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Promoting Justice 2004 & 2005 ANNUAL REPORT for Women & Girls
Worldwide C1 F 04/05_TJC_AnRptCVR.qxd 9/19/06 11:09 AM Page C2
“The world of humanity is possessed of two wings: the male and the female. So long as these two wings are not equivalent in strength, the bird will not fly.” Bahá’í Writings
THE MISSION OF THE TAHIRIH JUSTICE CENTER IS TO ENABLE WOMEN AND GIRLS FLEEING GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE TO ACCESS JUSTICE. The Tahirih Justice Center is a nationally recognized Washington, DC area-based organization that enables women and girls fleeing gender-based violence to access justice in the United States through high-quality pro bono legal services and bridge- building public policy advocacy. Through its programs, the Tahirih Justice Center protects immigrant women and girls seeking justice in the United States from gender-based violence such as female genital cutting, torture, rape, trafficking, honor crimes, forced marriage, and domestic violence. Tahirih embraces a holistic approach, providing a range of medical and social service referrals in addition to the legal services provided by Tahirih’s staff and network of pro bono attorneys. Tahirih’s public policy advocacy is directly informed by client needs and is designed to create systemic change to ensure that immigrant women and girls receive long-term protection from violence.
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Dear Friends, INSIDE:
With your crucial support, the Tahirih Justice Center continues in its ninth year to ABOUT THE TAHIRIH JUSTICE CENTER ...... 2
provide life-saving legal protection for women and girls from around the world who OUR PROGRAMS ...... 6 are fleeing human rights abuses. We vigilantly pursue legislative opportunities to protect the legal status of our clients and quickly mobilize on their behalf to ensure UNDERSTANDING THE CHALLENGES TAHIRIH’S CLIENTS FACE ...... 8 their access to legal, social, and medical services. The past two years were banner years for the Tahirih Justice Center, and this report highlights some of our victories. WORKING IN CONGRESS TO PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF IMMIGRANT WOMEN AND GIRLS.18 Of particular note is the national prominence of our public policy advocacy efforts. TAHIRIH’S OUTREACH AND MEDIA...... 21 Through the persistent advocacy for, and ultimate passage of, the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act, the Tahirih Justice Center found itself on the national WORKPLACE THAT EMBODIES stage and in media outlets such as Newsweek, NBC Nightly News, Fox News, and TAHIRIH’S VALUES...... 22 The Washington Post advocating for the protection of “mail-order brides.” Our TAHIRIH IS SUPPORTED BY AN non-partisan approach and unique perspectives rooted in the daily experiences of our ACTIVE BOARD ...... 23 clients have earned Tahirih credibility and trust among lawmakers and colleague TAHIRIH’S SPECIAL EVENTS AND BENEFITS....24 organizations. OUR 2004 & 2005 SUPPORTERS ...... 26 During 2004 and 2005 combined, Tahirih witnessed the stunning more than quadrupling TAHIRIH’S PRO BONO LEGAL SERVICES ...... 28 of new cases as compared to 2003. We accomplished this not by hiring more attorneys, but by more than doubling our cadre of pro bono lawyers from prominent Washington, STAFF,BOARD OF DIRECTORS, DC firms and by bringing on additional paralegal and social worker support to increase BOARD OF ADVISORS, PERMANENT MEMBERS ...... INSIDE BACK COVER the efficiency of our legal team. As a result of these strategic efforts, we have dramatically increased the number of women and girls we protect. 2004 & 2005 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS ...... POCKET ENCLOSURES Finally, we have made institutional improvements that have increased staff productivity and job satisfaction. These changes include providing additional benefits for staff, making our workplace more family-friendly by supporting the efforts of parents to balance their work and family life, overhauling our technology infrastructure, upgrading computers, and increasing professional development opportunities. Through these efforts, Tahirih seeks to live its values and enable its staff to work in a supportive environment as they dedicate themselves to the women they serve. We hope that in these pages you will feel the impact of our progress and the urgent needs of our clients. There is so much to be done to increase Tahirih’s capacity to respond to the overwhelming numbers of requests for assistance we receive. With your continued support, we look to the future with great optimism and hope for our increased capacity to provide justice for the women and girls we serve.
