Written evidence submitted by the Refugee Council and the Asylum Support Appeals Project (DAB0324)

1. About the Refugee Council and the Asylum Support Appeals Project

1.1 The Refugee Council is one of the leading charities in the UK working with people seeking asylum and refugees. As a human rights charity, independent of government, we work to ensure that refugees are given the protection they need, that they are treated with respect and understanding, and that they have the same rights, opportunities and responsibilities as other members of our society.

1.2 The Asylum Support Appeals Project (ASAP) is a national charity that works to reduce destitution amongst asylum seekers by protecting their legal rights to food and shelter (asylum support) from the Home Office. Our core service is to provide free legal representation to destitute asylum seekers at the asylum support tribunal. We also provide second tier advice and training on the asylum support system to frontline advice workers around the UK. Our third strand of work is to seek positive change to the policies and practices that govern the asylum support system, with a focus on improving the situation for women.

1.3   Both organisations have been working for many years to improve the outcomes for women seeking asylum who have experienced, or are at risk of, violence and abuse after arriving in the UK.  This work builds upon progress made under the Women’s Asylum Charter, established in 2008, that led to a welcome high level recognition of the importance of a focus on gender in the asylum decision-making process.

1.4   In July 2018 the Refugee Council and the Asylum Support Appeals Project published a report 'Women seeking asylum: Safe from violence in the UK?'[1] looking at how the UK government responds to women facing domestic violence and other forms of gender-based violence after arrival in the UK.  The findings of the report have informed our written evidence.

2. Executive summary and recommendations

2.1 The draft Domestic Abuse Bill should be drawn to allow full implementation of the Istanbul Convention on Violence against Women, which would provide greater protections for women with insecure immigration status, including asylum-seeking women.

2.2 The bill is a missed opportunity to set out in law a funding mechanism to allow asylum-seeking women to access women’s refuges. Current policy, whereby asylum-seeking women are moved to different asylum accommodation as a means of removing them from an abusive situation is an inadequate response that fails to provide the specialist support services that are available to women with secure immigration status.

2.3 More detail is needed about how the commitment to treat victims as victims first will function operationally, particularly in encouraging women to report their abuse, and in addressing the specific barriers that prevent asylum-seeking women from disclosing their experiences.

2.4 Government should provide clarity on the levels of funding that will be provided to establish the role of the Domestic Abuse Commissioner, and what capacity it therefore expects the commissioner to have to support public bodies in better supporting victims. The scope, role, and terms of reference of the Commissioner, should all include encompass the needs of asylum-seeking women, with accompanying expertise and resources.

2.5 The remit of the Domestic Abuse Commissioner should be clarified so that it can make policy as well as operational recommendations to public bodies, and highlight where current policy comes into conflict with duties to protect women from domestic abuse.

2.6 The draft bill fails to address the needs of women who are no longer eligible for asylum support as a result of having their asylum claim finally refused and becoming appeal rights exhausted (ARE). This group of women is particularly vulnerable to forced dependency on men for accommodation, increasing their vulnerability to abuse and exploitation. The Destitute Domestic Violence Concession (DDVC) should be widened so that all women with insecure immigration status, including refused asylum seeking women in the UK can access it, rather than just those entering the country on spousal visas.

2.7 In the absence of an increased scope to the DDVC, the government should ensure that the bill provides alternative protection for refused asylum seeking women who are victims of abuse. This should include an expansion of the asylum support system to provide at least temporary support to enable a refused asylum seeking woman experiencing abuse to get to a place of safety and consider her options, for example getting immigration advice on whether she can make any further kind of immigration claim.

3. Ratification of the Istanbul Convention

3.1 The measures contained in the draft bill are not compliant with Article 3(4) of the Istanbul Convention which states that ‘provisions of this Convention by the Parties, in particular measures to protect the rights of victims, shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as […} national or social origin {…or…} migrant or refugee status’.   As such, the draft bill leaves asylum seeking women without the protection required by the Convention.

3.2 The government should take the opportunity presented by the draft bill to put in domestic legislation to ensure full compliance with Article 3(4) of the Istanbul Convention, to provide greater protection for women with insecure immigration status, including asylum-seeking women.

4. Barriers to disclosure for women seeking asylum

4.1 Asylum-seeking women often fear reporting abuse because they believe that it could affect their immigration status or asylum claim. They are often unaware of how the criminal justice system functions in the UK and are suspicious of state bodies and authority figures, due to their experiences in the countries from which they have fled.

4.2 Perpetrators often use these fears as a tool to isolate and control women.  Whilst the draft bill makes it clear that the police will treat victims as victims first, there is little detail in the bill detailing what work will be undertaken to mitigate (against?) these factors and to encourage women to report their experiences.

4.3 Asylum support is financial support provided to asylum seekers for their subsistence and housing needs. Our research showed that women can be at risk of abuse and violence at any point during their interaction with the asylum support system. We found that disclosures most commonly occurred prior to women entering asylum support; or when women are living in destitution after their asylum claims have been refused.

