week an historic amicus curiae brief, asking the Attorney General and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to treat women refugees seeking asylum protection fairly, and consistently with its own rules and precedents.  The Clinic is submitting the brief in the case of Rodi Alvarado, a woman who is facing deportation back to Guatemala after suffering ten years of brutal human rights violations by her husband.  Alvarado suffered beatings, rapes, and attempts to force her to have an abortion -- from all of which the Guatemalan government failed and refused to protect her.  The brief, written on behalf of a diverse groups of scholars, law professors and organizations from across a broad affiliational spectrum, maintains that both the violence and Guatemalan government’s failure to protect is grounded in Ms. Alvarado’s gender, and her status as a married woman.

            The brief asks the Attorney General and DHS to grant asylum protection, citing established principles of U.S. and international law.  Four years ago the DHS (then Immigration and Naturalization Service) issued proposed regulations recognizing that women could obtain this basic human rights protection, including in cases of violence in the home, when they suffer discrimination because they are women.  Twenty years ago, the brief points out, the Justice Department came to the same basic conclusion  - that discrimination based on status, including “sex” could be the basis for asylum protection.  “Our brief asks the U.S. government now to stand by this position – not to backtrack,” commented Deborah Anker, Director of the Clinic. 

            The Harvard Clinic and Greater Boston Legal Services’ Women’s Refugee Project were responsible for the first steps forward for women asylum seekers in the U.S., drafting historic gender guidelines adopted by the U.S. government in 1995.  “The United States must maintain its position and leadership in this area, and the Department of Homeland Security has an opportunity to show that it takes seriously the “protection” part of its mission,” commented Nancy Kelly, a Harvard Clinic supervisor, and Managing attorney at GBLS.  “Our refugee law will be consistent with those of our major international friends and partners, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the U.K. ---  all of which have incorporated the principles now to be found in the U.S.’ own guidelines: that asylum can be granted in cases of family abuse and most fundamentally that, as the U.S. Guidelines state, ‘women’s rights are human rights and women’s rights are universal.’”

            The organizations that have signed on to the brief range from prominent religious organizations such as Jesuit Refugee Services and the United States Catholic Conference, to dozens of national and local U.S. human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Now (formerly Lawyers Committee for Human Rights).  A coalition of organizations assisting women survivors of family violence also is party to the brief.  Many law school clinics and prominent law professors, also have endorsed the brief.     

For further information, contact:

Deborah Anker (danker@law.harvard.edu), (617) 584-2974

Nancy Kelly  (617) 603-1808