No recourse, no safety - national day of action

Hundreds to protest outside Parliament on 23 April to highlight plight of women trapped in a cycle of violence by government legislation
 
On 23 April 2008, leading women and human rights groups, front line organisations and charities* will come together as part of a national day of action to expose a humanitarian crisis that is unfolding in the UK that leaves hundreds of women trapped in a cycle of violence. The crisis is a result of the No Recourse requirement that prevent women with vulnerable immigration status from seeking protection from domestic violence and other forms of gender-based violence.

The day will begin with a silent protest outside Portcullis House at 11.30am. Participants have been asked to wear masks and black to highlight the injustice of the No Recourse requirement. The protest will be followed by a public meeting in the Boothroyd Room in Portcullis House at 1pm.
 
The protest aims to bring nationwide attention to the plight of a significant number of abused women who have vulnerable immigration status but are denied protection by the No Recourse restriction which effectively traps them in violent relationships.* Many organisations including public authorities simply turn women away. Women are thus faced with a stark choice: Stay or leave and become destitute. . There is no safety net for these women.

•  “I asked people to take me out of the house because my life wasn’t safe…I didn’t know where to go. The police officer gave me numbers and said try there. I begged for help – I went to one place and I was crying, I went on the floor and said that I need help…I lived for four days without food for me or my little one…when I got food, it was food that I couldn’t eat. It was in cans and I can’t eat cans, I don’t have anything to open it.”

Leading front line services including the police are increasingly frustrated by the No Recourse restriction because it stops them from doing their job properly – to protect and safeguard the dignity of all women irrespective of their background. This is why statutory and voluntary organisations are calling on the government to abolish the No Recourse requirement. The protest follows a series of hard-hitting reports which highlight the government’s failure to uphold women’s fundamental human rights irrespective of their status.

Pragna Patel, of Southall Black Sisters, said: “The situation affecting these women is horrific. It is unacceptable that the government’s policies and measures to protect all women from violence do not reach this category of women.”

Many members of parliament have also joined the campaign to demand that something be done to address the suffering experienced by women with no recourse.

Lynne Featherstone MP, of the Liberal Democrats, stated: “With no real or secure support from the government, these women face a bleak choice between destitution or continued dependence on their abuser…The devil and the deep blue sea doesn’t quite describe what a grim choice this is.”

Theresa May MP, of the Conservatives, said: “The issue of the no recourse to public funds requirement is continually raised by organisations that I meet as a barrier preventing them from providing necessary help to vulnerable women…I will be looking at the Government’s proposals to examine whether they will provide a workable solution to this problem.”

For further information contact:

Pragna Patel/Hannana Siddiqui. Southall Black Sisters. Tel 02085719595.
Isabel Hudson: Women’s Resource Centre
 

NOTES TO EDITORS

* Supporting organisations include Southall Black Sisters, Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO),  Metropolitan Police, Amnesty International (UK), Oxfam (UK), Women’s Aid (England), Refuge, Imkaan, Newham Asian Women’s Project, Women’s Resource Centre, Roshni (Sheffield), Kalayaan, Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation, Soroptomist International and the Poppy Project.

* Speakers at the public meeting include survivors of abuse, Southall Black Sisters, Amnesty International, Metropolitan Police, Islington Local Authority, Margaret Moran MP (Labour) and Paul Rowen MP (Liberal Democrats).

* The No Recourse requirement affects many women who come to the country quite legally, in the hope of improving their lives. They come to the UK on spousal, temporary work or student visas. If they are subject to violence or abuse by partners, the No Recourse restriction prevents them from claiming essential state benefits or social housing. Women need these benefits to access refuges. Women also need safe accommodation and the basic means of survival to pursue police or legal proceedings against their abusers.

* See for example the report by Southall Black Sisters and Amnesty International entitled ‘No Recourse, No Safety –the UK Government’s failure to protect women from violence’. http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=11227