4.4. The bill should create an effective firewall to separate immigration control from the public services that survivors seek help from, to ensure that women whose claims have been refused can seek help without the overhanging threat of immigration enforcement.

5. Access to safe accommodation and support for women seeking asylum prior to entering the asylum support system

5.1 Women seeking asylum who are fleeing exploitation and abuse in the UK are likely to be destitute and will need to enter the asylum support system. Asylum support is available to people in the asylum system who are able to show they are destitute with no other income or savings. The only nationally available Government-funded advice on how to apply for support is delivered via a national telephone advice line (though advisors are available in Initial Accommodation centres to give face to face advice).

5.2 Refugee Council/ASAP research indicates that the telephone advice service does not have adequate capacity to deal effectively with enquiries from women who may be facing escalating levels of risk in situations of abuse. In these circumstances, rapid and immediate responses are needed. Long waiting times on the phone can have a range of negative consequences, from undermining women’s ability to disclose, to putting them in physical danger.

5.3 When women make applications for asylum support, there is little evidence that Home Office decision-makers give adequate consideration to their previous histories of abuse, despite the fact that women involved are by definition some of the most vulnerable in society.

5.4 Repeated requests for evidence of their destitution, which may not just be difficult but dangerous to obtain, continue to be made, despite the potential risks to women’s safety. This can cause delays in women being able to access support, despite the potential urgency of the situation.

5.5. The bill should address the the lack of resources available to support asylum-seeking women reporting abuse, and how Home Office policy can better support the specific needs of this group, including how Home Office asylum support decision makers should be better trained for situations of domestic abuse.

6. Access to safe accommodation and support for women within the asylum support system

6.1 Refugee Council’s research found that once women are receiving asylum support, their reports of abuse are taken more seriously than those who are making an initial application.  However, this is not consistently the case. Some accommodation providers appear not to have adequate regard to the provisions of the Home Office’s current policy on responding to reports of domestic violence by women seeking asylum. 

6.2 We have been working closely with the Home Office to update their Domestic Abuse guidance, which once published, will set out a number of significant improvements. At the time of writing, however, the revised guidance has not been published, and so any new measures are yet to be implemented.

6.3 The government’s response to the bill consultation suggests that support within the asylum support system is ‘analogous’ to the Destitute Domestic Violence Concession. This is simply not the case. The DDVC provides access to mainstream benefits such as universal credit/income support and public housing, allowing eligible women to access a refuge place and pay for it through housing benefit if necessary. Alternatively, they can seek safe accommodation through the private rented sector or through homelessness assistance. In effect, they can access the same support services as women with secure immigration statuses and regain a degree of control and independence over their living arrangements.  Asylum-seeking women, on the other hand, may be moved to different asylum accommodation to remove them from abusive situations, this can be an isolating experience, removing them from support networks, and not prioritising areas where specialist support may be available. If a woman is not already in the asylum support system, she is likely to face a slow and bureaucratic response to her request for support which does not take into account the specific safety critical issues in domestic abuse cases.

6.4 Following conversations over many years with the Home Office, government has agreed, in principle, that access to refuge accommodation should be available to asylum-seeking women, funded by the Home Office. However, we are still waiting for public confirmation of the shape and nature of this funding.

6.5 The government should take the opportunity of the draft bill to bring forward funding for access to refuges for asylum-seeking women, and seek to implement that funding mechanism as soon as possible.

6.6. This funding needs to be provided within the context of a government commitment to deliver a long-term funding solution for domestic abuse services. Ensuring that asylum-seeking women have better access to refuge and other domestic violence services is predicated on there being available spaces in refuges and available outreach services when women need to access them. Many asylum-seeking women will need the specialist skills of BAME services in order to meet their complex needs and ensure that they have the best chance of staying safe. These specialist services need to be explicitly funded in a long-term funding solution to accompany the bill.

7. Access to safe accommodation and support for women seeking asylum who become appeal rights exhausted

7.1 The draft bill fails to address the needs of women who exit the asylum support system as a result of having their asylum claim refused and becoming appeal rights exhausted (ARE).  

7.2Women who become appeal rights exhausted are vulnerable to homelessness and destitution, which in turn can expose them to an increased risk of abuse and exploitation. There is a particular risk of sexual exploitation when women have no alternative but to rely on friends or acquaintances for accommodation.

7.3 If government action to tackle domestic abuse is truly to treat people as victims first, regardless of their immigration status, then support for women who are appeal rights exhausted must be brought forward. To do this, the Destitute Domestic Violence Concession should be widened so that all women with insecure immigration status in the UK can access it, including refused asylum seeking women in the UK can access it, rather than just those entering the country on spousal visas.

7.4 In the absence of an increased scope to the DDVC, the government should ensure that the bill provides alternative protection for refused asylum seeking women who are victims of abuse. This should include an expansion of the asylum support system to provide at least temporary support to enable a refused asylum seeking woman experiencing abuse to get to a place of safety and consider her options, for example getting immigration advice on whether she can make any further kind of immigration claim.

April 2019