Women for Refugee Women release new report, Refused, on the experiences of women who have been denied asylum in the UK
Women for Refugee Women’s new report, Refused, shines a light into the experiences of women who have been denied asylum in the UK. Women for Refugee Women’s research shows that nearly half of women who claim asylum in the UK have experienced rape, and nearly half have been arrested or imprisoned, but most are denied asylum in the UK.
If denied asylum and unable to be returned to their home country, women face immense hardship in the UK. In Women for Refugee Women's research, more than half of women had been made destitute – left with no means of support or right to work; a quarter had been detained. The emotional effects of refusal are shocking. More than half of the women in Women for Refugee Women's sample had contemplated suicide.
Women for Refugee Women’s research was previewed on Sunday 27 May in the Sunday Times (link behind paywall), in a feature in which Eleanor Mills described meeting Saron, a refugee from Ethiopia who had been imprisoned and raped and tortured in her home country, but who was refused asylum here: 'I thought there would be more humanity in England... but what happened to me here was worse than Ethiopia.'
Baroness Joan Bakewell and Baroness Helena Kennedy QC will speak at the launch of Refused on 29 May in the House of Lords. They will be joined by actresses Eve Best and Juliet Stevenson, who will read the story of a refugee woman, and by Lydia Besong, the refugee playwright whose long campaign for asylum in the UK was supported by Women for Refugee Women.
‘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.’ Professor Philippe Sands QC