Event Title
Human Trafficking and Immigration Panel
Location
Locatelli Center
Event Website
http://law.scu.edu/event/journal-of-international-law-symposium-advancing-global-justice-for-women/#Schedule
Start Date
19-2-2016 9:15 AM
End Date
19-2-2016 10:45 AM
Description
Elvia Arriola is a Latina feminist law professor at Northern Illinois University. Her articles and teaching have focused on civil rights, constitutional law, gender and sexuality theory and the impact of globalization on Mexican women working in the border factories called “maquiladoras.” In 2001 she founded Women on the Border, Inc (www.womenontheborder.org) to advance awareness about NAFTA’s impact on working women and children. She shares a home in Austin, Texas with her spouse and partner of 20 years Donna Blevins.
Karen Musalo is Professor of Law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, California. She is lead coauthor of Refugee Law and Policy: An International and Comparative Approach (4th edition), and has written numerous articles on refugee law issues, with a focus on gender asylum, as well as religious persecution, and conscientious objection as bases for refugee status. Professor Musalo has contributed to the evolving jurisprudence of asylum law not only through her scholarship, but also through her litigation of landmark cases. She was lead attorney in Matter of Kasinga (fear of female genital mutilation as a basis for asylum), which continues to be cited as authority in gender asylum cases by tribunals around the world. Her litigation victories include Matter of RA, and Matter of LR, two cases that established the principle that women fleeing domestic violence may qualify for refugee protection. She participated as amicus in the recent BIA decision, Matter of ARCG, the first precedent decision affirming the viability of domestic violence asylum claims. Professor Musalo is recognized for her innovative work on refugee issues. She was the first attorney to partner with psychologists in her representation of traumatized asylum seekers, and she edited the first handbook for practitioners on crosscultural issues and the impact of culture on credibility in the asylum context. Her current work examines the linkage between human rights violations and migration, with a focus on the phenomenon of femicides in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras and its relation to requests for refugee protection from women from these countries. She is the founding director of the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, which is internationally known for its research and legal advocacy and for its program of expert consultation to attorneys around the world.
Martina Vandenberg is an attorney and the founder and president of The Human Trafficking Pro Bono Legal Center. She founded the organization with the generous support of the Open Society Foundations Fellowship Program. Prior to her OSF fellowship, she was a partner in Jenner & Block LLP’s Washington, D.C. office, where she maintained an extensive pro bono practice representing women trafficked to the United States for forced labor. She has successfully represented trafficking victims in federal court seeking damages against their traffickers under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Vandenberg has spent nearly two decades advocating against human trafficking, forced labor, and violence against women. As the Europe Researcher for Human Rights Watch’s Women’s Rights Division, she participated in the negotiations for the United Nations Trafficking Protocol in Vienna, Austria. Vandenberg also conducted extensive human rights investigations in the Russian Federation, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Uzbekistan, Kosovo, Israel, and Ukraine. While living in Moscow, Vandenberg cofounded Syostri, one of Russia’s first rape crisis centers. Vandenberg has testified on human rights issues before multiple Congressional committees; she is an expert on criminal restitution for trafficking victims. Vandenberg currently chairs the International Bar Association’s Human Trafficking Task Force. In 2015, Vandenberg received the Katharine and George Alexander Law Prize for her work combating human trafficking.
Laurie Cook Heffron, LMSW, is the Dean’s PostDoctoral Fellow in Immigration and Violence Against Women at The University of Texas at Austin. Her research explores the experiences of, and relationships between, violence against women and migration. As former Associate Director for Research at UTAustin’s Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (IDVSA), she has contributed to multiple research studies since 2001. Recent projects include a program evaluation for services to survivors of human trafficking, a statewide domestic violence prevalence study, a program evaluation of Texas’ NonReport Sexual Assault Forensic Exam Program, and a study of resettlement experiences among Congolese refugee women. Dr. Cook Heffron also has direct social work practice with a variety of immigrant communities, including refugees, survivors of human trafficking, and asylees. Previously, she served as program coordinator for Green Leaf Refugee Services, providing intensive health and emotional health case management services to refugees, victims of trafficking, asylees, and other immigrants in Central Texas. Currently, she provides pro bono psychosocial assessments to support the immigration cases of women and children seeking T visas, U visas, and asylum based on domestic violence.
