Women on the Run: First-Hand Accounts of Refugees Fleeing El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees joins us to launch their a new study, Women on the Run—a report portraying first-hand accounts of 160 women interviewed on their journeys to the United States from Mexico and the Northern Triangle.
Overview
Since 2008, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has recorded a dramatic increase in people seeking refuge from endemic levels of violence in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras—otherwise known as the Northern Triangle region. Neighboring Central American countries and Mexico have seen the number of asylum applications from the Northern Triangle grow thirteenfold. The United States alone received more than 125,000 requests for asylum from individuals from these countries. Women fleeing this region and parts of Mexico make up part of an under-reported and poorly understood refugee situation. Join us for a presentation by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the Honorable António Guterres, as he launches a new UNHCR report, Women on the Run. This report portrays first-hand accounts of 160 of the women from the Northern Triangle and parts of Mexico who have been screened by the U.S. Government to have a legitimate claim for asylum. A panel discussion on this looming refugee crisis and the need for a regional response will follow.
For more information and to read the full report, visit womenonthe.run
Speakers
António Guterres
Eric L. Olson
Director of Policy and Strategic Initiatives, Seattle International Foundation
Doris Meissner
Leslie E. Vélez
Elizabeth Ferris
Hosted By
Latin America Program
The Wilson Center’s prestigious Latin America Program provides non-partisan expertise to a broad community of decision makers in the United States and Latin America on critical policy issues facing the Hemisphere. The Program provides insightful and actionable research for policymakers, private sector leaders, journalists, and public intellectuals in the United States and Latin America. To bridge the gap between scholarship and policy action, it fosters new inquiry, sponsors high-level public and private meetings among multiple stakeholders, and explores policy options to improve outcomes for citizens throughout the Americas. Drawing on the Wilson Center’s strength as the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum, the Program serves as a trusted source of analysis and a vital point of contact between the worlds of scholarship and action. Read more
Mexico Institute
The Mexico Institute seeks to improve understanding, communication, and cooperation between Mexico and the United States by promoting original research, encouraging public discussion, and proposing policy options for enhancing the bilateral relationship. A binational Advisory Board, chaired by Luis Téllez and Earl Anthony Wayne, oversees the work of the Mexico Institute. Read more
Global Women's Leadership Initiative
The Global Women’s Leadership Initiative has hosted the Women in Public Service Project at the Wilson Center since June, 2012. The Women in Public Service Project will accelerate global progress towards women’s equal participation in policy and political leadership to create more dynamic and inclusive institutions that leverage the full potential of the world’s population to change the way global solutions are forged. Read more
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