Warm regards,
LAYLI MILLER-MURO LESLIE NICKEL Executive Director Board Chair
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BOUT She would discuss theology A from behind a black curtain THE TAHIRIH with top Mullahs from USTICE throughout Persia who J would come to hear her CENTER views. She defied social mores and distinguished herself as a renowned poet TAHIRIH and religious scholar. Tahirih (Tah-heh-ray) is A revered heroine in the a renowned figure in Bahá’í Faith, Tahirih was Middle Eastern one of the first disciples of history—an exemplar The Bab, who foretold the of women’s strength in coming of Baha’u’llah, the mid-19th century Persia The Conference of Badasht, depicting Tahirih, prophet founder of the by Ivan Lloyd. during a time and place Bahá’í Faith. Tahirih became when most women the first woman in recorded were kept illiterate and hidden from the Middle Eastern history to discard her veil public sphere. The daughter of a Mullah, in public, proclaiming the dawn of a new Tahirih was a child prodigy and by the age as she did so. Her unveiling in front of age of 13 had memorized the Quran. an assemblage of men gathered at a conference to discuss the Bahá’í Faith’s independence from Islam symbolized a dramatic departure from traditions of the past and unambiguously affirmed the Bahá’í principle of the equality of men and women. The conference where her unveiling took place, in 1848, was held just two weeks before another momentous event in women’s rights history—the Seneca Falls Conference in New York, considered the birth of the women’s rights movement in the United States. Tahirih was executed for her beliefs at the age of 34. As the hour of her death approached, “The appearance of such a woman as she turned to her executioner and declared, “You can kill me as soon as you Tahirih in any country and in any age is a like, but you cannot stop the emancipation rare phenomenon, but in such a country as of women.” Iran it is a prodigy—nay, almost a miracle. Alike in virtue of her marvelous beauty, her rare intellectual gifts, her fervid eloquence, her fearless devotion, and her glorious martyrdom, she stands incomparable and immortal amidst her countrywomen.” Professor E.G. Browne, Cambridge University, 1927
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SAVING THE LIVES OF WOMEN AND GIRLS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD CLIENT DISTRIBUTION Since opening its doors in 1997, through 2004 2005 direct services and referrals, Tahirih has assisted more than 4,500 women and NORTH AMERICA NORTH AMERICA children. Tahirih’s clients are fleeing abuses 4% 2% such as female genital cutting, torture, EUROPE SUB- EUROPE SUB- rape, trafficking, honor crimes, widow MIDDLE 16% SAHARAN MIDDLE 11% SAHARAN rituals, forced marriage, and domestic EAST AFRICA EAST AFRICA violence. In 2004 and 2005, respectively, AND 44% AND 32% Tahirih served 978 and 1,074 women and NORTH NORTH children, which was more each year than AFRICA AFRICA 18% 16% CENTRAL & the year before. Even as we handle an SOUTH AMERICA unprecedented number of cases, Tahirih 29% ASIA ASIA continues to maintain a 98 percent 9% 10% success record and has never had a client CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA deported. 9%
2004 & 2005 Countries of Origin of Tahirih Justice Center Clients
SUB-SAHARAN ASIA GUATEMALA MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA CHINA GUYANA NORTH AFRICA ALGERIA BANGLADESH HONDURAS AFGHANISTAN CAMEROON PAKISTAN PANAMA EGYPT CONGO INDIA PERU IRAN COTE D’IVOIRE INDONESIA ST.KITTS AND NEVIS IRAQ ERITREA JAPAN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO LEBANON ETHIOPIA MONGOLIA MOROCCO GABON PHILIPPINES EUROPE SYRIA GAMBIA PAKISTAN ARMENIA TUNISIA GHANA SOUTH KOREA BOSNIA & TURKEY GUINEA HERZEGOVINA YEMEN KENYA CENTRAL and FRANCE MALI SOUTH AMERICA GERMANY NORTH AMERICA NIGERIA ARGENTINA POLAND MEXICO SENEGAL BARBADOS RUSSIA SIERRA LEONE BOLIVIA SERBIA SOMALIA BRAZIL SPAIN SOUTH AFRICA COLOMBIA SWEDEN SUDAN COSTA RICA UKRAINE TANZANIA ECUADOR TOGO EL SALVADOR UGANDA ZAMBIA
ABOUT THE TAHIRIH JUSTICE CENTER
