Sin Fronteras: This is who we are
Sin Fronteras, the girls and young women project at the Latin American Women’s Rights Service (LAWRS) is launching its latest video:
This is who we are, Sin Fronteras. Voices of Young Latin American Migrant Women in London.
This video was created by the young participants of Sin Fronteras, in collaboration with Fotosynthesis, to amplify their voices and to share their message of social justice, gender equality, anti-racism and recognition of the Latin American community in the United Kingdom.
The video is a celebration of our diversity, identities and cultures; a wake-up call for decision-makers to act; and an invitation to other youth groups, feminists, and minority communities, to join forces and support us in our role as agents of change in the British society.
You can watch the video here:
Our voices, our message
Our voices are those of young Latin American migrant women in London.
We come from different countries in Latin America. We speak Spanish, Portuguese, and also English. We are black, white, mestizo, indigenous, we are diverse.
We live in London and our experiences and realities are different. We love this city, we belong to it, and day by day we contribute to its construction and development. We live here and we also matter, we live here, and we are Londoners too.
Our Latin American community has a lot to contribute to British society. We study, we work, we participate, we take care of others. We are active citizens, and we want our identity, diversity, feminism and contributions to be recognised.
We raise our voices to be recognised in this which is also our city.
This is who we are, Sin Fronteras.
Sin Fronteras’ participants.
Join us
If you are a Latin American young woman between 14 and 21 years old living in London, and want to participate in our Sin Fronteras group please fill in our online Google Form, or contact the Sin Fronteras Coordinator, Melissa Munz: 07802 645001 / melissa@lawrs.org.uk
IMPORTANT Covid-19 Update
Dear users,
Due to the situation generated by the coronavirus (COVID-19), our offices are closed. However, we will continue to work remotely.
We hope you are taking care of your health and that of your loved ones. In the meantime, we want to assure you that you are not alone and continue to count on our support. For updated information check our Facebook page.
For information and advice, you can contact us on the following phone and emails:
Telephone: +44 020 7336 0888
Phone line hours: Monday to Friday, 10 am – 1 pm / 2 pm – 5 pm.
General LAWRS email: lawrs@lawrs.org.uk
Violence Against Women and Girls team: referrals@lawrs.org.uk
Counseling team: counsellingferrals@lawrs.org.uk
Volunteers Coordinator: volunteers@lawrs.org.uk
EU Settlement Scheme Assistance
Free assistance for Latin American women and their families who are EU nationals or family member of an EU citizen, to obtain permanent residence (Settlement or Pre-settled Status)
Monday to Thursday from 9 am to 3 pm (without appointment)
If you are European and work or have worked in the UK, you should bring:
- Passport or DNI (yours and your dependents)
- National Insurance Number
- If you are applying for your child, you will need a birth certificate or family book
- Email and mobile phone
- If you have lived more than 5 years in the United Kingdom, bring proof of your residence (P45, P60, salary receipts, council tax)
The Unheard Workforce
The Latin American Women’s Rights Service (LAWRS) is launching its latest report: “The Unheard Workforce: Experiences of Latin American migrant women in cleaning, hospitality and domestic work”
On the 17th July 2019, LAWRS launched the research “The Unheard Workforce: Experiences of Latin American migrant women in cleaning, hospitality and domestic work”. Funded by Trust for London
The research draws on 326 cases of women supported at the Employment Rights Advice Service of the organisation. It presents an array of deeply concerning labour rights violations experienced by Latin American migrant women employed in three key feminised sectors of London’s manual labour: cleaning, hospitality, and domestic work.
Among the key results arising from these cases, we found that:
- Over half of the workers faced breaches to their contracts (62%). Unlawful deduction of wages was the most common type of abuse (151 cases, 46%).
- 1 in 5 (20%) experienced illegal underpayment of the National Minimum Wage.
- 17% were unlawfully denied the annual leave they were entitled to, and 16% were not paid accrued in lieu annual leave once they left the company.
- Health and safety issues were present in 25% of the cases – predominantly injury due to the nature of the work (33%), limited or no protective equipment (17%), and lack of training (12%).
- Over two in five (41%) of women in the sample have experienced discrimination, harassment or unreasonable treatment.
- 66% experienced bullying or unreasonable treatment as regular occurrences.
