This is the joint website of  Women Against Rape and Black Women's Rape Action Project. Both organisations are based on self-help and provide support, legal information and advocacy. We campaign for justice and protection for all women and girls, including asylum seekers, who have suffered sexual, domestic and/or racist violence.

WAR was founded in 1976. It has won changes in the law, such as making rape in marriage a crime, set legal precedents and achieved compensation for many women. BWRAP was founded in 1991. It focuses on getting justice for women of colour, bringing out the particular discrimination they face. It has prevented the deportation of many rape survivors. Both organisations are multiracial.

 

 

 

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In the Media

The family of a Carlisle woman jailed for three years for faking a sex attack have vowed to fight to clear her name “if it takes forever”.

In the Media

Cumberland News Exclusive by Sarah Newstead
Published at 10:52, Friday, 16 July 2010

Leyla Elhand Mohamed Ibrahim, 22, of Deer Park Road, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice by a Carlisle Crown Court jury on June 17.

Her claim that she was attacked in the early hours of January 4 last year 2009 on a footpath near Cavendish Terrace sparked a manhunt involving up to 40 police officers and costing £150,000.

Sentencing yesterday, Judge Paul Batty QC described the crime as “wicked” and commended the police officers who led the investigation.

Now seven months pregnant, Ibrahim will give birth in jail and could have her baby taken from her.

But her distraught mother, Sandra Allen, 53, says she will always believe her daughter is innocent.

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Government backs down on anonymity

In the Media

We are glad the government has been forced to back down on the proposal to give anonymity to men accused of rape. Since the day it was announced we publicly opposed the proposal, and the fury of women all over the country has snowballed, including among many journalists and MPs.

Why should men accused of rape have special protection not offered to those facing charges of murder, terrorism or child abuse? People are no more likely to be falsely accused of rape than of other crimes. Why this attempt to further discredit and discriminate against rape survivors?

The proposal to give the accused anonymity was already putting more rape survivors off reporting.

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Women will be the losers if the Government allows anonymity

In the Media

Independent, 10 July 2010

Comment

Anonymity for men accused of rape was introduced in 1976 but reversed in 1988 because it hampered police investigations. The proposal to reintroduce it relies on the sexist myth that women are quick to lie about rape.

Nothing is further from the truth. It is extremely hard for women to report rape, and 90 per cent never do. Those who report often say it was to protect others. But many are disbelieved or dismissed by police and prosecutors and even urged to withdraw – no wonder the conviction rate for reported rape remains 6.5 per cent.

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We must end the detention of families

In the Media

The Guardian, Tuesday 18 May 2010  Letters

"We will end the detention of children for immigration purposes," says the new coalition government (Asylum children will be kept out of 'distressing' detention centres, 14 May). But what about their mothers?

Paediatricians and psychologists have testified to the mental and physical harm caused to children by detention. But separating them from their mother or primary carer is even worse; it may cause "insecurity, depression and anxiety" which lasts throughout life.

The recent six-week hunger strike by women in Yarl's Wood removal centre brought to public attention that many women detained inside are mothers whose children were taken by social services or other family members. Some face deportation and permanent separation, often after years of raising a family in the UK.

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First person: 'I was illegally deported from Britain'

In the Media
Photo of Mary

Mary, 40 Interview by Cheryl Gallagher, The Independent Saturday, 17 April 2010

Mary says: 'The immigration escorts dragged us to the plane. They were pulling my hair and my braids fell out'

In the run-up to the 2001 elections in my country in East Africa, I was campaigning for an opposition group when some government soldiers kidnapped me in front of my children. I was raped and tortured and they starved me. After about a month, one of the soldiers accidentally left the door open and I escaped. I decided that I had to leave the country with my children.

After we had been in England for a few years, we were woken up at 5am by a loud bang at the door. A man shouted: "Open up! Immigration." We'd had no warning we were going to be deported. We were caged in the back of a van like prisoners and they wouldn't let me take my medication for depression.

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