Women's Refugee Commission

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Women's Refugee Commission

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Advocating for laws and policies to improve the lives and protect the rights of refugee women and children. See "About" for full social media policy.

WRC reserves the right to remove abusive, degrading, inflammatory, threatening, or attacking comments. We identify and document, through research and field visits, the widely overlooked problems that adversely affect refugee women, children and adolescents. We develop guidelines, manuals and other practical tools to assist the humanitarian community in changing practice on the ground. We advocate to governments, the UN and aid organizations to make changes in laws, policies and practice that bring measurable improvements to the lives of refugees. We give voice to refugees and displaced peoples so that they can realize their aspirations, including getting an education and supporting their families. Our social media policy:

WRC uses social media to raise awareness and engage with the public about our work. We encourage relevant discussion, comments, and interactions. To ensure this page remains welcoming and informative, we ask that interactions are civil and respectful. We reserve the right to remove or hide comments that contain abusive, degrading, inflammatory, or otherwise offensive language; threatening or harassing speech; personal attacks; personal information; spam or other clearly irrelevant content; gratuitous links; or advertising. We reserve the right to ban from our pages any users who repeatedly violate our comment policy. WRC considers content posted by other social media users on our pages to be solely the expression of that user's opinions and not necessarily the views of WRC.

10/11/2026

Today, on International Day of the Girl Child, WRC celebrates the power and potential of girls everywhere, and we recommit ourselves to advance their safety, protection, equality, and rights.

10/09/2026

At , WRC advocated for gender equality and refugee rights against the backdrop of global crises—and as the UN faces a liquidity crisis, sweeping reforms, and the selection of its next Secretary-General.

On the blog, WRC’s senior policy advocate, Sadia Kidwai, shares her takeaways.

10/01/2026

This afternoon we published a Q&A with our Director of Research, Julianne Deitch to help people understand the importance of both the paper, “Displaced Women and Girls: A Data Ecosystem Mapping,” and the larger research project.

Find links to both the paper and Q&A in the comments.

10/01/2026

This past Monday on International Safe Abortion Day, US Representative Jan Schakowsky and Senator Cory Booker reintroduced the Abortion is Health Care Everywhere Act. This legislation would repeal the Helms Amendment and ensure that US foreign assistance can be used for comprehensive reproductive health care, including abortion care.

We strongly endorse the legislation and applaud its introduction.

09/30/2026

Must-listen conversation on NPR's 1A on the growing number of pregnant women being held in immigration detention and what that means for their health, safety, and access to care.

WRC's Zain Lakhani joined the program, alongside Shefali Luthra and Dr. Ghazaleh Moayedi, and shared what WRC is seeing through its research and advocacy, and why greater transparency and accountability are so urgently needed.

You can find the link to the segment, which starts 12 minutes into the broadcast, in the comments.

09/25/2026

What's happening behind closed doors in US immigration enforcement?

Our new video shows how WRC's Migrant Rights and Justice program is uncovering the hidden data and stories and using them to drive real change.

Link in comments.

09/21/2026

We’ve just released the first episode of our new podcast, Women's Refugee Commission Live. It features WRC President and CEO Dr. Xanthe Scharff and Senior Policy Advocate Sadia Kidwai discussing how conversations at the UN General Assembly will impact women, girls, refugees, and displaced people.

Sadia unpacks what changes to the UN system could mean, including a possible UN Women and UNFPA merger, and why civil society voices matter in shaping decisions that affect women and displaced communities.

Listen now at the link in comments.

09/18/2026

Join us in person or online for a UNGA81 High-Level Week side event, “Equality in Law for Women and Girls by 2030.” The Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights, housed at WRC, is co-hosting, and WRC’s CEO, Dr. Xanthe Scharff will be offering remarks.

Scan the QR code or visit the link in comments to register.

09/17/2026

With the 81st Session of the UN General Assembly underway, and High Level week starting this Friday, WRC President and CEO, Xanthe Scharff sat down with WRC Senior Policy Advocate, Sadia Kidwai to get a sense of what is truly at stake for humanitarian and gender equality issues.

Read the excerpt via the link in comments.

09/17/2026

Recently obtained government documents reveal “a systemic failure to monitor and track urgent pregnancy-related healthcare concerns and ensure that [detained] women receive proper treatment and care,” Zain Lakhani, Director of Migrant Rights and Justice at the Women’s Refugee Commission, told Jezebel. Full story link in comments.

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http://womensrefugeecommission.org/

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