#16DaysOfActivism - Human Rights and Migration Policy: an increasing divide
By Maria Monserrat Escudero and Dolores Modern
Human Rights in context
This year, commemorating Human Rights day is critical.
The Human Rights Framework guided governments, policymakers, and societies in general for decades, enshrining the value of human life, dignity and compassion beyond borders. Alarmingly, this consensus is now being challenged globally. In the UK, we can see this clearly with the pledge by some MPs to scrap the Human Rights Act and leave the European Convention on Human Rights. But we don’t need to go this far to put Human Rights at risk. By demonising migration, this government is fuelling the narrative that questions whether we are all deserving of rights and entitlements.
Human Rights are interlinked, and most importantly, inherent to every human being. By alienating certain groups of people from their fundamental rights, we are stripping them from their humanity. In the context of the 16 days of activism, where the importance of eradicating violence against women and girls is in the spotlight, the interconnectedness of Human Rights comes into centre.
The dehumanising effect of the hostile immigration environment
The cruelty of the current hostile environment migrants, asylum seekers and refugees are living in cannot be overstated. Our communities have progressively seen their vulnerability increase for years. And when we thought things could not get much worse, a government many of us had put our hopes in, turned on us.
Migrants have become the scapegoats for state failings of all kinds. We are to blame for the housing crisis, for austerity impacting the working class, for salaries falling and working conditions worsening. There is no evidence that shows that migration has caused any of these issues, or that reducing migration would fix them. However, the idea that migrants, asylum seekers and refugees are impoverishing the UK by taking from British citizens is spun across media, parliamentary debates, and now at dinner tables.
The purpose of these narratives is not to fix the root causes of the issues facing the UK. They are used and exploited to create division, cover failings and gain political support in a context of crisis and concern. These narratives and the policies that derive from them are also an extension of the colonial project, which extracted from and exploited ‘othered’ populations. Now, we see it happening within the UK borders by allowing for the dehumanisation of human beings who have made this country their home, however temporarily.
The real life impact of dehumanising migrants
The downgrading of the Human Rights framework and the narratives that enable this affect everyone. A mother might be afraid to speak to her child in her own language in public. A child might face bullying at school. A worker might fear reporting their employer for abusing their rights. A student might choose not to continue pursuing their education in the UK for fear of violence. This creates a fragmented society, where fear seeps into communities and erodes the trust and solidarity that hold us together. It also opens the door to further curtailing of rights.
For those most at risk, including the women we work with who are survivors of gender-based violence, trafficking, and exploitation, this context makes it even harder to access support, justice, and redress. These women, who are often experiencing intersecting issues related to structural racism and class discrimination, are being systematically failed by this government from multiple fronts. They are the very people the government claims to want to protect.
Migrants Rights and Women’s Rights are Human Rights
There are no humans less deserving of a dignified life. Violence against women and girls will not be eradicated if we, as a society, marginalise women who, due to their immigration status, are subjected to institutional violence and discrimination. The idea of “earning” Human Rights through, for example, increasingly complex conditions for settlement, goes against the commitments this country has taken to abandon the colonial project and become a firm supporter of the advancement of all peoples.
In this context, communities and solidarity networks are taking the role of the state and protecting those most vulnerable. However, charities and communities alone cannot revert the consequences of these curtailments.
But we refuse to lose hope. When in crisis, humanity has thrived by strengthening community bonds, and pulling each other up. The UK was once a leading voice in the adoption of Human Rights globally, being the first nation to ratify the European Convention of Human Rights. We need a government that can take up the mantle, refusing to be blinded by short-term political gain, and steps up to the challenges facing our times.
Everyone deserves to live in dignity. A fair immigration system that offers equal and real protections is the only way to guarantee Human Rights.
Another Autumn Budget, Another year of uncertainty for VAWG services and victim-survivors
Thursday, 27 November 2025
Yesterday’s budget did not mention Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) once – a glaring omission at a time when demand for specialist support is at record levels and victim-survivors have a 60% chance of being turned away from refuge, primarily due to lack of space and the No Recourse to Public Funds condition. Despite a manifesto commitment to halve VAWG, the government’s Budget has provided no new funding for the specialist organisations supporting victim-survivors of VAWG and their children.
With rising demand, higher operational costs, Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) funding cuts, a cost-of-living crisis, and the impact of a previous National Insurance increase, services already under immense strain now face even greater financial pressure. For VAWG organisations delivering life-saving support, this picture means longer waiting lists, reduced support, and in some areas, the real risk of services shutting down entirely. We have already seen 3 Rape Crisis Centres close in the last 12 months, and they remain – as almost all other women’s services do – unsure about their future beyond the end of this financial year.
While we welcome the scrapping of the two-child limit, which also means an end to women needing to 'prove' they were raped in order to qualify for the exemption on the benefit cap, the government’s failure to include support for victim-survivors in the budget is devastating for the thousands of women and children who rely on specialist trauma-informed support every day. It also has significant implications for our economy, productivity, and broader quality of life, if those seeking safety, justice and recovery after experiencing violence cannot secure the support they need, and rebuild their lives.
The government’s continued imposition of short-term, fragmented funding for VAWG services is actively hindering its own commitment to halve VAWG within a decade and undermining frontline work. While the entirety of the VAWG sector is affected, the impact is particularly severe for smaller, specialist ‘by and for’ organisations supporting Black, minoritised and migrant women. These services are six times less likely to receive government funding and operate at a 39% shortfall in funding1, despite generating more than £42 million in public savings each year. Chronic underfunding, combined with a hostile and anti-migrant political environment and increasingly competitive funding systems, continues to place them at severe structural disadvantage.
“‘We've always been in survival mode since 2012, when the austerity measures kicked in and our local authorities stopped funding us [...] The current situation is literally getting us from one year to the next year to the next year’...”
Evidence shows 67% of Black, minoritised and migrant victim-survivors want ‘by and for services’. These services are not optional add-ons; they are essential, life-saving -and in many cases, the only safe and accessible spaces equipped to provide holistic support to some of the most vulnerable victim-survivors. Yet far too many specialist organisations remain locked out of fair and accessible funding.
As the representatives of leading women's sector organisations, we are yet to see the things we know are needed - long-term, secure funding for all women, including those with No Recourse to Public Funds and recognition and support for Rape Crisis Centres.
Ahead of the publication of the VAWG strategy, we urge the government to:
- Commit a minimum of £502 million of investment in specialist domestic abuse organisations, which should include £222m for refuge services and £280m for community-based services.
- Create national ring-fenced funding for specialist VAWG organisations, including ‘by and for’ services, in line with the Domestic Abuse Commissioner’s recommendations, including £158.3 million in ring-fenced for Black and minoritised, deaf and disabled, and LGBT+ victim-survivors, and £63.5 million per annum in dedicated funding for victim-survivors with No Recourse to Public Funds.5
- Urgent continuation and substantial increase of the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Fund (RASASF) fund, with appropriate year on year uplifts, over a 4-year period in line with other commitments.
- Replace short-term, fragmented funding with stable, multi-year funding allows services to plan, retain skilled staff, and meet increasing demand.
- Reform competitive funding and commissioning models to ensure equitable access for all specialist organisations, recognising the distinct role played ‘by and for’ services and the structural inequalities they face.
Without sustainable investment, life-saving VAWG services will continue to operate on the brink, and the government’s commitment to ending VAWG will remain unmet. Victim-survivors deserve better, and specialist organisations cannot continue to shoulder this responsibility without the resources required to keep women and children safe. 
Sources:
[1] https://www.womensaid.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Unsuccessful-referrals-into-refuge.pdf
[2] https://southallblacksisters.org.uk/submissions-campaigns/investing-in-safety/
[3] https://www.imkaan.org.uk/home-affairs-committee-report-response-funding-vawg
LAWRS supports the statement on the weaponisation of VAWG
The statement has been co-ordinated by organisations including End Violence Against Women Coalition, Women for Refugee Women, Hibiscus, Southall Black Sisters and Asylum Matters, and is endorsed by Imkaan and the Step Up Migrant Women Coalition:
--
In the last weeks, we have seen how vital conversations about violence against women and girls (VAWG) are being hijacked by an anti-migrant agenda that fuels division, harms survivors and ultimately impedes the real work of tackling the root causes of society-wide violence, to the detriment of women and girls. We write as organisations on the frontlines of combatting VAWG to urge the Government to address this dangerous narrative.
We condemn all acts of violence against women and girls and the immense harm which such acts cause to individuals and communities. The facts about violence against women and girls in the UK are stark:
-
Almost one in three women will experience domestic abuse, and sexual offences are at the highest level recorded.
-
Two women a week in the UK are murdered by a partner or ex-partner.
-
More than 90% of perpetrators of rape and sexual assault are known to their victims.
-
One in two rapes against women are carried out by a partner or ex-partner.
-
One in three adult survivors of rape experience it in their own home.
-
Women who can’t access public funds, such as welfare support or housing assistance - due to No Recourse to Public Funds conditions - are three times more likely to experience VAWG.
We have been alarmed in recent weeks by an increase in unfounded claims made by people in power, and repeated in the media, that hold particular groups as primarily responsible for sexual violence. This not only undermines genuine concerns about women’s safety but also reinforces the damaging myth that the greatest risk of gender-based violence comes from strangers.
Every act of VAWG is a form of injustice. It is an injustice that violence against women and girls is carried out in our workplaces, in our schools, in our streets and most commonly, in our homes. It is an uncomfortable reality that it is committed in every economic group, ethnicity, age and social group, and overwhelmingly by the men who are in women and girls’ lives. VAWG is also perpetrated by people who move to the UK, but the racist idea that this is solely an imported problem flies in the face of women and girls’ daily experiences in the UK.
These horrifying facts must be addressed with sustainable investment in prevention and support services, and by removing state-imposed barriers to support for survivors. Instead, the issue is being hijacked by people seeking to use women and girls’ pain and trauma - and the threat of it - for political gain.
Over recent weeks, people claiming to care about the “safety of women and children” have left families, women and children living in temporary asylum accommodation afraid to leave their front door. They follow in the footsteps of the rioters who used the appalling murder of three young girls as an excuse to bring violence to our streets; with targeted attacks against migrant, minoritised and Muslim communities. That two out of five of those arrested for that disorder themselves had police histories of domestic abuse illustrates not only the pervasiveness of gender-based violence but the disingenuous nature of many of those who claim to have the interests of women and children at heart. Meanwhile, members of Parliament freely share false statistics about the nationality of perpetrators. Government ministers have even endorsed some of this summer’s demonstrators as having ‘legitimate’ concerns, which risks normalising and enabling the spreading of racist narratives by the far-right.
Not only do these falsehoods fail to keep women safe, they serve as a racist distraction that actively impedes the urgent work of addressing gender-based violence. Myths and misconceptions about sexual violence act as a barrier to justice for survivors. Spreading an inaccurate picture of VAWG in the UK allows the people - overwhelmingly men, from all walks of life - who harm women and girls to hide behind racial stereotypes and scapegoating. Meanwhile, hostile immigration policies propped up by this misinformation put many of the most marginalised women and survivors in the UK - racialised, migrant, refugee and asylum-seeking women - at even greater risk of harm, destitution, homelessness, exploitation and criminalisation.
The government has pledged to halve violence against women and girls. This is a challenging but achievable ambition, but it cannot be done while lies about its causes are endorsed by those in the highest positions of power - Parliament and the media - and allowed to spread unchecked.
We urge the Government to show leadership in responding to the weaponisation of VAWG, including changing its framing of migration, promoting an accurate picture of violence against women and girls, and holding those who spread misinformation to account. We cannot afford for this agenda to drive further attacks on migrant communities or harm efforts to develop a coherent, effective strategy to address the real causes of gender-based violence. All women and girls deserve for us to face and confront the reality of VAWG, so that we can pave the way in ending it.
Labour’s immigration policy and LAWRS
The Immigration White Paper
In May this year, the UK Government released its Immigration White Paper, outlining a series of proposed changes to immigration policy. These proposals have created widespread uncertainty and fear among migrant communities — feelings that persist today, as many details remain undecided.
The direction taken by the government is deeply concerning. Rather than dismantling the hostile environment created under previous Conservative governments, it seeks to entrench and expand it — to the detriment of society as a whole.
The proposed measures are, and will continue to be, particularly harmful to migrant women — especially those who are survivors of gender-based violence, trafficking, modern slavery, and exploitative or unsafe working conditions.
LAWRS, together with partner organisations Southall Black Sisters, Hibiscus and EVAW, joined by 100+ organisations, are fighting these cruel policies. We have released a response outlining how they will harm migrant women and concluded with a protest outside of the Home Office on the 15th of October. However, we know that this will be a long fight — one that will require sustained collective action, solidarity across movements, and a continued commitment to centring the voices and leadership of migrant women.
Why are we so concerned?
Mainstreaming the far-right in immigration policies
The White Paper marks a dangerous and racially discriminatory escalation which scapegoats immigrants, not austerity, for economic and social deprivation. The government is mainstreaming far-right rhetoric, using this to inform reactionary policy-making at a time when violence against immigrants, asylum-seekers and refugees is increasing.
This is evident not only in the White Paper, but in subsequent statements from the Prime Minister and other members of his cabinet, as well as in the government’s failure to condemn the actions of far-right groups who are targeting migrants and people seeking asylum.
Migrant victim/survivors of domestic abuse
The government has pledged to halve gender-based violence in 10 years. Yet in its White Paper, it fails to address the vulnerability of migrant women survivors of VAWG. Frontline services such as LAWRS support migrant women whose inability to access mainstream refuges, financial support, stable housing or quality legal advice prevents them from fleeing domestic abuse and rebuilding their lives. Existing protections, such as the Migrant Victims of Domestic Abuse Concession (MVDAC) and Domestic Violence Indefinite Leave to Remain (DVILR) are extremely limited, and cover only a limited number of women with insecure immigration status.
Moreover, the risk of statutory services, including the police, sharing information with immigration enforcement is directly weaponised by perpetrators, deterring reporting and access to protection. Individuals who are now in government have previously emphasised the critical need for a firewall between immigration enforcement and the police. Despite this, commitments to remove these barriers have not been followed through, and protections remain unavailable for most migrant victim/survivors.
Labour market and immigration
This government continues to devalue what they frame as “low-skilled” roles overwhelmingly held by migrant women in the UK. This includes care work, cleaning and support services, where essential workers already lack fair conditions and robust protections. The decision to scrap care worker visas is particularly alarming and risks collapsing an already fragile sector.
We are alarmed that genuine workforce planning and sectoral investment are being replaced with a reliance on migrant women workers as temporary stopgaps for labour shortages. By restricting their access to long-term stability and settlement, these policies force workers to accept poor conditions and deepen dependency on partners or employers, increasing the risk of abuse and exploitation
We also wholly reject the government’s framing of immigration control as a means to address labour exploitation. This narrative misrepresents the root causes of abuse in the labour market and instead targets the victims/survivors, rather than the exploitative employers who profit from their precarity.
Criminalisation of victim/survivors
In the UK, most women in prison or under community supervision have experienced abuse or exploitation. For vulnerable migrant survivors, criminality often results from coercion or economic precarity. As expressed above, migrant women also face barriers to report abuse and exploitation, meaning they slip through the cracks before later coming into contact with the criminal justice system. Automatic deportation and accelerated removals will prevent survivors from pursuing meaningful justice and rebuilding their lives.
Urgent priorities for action
The Government faces an urgent choice: to continue bolstering far-right ideology or to take immediate action to protect migrant victims/survivors. We call on the Government to:
- Abandon the UK Government’s Immigration White Paper (May 2025), which harms victim/survivors of VAWG, trafficking and modern slavery.
- Implement safe reporting mechanisms.
- End the criminalisation of victim/survivors of VAWG, trafficking and modern slavery.
- Fully repeal the Illegal Migration Act (2023) and the Nationality and Borders Act (2022).
- Tackle systemic racism and structural inequalities.
- Centre and provide ring-fenced funding for by and for organisations.
- Extend the combined MVDAC-DVILR model to all victim/survivors regardless of immigration status.
Join our Young Women’s Advisory Board 2025!
Would you like to unlock your full potential to champion and lead action to tackle violence against women and girls (VAWG)?
At LAWRS, we are looking for 10 enthusiastic Latin American Young Women aged 18 to 24, based in London, to join our Young Women’s Advisory Board for one year 🥳
What’s it about? 🤔
The Young Women’s Advisory Board is an initiative by the Latin American Women’s Rights Service (LAWRS) and its project for girls and young women: Sin Fronteras. The programme seeks to train Latin American Young Women for collective action at the intersection of migration, age, gender, amongst other issues.
This programme provides you with theoretical and practical skills in feminist leadership and advocacy that you will be able to apply in your life, your career, and with your community.
The program will be held in English and Spanish and meetings will be in-person in London.
Policy, sorority and leadership!
Who’s it for? 🤷🏽♀️
Latin American Young Women aged 18 to 24*, based in London, are invited to participate in the Young Women’s Advisory Board and will receive a stipend to support their engagement in the programme (at London Living Wage levels).
* This also includes first and second generation young women with Latin American ethnicity and European/UK nationality.
* You must be at most 24 years old by the time of submitting the application form.
How? 👩🏽💻
The one year programme (May 2025 - March 2026) consists of 12 Leadership and Advocacy training sessions and group meetings about tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) as Latin American young migrant women advocates, and 3 organisational planned activities (LAWRS’ Annual General Meeting (AGM), LAWRS’ International Women’s Day event (IWD), and the International Women’s Day Million Women Rise March).
Programme Timeline 🗓️
Programme Starts: Saturday 10th May 2025!
Leadership and Advocacy training sessions and group meetings:
All of these will take place on Saturdays from 11am - 3 pm, in-person in London.
- 10th of May 2025
- 24th of May 2025
- 7th of June 2025
- 21st of June 2025
- 5th of July 2025
- 19th of July 2025
- 2nd of August 2025
- 13th of September 2025
- 27th of September 2025
- 25th of October 2025
- 22nd of November 2025
- 6th of December 2025
Organisational planned activities:
- 8th of November 2025: LAWRS's Annual General Meeting (AGM).
- 28th of February 2026: LAWRS's International Women's Day Event (IWD).
- 7th of March 2026: International Women's Day: Million Women Rise March
Program Ends: Saturday 7th March 2026.
* Throughout the year we expect to have participative activities where the YWAB can amplify their network and uptake action. These are highly recommended activities, however they are not compulsory and will not be financially compensated.
Benefits 🤩
With the Young Women’s Advisory Board you can: gain skills, meet new people, and influence LAWRS’ policy work bringing young migrant women’s voices to the centre of the organisation and the public debate.
Get involved in the work that we do, get paid for your time, gain valuable experience to include in your CV, get trained in leadership and activism, and be invited to LAWRS events and beyond!
This is your chance to create a more equal world for girls and young women, participate in a collective social change actions programme to tackle violence against women and girls (VAWG), and shape LAWRS’ policy work.
Apply Now! 🙋🏽♀️
Apply online using our Application Form: ➡️ ➡️ https://forms.gle/PXK37PotgJyS1sr29 ⬅️ ⬅️
Applications open until Friday 25th April 2025.
Please note that completion of the application form does not guarantee a place in the programme.
If your application is accepted, you will be invited to an interview. The interviews (30 minutes approximately) are going to be conducted online, on the 28th April and 1st May at some point between 10am and 4pm.
If selected, you are expected to attend the opening session on Saturday 10th May 2025.
Contact 🤳🏼
Melissa, the project coordinator, would be happy to talk to you if you have any questions or need support with your application. You can contact her at: sinfronteras@lawrs.org.uk / 07802 645001.
We would be grateful if you could also share this information with your network as we want to ensure many young women know about this opportunity, especially those with a passion to make a difference in the lives of women and girls.
Thank you for taking an interest, we can’t wait to hear from you! 🥰
Do you know how to identify sexual harassment in the workplace?
Almost every woman, trans or non-binary person you know can, unfortunately, tell you about an experience in which they have been a victim of gender-based violence – from being catcalled to sexual assault. If you are a woman, trans or non-binary person yourself, this is most likely not news to you.
Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) is embedded in our society’s patriarchal structure in which men have traditionally controlled the power. It is present in all the spheres of our lives, especially in our relationships – whether they are with family members, partners or colleagues. It affects all of us, but its effects can be more harmful for those who are part of minority groups (migrants, women of colour, LGBTQ+, undocumented people, etc.).
Sexual harassment is a form of VAWG which may also occur in the workplace.
It can manifest itself in sexist practices, ranging from “casual” and seemingly harmless habits – such as a joke or a gesture – to sexual assault and even feminicide – the killing of a woman on the basis of her gender. Certain behaviours have become so normalised that, sometimes, we fail to recognize that they are acts of violence.
So, what is sexual harassment in the workplace?
It is any unwelcome sexual behaviour that creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading or humiliating working environment and which has the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of a worker.
To better understand the presence of these elements, you should also take into account that:
- A sexual behaviour may comprise physical, verbal, and non-verbal conducts (e.g., texts and images);
- It doesn’t matter if the perpetrator alleges they didn’t intend to make the victim feel uncomfortable;
- Free and valid consent is key in any adult sexual contact;
- The victim doesn’t need to have a written contract from their employer to receive protection;
- When one’s dignity is affected, it may lead to feelings of shame, humiliation, fear, frustration, vulnerability; and
- A hostile environment may be intimidating, degrading, humiliating or offensive.
Can you recognise sexual harassment in the workplace?
Sexual harassment in the workplace can be a serious incident of sexual assault, but it can also be a less obvious conduct which makes you uncomfortable. It may be sexual comments or jokes about yourself or a colleague; physical behaviour, including unwelcome sexual advances – such as touching, hugging or kissing, and various forms of sexual assault. It also includes displaying pictures, photos or drawings of a sexual nature – such as circulating pornography, by email or WhatsApp, or having pictures of naked/semi-naked women in the workplace. It could be, as well, requests or demands for sexual favours, or even leering or staring inappropriately.
If you are unsure whether you have been a victim of sexual harassment, or you want to protect yourself or a colleague from it, you can ask yourself the following questions:
- Have I been exposed to a conduct of a sexual nature in the workplace coming from a superior or colleague?
- Has such behaviour been undesired and/or unrequested by me?
- Has such behaviour affected my dignity as a person?
- Has the situation created a hostile environment in my workplace?
It is important to know that sexual harassment in the workplace, and other forms of abuse of power and VAWG, are illegal – most of them punishable by law. The UK has a legal system containing rules that protect you from these behaviours, and that enshrine your rights, especially those ensuring you can live your life with dignity and free of violence.
You can promote the prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace, by requesting your employer to have a clear, comprehensive policy in place against sexual harassment. In case of an alleged sexual harassment case, this policy will alert all parties to their rights, roles and responsibilities. It should also set out how to promptly and efficiently deal with a sexual harassment claim.
If you think that you or a friend or colleague have been victim of sexual harassment in the workplace, you can contact your Union’s Women Officer and/ or representative. They can guide you on what to do next. You can also contact specialist organisations such as the Latin American Women’s Rights Service (LAWRS), through our Helpline 0808- 145-4909 or by email: info@lawrs.org.uk.
If the harassment is very serious, it might also be a crime. If a colleague or supervisor has sexually assaulted you or made physical threats, or you are worried about your safety, you can contact the police or the National Health Service (NHS). You have a right to ask for an interpreter when you speak to them.
Always remember that you are not alone, and that it is not your fault.
Voices of Resilience: short documentary
Migrant and refugee women face multiple barriers when arriving in the EU and the current political anti-migrant climate has made their situations direr. Experiences of gender-based abuse, exploitation at work and isolation have been exacerbated by the progressive erosion of migrant and women’s rights.
On International Migrant Day 2018, LAWRS launches the short documentary titled: “Voices of resilience: Migrant and Refugee women in Europe” which highlights the experiences of migrant women in the UK, Spain, Poland and Italy and sharing their experiences and calls for change.
The short documentary was made as part of the Women, Empowerment, Integration and Participation project (WEIP) run by LAWRS (UK), Differenza Donna (Italy), KARAT Coalition (Poland) and Red Acoge (Spain) and brought the voices and experiences of migrant and refugee women to the forefront. The documentary was first screened in November at the WEIP’s international conference in London, where more than 20 migrant and women organisations in Europe highlighted the role of migrant women’s lived experiences and provided recommendations to uphold their right to integrate and to live free of violence and discrimination.
Sophia Gomez Pelaez, a migrant woman in Spain, interviewed in the short documentary states:
“We come looking for other opportunities, especially as women as we are searching to cover family needs. However, it is difficult to find shelter as we often face rejection”
Moreover, Cathrine Nsamba, a migrant woman in Italy also interviewed (and photographed above) recommends:
“I was supported by the organisation to learn more and to understand more […]and my advice for women like me are to go inside leadership and campaign for these leaderships”
Finally, Alma Gatica, the WEIP Coordinator at the Latin American Women’s Rights Service stresses the importance of a migrant and gender perspective in our work.
“We, migrant women, have to get access to decision-making spaces where policies are discussed so we can fully participate in the host country: socially, politically and economically. We are the leaders of our own empowerment journey, both as migrants and as women”
Watch the full short documentary:
Co-funded by the Asylum, Migration and Integration fund of the European Commission
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.
Step Up Migrant Women: Mayor of London calls for safe reporting for migrant victims
Prompted by our Step Up Migrant Women UK coalition, the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan urged the Home Office to protect domestic abuse victims who are vulnerable due to hostile environment policies. Migrant women with undocumented status are denied access to support and remain trapped in abusive relationships.
LAWRS worked with the Mayor’s office in drafting his letter to the Home Secretary, with measures and guidelines to ensure victims have access to justice and support services.
The Mayor’s demands were backed by Victims Commissioner Claire Waxman, who has been hosting a series of roundtables on the issue, and MP Jess Phillips.
“Both the mayor and I are clear that all victims of abuse must have full confidence to report crime and their abusers to ensure justice is done, no matter what their status might be,” said Claire Waxman
The current lack of safe-reporting mechanisms creates a barrier for migrant women to flee violence and gives greater impunity to perpetrators. An Imkaan study has shown that 92% of women with insecure status have received threats of deportation from perpetrators.
LAWRS’ Director, Lucila Granada, commented:
“The hostile environment policies have led to this extremely dangerous situation where many victims of severe crimes are too afraid to go to the police. Their perpetrator is dangerous, but the police can be even more dangerous to them. Perpetrators are hiding behind these policies and using them to abuse their victims.”
Step Up Migrant Women is a campaign led by LAWRS and supported by over 30 women’s and migrants’ rights organisations. We campaign for the implementation of safe-reporting mechanisms and the end of data-sharing policies when victims approach the police.
Photo by Angeles Rodenas