- Mum wins asylum after living in limbo for over a decade… Marfa is the mother of three children who was forced to leave Kosovo after her husband was murdered in a “blood feud” against her family. As her children approached 16 they became targets for the vendetta.
Marfa had no choice but to leave the country with them. She embarked on the dangerous journey overland through Europe to find safety in the UK. When she arrived she was warned by others in her community that if she tried to find help from the authorities she would be deported. She went into hiding and found work to feed her children. But she was arrested for working without permission, sent to prison and then detained at Yarl’s Wood IRC. Her children were taken from her and put in “care”.
When we first met Marfa she was suicidal, distressed, withdrawn and had nightmares. But by joining our self-help group she began to look less sad.Her asylum claim was refused and her appeal was refused. It was only after Women Against Rape provided expert evidence and helped her daughter win her case that Marfa’s case was turned around. This year she won refugee status and is now one of our most dedicated volunteers.
2. Rape victim wins the right to safety and protection…. Marian, a All African Women’s Group member, has won refugee status to stay in the UK! When she first came to the AAWG she was very distressed because the council was about to evict her her and her two young children.
This was in the middle of winter during the pandemic. Marian suffered life threatening rape and domestic violence in Nigeria. Like many women in our network, she didn’t know until she met AAWG, that what she had suffered would entitle her to claim asylum in the UK.
She was particularly scared about being evicted because social services threatened that if she became homeless they would take her children from her. We couldn’t stop the eviction but a woman in AAWG kindly offered to let her share her small flat temporarily while Women Against Rape helped her claim asylum, get housing from NASS and provided food vouchers so she and her children didn’t go hungry. Marian was interviewed about her struggle – see the article in our Bio.
“If one of the mothers in the All African Women’s Group hadn’t stepped forward to house us and we all hadn’t fought together, I could have been sent back which would have been the end of me. But I’m housed and the fight goes on.”
Earlier this year she was granted refugee status. This is a massive victory and finally allows Marian and her two children to begin to settle in the UK and heal.
3. Mother trafficked from Nigeria wins family reunion with her three children. Her children were very young – one was still breastfeeding when she was forcibly separated from them. They suffered terrible beatings and the threat of rape.
We helped her press her lawyer to act more quickly and Women Against Rape (WAR) provided expert evidence of the impact on both mother and children. When the Home Office finally granted her three children entry clearance she was ecstatic:
“This gives me joy, it has wiped away my tears, I will smile forever. Thank you for the help. This gives me the strength to fight for others.”
4. Winning against being dispersed out of London and away from vital support.
A mother who survived rape, who was due to be sent out of London and away from the support of All African Women’s Group and Women Against Rape (WAR) has won the right to stay.
It was a battle. WAR wrote a letter to say it would be devastating for her and her son to be separated from her support network. The Home Office was forced to give in. They said they had consulted their “psychiatric adviser”. But our question is why didn’t they consult this person first when they knew from the start that she was a rape survivor. Why terrify and traumatise her and her son. Why did they disbelieve her and need her pain to be confirmed by a professional before they could make the right decision?
She said: “I needed to be near my group because I needed help and because my son is still suffering from nightmares. So, if they take me far away who will support me? When I heard that I’m going to stay in London it was a relief. It is better to be with a group that you have trust in. Starting afresh again is a big thing, who will be on my side, will they use the information against me?”
5. Baby going hungry in asylum hotel – mum fights and wins to be moved. A mother of a 16 month-old baby won edible & sufficient food for herself & her daughter in an asylum hotel. Meals were plain bread, dried up pizza & rice & chicken every day.
Her daughter got food pouches for age 7 months. They were hungry all the time. We helped her complain to the hotel & @MigrantHelp – which gets £230m to “support migrants” and allocates accommodation. Neither responded.
