Established in 1994, the Refugee Law Center ("RLC") is a non-profit organization devoted to strengthening the human rights of refugees and immigrants through legal representation, research, educational initiatives, and policy development.

Working in collaboration with other human rights and refugee policy and legal representation organizations in the United States and other countries, RLC provides position papers, amicus curie (friend of the court) briefs, legal support, human rights and country conditions documentation, and legal representation on issues relating to refugee protection. The RLC has placed particular emphasis on the development of theories and the advancement of legal doctrine for women immigrants applying for asylum and related protections on gender-specific grounds. It is also placing special emphasis on the development of theories,strategies, and legal support for the representation of particular refugee communities in their efforts to apply forasylum and related protections, as well as immigrant and asylum seeking children.

Program on Women

The Program on Women Refugees provides research, legal analysis, and training to gender violence and human rights violations of women around the world, particularly for thoseseeking refugee protection in the United States. This Program offers legal backup and networking, and in specific cases, amicus support to legal advocates concerned with these issues. The Women Refugees Program maintains a database of asylum claims and decisions from the United States and other countries.

Human Rights and Country Conditions Documentation

The Human Rights and Country Conditions Documentation Program compiles and produces documentation relevant to each the Center's programs of work, which also includes two series of human rights documentation packets. The first is focused on political and social analysis of the situation of women in different countries around the world for use in asylum, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), and related claims to protection. This year, the Documentation Program is giving special attention to Asian countries. The second series includes documentation of human rights abuses and violations, as well as, political and social analysis materials for use in asylum and related claims to protection for specific countries including Nigeria, the Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (ex-Zaire). For more information, visit our HUMAN RIGHTS AND COUNTRY CONDITIONS DOCUMENTATION's web page.

Battered Immigrant Women's Advocacy

The Battered Immigrant Women's Advocacy Program addresses the often ignored and unmet needs of immigrant women who are subjected to domestic violence. It works with immigrant women, the criminal justice system, and service providers to develop coordinated responses to domestic violence. This Program also provides resource materials,training, and referrals to linguistically and culturally appropriate support services. It represents clients seeking protection through gender-based asylum claims and the Violence against Women Act (VAWA) in immigration proceedings.

Program on Children

The Program on Children Refugees is a newly initiated program with the goal of providing research, legal analysis, and training related to gender violence and human rights violations of children around the world, particularly for those seeking refugee protection in the United States. In the near future, the program will offer legal backup and networking, as well as amicus support to legal advocates concerned with these issues. RLC is also now in the process of developing a national database of asylum claims and decisions to assist attorneys and human rights advocates.

Publications

In its initial stages, RLC produces publications with the goal of advancing the legal doctrine and advocacy on behalf of refugees and immigrants. At this time, RLC is in the process of publishing and distributing Law of Asylum in the United States , a comprehensive guide and treatise authored by Deborah Anker on US asylum law.

Program on Representation

The Program on Representation provides asylum advocacy and representation with a special emphasis during the next three years on refugees from Africa, in particular Nigeria and the Sudan.

Staff Achievements

The Refugee Law Center's co-directors have written and spoken extensively on the subject of refugee and immigration law and are considered experts in this area in the United States. Collectively their achievements include the training of asylum adjudicators and drafting guidelines, modified and adopted by the immigration authorities, which recognized gender-related persecution as a ground for asylum. These guidelines made the United States the second country in the world to issue such national instructions to asylum adjudicators, and set a precedent worldwide.

Working in conjunction with other groups, Refugee Law Center staff organized workshops at regional and national planning meetings in preparation for the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China. As accredited representatives at the Beijing Conference, they successfully negotiated for specific refugee protection language,reaffirming long standing international obligations as part of the final Platform of Action.
The Refugee Law Center's co-directors and staff have provided legal assistance and support to hundreds of immigrants and refugees in the United States.