Tected the Vulnerable with National Security Leaders We Defended Refugees from Persecution
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Sus, alisimus.• Together 2016 Review and the Challenges Ahead Together we saved lives For those who believe that American This report charts our leadership is essential in the global accomplishments and the powerful struggle for human rights, these partnerships that made them possible. are challenging times. Here at Together with American veterans, we home and across Europe, narrow- are standing up against anti-Muslim minded populist movements fueled bigotry. Alongside national security by xenophobic nationalism are on experts, we’re maintaining the the rise. These forces threaten lives, lifeline for refugees. Together with democracy, and the international interfaith groups, we’re combating order. antisemitism. Partnering with human Not since World War II has our vision rights activists, we’re protecting of the world been under assault on so the human rights of LGBT people many fronts. everywhere. And together with American companies and federal law Moments of crisis like this can be enforcement, we’re bankrupting the daunting. But they are also clarifying. brutal business of modern slavery. They remind us that the values of democracy and human rights These partnerships are grounded cannot be taken for granted; we not in identity or party, but in shared must be prepared to fight for them. ideals. And they are producing At Human Rights First we have the results, even in the most challenging privilege of coming to work every day environment. to do just that. It’s why we exist. Thank you for your partnership in We pride ourselves on our ability to this work. With pragmatism and work with unlikely allies to defend passion we will continue to forge American ideals. And now, as the progress—together. attacks on those ideals proliferate, we’re finding committed and energetic partners from every walk of life—around the country and across the political spectrum. U.S. must lead on refugee crisis Refugee children from Syria hold We assembled a bipartisan group of national hands at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, where more than 80,000 security experts to call for U.S. leadership on Elisa Massimino refugees live. the refugee crisis. Two of them—Former CIA President and CEO Photo Bernd von Jutrczenka/ director Michael Hayden and former NATO Human Rights First picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images supreme allied commander James Stavridis— penned this op-ed. [7.8.2016] Together we made headlines With experts we were cited and quoted often in the news. Together we kept the lifeline open for refugees With national security leaders we defeated attempts to 2 462 block the resettlement of Syrian refugees. 2 THE ASSAULT ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS Syrian refugees would undermine American of refugees predates the Trump Administration. security. Their advocacy effort received Even as a global displacement crisis cries out widespread attention and helped kill the bill in for American leadership, some politicians at the the Senate. federal and state levels have tried to slam the But we weren’t content merely to play defense. 185 door on Syrian refugees. We pressed the Obama Administration to step 2 Despite the fact that Syrian refugees are among up its resettlement of Syrian refugees. The 2,543 91 the primary victims of ISIS—and that refugees United States had welcomed fewer than 2,000 465 1 are the most thoroughly-vetted travelers over several years—a shamefully low number 3 to the United States—a coordinated anti- for a country with our capacity, our history, and refugee campaign depicted them as potential our ideals. 16 55 41 40 terrorists and a threat to national security. In We kept up the pressure all year, and the 32 14 response, the House passed the American SAFE Obama Administration ultimately exceeded 17 Act, which would have effectively stopped its goal of bringing 10,000 Syrian refugees to 12,587 1 57 resettlement of refugees from Syria and Iraq to safety here. The effort helped restore American 9,880 3,750 2,737 the United States. credibility on the refugee crisis and, even more 506 1 We mobilized a bipartisan group of national importantly, extended a lifeline to thousands of 2 545 33 security experts who argued that abandoning vulnerable people. ■ 2 21 5,817 2 1 4 1 ■ Refugees admitted 354 to the United States by nationality in fiscal 12,3477 1 6 year 2016 8 2 84 16 1,949 26 5 58 364 1,458 18 5 7 3 19 189 16 79 401 1,131 91 529 14 4 16,370 65 9,020 2 16 140 6 7 694 1 3 1 Settlement of Syrian Refugees 11 in the US Accelerates We believe that America can and should continue to provide “refuge to those fleeing violence and persecution without We pressed the Obama Administration to meet its goal of resettling 10,000 Syrian compromising the security and safety of our nation. refugees. Human Rights First’s Anwen Hughes points out that, given the capacity of –Twenty top national security leaders ” the U.S. government, it has a responsibility to lead on the refugee crisis. [7.13.16] Together we gave hope to the vulnerable With child health advocates and pro bono lawyers we helped asylum seekers find protection. IN 2014 LARGE NUMBERS OF REFUGEES denied licenses to hold children. This means from Central America, many fleeing horrific their days are numbered. Meanwhile we’re domestic violence and persecution by criminal seeking an official end to this inhumane and gangs, began to arrive in the United States. inefficient policy. The Obama Administration responded by FOR REFUGEES, getting to the United States warehousing thousands of women and young is just the first step. Then they have to prove children in jail-like detention centers. they have a “credible fear” of persecution; if The purpose of this so-called “family they can’t overcome this hurdle, they’re sent detention” was to deter other refugees back. from coming. Not only is that a violation They have to navigate a byzantine process, of international law, it’s also both cruel and often from a detention center, and most lack In 2016 we accepted 294 new cases, we won legal protection for 117 clients and families, and represented more than 1,700 people from 94 countries. unnecessary, compounding the suffering resources and do not speak English. Without of people who’ve escaped terrible violence, legal representation their chances of receiving EL SALVADOR: Human Rights First team—Jenna Gilbert (far left), Lori Adams, and and wasting taxpayer money when there are life-saving protection are slim. Jessica Gorelick (far right)—with clients after winning their asylum case at the New effective alternatives to detention. York Immigration Court. They are now applying for permanent residence based on A lawyer can make the difference between that asylum grant. In 2016 we teamed up with legal organizations, freedom and repression, between life and death. religious groups, and physicians to persuade the Obama Administration to end family detention. This is where we step in. For nearly four SYRIA (top): Sana applied for asylum after the COLOMBIA (left): Lawyers Assad regime abducted her father. We helped her We made the case that family detention facilities decades we’ve been recruiting and training from Sheppard Mullin with lawyers from top firms to provide high quality win her case. She hopes to reunite with her mother their client, an LGBT rights shouldn’t receive childcare operating licenses on and sisters, who fled to Turkey. Her father’s fate activist (center), after they the grounds that even short-term detention can pro bono legal representation to refugees. We’ve remains unknown. successfully won his asylum be harmful to the long-term health of children. helped thousands receive asylum and leveraged RUSSIA (bottom): After being badly beaten because case at the New York hundreds of millions of dollars worth of legal he’s gay, Artem fled to the United States—only to Immigration Court.