Evidence to Rashida Manjoo, UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women

Evidence to Rashida Manjoo, UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women  We believe the UK government is flouting its obligations under CEDAW, and future obligations under the Istanbul Convention in relation to Violence Against Women. 1. Refusal to prosecute rapists including violent partners “In the 12 months to March 2013 there were about 10,000 recorded …

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No retribution. Women in detention protest brutality by guards

“We were held for many hours, without food, some women fainting and ill.” On Wednesday 17 October, 200 women were “kettled” in a corridor in Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre in Bedfordshire for eight hours.  The detention centre remains in “lock down”.  Some have been stopped from getting their medication.  Five women are being held …

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We are here because . . .

We are here because . . . . . .  is an inspiring and moving collection of online video and other testimonies, filmed, recorded, edited and produced by Black/women of colour, – many are are active members of All African Women’s Group a self-help group of women asylum seekers. Together with volunteers all the testimonies were …

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Report: Louder Than Words

Report: Women’s Hunger Strike – Louder than Words When 70 women went on hunger strike in Yarl’s Wood IRC on 5 February, an unprecedented level of media coverage followed. Rape survivors, mothers separated from their children, and other vulnerable women, some of whom had been detained without trial for months (one for over a year), …

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Urgent action: End the Detention of Families

Action alert: End the detention of families Dear friends, Over 80 people attended the House of Commons meeting Women’s Hunger Strike – Louder than Words (29 June 2010) which succeeded in making public how women seeking asylum are spearheading the movement against the injustice of the asylum system (and other injustices), and in gathering support for these …

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Women speak out in Parliament against detention, deportation, privatisation and profiteering 14 January 2010

Women speak out in Parliament against detention, deportation, privatisation and profiteering 14 January 2010 With recent press coverage shedding light on the devastating impact of detention on children, and the public outrage that followed, it was no surprise that a meeting on the detention of mothers and other vulnerable people in the House of Commons …

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Press release: Hunger strike and sit in at Yarl’s Wood detention centre.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION IN SUPPORT OF THE HUNGER STRIKE AND SIT-IN AT YARL’S WOOD IMMIGRATION DETENTION CENTRE Picket SERCO Headquarters 22 Hand Court, Holborn, WC1V 6JF Friday 19 June 12.30-2pm Nearest Tubes: Holborn or Chancery Lane Women, children and men in the Family Unit at Yarl’s Wood IRC [1] are in the third day of …

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I’m a rape survivor from Rwanda

Rape survivor from Rwanda in brave fight to help others  21 May 2009 Stella Mpaka, of Women Against Rape, is now helping others to overcome their personal nightmares. Your article (Camden group’s battle to prioritise a heinous crime, H&H April 2) showed some of Women Against Rape’s (WAR) ground breaking work winning justice for rape …

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Women inside Yarl’s Wood IRC demand an end to brutal treatment by Serco, 8 May 2008

Women inside Yarl’s Wood IRC demand an end to brutal treatment by Serco DEMANDS FOLLOWING SERCO’S INVITATION TO VISIT YARL’S WOOD REMOVAL CENTRE ISSUED AT THEIR AGM, 13 May 2008 1. Many women in detention have suffered rape and other torture. According to the Immigration Services Operational Manual (Third EDN) if someone reports being a …

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