Edges Magazine Issue 44 - Women Escaping

EDGES MAGAZINE Issue 44

May 2006

Women Escaping Domestic Violence

Refuge without Borders. Stop Violence Against Women

Edges is grateful to the Kent Campaign to Defend Asylum Seekers, supported by Legal Action for Women, who have provided this statement.

In the week preceding International Women’s Day an invitation was issued to MPs to hear from an all women’s platform. Asylum seeking women from Africa, India and Pakistan spoke about their experiences and their campaign to remain in the UK. Women from grassroots and voluntary sector organisations in various capacities called for international protection for survivors of rape, forced marriage and other violence.

Fifty percent of the world’s refugees are girls and women according to UNCHR, yet women asylum seekers are barely visible as regards a media and public profile. This means that their very particular needs in terms of health, welfare and childcare issues are not met. In rape and domestic violence cases the threshold for proof is excessively high. Women have to prove not only that they have been violated but also that they cannot access protection from the state and relocate to a different area in their country of origin. When less than six percent of women in the UK can expect to achieve a conviction for rape, what chance have women where the authorities are openly hostile?

Women with compelling cases for asylum are refused because the Home Office say they do not meet the criteria for persecution under the 1951 Refugee Convention. Campaigners argue that the true sense of the convention is being distorted by a rigid interpretation of the law that does not recognise gender issues. In fact the Home Office frequently ignore their own gender guidelines.

Instead of providing a sanctuary for women who have been abused the Government treats many as criminals. Highly traumatised women are imprisoned in Yarlswood Removal Centre. An investigation into Yarlswood by Legal Action for Women (A "Bleak House" for Our Times) found that seventy percent of the women surveyed were survivors of rape and other sexual violence. These vulnerable women detainees reported racism from staff and sexual intimidation from the guards. They claimed not to have received appropriate medical attention and six tried to commit suicide.

No wonder women in Yarlswood resorted to hunger strike in 2005 as their only means of protesting these appalling conditions. Others refusing to be starved in to "voluntary return" when all their support has been terminated have formed anti- deportation campaigns within their communities. They would rather fight for a life in the UK at great personal cost than acquiesce to returning to a violent situation which may result in their death. Every woman seeking refuge whether from an individual situation of domestic violence or a war zone counts as a valuable human being. So how can our government justify treating them as less than human by imposing a system of such brutality?

This meeting gave a voice to the women who refuse to "go quietly" and will hopefully provide a way forward for collective action. Begum X fled the violence of rape and forced marriage in India more than three years ago. She has settled in the UK where she is a much valued volunteer for Kent Refugee Action Network. She is a student at Canterbury College and her long term is goal is to become a nurse. Despite evidence from an eminent social anthropologist that return to India would be very unsafe the Home Office say she can relocate. Her MP Gwyn Prosser supports her campaign and seven additional MPs have made representations to the Minister for Immigration Tony McNulty on her behalf.

Samina Altaf and her two children, Asqua and Sumamu fled Pakistan after domestic abuse. All three suffer from rickets and are receiving medical support in this country. Nonetheless the Home Office want to deport the family. Also the National Asylum Support Service wants to evict them from their house in Salford on the grounds that they are not prepared to return "voluntarily" to Pakistan. Samina does not appeal for support because of her condition. Rather she asks for solidarity because she is fighting against the racism of immigration controls.

Farhat Khan left the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan with her five children and claimed asylum in 2000. She was escaping a violent and abusive marriage and wanted to protect her two younger daughters then aged five and seven from forced marriages which had been arranged by her husband. Her claim was refused but she has just heard that she has had a fresh application accepted, supported by her MP Graham Stringer. Farhat was invited to meet the Queen at Buckingham Palace in 2004 in recognition of her impressive community advice work.

Irene Manzila fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo after suffering violence and death threats from the military. Like many of her colleagues in the All African women’s Group (AAWG) on whose behalf she speaks, Ms Manzila’s asylum claim was closed when her account of rape was dismissed in part because of negligent legal representation, and with no support or housing she is dependent on the kindness of friends and relatives for her daily survival. But despite the hardship she faces, Ms Manzila has spearheaded AAWG’s work with women in Yarl’s Wood. Ms Manzila is now making a fresh claim as Women Against Rape were able to find a new lawyer to act for her.