In the Spring 2007 IssuePRO BONO SPOTLIGHT: Jenner & Block Attorneys Help African Woman Rebuild Her Life in the U.S. Technical Assistance Update: January–April 2007 CGRS Hosts Government Accountability Office Meeting: Study of U.S. Asylum System Is Discussed CGRS—ACTIVE AND INVOLVED CGRS Conducts Fact-Finding Trip to Guatemala: CGRS Releases 2006 Annual Report You Can Help Defend the Human Rights of Women and Girls From Around the World
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PRO BONO SPOTLIGHT
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Hazika (not her real name), a citizen of a country in central Africa, was sold in marriage to a man who subjected her to extreme physical and psychological abuse. In February 2007, after an agonizing wait, Hazika was granted asylum by the Immigration Court in Chicago. She had the good fortune to be represented by a pro bono team from Jenner & Block LLP, including Lawrence S. Schaner (right) and Matthew R. DiPentima (left), who appealed an earlier denial of Hazika’s asylum claim all the way to the United States Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and then succeeded in getting the government to agree to a new hearing. CGRS—ACTIVE AND INVOLVED
In February, CGRS hosted noted women’s rights activist, academic and lawyer Rashida Manjoo (third from left) who spoke about the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission as a Model for Gender Justice. Accompanying Ms. Manjoo (from left to right) are: U.C. Hastings Chancellor and Dean Nell Jessup Newton, CGRS Director Karen Musalo, and staff members Felecia Bartow, Ana Martinez and Stephen Knight. |
CGRS Conducts Fact-Finding Trip to Guatemala:
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You Can Help Defend the Human Rights of Women and Girls From Around the WorldCGRS depends on the generous support of foundations as well as individual, law firm, and corporate donors to carry out our work on behalf of women and girls fleeing gender-based persecution and seeking asylum in the U.S. Please consider making a secure online donation at http://cgrs.uchastings.edu. Your donation—of any amount—truly makes a difference! Thank you so much for your support. Center for Gender and Refugee Studies |
In January 2007, CGRS conducted a week-long fact-finding trip to Guatemala focused on the issue of violence against women, as well as the growing number of gender-motivated killings or “femicides” taking place in that country. “We need this support,” said Norma Cruz, Director of the Fundación Sobrevivientes (Survivors Foundation), one of the few shelters in the entire country serving women fleeing violence. This sentiment was echoed by activist Jorge Velásquez, the father of Claudina Isabel Velásquez, a 19 year-old law student who was brutally murdered in 2005. “International pressure is fundamental,” Velásquez told CGRS, “it is the only thing that will bring Guatemala’s femicides to an end.” 