11:30 AM TOMORROW, MARCH 21:
WRC to Call for Protection of Women and Children Seeking Asylum at Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Hearing

Washington, DC — Tomorrow, the Women’s Refugee Commission will present at a hearing convened by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), to review and report on U.S. policies that are preventing women and children at the border from accessing critical protections.

Specifically, among other requests, petitioners are asking the IACHR to:

• Hold the United States accountable for policies that prevent access to asylum
• Conduct a site visit to the U.S.-Mexico border;
• Hold a follow up roundtable dialogue with representatives of the United States, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti and Honduras, to discuss the ongoing obligations these countries have to ensure the full rights of migrants, and the special protections due to asylum seekers;
• Call on United States Customs & Border Protection (CBP) to address issues that result in implementation of policies in a manner that violate international law and impede access to protection, work with them to improve officers’ training, guidelines and practices and create specific oversight mechanisms to promote transparency and investigate complaints, in order to avoid mistreatment and abuse of migrants;

WHO:

• Women's Refugee Commission (WRC)
• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
• American Immigration Council (AIC)
• American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)
• Hope Border Institute
• Human Rights First (HRF)
• Innovation Law Lab
• Institute for Women in Migration (IMUMI)
• Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States
• Kino Border Initiative
• Latin America Working Group (LAWG)
• Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS)
• Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC)
• Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid (TRLA)
• Transnational Legal Clinic at the University of Pennsylvania Law School
• Immigration and Deportation Defense Clinic, University of San Francisco School of Law
• Immigration Clinic at the University of Texas Law School
• Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)

WHAT: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) Hearing

WHEN: TOMORROW, March 21, 11:30 am

WHERE: 1889 F Street NW, Padilha Vidal Room, TL Level

 

If you are planning on watching remotely (or after the fact):

Stay tuned to the IACHR’s website – on the day of the hearing, there will be a link to “multimedia”. Click on “watch live” for the Padilha Vidal room. 

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For more information contact: Leah Chavla, LeahC@wrcommission.orgTessa Wiseman, tessa@newpartners.com