In answer to a question in the House of Lords, Baroness Neville-Jones (Minister of State for Security) said yesterday that the UKBA is aware of CSEL's work, specifically referring to Psychology of Protection - a recent paper in the International Journal of Refugee Law.
See the text of both question and answer in this link to Hansard : http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201011/ldhansrd/text/100712w0001.htm#10071230000830
15 July 2010
Why a women's project?
CSEL set up the Dissemination Project for Refugee Women in 2009 in order to ensure that our research into the effects of trauma for asylum seekers was more widely understood by those supporting refugee women in frontline and grassroots organisations.
Why women? Well, because we recognise that women seeking asylum who have experienced rape and sexual assault are affected in particular ways, and this can make it harder for them when they are putting in an asylum claim and going through the asylum process. But this is not well understood by many in the asylum system – the UKBA, lawyers and legal representatives, and even refugee support groups.
Our research into the barriers to disclosure in home office interviews showed that those who had experienced sexual violence also experienced high levels of shame, and a greater severity of post-traumatic stress symptoms. They also experienced a greater severity of dissociative experiences – ‘cutting off’ or ‘phasing out’ while telling their story.
What this means is that traumatised women need support to be able to disclose their experiences. They may need more time to tell their stories; assurance that they are being listened to; to choose whether to have a friend in with them, or be alone to ensure confidentiality; to know their children are safely cared for but out of earshot; to choose whether to have a male or female interviewer; to be able to control the environment of the interview; to be able to take breaks.
As our paper ‘The Psychology of Seeking Protection’ points out, many of these issues have begun to be understood for some time by those operating within the criminal justice system; women going through a rape case can access specialist support as they go through the process of making a witness statement and following through with the court proceedings. But as the Every Single Woman campaign run by Asylum Aid shows, it’s very different for women who’ve been raped but are going through the asylum process. The campaign makes the point that, whatever a woman’s background, if she has experienced sexual violence she’s going to need support to go through legal procedures and processes.
Our dissemination project trains refugee support organisations and violence against women organisations who support women seeking asylum to help them understand our research, so that when they are supporting a woman who is traumatised and making an asylum claim, they will better understand what she is going through, and what kind of support she needs – from themselves or from other agencies. And crucially they can help the woman herself to understand what she is going through.
To find out about training seminars and workshops, contact c.cochrane@csel.org.uk
Why women? Well, because we recognise that women seeking asylum who have experienced rape and sexual assault are affected in particular ways, and this can make it harder for them when they are putting in an asylum claim and going through the asylum process. But this is not well understood by many in the asylum system – the UKBA, lawyers and legal representatives, and even refugee support groups.
Our research into the barriers to disclosure in home office interviews showed that those who had experienced sexual violence also experienced high levels of shame, and a greater severity of post-traumatic stress symptoms. They also experienced a greater severity of dissociative experiences – ‘cutting off’ or ‘phasing out’ while telling their story.
What this means is that traumatised women need support to be able to disclose their experiences. They may need more time to tell their stories; assurance that they are being listened to; to choose whether to have a friend in with them, or be alone to ensure confidentiality; to know their children are safely cared for but out of earshot; to choose whether to have a male or female interviewer; to be able to control the environment of the interview; to be able to take breaks.
As our paper ‘The Psychology of Seeking Protection’ points out, many of these issues have begun to be understood for some time by those operating within the criminal justice system; women going through a rape case can access specialist support as they go through the process of making a witness statement and following through with the court proceedings. But as the Every Single Woman campaign run by Asylum Aid shows, it’s very different for women who’ve been raped but are going through the asylum process. The campaign makes the point that, whatever a woman’s background, if she has experienced sexual violence she’s going to need support to go through legal procedures and processes.
Our dissemination project trains refugee support organisations and violence against women organisations who support women seeking asylum to help them understand our research, so that when they are supporting a woman who is traumatised and making an asylum claim, they will better understand what she is going through, and what kind of support she needs – from themselves or from other agencies. And crucially they can help the woman herself to understand what she is going through.
To find out about training seminars and workshops, contact c.cochrane@csel.org.uk
6 July 2010
Annual Report now available
Go to About Us to download a copy of our latest Annual Report. It tells you about our work and achievements in 2009 (our year end is September 2009). Do send any thoughts/feedback/comments to j.herlihy@csel.org.uk.
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