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HISTORY AN UNUSUAL APPROACH— Layli Miller-Muro founded the Tahirih BALANCING HOLISTIC DIRECT Justice Center in 1997, following a well- SERVICES AND PUBLIC POLICY publicized asylum case in which she was ADVOCACY involved as a student attorney at American University. The case was that of Fauziya While many organizations focus on either Kassindja, a 17-year-old girl who fled Togo direct services or public policy advocacy, in fear of a forced polygamous marriage Tahirih is an organization that unusually and a tribal practice known as female engages in both, providing a critical bridge genital cutting. After arriving in the United between grassroots and advocacy States and spending more than 17 months organizations. In fact, according to a in detention, Ms. Kassindja was granted survey conducted by the Tahirih Justice asylum on appeal. Her case made legal Center in 2005, it is the only direct legal history and established national services organization in the Washington, precedent, enabling women to DC area with registered lobbyists on staff. receive asylum on the basis of Through an annual strategic planning process, Tahirih regularly assesses the Layli Miller-Muro gender-based persecution. Ms. and Fauziya Miller-Muro’s portion of the needs of its clients and designs its public Kassindja. proceeds from the book she co- policy advocacy around their most authored with Ms. Kassindja, Do pressing concerns. Tahirih’s intimate They Hear You When You Cry? understanding of the abuse suffered by (Delacorte Press, 1998), was used immigrant women who use our direct to create the Tahirih Justice Center. legal services provides unique insights that enable the design and execution of effective campaigns for systemic change. Through partnerships with prominent national organizations and participation in numerous national and regional coalitions, Tahirih raises the voices of immigrant women and girls and brings a critical grassroots perspective to advocacy.
TAHIRIH JUSTICE CENTER PROGRAMS: A HOLISTIC APPROACH
LEGAL REPRESENTATION
HOLISTIC PUBLIC POLICY SERVICES ADVOCACY
OUTREACH AND EDUCATION
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TERESA’S STORY: A photograph HELP TAHIRIH PROTECT WOMEN of Teresa taken shortly before BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE she died. Thirty years ago, a World Bank official brought Teresa to the United States to work as a nanny and housekeeper for his family. Although she entered the country as a legal immigrant and expected to work for pay in a supportive home, she never received a penny. She was mistreated and not allowed to learn to read or write. Eventually, her visa expired and she was forced to remain an undocumented immigrant, in servitude, for nearly three decades. The US government estimates that 14,500- 17,500 people are trafficked into the United In January 2005, Teresa was violently States each year. The majority of these strangled by her captor. The family’s victims are women and children, many of daughter and her friend, Sabina, who both whom may be enslaved in households that thought of Teresa as a surrogate mother, appear completely normal to neighbors and removed her from the house and provided friends. We have the means to liberate her with shelter. Having gone without women like Teresa and bring their captors medical care for decades, Teresa soon to justice. But first, we have to let them suffered a stroke and was rushed to the know that there is a way out. hospital. Because she was undocumented and had no health insurance, the hospital Teresa’s story moved the Tahirih Justice had no legal obligation to help her beyond Center and Teresa’s supporters to start a emergency room assistance. Even so, it fund in her name. The Teresa Fund will kept her in its care for six months. To enable women facing violence, who minimize the amount of staff help required believe they have no way out, to get the to change her bed pan, Teresa was legal help to which they are entitled and catheterized. This caused repeated urinary gain freedom. Please enable us to help tract infections, which resulted in a fatal women before it is too late through your kidney infection. Teresa died on July 21, support of The Teresa Fund. 2005—just days before Tahirih staff were scheduled to perform an intake interview in her hospital room. “Teresa is the kindest, most loving Because Teresa was a victim of human person I have ever known; she loved me trafficking, she may have been eligible for a visa that would have entitled her to as if I were her own. Her abusive medical benefits. Tahirih could have protected her but by the time we became treatment as a virtual slave could have aware of her case, it was too late. been averted if I had known there was help available for her. We came so close to freeing her and saving her life. I failed my Teresa and I will carry that pain with me always. We all failed.” —Sabina
ABOUT THE TAHIRIH JUSTICE CENTER
