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The Nationality and Borders Bill Threatens The Safety and Rights of Already Marginalised Women

The hostile environment policies of Westminster are designed to do exactly what they say on the tin; create such dangerous and inhumane conditions that migrants who are here feel pushed to leave and individuals fleeing abuse, conflict and persecution seek their right to asylum elsewhere. Repeatedly, these policies have been found to breach human and legal rights.

There is already overwhelming evidence that illustrates the barriers created by these policies for migrant women who have experience domestic abuse, rape or sexual assault. These policies create conditions where many migrant women feel even more trapped in their circumstances and unable to access support. Thankfully, many organisations, in particular those focused on racially minoritised women, have repeatedly gone above and beyond to provide access to support for women experiencing these migration conditions.

The Nationality and Borders Bill (currently being debated in the House of Lords) takes the current hostile environment policies to a whole new level, allowing unprecedented power to the Home Office and embedding bigotry into law. The UNHRC has given a damning response to the proposed asylum processes, stating; “UNHCR believes the UK’s Nationality and Borders Bill would penalise most refugees seeking asylum in the country, creating an asylum model that undermines established international refugee protection rules and practices.”

But why should this matter to the organisations in Scotland providing services for survivors? Because it is potentially those already furthest away from access to power, opportunity and safety that will be further alienated and left in violent situations or who will be left without support after experiencing violence, as a consequence of this bill. Too often, these are the very women and the communities for whom services do not adequately meet the needs of. When their rights are under threat, so significantly, the least we can do is take a stand alongside them.

Many women who seek asylum in the UK are fleeing sexual violence, trafficking and abuse. By pursing their legal right to asylum, they can (or at least should) have access to services that can assist them through their trauma and provide essential, life-saving support. The Nationality and Borders Bill will make it even more difficult to seek asylum and many have predicted it is likely to wrongfully refuse asylum, as the process of gathering evidence will become more re-traumatising. The asylum process will insist that survivors tell their whole story upon arrival to the UK (regardless of whether they feel ready to) and will place undue weight on those initial testimonies without access to specialist or legal support for asylum seekers.

The Bill is also likely to increase the number of women and survivors of sexual violence being held in detention centres and will rapidly increase the use of so called “accommodation centres” for those awaiting asylum decisions. We know that detention and accommodation centres do not have adequate safety and services for those who have experienced sexual violence and can be highly traumatising and dangerous spaces. Already, around 2000 women are held in detention centres every year across the UK, the majority of these women have experienced sexual violence (Women for Refugee Women, 2015) and despite Home Office policy being that survivors of torture and gender-based violence should not be detained in these centres, this has been frequently ignored. Increased use of detention through the passing of this bill, will only create more harm.

Migrant women communities and racialised communities already have, justifiably, low levels of trust in the immigration, justice and health systems as a consequence of institutionalised racism and sexism. The implementation of the Nationality and Borders bill simply further embeds discrimination into our systems. When harmful policies like these are implemented, they have an impact upon the services we seek to deliver as migrant and asylum-seeking women will feel unable to come forward for support, regardless of which organisations or systems they are engaging in.

This bill threatens the safety and rights of already marginalised women and all survivors of sexual violence, and we must be vocal in opposing it; a humane asylum system that centres dignity, security and human rights is essential for survivors of sexual violence.

This guest blog was written by Talat Yaqoob, a consultant and campaigner. You can find out more about her work here.