Footsteps echo down the cold, empty courtroom as one middle eastern woman’s fate hangs in suspension. She has applied for gender based asylum to the United States because of the extreme abuse she suffered from her husband. She received no aid from her local police or government and was therefore forced to flee the country. In 2012 over 56,000 applications for asylum to the U.S were filed, some percentage of them being gender based.
A woman may apply for gender based asylum if they are being systematically persecuted in their countries based on their gender.The original asylum system came after World War II at which time countries united to create a treaty binding the participants to protect and accept qualified refugees. Under international law, a refugee is “defined as an individual with a well founded fear of persecution,on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group”. Although the treaty was signed in 1951, it was not until 1995 that someone’s gender or sexuality was recognized as a solid basis to seek asylum for.
Although the treaty was signed in 1951, it was not until 1995 that someone’s gender or sexuality was recognized as a solid basis to seek asylum for. Each applicant for asylum to the United States must undergo a lengthy and grueling legal process in which their case is examined and questioned in a series of courts of law by immigration officials. If your asylum is denied, it can be passed to the next level of law to be examined once again. Asylum has saved many lives from around the world, but we must continue to improve the process to maximize the beneficial effects of our system.Because of the bias side effects resulting from our society, many appropriate asylum seekers have been denied refuge and deported to be forced to endure the dangerous fates that await them in their home country.
-Malaika
