Confronted with the persistent and virulent problem of violence against women and girls, the last Government issued a lengthy strategy for addressing the issue. It ran to seventy-seven pages; but one particularly vulnerable group of women was barely mentioned.
The harsh reality
Women who seek asylum in the UK – and who can endure tremendous hardship in the process – often do so in isolation; the asylum system is extremely complex, and timely legal advice is too seldom available. Organised community groups are subject to the public funding cuts currently seen across the board. But these women have experienced, and some continue to experience, sexual violence.
Clear evidence for change
There is a clear, desperate need for these experiences to be recognised: a Scottish Refugee Council study last year indicated that 76 percent of women asylum seekers had been raped, either in their homeland, during transit, or after arrival in the UK. The need to protect and support women seeking asylum is overwhelming, and the single page dedicated to it by the last Government in its integrated strategy to end violence against women and girls was wholly inadequate.
Turning strategy into action
The Coalition Government is now working on a new strategy to end such violence, the initial framework for which was announced on 25 November. Encouragingly, this recognises the importance of providing appropriate support to women who have fled to the UK to escape violence, and of providing an asylum system sensitive to the kinds of violence to which these women may have been subjected.
The work so far is sketchy, however, and it is vital now to ensure that it is converted into concrete actions. A comprehensive strategy to end violence against women and girls can make a crucial contribution to public policy. It could help direct resources to the women who most need them. It could save lives. But it must not leave any woman out in the cold.
