On 19th of August, the government launched the guide “Understanding behaviours and expectations in the UK: a guide for asylum seekers”. This guide will do nothing to support, inform or empower women. All it will do is fuel suspicion, prejudice, division and harmful myths about the nature and causes of gendered violence.
As organisations supporting victim-survivors of multiple forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG), as well as organisations supporting people seeking asylum, we are aware of the importance of the government providing comprehensive information about rights, entitlements and services to ensure victim-survivors can access support and justice. As stated by several led by and for Black, minoritised and migrant organisations, it is a reality that many women with insecure immigration status (including women seeking asylum) lack adequate information about support services in the UK, which can impede them from seeking help when experiencing abuse and exploitation.
However, we are alarmed that the framing of this resource distorts the realities of abuse and utilises punitive, racialised language that contributes to a dangerous agenda that weaponises VAWG whilst fuelling hostility against some communities, to the detriment of victim-survivors. The decision to single out people seeking asylum to be instructed on these subjects reinforces the harmful narrative that migrant communities pose a particular threat to women and girls that requires correction and surveillance. It furthermore marginalises victim-survivors, de-centring them from responses and omitting life-saving specialist resources.
As well-evidenced, VAWG is a pervasive, systemic issue that affects almost one in three women living in the UK, with the majority of abuse committed by men known to their victims. This form of gender-based violence is not unique to specific communities but a pervasive global issue rooted in gender inequality. Holding particular groups as primarily responsible for violence and abuse misrepresents the reality of VAWG and marginalises Black and minoritised migrant women, who are absent from the conversation and left unsupported.
A year ago, as part of our #NotInOurName campaign, we called out politicians and the government for hijacking the fight to end VAWG to justify misinformation that generated unfounded claims about Black and minoritised communities being more likely to perpetrate violence against women and girls. It is concerning that the development and distribution of this guide by the government continues to dangerously weaponise VAWG, despite well-evidenced consequences of anti-migrant rhetoric, including targeted violence at accommodation for asylum seekers and hate crimes against racialised communities. Notably, many of those responsible for committing these attacks have themselves been identified as perpetrators of domestic abuse. This underscores the extent to which VAWG is cross-cutting across society, rather than being attributable to particular groups, and how these anti-migrant narratives decentre victim-survivors from the conversation and fail to address the root causes of VAWG.
We know that this guide will have a detrimental effect on some of the most vulnerable victim-survivors, including people seeking asylum who have experienced VAWG, trafficking and exploitation themselves, impeding them from accessing urgent support whilst reproducing a troubling message that overlooks the root causes of abuse and harm.
We call on the Home Office and the government to urgently review this guide and produce a new resource in consultation with specialist services that genuinely focuses on providing victim-survivors with the means to be free from violence and abuse and to receive the support they need. If the commitment to halving VAWG in the current decade is honest, we urgently need to see a change in rhetoric and practice.
Statement authored by
End Violence Against Women Coalition
Hibiscus
Latin American Women’s Rights Service
Women for Refugee Women
Imkaan
Southall Black Sisters
Asylum Matters
And signed by more than 65 organisations working to end VAWG and/or support people seeking sanctuary
