The Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS) is the nation’s leading organization supporting women asylum-seekers fleeing gender related harm, at both the practice and policy levels. CGRS works to impact the development of law and policy to protect women fleeing gender-based violence.

Gender asylum currently represents the cutting edge issue in the development of refugee law, and CGRS is playing a central role in shaping the legal definition and ensuring that the United States offers asylum protection to women who flee serious violations of their fundamental human rights. Established in 1999 and housed at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, CGRS aims to positively impact decisions in individual cases, while influencing the overall development of the law nationally and internationally.

CGRS provides free technical assistance, training, and resources to the attorneys and NGOs who represent women asylum seekers. It tracks and monitors decisions in these cases, and uses this information to assist attorneys, as well as to track trends and inform advocacy. CGRS helps to shape gender asylum law through appellate advocacy, and works with local and national partners to influence the development of national policy. Finally, CGRS engages in broad public education through its media work.

Since its founding, CGRS has become widely known and recognized as a critical resource on the issue of gender asylum. The organization has taken the lead on key issues, been involved in significant litigation, developed an extensive web site of resources, and has been a long-standing member of immigrant, refugee and women’s rights networks. In recognition of its accomplishments, in 2003 the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild awarded CGRS’s director its prestigious Carol King Award. In 1996, CGRS Director Karen Musalo litigated and won the groundbreaking Kasinga case.

CGRS works in collaboration with Family Violence Prevention Fund, Human Rights First, the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, Amnesty International USA, The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, and other NGOs.