Blog
Published on July 2, 2010
On March 16, 2010, during its symposium marking the 30th Anniversary of the Refugee Act of 1980, Human Rights First unveiled a series of key policy reform recommendations designed to renew America’s commitment to the protection of refugees. These recommended reforms call on the Obama Administration and Congress to implement immediate changes that would prevent the unnecessary and prolonged detention of asylum seekers by providing prompt court review of detention, end the practice of barring refugees with a well-founded fear of persecution on the basis of an arbitrary asylum filing deadline, and ensure the protection of refugees at risk of imminent harm by creating a fast-track resettlement process.
Read Human Rights First’s recommendations (PDF).
Read information about the symposium (PDF) held in partnership with Georgetown University Law Center.
View a flow chart of “How Refugees Get to the U.S.” (PDF).
Human Rights First produced a short film in commemoration of the 30th Anniversary of the Refugee Act, highlighting the strong, diverse and bipartisan history of support for refugees in this country and showing the importance of the Refugee Act’s promise through the stories of two refugees – one resettled in the United States and one granted asylum with the help of Human Rights First and pro bono attorneys.
Thirty years after the signing of the landmark Refugee Act of 1980, Senators introduced the Refugee Protection Act of 2010 (S. 3113), legislation designed to strengthen America’s commitment to providing refuge to victims of religious, political, ethnic and other forms of persecution by repairing many of the most severe problems in the U.S. refugee and asylum systems.
Read Human Rights First’s statement on the Refugee Protection Act.
Take action.
Read the Refugee Protection Act of 2010 (PDF).
On April 9, 2010 the Georgetown Immigration Law Journal will be convening a symposium of leading scholars in the fields of immigration, international, and international human rights law who have written articles on the International Migrants Bill of Rights (IMBR), including Elisa Massimino, President and CEO of Human Rights First, to present their papers. The presentations will be followed by a conversation involving students and other distinguished discussants.
Read more information (PDF).
