Ahead of International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM (Friday 6 February 2015), our Women’s Community Development Worker Elaine explains some of the issues women face in disclosing FGM during the asylum process.
I was pleased but not entirely surprised when our recent report, Tackling FGM in Scotland: A Scottish Model of Intervention, highlighted the need for communities potentially affected by female genital mutilation (FGM) to be instrumental in shaping policy, practice and services around FGM.
Research participants described communities and key activists as ‘a wealth of knowledge’, ‘an important resource’ and critical to abandonment of FGM, stating: ‘It’s a very important role and only they can actually do it’. And I couldn’t agree more.
Women speaking out
Having supported the Refugee Women’s Strategy Group (RWSG) for the last ten years, my role involves supporting refugee and asylum seeking women to work collectively to identify and articulate the key issues that affect them, to consider how they would like to address them and to take action in order to improve the policy and practice that affect the lives of refugee and asylum seeking women in Scotland. It’s a job that I feel privileged and often humbled to do.
Hearing RWSG members represent the views and experiences of women in their own words is often a very powerful and moving experience, which leads to greater understanding and new insights into how policy and practice can be improved to ensure that it really works for women and better meets their needs. Also, for women who often have little control over many aspects of their lives, working together is an empowering process.
Disclosing FGM is difficult
Women and girls fleeing from FGM or the fear of FGM have to deal with a huge number of issues, including accessing and navigating their way through an asylum process which often isn’t gender sensitive. It is often a challenge to access support and health services suitable for their needs while at the same time trying to integrate into their new communities and build a new life in Scotland.
Disclosing FGM within the asylum process is extremely difficult for a number of reasons. Firstly many women come from communities where FGM is not discussed and certainly not in front of a male solicitor, decision maker or interpreter. Secondly, women often don’t know their rights in relation to the asylum process itself and wouldn’t necessarily always know that their fear of FGM, either for themselves or their daughters, could be the basis of their asylum claim. Thirdly, many women have their children present with them at asylum interviews which is both distracting for them and can lead to them not disclosing issues which are critical to their case.
Even after International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM on 6 February, we need to make sure:
- women fleeing from FGM can access an asylum process which is truly gender sensitive
- women and girls who have undergone FGM or who could potentially be at risk of FGM can access health and support services
- the voices and experiences of potentially affected communities in Scotland are heard and influence any future work
Make a difference to women seeking asylum in the UK and join the Women’s Asylum Charter #ProtectionGap campaign.
Find out more about FGM in Scotland in our recent research report.
Women’s Support Project has launched a new website geared towards education about FGM. The website features a training film, with other resources coming soon.
