Sisters For Change (SFC) and Step Up Migrant Women (SUMW) welcome the Joint Committee’s support for better protection for women reporting domestic abuse, including the creation of a firewall between support services and immigration control.
Members of the Step Up Migrant Women (SUMW) campaign – a coalition of more than 30 organisations – welcome recommendations by the Joint Committee of MPs and Lords examining the draft Domestic Abuse Bill, which echo their call for migrant women reporting domestic abuse to be protected and supported as victims, before any consideration of immigration status.
Calling the draft Domestic Abuse Bill a “missed opportunity” to address the needs of migrant women, the Committee also urged that a new statutory definition should recognise a broader range of abusive behaviour, including perpetrators using insecure immigration status as a form of coercive control.
Jane Gordon, Legal Director of Sisters For Change, said:
“Sisters For Change welcomes the Joint Committee’s recommendation of an additional clause in the Bill imposing a non-discrimination duty on public authorities when dealing with victims of domestic abuse that reflects Article 4(3) of the Istanbul Convention.
The UK Government has existing international legal obligations under the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women to combat violence against women without discrimination and to provide protection and support to all women, including refugee women, women seeking asylum, migrant women and stateless women.”
Read full article here
