The Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS) is a leading voice in the movement to rebuild the U.S. asylum system and expand access to protection for women, children, LGBTQ+ people, and others seeking refuge. Our Policy & Advocacy team serves as a critical resource on asylum to policymakers, journalists, and the public. We provide rapid analysis of policy developments and offer practical recommendations for decision-makers at all levels of government, advising our leaders on how to ensure the United States lives up to its legal and moral commitments to people fleeing persecution.
CGRS and our partners provided policy recommendations to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights as part of the Cartagena +40 process, focusing on the response to displacement caused or exacerbated by climate change and disasters.
We submitted our analysis of the government's interim final rule that essentially closes off asylum during "emergency border circumstances." Our comment urges the government to withdraw the rule in its entirety.
CGRS submitted input to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on xenophobia and racism Haitian and other Black asylum seekers face across several countries. The input contributes to the follow-up on implementing the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action.
CGRS submitted input to the Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to a Healthy Environment on the access to information, participation and access to justice for Indigenous peoples and women in Honduras.
CGRS submitted input to the IACHR Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression in response for a call for input on Freedom of Expression and Unprotected Speech. This submission focuses on the best practices to prevent stigmatizing and hate speech against migrants.
We submitted our analysis of the government's proposed rule permitting asylum officers to consider the applicability of statutory bars during initial fear screenings. Our comment urges the government to withdraw the rule in its entirety.
This article examines how the evolution of the US interpretation of particular social group and nexus has diverged from UNHCR recommendations, resulting in the denial of protection in gender cases involving egregious harms.
We joined 158 other civil society organizations from across the Americas to endorse a comprehensive set of recommendations for the signatories of the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, urging them to include civil society in its implementation.
CGRS made a submission to the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the Context of Climate Change focused on the right to access information and human rights implications for people displaced across borders by the effects of climate change.
CGRS and 77 other organizations called on DHS to extend the comment period to a minimum of at least 60 days after DHS proposed a new rule governing fear screenings by asylum officers with an atypical, abbreviated 30-day comment period.