She said: “I get only £18/wk & was buying noodles & cereal to eat. My baby was always hungry and upset. Then last week the staff changed & suddenly we were given freshly cooked hot & tasty meals. Now I don’t have to use my precious £ to make sure my baby eats. Protest works!”
6. Trafficking Victim wins Right stay and be safe.
When Mabel first came to us she was very distressed. She’d been trafficked (when pregnant!) to the UK and locked up with little food. She was terrified to go to the police.
She managed to escape and was living in a church when a woman gave her a place to stay where she gave birth. But soon the woman told her she had to leave and she ended up sleeping outside in the winter with her baby, who has sickle cell.
She didn’t know until she met us that she was entitled to claim asylum. One of our members went with her to make an application. She got asylum support and was housed in a hotel. But she couldn’t cook there and the food was so terrible and insufficient that her baby became under-nourished. With our help, she bravely spoke to the press and the Home Office was forced to move her to a self-catering flat. Later her asylum money was stopped completely for no reason. She was left destitute and desperate. We repeatedly complained with her to Migrant Help, but they parrotted the Home Office which said nothing could be done. She then had to fight against being dispersed to outside London and away from our support.
As she gained more trust she began to tell us about what she suffered in Nigeria which included forced prostitution and gang rape. Fear of speaking about this meant her solicitor had told her she had a “weak asylum claim”. Women Against Rape (WAR) helped by doing an expert report documenting the trauma.
Mabel was hounded by the Home Office to attend an interview but WAR helped get it postponed because she was still deeply traumatised. The Home Office written record of her eventual interview was shockingly inaccurate with the wrong names of places and people. We helped her complain about that too and she got called for a second interview. A few days later she got the fantastic news that she had won the right to stay.
On winning Mabel said: “I was so scared when I first came to the group, but they were supportive and reliable. When I panic, they calm me down. When I cry, they comfort me and give me the strength to fight. They back women up and protect us through difficult times.” This year she won refugee status and is now one of our most dedicated volunteers.
More Victories from 2023
The year 2023 was scarred by the introduction of another draconian piece of legislation which further undermined the right to claim asylum and specifically the rights of rape survivors. Plus there was the ongoing looming threat of the Rwanda plan.
The destruction of the legal aid system over many years came to a crisis point when women we could no longer find a lawyer to represent any of the women we work with.
We are therefore gratified that despite this hostile environment the RRD project worked with 11 women from the All African Women’s Group to win their right to stay.
Eight women won full refugee status, including a mum who has been battling for over a decade. One woman won Indefinite Leave to Remain. One woman won family reunion with her three children.Three woman won under Article 8 – right to family and/or private life. One woman, who is a rape survivor from Congo, has been fighting her case for almost 20 years. The Tribunal overturned their previous ruling and found her account of trauma credible which meant she was granted leave with recourse to public funds – a crucial victory. She is appealing for refugee status.
Two rape victims in the group were repeatedly scheduled for their substantive asylum interviews even though they had not been able to find a legal aid lawyer and therefore had not had legal advice or help to prepare their claims. They were too traumatised to speak about their experiences to the Home Office without this crucial help. We helped them put off the interviews based on Home Office policy which ackowledges that rape victims may submit expert psychological evidence in place of the interview. This evidence isn’t available without legal aid. Whilst it’s a victory that their interviews were adjourned, the delay is tormenting for the women and their children.
We also won many other victories big and small such as one woman’s successful struggle against a brutal policy on food in a NASS hotel which left her baby malnourished.
Each victory is an example of how the issues and principles raised in one case are applicable to others and how one case can help set a standard that could be built on by other women fighting for the right to stay. As one of the women who attends our collective self-help work sessions where women work on their own and others cases in more detail:
“I always knew what I suffered but before I came to this group I didn’t know how to explain it. I didn’t know what I had to prove to win asylum, I actually didn’t even know that I could claim asylum. I didn’t think it was for women like me. As soon as I heard other women speak about their case many things became clear. There are so many problems we share.
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