Written by Karolina Maroszek.
Refugee Action is calling for a more gender-sensitive treatment of women asylum seekers.
Women claiming asylum in the UK have often left behind them persecution experience quite different from that of asylum-seeking men. They may have been raped, forced into marriage, experienced domestic violence or ‘honour’ crimes. In the more conservative societies women have no social status or protection and therefore internal flight is not an option. Yet, the UK asylum system treats their cases on a par with those of male asylum-seekers and has no gender-specific provisions, which would apply in asylum determination, securing welfare or accommodation, during detention or in pregnancy.
This week, the charity Asylum Aid launched a Charter of Rights of Women Seeking Asylum. Refugee Action and nearly 200 different organisations have endorsed the Charter, which demands that asylum-seeking women should receive a standard of treatment and facilities comparable to that enjoyed by women settled in the UK.
Whilst a whole range of procedures have been brought into the criminal justice system to protect women who suffered rape or other forms of sexual abuse or domestic violence, the asylum system has only two relevant guidelines, which often cannot be enforced for operational reasons. Such a lack of gender-specific treatment for vulnerable asylum-seeking women may make them withhold sensitive information which could otherwise help in their asylum application. For example, a woman who was sexually abused in Pakistan and is applying for asylum in the UK may have to go through several interviews, each time repeating her story to a different caseworker or interpreter, not necessarily female. She may withhold sensitive information at the screening stage when she has to speak through a screen in a public office or in front of her children. If she discloses this information in privacy at a later stage, this new evidence goes against her credibility. A woman settled in the UK who suffered abuse will be given support and protection to enable her to give her ‘best evidence’.
Similarly, the criminal justice system now requires that women prisons should have a ratio of 60:40 female to male workers. There is no such requirement in relation to Immigration Removal Centres and women detained in them often feel intimidated, scared and isolated. Sometimes women may be detained along a disproportionate number of male detainees, with whom they have to share facilities. Changes should be introduced so that good practice in the prison service is transferred to asylum detention.
Finally, the Charter demands that pregnant asylum seekers should receive the same level of support, in terms of healthcare as well as accommodation and benefits, as pregnant women living in the UK. At the moment, a pregnant woman whose asylum claim is in process or has been rejected receives minimal support and faces living in destitution.
To read the Charter, watch a film about treatment of women seeking asylum the UK and take action go to: http://www.asylumaid.org.uk/charter
Posted by Sara Ayech