The case was that of Fauziya Kassindja, a 17 year-old woman who fled Togo in fear of a forced polygamous marriage and a tribal practice known as female genital mutilation. After arriving in the U.S. and spending more than seventeen months in detention, Ms. Kassindja was granted asylum in 1996 by the United States Board of Immigration Appeals in a decision that opened the door to gender-based persecution as a grounds for asylum. |
The outcry for assistance from women seeking protection led Ms. Miller-Muro to investigate the legal resources available to immigrant and refugee women in Washington, D.C. Her search revealed few organizations able to offer legal assistance to women seeking asylum or refugee status, particularly from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. | | | | | | Using funds generated by a book she and Ms. Kassindja co-authored about the case, Ms. Miller-Muro founded the Tahirih Justice Center to provide pro bono legal assistance and auxiliary medical and social service referrals to women in Ms. Kassindja's situation-women seeking protection from gender-based persecution. | | | -more on the case |
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