This report paints a shameful picture about asylum practices and the treatment of women seeking refuge in the UK from serious human rights abuses and persecution. It should be read and re-read and then used to press for immediate and far-reaching changes to restore this country’s role in promoting the rule of law and protecting those who are vulnerable and threatened.
– Philippe Sands QC, Professor of Law,
University College London
Women for Refugee Women’s new report Refused: the experiences of women denied asylum in the UK outlines the many problems women face in the asylum process. It includes experiences from women in seven different cities including Glasgow. Clearly our country is failing vulnerable women in desperate need of help.
It is difficult for most to imagine what these women have been through – they have suffered terrible abuses at the hands of their own state. In the UK women and men are to be equal, domestic abuse is not acceptable and rape is a crime. Sadly this is not the standard throughout the world; women are forced to flee their home countries to seek protection elsewhere.
The women and the realities
Only a third of the 18,000 people who claimed asylum in 2010 were women, yet 74 per cent of these women were turned down. The report explores the experiences of 72 women who have sought asylum in the UK. Of these women:
- 49 per cent had experienced arrest or imprisonment;
- 52 per cent had experienced violence from soldiers, police or prison guards;
- 32 per cent had been raped by soldiers, police or prison guards;
- 21 per cent had been raped by their husband, family member or someone else.
- Others were fleeing forced marriage, forced prostitution and female genital mutilation
Altogether, 66 per cent had experienced some kind of gender-related persecution and 48 per cent had experienced rape. Rape and other forms of sexual violence against women are recognised internationally as acts of torture. Women have a human right not to be subject to such abuses.
Yet of the 70 women who disclosed this, the initial outcome of their application, only three were granted asylum – that is a shocking 4 per cent!
Why is there a huge gap between persecution experienced and the protection given?
A culture of disbelief
Three quarters of the women refused said they had not been believed by the Home Office. In the report, Esther Freud tells Ella’s story highlighting how easily a simple mistake made by a traumatised woman could be used by an unsympathetic officer to dismiss her case.
Despite Ella having over 50 scars on her body consistent with deliberate abuse, the Home Office did not consider this evidence because they refused to believe she was married to the man she claimed to be. Since then Ella’s appeal has been accepted and she has now been granted refugee status.
What happens to the women who are refused asylum?
67 per cent of the women interviewed had been made destitute, without accommodation or support. Still none of the women felt able to contemplate returning to their home country.
This is happening in the UK. These women are fleeing sexual violence and then the country where they have sought refuge is turning them out on the streets, leaving the vulnerable and exposed to the risk of further sexual violence.
Collective voice calling for change
Scottish Refugee Council’s Comic Relief funded women’s project has been working to raise refugee women’s voices in Scotland since Feb 2011 on many of the issues highlighted starkly in Women for Refugee Women’s report.
We work with service providers in Scotland and with partner organisations across the UK to try to ensure women get the support they need to rebuild their lives in safety.
We support the Women for Refugee Women’s recommendations:
- Improving the quality in asylum decision making, breaking down the culture of disbelief in the Home Office
- Ensuring access to free quality legal advice and representation for all asylum seekers
- Ending the destitution of those refused asylum
Read the report summary and share your thoughts below:
