By Isabella Rooney, Research and Engagement Policy Officer, and Monserrat Escudero, Policy and Communications Manager on VAWG.

A change in leadership, a new opportunity

A change in national leadership gives the government an opportunity to back its ambitious pledges with real action. Tackling homelessness, child poverty, violence against women and girls (VAWG) and modern slavery requires a shift from scapegoating rhetoric and counterproductive policies, to evidence-based safeguards for the most vulnerable.

In his first speech as Prime Minister, Andy Burnham promised “to end rough sleeping in our country.” ¹ We welcome this commitment: many of the women we support are forced to sleep rough by systemic barriers, rising living costs and experiences of abuse and exploitation. However, the Prime Minister has also backed the Home Secretary’s immigration and asylum policies, which will undoubtedly drive up rough sleeping and homelessness. 

Using our frontline experience, in this 3-piece series LAWRS has analysed three of the government’s key policy strategies – on homelessness, child poverty and VAWG – to see if they hold water when it comes to migrant women and girls. These strategies aim to make homelessness rare, lift half a million children out of poverty, and halve VAWG within a decade. 

Our analysis reveals a glaring hole: migrant women and girls are systematically excluded through lack of provisions and a failure to address their needs. More importantly, the strategies’ ambitious objectives will also be directly undermined by the government’s immigration and asylum policies. 

Following the Makerfield election, Andy Burnham promised “a country that works fairly for everywhere and for everybody”.² During the Labour Party Conference, he committed to drawing “a line on a decade of division.”³ We are holding the Prime Minister accountable to these promises. His government has an opportunity to create lasting change for our communities. But our analysis shows that none of these commitments will be realised if migrant women and girls are left behind. 

Homelessness Strategy 

The Prime Minister’s pledge on rough sleeping mirrors the aims set out by the Homelessness Strategy. However, our analysis demonstrates that these aims will be impossible without specific measures to support at-risk migrants. Here are a few key objectives outlined in the Homelessness Strategy and the ways they fall short:

• Reduce barriers to accessing support:
  The Homelessness Strategy states that discrimination and communication barriers block support for those at risk of homelessness. However, it completely ignores the largest barrier for migrant women – the No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition. Before becoming Labour Party leader, Andy Burnham advocated for NRPF to be abolished because of its impact on homelessness; as Prime Minister, he has back-tracked on this. His support for the ‘Earned Settlement’ policies also risks increasing barriers to support for those at risk of homelessness, and will see people subjected to NRPF for longer, with access to public funds penalised.

• Improve statutory and local authority responses:
  The government’s proposals undermine the Strategy’s efforts to establish preventative, joined-up statutory responses and avoid a costly ‘cycle of crisis response’. People with NRPF are routinely refused assistance when they present at statutory services. We often support women who are forced to sleep rough by these refusals, escalating risk and increasing the cost of providing crisis support. By extending NRPF, implementing barriers to regularising immigration or refugee status and prohibiting local authorities from providing Section 17 support to undocumented destitute children, statutory services will not be able to adequately respond to the risk of homelessness, inevitably increasing the cost of later intervention. 

• Support low-income families to increase earnings:
  The strategy acknowledges that it’s harder to meet rising housing costs without stable employment or childcare, but offers no measures to help migrant families in this position. Migrants are disproportionately in low-income work, forced to pay repeated visa costs and excluded from benefits-funded childcare. Extending settlement routes and adding an income requirement to Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) eligibility will trap migrant women in a vicious cycle – they cannot access childcare, so cannot increase their earnings, and therefore never qualify for settlement, locking them in long-term housing insecurity.

• End homelessness for people leaving public institutions:
  The Strategy acknowledges the high vulnerability to homelessness for people exiting the asylum system, who make up the ‘second biggest group’ of people rough sleeping after leaving public institutions. But in contrast to all other institutions explored (e.g. prison, care homes, hospitals), there are no measures to reduce this number. This is a glaring omission. Policies that could reduce homelessness for people leaving the asylum system, such as extending the ‘move-on’ period, ending camp/barrack use and improving access to legal advice are ignored. At the same time, reforms including temporary refugee status, a 20-year settlement route and a ‘refugee tax’ will significantly increase the risk of homelessness for newly recognised refugees.

• Tackle re-exploitation of modern slavery victims by preventing homelessness:
  Many people owed a homelessness duty are victims of exploitation. The strategy highlights their high risk of re-exploitation, but commits only to improving identification of potential victims through updated guidance. Increasing identification of victims will not prevent homelessness or re-exploitation if the systemic issues with the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) are not addressed. Potential and recognised victims must have access to housing, appropriate financial assistance, quality legal advice and a path to regularise immigration status. Without this, victims will remain vulnerable to homelessness. The government’s current plans to penalise late disclosure of modern slavery will also increase refusals of support, undermining the aim of preventing re-exploitation.

References:

1. Andy Burnham’s first speech as Prime Minister: 20 July 2026 – https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/andy-burnhams-first-speech-as-prime-minister-20-july-2026
2. “Final chance to change”: the Makerfield count speech: 16 July 2026 – https://theburnhamprogramme.co.uk/makerfield-count-speech
3. Andy Burnham’s speech to Labour Party Conference: 29 September 2026 – https://labour.org.uk/updates/stories/andy-burnhams-speech-to-labour-party-conference-2026/

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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.

Latin American Women’s Rights Service | End Violence Against Women Coalition | Hibiscus | Women for Refugee Women | Southall Black Sisters | Imkaan | Asylum Matters

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What’s it about?

The Migrant Women’s Voices Group is a new participation programme being launched by LAWRS in 2026 as part of our commitment to ensuring migrant women are at the heart of our policy, campaigning and advocacy work. The group will create a safe and supportive space for migrant women with lived experience of the migration system to share their expertise, shape our policy work, and influence change.

The group will work closely with LAWRS’ Step Up Migrant Women Campaign, particularly its work to promote safe reporting mechanisms for migrant women survivors of violence against women and girls (VAWG) and modern slavery, so that women can report abuse and access support without fear of immigration enforcement. 

The group is based on the principle that migrant women are experts in their own lives and the issues that affect them. It aims to move beyond consultation and create meaningful opportunities for co-production, where women with lived experience help design, deliver and evaluate our campaigning and policy work.

Who’s it for?

Participants should be women who:

• Are aged 18 or over.
• Are migrant (this includes women with any experience of the UK immigration or asylum system).
• Can commit to attending 3-4 in-person meetings per year in London.
• Are available to take part in optional projects between meetings (*meetings and project work is paid).
• Have an interest in contributing to policy and campaigning work affecting migrant women, including the creation of safe reporting mechanisms for migrant victims of crime.

We highly encourage survivors of domestic abuse, violence against women and girls, trafficking and exploitation to apply (must no longer be in a high-risk situation).

What matters is your voice, your perspective, and your willingness to create change.

The group will include 10–15 members, ensuring a balance between diversity of perspectives and meaningful participation. The aim is to build a group that reflects the diversity of migrant women’s experiences and backgrounds, including differences in: immigration status, age, country of origin, language, family circumstances, experiences of accessing services, among others.

We know there is no single migrant experience, and we want the group to reflect that diversity.

How will it work?

Activities are expected to include:

• In-person group meetings (3-4 per year)
• Online group catch-up meetings (3-4 per year) 
• Optional advocacy activities (2-12 hours per year)
  • Policy events/discussions
  • Policy consultations (sessions/surveys)
  • Reviewing campaign/policy documents
  • Campaign activities
  • Storytelling activities.
  • Public speaking opportunities

These activities are entirely optional and will always be delivered with appropriate safeguarding and wellbeing support.

All activities will be compensated, transport cost will be reimbursed, and interpreters and crèche will be provided depending on participants’ needs.

How long does the programme last? 

We ask participants to commit to the programme for at least one programme cycle (the first cycle will run from September 2026 to March 2027), as building relationships, confidence and collective influence takes time.

At the same time, the programme is designed to support longer-term engagement, and participants are warmly encouraged to remain involved in future cycles and in the years ahead, if they wish to do so.

Benefits

• Develop new skills and confidence.
• Advocacy and campaigning training.
• Create new networks and community.
• Gain experience for future education and employment.
• Create positive change for migrant women in the UK.

All participation will be compensated:

• London Living Wage stipend (As of July 2026, the London Living Wage rate is calculated £14.80 per hour).
• Travel reimbursement
• Interpreters, if needed
• Crèche available (For in-person meetings)

This is YOUR chance to work towards a more equal world where all women have the right to a life free from violence and exploitation, regardless of their immigration status.

Apply Now!

Apply online using our Application Form: APPLY HERE

Applications open until Sunday the 13th of September.

Contact and more information

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: melissa@lawrs.org.uk

If you need more information, you can check out our Information Sheet which provides all the details for the programme.

We would be grateful if you could also share this information with your network as we want to ensure many migrant women know about this opportunity.

Thank you for taking an interest, we can’t wait to hear from you! 

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We welcome the Committee’s clear rejection of proposals to extend the standard qualifying period for settlement to 10, 15 or 20 years, and its recommendation that the Government retain the existing five-year route. The Committee rightly recognises that prolonged insecurity does not promote integration or deter migration; instead, it entrenches precarity. We also welcome its conclusion that applying any new rules retrospectively would be “manifestly unfair and may be unlawful”.

Despite the rejection of the extension of the qualifying period for settlement and the retrospective application proposal, we are concerned about two recommendations that would have serious consequences for migrant victim-survivors.

First, while retaining the five-year route to settlement, the Committee recommends maintaining the No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition until migrant people have lived in the UK for ten years or obtained citizenship. For at least 32,000 victim-survivors of domestic abuse, NRPF is one of the most powerful tools of coercive control, trapping women in abusive relationships by denying them access to safety and support. Extending NRPF beyond settlement would hollow out the security and stability that settlement is meant to provide.

Second, the report’s calls for greater cross-government data sharing run directly counter to the firewall victim-survivors need between immigration enforcement and the police, health services and other statutory services they must be able to trust in times of crisis. Without that protection, many women will continue to fear reporting abuse, leaving perpetrators free to act with impunity.

More broadly, we are concerned that the disproportionate impact of these reforms on Black minoristised and migrant women and victim-survivors of VAWG is not sufficiently reflected in the report. Nor does the report adopt our central recommendation: a clear statutory exemption from immigration restrictions for victim-survivors, recognising that no woman should be forced to choose between abuse and destitution.

As the Government prepares its response, we urge it to remove NRPF as a barrier to safety, establish a full, unconditional firewall between public services and immigration enforcement, and introduce a statutory exemption protecting all victim-survivors of VAWG. 

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In the UK, this anniversary has been met with a significant rollback of the rights and protections for asylum seekers and refugees. After this year’s announcement of the changes to the asylum system, where refugee protection is to be reviewed every 30 months and with proposals where children from families who are denied asylum claims face losing support and being handcuffed and physically forced out of the UK, honouring the right to seek safety becomes essential. 

Migrants and asylum seekers are increasingly being scapegoated for the failed policies of successive governments and the effects of global crises, whilst the compounding impact of decades of austerity measures, of underfunded support services for victims and survivors of violence against women and girls and exploitation, and a cost of living crisis are ignored. In this hostile environment, the realities faced by the individuals seeking asylum become invisible, and the failings of a broken immigration and asylum system are not addressed, which is particularly insidious for migrant women.

The reality is asylum seeking and refugee women face compounded risks: displacement does not pause gender-based violence or exploitation, and often intensifies it. As survivors of violence, of trafficking and persecution, concerns over their safety, support and healing should be at the forefront of conversation when discussing proposals to improve the asylum and immigration system. However, the fragmented support and often revictimising experiences women face when fleeing violence is not being centred. Rather, what support exists right now is being brought into question and gradually dismantled. 

Those who have experienced both displacement and abuse need support that understands both. They need a system that will provide safety and protection, not one that will subject them to  the risk of removal after years of building a life in the UK. The principles enshrined in the 1951 Convention were put in place to appropriately protect and support extremely vulnerable people whose lives and integrity are at risk, and today it is more important than ever to uphold them. 

The asylum and immigration systems can be changed and improved for the better. As we have said before, everyone deserves to live in dignity. A fair immigration and asylum system that offers equal and real protections is the only way to guarantee Human Rights.

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For LAWRS, this project marks a significant opportunity to expand work that we have been leading for several years. Through our coordination of the Step Up Migrant Women campaign and our work on safe reporting issues, we have consistently challenged the structural inequalities faced by migrant survivors and advocated for equal access to protection, safety and justice regardless of immigration status. 

This work has never been more urgent. Across the UK, migrant victims and survivors face intersecting barriers that increase their risk of abuse, destitution, homelessness and exploitation. Recent immigration policy proposals and changes risk deepening these barriers and further deterring survivors from seeking support.

Current policies continue to prioritise immigration control over women’s safety, leaving migrant survivors excluded from life-saving support and access to justice. Despite growing evidence of these harms, there is still no comprehensive national framework addressing the needs of migrant women experiencing VAWG. 

“This partnership presents a critical opportunity for by and for organisations to work together across the four nations to challenge both national and local policies, strengthen accountability and drive systemic change so that migrant women can access safety and support without fear linked to their immigration status.

Despite years of advocacy and evidence building, migrant women continue to face systemic barriers to protection shaped by immigration policies that prioritise control over protection. The government has yet to respond with a comprehensive policy framework that addresses these gaps and truly protects migrant women across services.  

For LAWRS, this project is pivotal. This is an opportunity for us to expand years of work on safe reporting mechanisms, led by our Step Up Migrant Women campaign, and to take our knowledge and expertise beyond London at a time when coordinated actions across the UK and the VAWG sector is more urgent than ever.” – Gisela Valle, Director, Latin American Women’s Rights Service

At its core, this work is about transforming systems that have consistently failed migrant survivors. It is about building safety, trust and access to justice for women who are too often excluded from protection because of their immigration status.

This is a pivotal moment. As the government has pledged to halving VAWG within the next decade, it is essential that migrant women are not left out of that commitment. Through this partnership, migrant victims and survivors and specialist ‘by and for’ organisations will be at the heart of change.

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The proposals outlined in the Home Office’s ‘family returns’ consultation will remove safeguards for migrant families, pushing children into street homelessness, abuse and exploitation. 

We unequivocally oppose the use of destitution as a tool of immigration enforcement. Restricting child welfare provisions and forcing social workers to prioritise immigration status over safeguarding concerns will place already vulnerable children at risk of serious harm. These proposals would entrench a two-tier safeguarding system, where children without secure immigration status receive a lower standard of protection and care. 

Changes to ‘Section 17’ support

Section 17 support (Children Act 1989) is designed to prevent escalating risks, underpinned by the principle that every child deserves to be safe from abuse and exploitation. Proposed restrictions to the application of Section 17 would prevent social workers from providing ‘child in need’ support to nearly all destitute undocumented children, as an explicit means to force their parents to leave the UK.

Using the safety of children as leverage is abhorrent. It undermines the Home Office’s responsibility to promote the welfare of children in the UK and is irreconcilable with the government’s wider policy objectives – the Home Office cannot fulfil its obligation to reduce child poverty and homelessness if it is actively implementing it as policy design. 

Evidence also shows this strategy is ineffective. A previous Home Office pilot using enforced destitution achieved less than a 1% success rate in encouraging removals. Reintroducing this failed model will inevitably cause preventable harm to children.

Use of force policy 

We are horrified by the proposal to change the Home Office’s use of force policy to allow physical restraint of children for immigration enforcement purposes, including the handcuffing of children who do not let go of their parent’s hand. 

The use of force against children is prohibited to prevent physical and psychological harm. Forced removals are frightening experiences for children, and we do not believe it will be possible for officers to adequately assess ‘risk’ in this scenario. Ultimately, there is no way to physically restrain children without harming their welfare. Despite the existence of safer, less costly alternatives, the Home Office is once again choosing to disregard evidence and safeguarding principles in order to achieve political aims.

Access to legal advice

The proposed changes to asylum support contain a cliff-edge and no right of appeal. Families who are refused section 95A support, or cannot apply within the ‘grace period’, will be forced into street homelessness, without the means to challenge decisions. At the same time, Section 17 support for undocumented families will become conditional and highly restricted.

Most of our service users struggle to access legal representation. Without this, families cannot determine their eligibility or make applications for support or leave to remain. Expecting social workers to make decisions based on immigration matters risks unregulated immigration advice being provided, which is a criminal offence. There are clear risks of fundamental rights breaches in these proposals that will harm vulnerable families.

Support for victims and survivors of violence against women and girls (VAWG)

Despite promising to centre VAWG in all government decision-making, we cannot see any evidence that the dynamics of abuse or the experiences of victims and survivors have been considered in these proposals. 

The proposed approach directly mirrors the threats that migrant victims and survivors endure from perpetrators. That, if they do not comply, they will be forced into homelessness. That no one will support them if they ask for help. That they have no rights as victims and survivors of abuse because of their immigration status. 

For undocumented mothers – who are excluded from refuges, benefits, employment and housing – Section 17 support is often the only lifeline to flee abuse. Restricting access will not just make victims unsafe, it adds another barrier to justice. Many women have ongoing National Referral Mechanism (NRM) claims or active police investigations. Some victims only feel secure enough to report abuse when they reach safe accommodation. These proposals will make it much harder for perpetrators to be held accountable for serious crimes committed in the UK. 

We are also concerned that,  in situations where perpetrators have leave to remain and the victims do not, these proposals will be weaponised to further abuse. For example, if victims are pushed into street homelessness or forced to leave the UK, children may end up in the care of the perpetrator. Overriding child welfare considerations will create serious safeguarding incidents in the context of domestic abuse.

It is clear that the UK is following in the footsteps of the US by placing immigration enforcement over child safeguarding in a misguided attempt to garner political support. The recent death of 2-year old Orlín Josué Hernandez Reyes in the US tragically highlights the consequences of this approach. After Orlín’s mother was deported despite claiming asylum, her child was left in the custody of an unsafe relative. Safeguarding considerations were ignored, and Orlín was killed¹.

We urge the Home Office to listen to the objections from charities, social workers and local authorities, and to look again at the wealth of evidence weighing against this approach. If these proposals are pushed through, migrant victims and survivors of VAWG and exploitation, and their children, will be at serious risk of harm.

Recommendations

We completely reject the harmful and short-sighted proposals set out under the Family Returns consultation. We call on the government to:

1. Maintain Section 17 protections under Children Act 1989
2. Maintain existing prohibition on the use of force against children during removals
3. Properly consider migrant families in the implementation of cross-government strategies

If the proposals should go ahead, either in part or in full, we urge the government to:

1. Urgently publish impact assessments 
2. Introduce exemptions for victims and survivors of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) and exploitation 
3. Improve access to legal advice and representation to prevent breaches of fundamental rights 

References:

1. Marcus, Josh. “ICE blames a mother it deported for her two-year-old son’s alleged murder in the US months later.” Online: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/ice-murder-orlin-hernandez-reyes-florida-b2977904.html

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It is no novelty that this government is trying to win support from the right by taking a hard line against immigration. It is also no surprise that they are using deceitful justifications to do so: 

– The government compares a 74% surge in asylum claims in the UK since 2021 with a 26% rise across the European Union. Setting aside the fact that these numbers change massively when comparing with specific countries within the EU, this leaves out some of the key reasons why people would choose to come to the UK, such as family relations or language. Both intrinsically tied to the UK’s colonial history.

– They blame asylum-seekers for the cost of accommodation, conveniently erasing from the narrative the fact that costs can add up when people have been waiting in the asylum system for years for a decision without being allowed to work. Asylum seekers want to work, provide for themselves and their families, and contribute to society, and have been calling for this for years.  

– A pledge to open safe and legal routes as an alternative to small boat crossings is also mentioned. But while this has been called for from a wide range of sectors for years, successive governments, including this one, have maintained that these already exist and introduced no real changes. 

The government claims to seek a fair asylum system. But a fair asylum system cannot by any means be one that increases insecurity and anxiety for those who need respite after fleeing violence, persecution and trauma. The changes already introduced, and those further planned, will undoubtedly cause more harm. 

Organisations supporting asylum-seekers have seen first-hand how flawed decision-making can put people’s lives at risk. Reducing people’s possibilities of challenging those decisions is far from “fair”. 

Lastly, we are hugely concerned by this government’s rhetoric around the alleged misuse of the modern slavery system. Organisations across the sector have repeatedly asked for evidence of this misuse and, where none has been presented, have instead consistently shown that modern slavery referrals increase as understanding and identification of these crimes improve across different levels of society, and the high number of positive decisions by the same government back this claim.

‘Late’ presentation of evidence is not an indication of misuse. Structural failings prevent victims from accessing timely legal support. The government’s own data demonstrates that almost all (93%) of those referred into the modern slavery system from immigration detention are given a positive first-stage decision¹. When the government continues pushing the narrative that these individuals are abusing legal processes, it deliberately obscures the facts. These legislative proposals will harm and punish victims who have been enslaved, trafficked and exploited, undermining our obligations and allowing perpetrators to continue evading justice. 

The reality is that those of us working on the front line know full well that many migrants experiencing trafficking and exploitation choose not to be referred into the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), often due to fear, mistrust, trauma, insecure immigration status, or a lack of understanding of the system. This strongly suggests that the number of people referred into the NRM is, in fact, an underestimation of the true scale of trafficking and modern slavery in the UK, rather than evidence of widespread misuse.

In this uncertain context of political change, it is urgent for the Government to uphold its commitments towards survivors of violence and abuse. Targeting some of the most vulnerable groups of people through misinformation and scapegoating has only resulted in further harm and divide. The immigration and asylum systems can change for the better. For this to happen, transformations need to be survivor-centred, improving support for specialist service delivery, and ensuring those most affected by violence and abuse can rebuild their lives. We continue to call for the Government to abandon the Earned Settlement proposals, rollback on the provisions set out by the asylum reforms published earlier this year and ensure victims of trafficking and modern slavery are appropriately represented and supported.

References:

1. Home Office. (March 2023). Modern slavery referrals for people detained for return after arriving in the UK on small boats. Online: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/modern-slavery-referrals-for-people-detained-for-return-after-arriving-in-the-uk-on-small-boats/, as cited in: International Organization for Migration (December 2025) Modern slavery in the UK: announced policy changes risk leaving victims behind. Online: https://unitedkingdom.iom.int/news/modern-slavery-uk-announced-policy-changes-risk-leaving-victims-behind 

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That is why we have teamed up with EVAW, Hibiscus, Imkaan, Women for Refugee Women, Southall Black Sisters, and Asylum Matters, and we are launching a practical guide on the weaponisation of VAWG as part of our #NotInOurName campaign.

What the guide is for

The guide is designed as a practical resource for people who want to challenge harmful falsehoods and have productive conversations with the people in their lives about VAWG and immigration. It provides tools to identify and push back on false narratives that endanger our communities.

Why it matters

Speaking as specialist organisations that stand for women and migrant communities, this weaponisation of VAWG does not benefit victims and survivors. Instead, it creates violence and division. This anti-migrant agenda puts women at risk.

What we are calling for

We need to shift the narrative to one that is accurate, evidence-based and grounded in lived experience. This, however, will take collective action from us all. 

Together, we can create change in our communities, standing strong against those who use violence against women and girls to further their anti-migrant and anti-women agendas and demanding accountability from decision makers on this critical issue.

Let’s start the conversation.

Download the guide here

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