- A large proportion endured verbal and/or faced physical abuse, 37% and 11% respectively.
- 16% of the women endured a total of 13 different types of sexual harassment and abuse in the workplace.
- Abuse on the grounds of maternity was experienced by 9% of women. This includes failure to pay for hours spent at prenatal appointments and denial of risk assessments during pregnancy.
- 11 cases of potential trafficking for labour exploitation were identified: 7 were cleaners or hospitality workers and 4 were domestic workers.
“We are not machines or numbers. We are human beings who want to work and to be treated with dignity and respect. We want nothing more and nothing less.”
Watch the full short documentary below:
“Undocumented Latin American migrant woman’s experiences of labour abuse in London”
This documentary was made with the support of Media Trust by the filmmaker Andrew Contreras
LAWRS 35th Anniversary report is out!
35 year ago, we started our work in a time where domestic violence was only physical abuse and we increased our services accordingly to the development of policies and legislation through the years. We are proud to follow the steps of amazing Latin American women who came before us and we hope to do our part for the ones to come. As a specialist service, we will continue providing survival, security, safety, and well-being and also advocating and campaigning for human rights and social justice for migrant women and migrant women workers in the UK.
During the last year 2017-2018, our main achievements were:
- 1,890 hours of comprehensive wellbeing support offered
- 1,691 advice and information sessions
- 339 survivors of violence supported to find safety
- 285 school students better able to lead healthy relationships
- 266 women joined in our integration programme
- 515 women supported in Southwark
- 124 women supported in Haringey
- 93% improved their knowledge about rights
- 85% improved their wellbeing
- 40% of our drop-in service users accessed more than 1 service in a single visit
- 70% found LAWRS through word of mouth
- Evidenced-based campaigning work to tackle violence against women and girls, labour exploitation and reduce the impact of Brexit
Read more here: LAWRS 35th Anniversary Annual Report
We can’t fight in the dark: Brazilian women facing violence
A research by the King’s College in partnership with LAWRS found out that VAWG among Brazilian women in London is “alarmingly widespread”, with 4 in every 5 Brazilian women in London have experienced some kind of violence.
The study, published in March 2018, shed a light on cases of violence suffered by Brazilian women in London, provided data and offered policy recommendations to tackle the issue. According to the study emotional/psychological violence was the commonest type of violence experienced in London (48%), followed by physical violence (38%), with 14% experiencing sexual violence.
The study also found that cases of VAWG are intersectional as women of mixed race were more likely to experience violence (63%) than white women (44%). Insecure immigration status prevented women from coming forward and reporting the cases of violence to the police. Apart from highlighting the need for the Domestic Violence and Abuse (DVA) Bill to set standards for the protection of migrant victims’, some of the proposed solutions to prevent VAWG cases with Brazilian women are extending ‘recourse to public funds’ to domestic violence victims, specialist training for agency officers; and increased collaboration between support organisations and government authorities. The study reinforces the need for safe reporting mechanisms to be implemented as we campaign in Step Up Migrant Women.
Relaunch of Sin fronteras: Empowering young women from Latin America
We are thrilled to announce the return of Sin Fronteras! Launched in June 2015, Sin Fronteras (No Limits) focuses on empowering young Latin American women and girls. Sin Fronteras provides them with a safe space to develop their full potential and lead on actions for social change through the use of arts. During the first two and a half years of the project, LAWRS offered different workshops and activities to more than 100 Latin American young women and girls. Through art, dance and music the young women and girls were able to identify themselves as agents that can generate a social change in our communities.
“We want to set an example, leave a footprint and speak up for Latin American people and for people from all over the world whose voices are silenced or to whom language is a barrier,” said the manifest written by members of the group.
They advocated for the recognition of young migrant women’s rights by calling for a recognition of rights through photography exhibitions, by demonstrating against detention at Yarl’s Wood, and by joining the campaign Against Border for Children (ABC). Here is Sin Fronteras standing up for the the right to education free from racism and state surveillance.
LAWRS is thrilled to relaunch Sin Fronteras in November 2018. We will run a 3-month creative leadership programme with the support of the University of London, a 1-year programme to access free university lectures thanks to King’s College London, and a 3-year programme of arts, development and social change funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Stay tuned to get more news about the awesome things this group of young leaders will be doing in the coming months.