Parliamentary Launch of the Charter for Asylum Seeking Women

Posted on November 12, 2008
Filed Under BME, Human Rights, London, Publication, Refugee, War Conflict, Women's Group | Comments Off

The Charter of Rights of Women Seeking Asylum was launched in Parliament on the 22nd October. Over 80 people attended including refugee women, endorsers of the Charter and others. Neil Gerrard MP chaired the meeting in the House of Commons.

Speakers included Helen Bamber, founder of the Helen Bamber Foundation who talked about the failures of the current asylum system to protect victims of torture. She recounted two case studies of women she has worked with who had suffered persecution. It was because of such experience that the Helen Bamber Foundation was pleased to endorse the Charter.

Anne-Marie from Women Asylum Seekers Together, London discussed her experiences of arriving in the UK from the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2002, speaking no English and not understanding the asylum system. She experienced racist abuse when dispersed to Sunderland and currently struggles to survive on s4 vouchers. She suffers mental ill-health due to being tortured.

Debora Singer, from Asylum Aid, spoke about the inception of the Charter in recognition that the UK Border Agency (UKBA) fails to recognise gender issues. While the police and criminal justice system in this country have made great strides in dealing more sympathetically with victims of rape and domestic violence, the asylum system still lagged behind. It was to be hoped that the Charter would focus UKBA on the duties inherent under the Gender Equality Duty (GED). She said the Charter now had 112 endorsements and that Asylum Aid would be meeting UKBA and also the new Chief Inspector of UKBA to discuss it.

Finally, Jonathan Ellis of the Refugee Council spoke saying they endorsed the Charter because of the need to challenge the unacceptable situations women face. He gave examples of women having their children present at their asylum interviews, having male security guards in detention centres, women being forced into prostitution because of being destitute and being separated from their children when being removed. He said UKBA should take women’s experiences into account and treat women asylum seekers with dignity. He concluded that the Charter brings the sector together and working collaboratively would make such work stronger.

The speeches were followed by a number of contributions and questions from the floor, with a common theme of supporting the Charter and proposing ways to work within its framework. In particular, Canon Nicholas Sagovsky informed the meeting that the Independent Asylum Commission had plagiarised the Charter for their own reports as they felt it was so well- informed. It was recognised that the Charter is a practical instrument to be utilised by all working directly and indirectly with women asylum seekers.

This report is taken from the latest issue of women’s asylum news which has a number of articles including a report on:

Key International case: New Zealand Refugee Status Appeals Authority (SAA) Decision.

Honour Killing – Political Opinion & Internal Flight Alternative

This article will outline the details of a recent reported case in New Zealand. This decision involves an Alevi Kurdish woman from Turkey at risk of honour killing by her husband, his family and her own family. In recognising the claimant as a refugee the SAA has addressed two issues of importance: Political Opinion and the Internal Flight Alternative.

The New Zealand SAA position is set as:

Both in principle and in law the Authority is bound to approach the “internal flight or relocation alternative” as an issue of protection, not one of well-foundedness. Once a refugee claimant has established a well-founded fear of being persecuted for a Convention reason, recognition of that person as a Convention refugee can only be withheld if that person can genuinely access domestic protection which is meaningful. There are four elements to this inquiry: an ability to access the proposed internal protection alternative, the absence of a risk of being persecuted in that place, the absence there of other forms of serious harm and the ability to access a minimum level of civil, political and socio-economic rights8.

At present, there is no international consensus on these four elements.

This case is significant because it outlines international differences in the application of IFA and why the New Zealand SAA has adopted a different assessment to the UK. The New Zealand SAA decision affirms why they believe, once a person is found to be a refugee, the circumstances in which refugee status should be withheld on the basis of IFA are limited.

The full report of this decision and other articles are part of:
women’s asylum news wan issue number 78 October/November 2008
Produced by RWRP, Asylum Aid, Club Union House 253-254 Upper Street London N1 1RY
Tel: 020 7354 9631
Fax: 020 7354 5620
Email: Claireb@asylumaid.org.uk
Website: http://www.asylumaid.org.uk

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See also: Charter of rights of women seeking asylum

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