Promoting the rights of women seeking asylum in the UK
Women for Refugee Women works to raise awareness of the injustices experienced by women who seek refuge in the UK. Women who come to the UK fleeing gender-related persecution (such as rape, honour crimes, female genital mutilation, and trafficking for forced prostitution) are too often turned down for asylum.
Watch an interview with a Sudanese family detained in Yarls Wood detention centre on Channel 4 News.
Listen to a child held for three months in Yarls Wood detention centre on the Today Programme.
If women are turned down for asylum they are at risk of destitution, detention, and deportation to places where their lives may be at risk. We work in partnership with other organisations to increase understanding of the experiences of women who seek asylum in the UK. We work through briefing journalists, organising events, lobbying policy-makers, and above all by providing a platform for asylum seekers to speak out for themselves about the injustices they experience. These women deserve to be heard.
End Child Detention
The UK government currently locks up over 1000 children every year. These children have committed no crime, and are often detained for prolonged periods. End Child Detention
Listen to a child held for three months in Yarls Wood detention centre Detention of children 'must stop'
WAST
Women Asylum Seekers Together (WAST), London, is a self-support group set up and run by women seeking asylum and for women seeking asylum in the UK. Women from any country and in any stage of the asylum system, including failed asylum seekers, are welcome. At WAST we create a safe space where women seeking asylum can support each other and share information and advice. WAST meets once a month. More information about Women Asylum Seekers Together (WAST)
Motherland
In 2008 Women for Refugee Women produced Motherland, a uniquely moving and powerful evening, directed by Juliet Stevenson. Motherland tells the stories of women and children held in Yarl's Wood detention centre. It played at the Young Vic theatre in London in March 2008 and in November 2008 was performed in Parliament to MPs and peers. In autumn 2009 it will be performed in Bedford, near to Yarl's Wood detention centre, with the support of the local MPs Alistair Burt and Patrick Hall.
"Intensely memorable... I would not have missed it for the world." Anthony Barnett, The Guardian