Fauziya Kassindja
" I had lost my father, I had lost my mom, and now school. "
Fauziya Kassindja grew up in Togo, a small village in West Africa. She was the last girl to be born of her seven siblings. She had a great relationship with her father and considered him her best friend. He inspired all of his daughters to do whatever they wanted in their lives. He passed away when she was only sixteen. Since his siblings despised his wife( the mother of Fauziya and his other six children),they took over his home as well as his custodial right to his children. Shortly after they forced Fauiziya’s mother to leave. Fauziya aunt allowed her to go to school until the end of the year. At seventeen she was forced to drop out. Soon after, her aunt introduced her to a man forty-five years of age with three wives. She was supposed to marry this man, and the following day she was scheduled to undergo a kakiya (genital mutilation procedure). Fauziya and her aunt fought about it constantly. One day her aunt ambushed her with the surprise of a wedding. Even still, after the marriage Fauziya continued to resist by refusing to sign the marriage license. Her brothers and sister came to comfort her in this time of horror. Her eldest sister came in the middle of the night and Fauziya left with her across the border to Ghana. Her sister gave her all the money she had saved and Fauziya used it to board a plane for Germany. From Germany she went to the U.S.
"I started coughing and throwing up blood. But I was denied any medicine because of my immigration status. "
When Fauziya reached the U.S as a refugee fighting for political asylum in December 1994 she faced many obstacles. She was placed in 4 different immigration detention facilities and jails . Shortly after, she had been denied asylum by the immigration judge who found she was not credible and that Female Genitial Cutting (FGC) did not present basis for asylum. After this decision, a woman named Karen Musalo who was teaching at the International Human Rights Law Clinic at American University was approached by one of her students about the unusual asylum case.Karen took the case under the Human Rights law clinic and won before the Board of Immigration Appeals.
"now when I look back I know that if I hadn’t been through all these things, the case wouldn’t have reached the many people that it has today"
This was the biggest turning point in her life since she arrived in America. In 1994 the newly orphaned refugee was stripped , put in chains, locked up, and finally sent through the dreadful procedure of the U.S. immigration system. The misfortune that she was trying to escape from in Togo seemed to be mirrored, if not worse, once she got in America. Fauziya’s luck finally changed when Karen agreed to take her case. When Karen won the case this lead to the first precedent decision establishing that women fleeing gender based persecution could be eligible for asylum in the U.S. Winning this case was a big accomplishment that lead to many others. Fauziya opened doors for women all around the world fleeing gender related harm. Giving hope and opportunity for redemption of basic human rights that otherwise would have been stolen. Fauziya is a member of the CGRS Advisory Board which is now the nation’s leading organization supporting women asylum seekers fleeing gender related harm at both practice and policy levels.