Tahirih is inspired by principles of the Baháʼí Faith, including the belief that equality between women and men is necessary for peace and unity in society.
[3] At the age of 17, Fauziya Kassindja fled her origin country of Togo and sought asylum in the United States to escape a forced polygamous marriage and imminent female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C).
[5] Spurred by the widespread media coverage of Kassindja's case, the United States Congress passed legislation to define female genital mutilation/cutting on a minor as a federal criminal offense, which went into effect on March 30, 1997.
[8] During this period, Tahirih launched its Public Policy Advocacy Program and began offering in-house social services case management to its clients.
[9] As a result, Tahirih began representing survivors of human trafficking and working closely with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to ensure compliance with the distribution of T and U and visas.
[15] In 2009, Tahirih released a report titled Precarious Protection: How Unsettled Policy and Current Laws Harm Women and Girls Fleeing Persecution, which addressed the gaps in gender-based asylum protection and how women and girls are especially impacted by current immigration laws and policies for asylum seekers, including expedited removal, mandatory detention, and the one-year filing deadline.
It contains the latest analysis (updated November 1, 2022) on all thirty states that have recently enacted laws to end or limit child marriage, calling out features that make them strong or weak.
"The Tahirih Justice Center is a national, non-profit organization that protects courageous immigrant women and girls who refuse to be victims of violence.
We elevate their voices in communities, courts, and Congress to create a world where women and girls enjoy equality and live in safety and with dignity.” Tahirih offers legal services and social services case management, policy advocacy, and training and education with the aim of protecting immigrant women and girls fleeing gender-based violence.
Tahirih's policy advocacy focus areas include protecting the rights of immigrant survivors of crime, promoting access to asylum for women and girls fleeing gender-based persecution, ending the detention of refugee women and children, preventing abuse and exploitation through the international marriage broker industry, and addressing protection gaps for individuals facing forced marriages.
[40] Tahirih offers training and education programs to front-line professionals, including attorneys, judges, police officers, healthcare staff, and social service providers in order to help them support immigrant survivors of gender-based violence.
Tahirih currently has offices in Greater Washington, District of Columbia, Baltimore, Maryland, Houston, Atlanta, and the San Francisco Bay Area, California.
International marriage broker agencies cite the alleged low levels of divorce among their clients, compared with the American national average, as proof of success.
"[46] When describing the Matter of Kasinga and the associated media attention, anthropologist Charles Piot was concerned about the perpetration of possibly negative and racist stereotypes about Africa.
[48] Tahirih argues that several cultural practices in the world have adverse health effects that often go unnoticed because of poor education among the local community.