Training at ILPA 18th Oct

Jane Herlihy and Raggi Kotak, of 1, Pump Court, will be training at ILPA on Thursday, October 18th.  See here for more details.

Want to join our board?

The Centre for the Study of Emotion and Law is looking for a trustee with a fundraising background or interest... read more

Could a problem shared be a problem solved?

How can we improve asylum-seeking women’s access to sexual violence support services? It’s a question that, over the last three years, I’ve heard both refugee support workers and sexual violence support workers asking. I hoped that through our training seminars we’d bring people from these different organisations together to start to talk about this issue – but the seminars were so focused on learning there was no time for new dialogue. At last year’s Rape Crisis England & Wales conference a group got together to talk about it, but we knew we were only having one side of the conversation. And then Vicky Canning wrote about her research findings in Women’s Asylum News.

So last Thursday 50 or so women from refugee-supporting organisations, rape crisis organisations, and refugee women’s self-advocacy groups gathered to see what ideas we could come up with to solve this problem together.  The event aimed to be more than a talking shop, so that after hearing from expert speakers, we held carefully structured dialogue groups that sought to come up with real, practical ideas for action – new projects, new research topics, new ways of working.

Our experts were engaging and interesting – and all came to overlapping conclusions about what support is needed to help women seeking asylum who have experienced sexual violence. Dr Canning took us through her research on the intersection of conflict, gender, violence and asylum; psychologist Dr. Eileen Walsh of the Traumatic Stress Clinic talked us through the challenges – and rewards – of treating traumatised women seeking asylum; Nyasha Kajawu Refugee Council’s Powerful Women project that provides both advocacy and therapeutic support; and Nina Murray and Elaine Connelly from Scottish Refugee Council talked through their experience of working with the Refugee Women’s Strategy Group and statutory and voluntary sector agencies to build powerful partnerships working together for refugee women.

All the presenters, through different experiences, reached one shared conclusion: that women seeking asylum need integrated support – advocacy to help with their basic needs, and therapy to help with recovery. But how do we make that happen? 

So in our dialogue sessions we focused on what sexual violence organisations, refugee organisations and refugee women can teach each other. Together we found that everyone shared a concern that they lacked the right knowledge – but also a real desire to work together to provide better services, and to reach refugee women.

At the end of the day everyone pledged to take action... and my pledge is to follow up from the day and take forward at least one of the new project ideas and try to make it happen before the dissemination project closes in December! I’m slightly daunted by the task before me, but I’m fired up by the buzz of last Thursday’s enthusiasm to work together for traumatised women seeking asylum. So watch this space!

For more information on our ideas, and to get involved in following it up, contact me at c.cochrane@csel.org.uk.

Psychology and Refugee Protection Seminar Series

The seminar series on ‘Refugee Protection and Psychology’, jointly organised by the Refugee Law Initiative (RLI) and the Centre for the Study of Emotion & Law (CSEL), will take place at the School of Advanced Study of the University of London between October 2012 and January 2013.

See http://rli.sas.ac.uk/events-courses-and-training/psychology-and-refugee-protection-seminar-series/ for the programme and booking details.

What issues are raised by empirical research on post-traumatic stress for legal testimony from survivors of sexual violence in international criminal trials?

Rulings were made at the International Criminal Tribunals of both former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and Rwanda (ICTR) regarding the testimony by alleged victims of rape.  Their diagnosis with PTSD was the basis of claiming that their testimony could not be relied upon. 

This essay by our trustee, Prof. Amina Memon, examines whether the testimony of a witness who displays characteristics of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is any less reliable  than a non-traumatised witness, and how the understanding of post-traumatic psychological difficulties might be better understood in international criminal courts and elsewhere.

Join us in Facilitating Justice for Traumatised Women Seeking Asylum

Facilitating Justice for Traumatised Women Seeking Asylum

13 September 2012

11am-4pm

London

One of the unexpected outcomes of the dissemination project has been the realisation that, although we don't know how many, a number of women seeking asylum who have experienced sexual violence, seem not to be getting the specialist support that they need. Throughout the project I've tried to bring refugee-supporting and sexual violence survivor organisations together to share their expertise in the hope that we can start to bridge this gap.

Facilitating Justice will feature presentations and case studies from Vicky Canning, Liverpool John Moores University; Eileen Walsh, Traumatic Stress Clinic; Nina Murray, Scottish Refugee Council; Anna Musgrave, Refugee Council; Southall Black Sisters; facilitated workshops to explore ideas for ways to bridge the gaps in services; and a networking session. 

After the event, I'll be following up the ideas we've explored together - with the aim of bringing new projects to life. 

This event has been designed to develop practical solutions. Its success depends on your participation, your expertise and enthusiasm. The event is supported by Comic Relief, and thnks to the Feminist Review Trust, we have funding to support women from refugee women’s self-advocacy groups to participate too.

Who should take part?

• Managers and practitioners in organisations supporting women seeking asylum
• Managers and practitioners in organisations supporting survivors of sexual violence (e.g. Rape Crisis centres)
• Funders developing the capacity of these organisations to work with women seeking asylum who have experienced sexual violence

Places are free, but limited. To apply for a place, please contact me for a booking form: c.cochrane@csel.org.uk


Deadline for applications is Monday 23 July 2012.

CSEL trustee writes in Fahamu newsletter

Read David Rhys Jones' article on the Court of Appeal's recent ruling on the meaning of ‘independent evidence of torture’ and the correct approach to medical reports in asylum appeals here.