PHR Action Center

Campaign Unavailable

We're sorry, this alert is no longer available. If you would like to learn more about ways you can take action, please visit Physicians for Human Rights.

The short explanation of this alert was:

Please contact your senators today and urge them to sign a joint letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey, asking him to review the recent decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) denying asylum to a woman subjected to female genital cutting (FGC).

The BIA’s decision marks a significant and alarming departure from previous advances made for women's rights and it has already begun having a devastating impact on women's asylum claims based on past FGC.

The decision reverses long-standing recognition of FGC as a continuing form of persecution – and a basis for asylum – because of its long-term, harmful impact on women’s physical and mental health. The BIA disregarded the scientific evidence of these ongoing health consequences and ruled that past FGC is not a “continuing harm” because it happens to a woman only once.

To date, over 100 PHR Asylum Network members and 45 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have signed letters urging the Attorney General to review the BIA decision.  We need your help in securing a similar letter from members of the Senate.
 
Tell you senators to sign the bipartisan letter sponsored by Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), asking the Attorney General reconsider the BIA’s harmful decision.

If you would like to view details on this alert, please visit here.