Background information
on gender and asylum issues

Ms. K's Story

Ms. K- is from the capital city of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire). She is 50 years old. She married her husband, an officer in former President MobutuÕs military, in 1974, at the age of 25. They have four children together, the youngest of which is eight years old. Throughout their marriage, Ms. K-'s husband exerted complete control over her and, in 1988, forced Ms. K- to quit her job as a bank secretary. In 1991, her husband ordered her to have an abortion six months into her pregnancy and was only able to avoid having to comply because the doctor said it would threaten her life to abort at that point in the pregnancy.

In 1995, Ms. K-'s husband shot a colleague but, through his connections to then ruler Mobutu's family, he was able to escape prosecution. After this incident her husband became emboldened in his abuse against Ms. K-. He began physically abusing her on a regular basis. He would kick her and beat her, often in front of their children. Her husband repeatedly raped her, inflicting her with infections and sexually transmitted diseases. He frequently threatened to kill her with his gun. During one particularly violent incident, Ms. K-'s husband knocked out her tooth, dislocated her jaw, and punched her in the eye so hard that she required stitches. At her asylum hearing, she testified she had undergone surgery on her left eye and due to the physical abuse by her husband had problems with her nose, neck, head, spinal column, hip, and foot. Finally in 1998 her husband beat, punched, and kicked her so badly she lost consciousness.

Ms. K- knew it was futile to go to the police for help not only because of her husband's connections to Mobutu's family, but also because, as she testified at her hearing: "women are nothing" in the Congo. Under Congolese law a married woman is considered legally incompetent. A woman cannot obtain a divorce without her husband's consent. A married woman cannot obtain a job, open a bank account, or rent an apartment without her husband's written permission. According to the U.S. State Department's Democratic Republic of the Congo (DROC) - Formerly Zaire: Profile of Asylum Claims & Country Conditions (March 1998), as quoted by the Immigration Judge: "Domestic violence, including rape and beatings, is widespread but rarely reported. The problem is handled within the extended family and only in the most extreme instances is the matter brought to the police. There are no provisions under the law for spousal battery. There are no crisis centers or hotlines. The problem of violence against women is largely ignored by the general population and the media."

After the beating in January of 1998, Ms. K- went into hiding and then fled to the United States in search of a safe haven from her husband. In March of 1998, she arrived at the airport in the United States and promptly expressed her need for asylum protection. The immigration judge, in her written decision, said she believed Ms. K-'s story and characterized the abuse she suffered as "atrocities," but nevertheless denied her application for asylum. On appeal, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) acknowledged that Ms. K-'s husband had "committed brutal and deplorable acts of domestic violence against her." They extended their sympathy to her, but also denied her asylum. The BIA found that Ms. K-'s case was controlled by its decision in Matter of R-A- and quickly dismissed her appeal. In so doing, the Board never even considered Third Circuit case law, in which gender itself has been previously found to constitute a particular social group for purposes of asylum

Ms. K-'s case was remanded to the Immigration Judge for consideration of her claim under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). In August 2000, the judge granted Ms. K- relief under CAT. The INS chose to appeal that decision; as of March 2001.

After over two years and four months in INS detention, Ms. K- was released in August 2000 after she was granted CAT relief.

In January 2002, shortly after the filing of an amicus brief written by a group of gender asylum advocates led by CGRS, the Department of Justice agreed to have the case dismissed from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and to withdraw its opposition to Ms. K-'s asylum claim before the BIA. In March 2002, the BIA granted asylum to Ms. K.

See Amnesty International's action in the case.