Media Format
flash_audio
Human Trafficking and Immigration Panel
Locatelli Center
Elvia Arriola is a Latina feminist law professor at Northern Illinois University. Her articles and teaching have focused on civil rights, constitutional law, gender and sexuality theory and the impact of globalization on Mexican women working in the border factories called “maquiladoras.” In 2001 she founded Women on the Border, Inc (www.womenontheborder.org) to advance awareness about NAFTA’s impact on working women and children. She shares a home in Austin, Texas with her spouse and partner of 20 years Donna Blevins.
Karen Musalo is Professor of Law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, California. She is lead coauthor of Refugee Law and Policy: An International and Comparative Approach (4th edition), and has written numerous articles on refugee law issues, with a focus on gender asylum, as well as religious persecution, and conscientious objection as bases for refugee status. Professor Musalo has contributed to the evolving jurisprudence of asylum law not only through her scholarship, but also through her litigation of landmark cases. She was lead attorney in Matter of Kasinga (fear of female genital mutilation as a basis for asylum), which continues to be cited as authority in gender asylum cases by tribunals around the world. Her litigation victories include Matter of RA, and Matter of LR, two cases that established the principle that women fleeing domestic violence may qualify for refugee protection. She participated as amicus in the recent BIA decision, Matter of ARCG, the first precedent decision affirming the viability of domestic violence asylum claims. Professor Musalo is recognized for her innovative work on refugee issues. She was the first attorney to partner with psychologists in her representation of traumatized asylum seekers, and she edited the first handbook for practitioners on crosscultural issues and the impact of culture on credibility in the asylum context. Her current work examines the linkage between human rights violations and migration, with a focus on the phenomenon of femicides in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras and its relation to requests for refugee protection from women from these countries. She is the founding director of the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, which is internationally known for its research and legal advocacy and for its program of expert consultation to attorneys around the world.
Martina Vandenberg is an attorney and the founder and president of The Human Trafficking Pro Bono Legal Center. She founded the organization with the generous support of the Open Society Foundations Fellowship Program. Prior to her OSF fellowship, she was a partner in Jenner & Block LLP’s Washington, D.C. office, where she maintained an extensive pro bono practice representing women trafficked to the United States for forced labor. She has successfully represented trafficking victims in federal court seeking damages against their traffickers under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Vandenberg has spent nearly two decades advocating against human trafficking, forced labor, and violence against women. As the Europe Researcher for Human Rights Watch’s Women’s Rights Division, she participated in the negotiations for the United Nations Trafficking Protocol in Vienna, Austria. Vandenberg also conducted extensive human rights investigations in the Russian Federation, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Uzbekistan, Kosovo, Israel, and Ukraine. While living in Moscow, Vandenberg cofounded Syostri, one of Russia’s first rape crisis centers. Vandenberg has testified on human rights issues before multiple Congressional committees; she is an expert on criminal restitution for trafficking victims. Vandenberg currently chairs the International Bar Association’s Human Trafficking Task Force. In 2015, Vandenberg received the Katharine and George Alexander Law Prize for her work combating human trafficking.
Laurie Cook Heffron, LMSW, is the Dean’s PostDoctoral Fellow in Immigration and Violence Against Women at The University of Texas at Austin. Her research explores the experiences of, and relationships between, violence against women and migration. As former Associate Director for Research at UTAustin’s Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (IDVSA), she has contributed to multiple research studies since 2001. Recent projects include a program evaluation for services to survivors of human trafficking, a statewide domestic violence prevalence study, a program evaluation of Texas’ NonReport Sexual Assault Forensic Exam Program, and a study of resettlement experiences among Congolese refugee women. Dr. Cook Heffron also has direct social work practice with a variety of immigrant communities, including refugees, survivors of human trafficking, and asylees. Previously, she served as program coordinator for Green Leaf Refugee Services, providing intensive health and emotional health case management services to refugees, victims of trafficking, asylees, and other immigrants in Central Texas. Currently, she provides pro bono psychosocial assessments to support the immigration cases of women and children seeking T visas, U visas, and asylum based on domestic violence.
https://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/scujil_symposia/women/symposium/4
