The Goldman Sachs award goes to leaders in organizations across a wide spectrum of fields, from finance to philanthropy.

Over the past 15 years, we have been privileged to help over 14,000 immigrant women and children receive legal protection, rebuild their lives, and restore their dignity.

The two women met for the first time last week at a sleek Georgetown hotel, where they were speakers at a glittering charity dinner. They shook hands and hugged across a vast gulf of culture, geography and faith: one a devout Muslim from West Africa with her hair carefully hidden under a tight scarf, the other a gregarious South Asian in a stylish sari and costume earrings.

For many of us, reports on women and girls being threatened with violence and forced to marry seem distant and incomprehensible.

Event calls attention to incredible courage of Tahirih’s clients and of women and girls around the world facing violence and oppression.

The court decision reflects a critical course-correction from earlier decisions by both the judge and the nation’s highest immigration court that held asylum claims by women who have suffered FGM to a higher legal standard than claims by other asylum applicants.

A Tahirih-sponsored congressional briefing offered policymakers and the public a vital opportunity to learn about the harmful impact of unsettled policy and current immigration laws on women and girls fleeing gender-based violence.