About
Katharina Obser is director of the Women’s Refugee Commission’s Migrant Rights and Justice program, where she advocates for the rights of women, children and families seeking protection. An expert on U.S. immigration detention, she writes and presents frequently on immigration detention and refugee protection issues, and has researched and authored numerous reports on asylum and detention in the United States as well the European refugee response. She advocates on a national level on asylum, immigration detention, and enforcement policies and reforms affecting refugee women and children.
She previously researched and advocated on immigration detention issues at Human Rights First, where she also worked to expand access to legal representation nationally for asylum seekers and immigrants, and earlier coordinated Human Rights First's pro bono legal representation program for indigent asylum seekers in the Washington, DC office.
Katharina holds a B.A. in Political Science and French from the University of Michigan, and a Masters Degree in Forced Migration Studies from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.