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UR ROGRAMS social worker was brought on Tahirih’s O P staff. She works with social service, mental health, and medical providers to DIRECT LEGAL SERVICES serve women and girls fleeing violence. While maintaining a corps of physicians Tahirih provides immigrant women and girls who have agreed to provide free medical with expert pro bono legal assistance to services to our clients, Tahirih advocates ensure that they receive access to the legal on behalf of those clients to receive the protection to which they are entitled under best medical care possible regardless of US law. Tahirih’s direct legal services, their legal status or ability to pay. provided both in-house and by outside pro TYPES OF CASES LITIGATED bono attorneys, embrace a holistic approach, offering a range of social and medical service PUBLIC POLICY INITIATIVES referrals. 2004 Tahirih is an emerging leader in national public policy debates, engaging in advocacy GENDER-BASED ASYLUM on behalf of immigrant women that is direct- ASYLUM AND VIOLENCE Tahirih provides pro bono legal represen- ly informed by the experiences of its clients. WITHHOLDING AGAINST tation to women and girls fleeing gender- Tahirih’s public policy advocacy seeks to OF REMOVAL WOMEN based violence in immigration and federal transform policies, develop regulations, and 35% ACT courts. Since 1996, gender-based asylum set precedent to ensure the long-term pro- 55% law has slowly developed to provide tection of women from violence. Tahirih is greater protections for women and girls positioned as a non-partisan organization fleeing gender-based violence. Tahirih TRAFFICKING that has a strong track record of working seeks to improve protections available by VISA with Republican and Democratic lawmakers, NON-CITIZEN VICTIM 4% applying asylum laws, engaging in public conservative and liberal organizations, reli- OF CRIME VISA policy advocacy, and litigating pioneering gious and secular supporters, as well as local 6% cases in an area of law that is constantly and national like-minded partners. In addi- evolving. tion to building alliances on all sides of the political spectrum, Tahirih has developed pri- 2005 BATTERED IMMIGRANT WOMEN PROJECT vate partnerships with corporate pro bono Tahirih provides pro bono legal lobbyists eager to work on behalf of immi- representation to immigrant women grant women. Tahirih has taken leadership ASYLUM AND VIOLENCE seeking to access their right to permanent roles in two initiatives by actively engaging WITHHOLDING AGAINST residence under the Violence Against in several advocacy efforts including the pro- OF REMOVAL WOMEN Women Act so that they are not forced to tection of asylum-seekers, the promotion of 35% ACT 50% choose between deportation and due process rights for immigrants, and the remaining in an abusive relationship. solidification of domestic violence as grounds for asylum. TRAFFICKING PROTECTION FOR VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING VISA AND OTHER CRIMES CAMPAIGN TO END EXPLOITATION BY NON-CITIZEN VICTIM 3% NTERNATIONAL ARRIAGE ROKERS OF CRIME VISA Pioneering the use of the newly created I M B 12% T and U visas, Tahirih provides pro bono In recent years, the international marriage legal representation for immigrant broker (IMB) industry has exploded in women and girls who have been response to a demand by some American trafficked to the United States or are men for “traditional” wives from victims of other violent crimes. countries such as the Philippines, Russia, and Ukraine. Increasingly, the business SOCIAL AND MEDICAL SERVICE REFERRALS model and marketing practices of many of For most of Tahirih’s clients, addressing these agencies are attracting predators, their emergent legal needs is only the and a growing number of women are beginning. In order to help them truly find paired with abusive men. Unfamiliar with justice, Tahirih helps clients access the English language and the US legal desperately needed social and medical system, given little information about services. For the first time in Tahirih’s their prospective husbands, and misled or history, in the summer of 2005, a full-time not told about their rights by agencies
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wanting to preserve their profitable matchmaking track records, many women are left in dangerously violent Layli Miller- relationships. The Campaign advocates for Muro meeting the accountability of these agencies, seeks with the South African Human legislative change, and engages in Rights litigation and public outreach to protect Commission. women from abuse.