REFUGE FROM RAPE AND DESTITUTION
In the UK in 2015, about 1,252,000 people, including 312,000 children, were destitute at some point (defined as not being able to afford to buy the essentials to eat, stay warm and dry, and keep clean). People seeking asylum are cut off from all support when their legal case is refused. Those living on asylum support benefits get 50% less than the poverty line benefits that others in the UK get. Our campaigning aims to highlight the destitution of women in particular as this is often hidden, and spell out the rape and other abuse it makes women vulnerable to. Women are less likely to sleep rough and instead have to exchange housework, childcare, sexual favours . . . to survive. Thirty-five percent of destitute homeless women asylum seekers report being raped in the UK. Children are increasingly taken away from destitute mothers and families.
See also our blog https://refugefromrapeanddestitution.blog/
29/01/21 – UPDATE: MUM & HER CHILDREN STILL HOMELESS Marian Okeibunor is a rape survivor and mother of two young children. Until last week she was housed by social services in Lewisham. She and her family were cruelly evicted and are now homeless and destitute. Ms Okeibunor’s lawyer wrote to the Home Office on Wednesday … Read more
Women Against Rape’s Refuge from Rape and Destitution Campaign. The campaign was launched at the Cowley Club in Brighton 25 September 2017. See video of the meeting “Living on the Edge: refusing Dickensian destitution and other social murder” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn4XqkmUwik&t=4826s
Over 1.25 million people, including 300,000 children, are destitute in Britain. People don’t eat regularly, can’t afford clothes and are dependent on others, sometimes strangers, for a roof over their heads.
