Free from Violence Against Women and Girls: Voices of women seeking asylum who have experienced SGBV

This post forms part of our series in showcasing abstracts of presentations featured at our annual postgraduate interdisciplinary conference on refugee and forced migration research, hosted in November 2018 at The University of Melbourne.

STEPHANIE BECKWITH

This presentation presents the findings of ‘Free from Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG)’, a pilot research project funded by the City of Parramatta Council. Through interviews with 10 women seeking asylum as well as consultations with practitioners who are providing support to this group, we sought to gain an understanding of the experiences that women have had both in Australia as well as prior to arrival in Australia, the strengths and gaps in service systems in this area, and areas in which urgent reform is needed. Our research found that:

• Women seeking asylum can be particularly vulnerable to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and face significant barriers to accessing appropriate support services.
• Women seeking asylum have often already had experiences of SGBV in their home countries and during their migration journey, which continue to impact on their lives in key ways after they arrive in Australia and seek protection
• That reporting SGBV in Australia can place women and children at further risk of harm, both whilst in the country living in precarious circumstances, and if returned to countries of origin where they often have limited institutional protections from perpetrators and/or extended family/community. This can be a significant barrier to women reporting abuse.

Our findings point to a need for further advocacy and policy change to increase protections for women who are seeking asylum in Australia and who report SGBV, both in terms of access to support as well as visa pathways once SGBV has been reported.

Stephanie Beckwith is the Project Coordinator of Finding Safety, a new program run by Jesuit Refugee Service and funded by Women NSW – DFV Innovation Fund. Finding Safety aims to reduce incidences of DFV among women seeking asylum across Western Sydney, through a model which facilitates self-empowerment and leadership with women seeking asylum.

Image Credit: TalkSpace (2017): https://www.talkspace.com/blog/2017/05/global-refugee-mental-health-crisis/