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Refugee women in Britain and France
Refugee women in Britain and France
Refugee women in Britain and France
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Refugee women in Britain and France

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This book is about the lives of refugee women in Britain and France. Who are they? Where do they come from? What happens to them when they arrive, while they wait for a decision on their claim for asylum, and after the decision, whether positive or negative?
It shows how laws and processes designed to meet the needs of men fleeing political persecution often fail to protect women from persecution in their home countries and fail to meet their needs during and after the decision-making process. It portrays refugee women as resilient, resourceful and potentially active participants in British and French social, political and cultural life. It exposes the obstacles that make active participation difficult.
The book is an authoritative and thorough synthesis of all available material on refugee women in Britain and France. The style is accessible and highly readable, making this an ideal book for academics, students and interested readers.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJul 19, 2013
ISBN9781847796271
Refugee women in Britain and France
Author

Gill Allwood

Khursheed Wadia is Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations, University of Warwick

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    Refugee women in Britain and France - Gill Allwood

    Refugee women in Britain and France

    Refugee women in Britain and France

    Gill Allwood and Khursheed Wadia

    Copyright © Gill Allwood and Khursheed Wadia 2010

    The right of Gill Allwood and Khursheed Wadia to be identified as the authors of this work has

    been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

    Published by Manchester University Press

    Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9NR, UK

    and Room 400, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA

    www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk

    Distributed exclusively in the USA by

    Palgrave Macmillan, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York,

    NY 10010, USA

    Distributed exclusively in Canada by

    UBC Press, University of British Columbia, 2029 West Mall,

    Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z2

    British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

    A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for

    ISBN 978-0-7190-7122-5

    First published 2010

    The publisher has no responsiblility for the persistance or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

    Typeset

    by Helen Skelton, Brighton, UK

    Printed in Great Britain

    by MPG Books Group, UK

    Contents

    List of tables

    List of abbreviations

    Acknowledgements

    Introduction

    1  Policies and practices: international, European and national frameworks

    2  Migration contexts, demographic and social characteristics: refugee women in Britain and France

    3  Refugee women in Britain

    4  Refugee women in France

    5  Refugees, gender and citizenship in Britain and France

    6  Refugee women and NGOs

    Conclusion

    Bibliography

    Index

    List of tables

    List of abbreviations

    Acknowledgements

    Many people have contributed in all sorts of ways to the completion of this book. We would like to thank in particular Claudie Lesselier for the huge amounts of information, dialogue, unpublished material, contacts, documents and advice she has given us; Jérôme Valluy for correspondence, contacts and information; Danièle Lochak for answering legal questions and for mobilising her contacts; Commission femmes de la section française d’Amnesty International for discussion and contacts; The Collectif des femmes algériennes for conversations; Patrick Delouvin, Amnesty International Section Française for useful discussion and contacts; Jane Freedman; Audrey Lenoël for conducting interviews with refugee and migrant women’s associations in Paris, in 2006; to all the respondents to our NGO questionnaire; Angèle Malatre for carrying out interviews with NGO representatives in Paris, Lyon and Bordeaux and for organising two round-table meetings, in Paris in October and December 2005, attended by representatives of refugee NGOs and community associations. The round table participants included Sibel Agrali and Cécile Henriques (Association Primo Lévy); Philippe Aidan (COMEDE); Dr Thierry Baubet (Hôpital Avicienne); Marie-Jo Bourdin and Christophe Paris (Association Françoise Minkowska); Frédérique Bourgeois, Corella Damiani and Séverine Masson (Forum Réfugiés); Antoine Decourcelle (CIMADE); Samuel Hanryon and Dieudonné Ngaba (Médecins sans Frontières); Ali El Anizi (Association AMI); Dr Hervé L’Hostis (AVRE); Loéva Madec (Hôpital Le Vésinet); Dr Marc Wluczka (ANAEM); Anne Le Hérou (Comité Tchéchénie); Khava Djamakhanova (Inter Service Migrants); Sophie Perdrier (Association Marc, Marie, Lazare et les Autres); Juliette Roussel (CAFDA).

    We would also like to express our thanks to the following for kindly agreeing to be interviewed: Maryam Rafii, Croix Rouge française; Christophe Lévy, GAS; Anna Reisenberger, Refugee Council; Sarah Haywood, Employability Forum; Ceri Butler, UCL for information and answers to queries; Elaheh Rambarzini, Women’s Development Officer, Refugee Council; Anja Rudiger, Refugee Council; Judy Arceviera, British Red Cross for sending information; Sophia Ceneda, RWRP; Asther Hagos, Refugee Action; Debora Singer, RWRP; Sade Hormio, Oxfam UK Poverty Programme, for information and answers to queries; Catherine Hine, Oxfam; Dr Marc Wluczka, ANAEM; Dr L’Hostis, AVRE; Fadil at ASFAD; Clara from Rajfire; Zeynep Kerherve, Association Femmes de Turquie (Assemblée Citoyenne des Originaires de Turquie); and the refugee women we met in Britain and France.

    Finally we would like to thank Tony Mason and all the editorial staff at Manchester University Press who have been involved in this book; Nick James for preparing the index; friends and colleagues at the University of Warwick and Nottingham Trent University and, of course, Dave, Krissi, Caitlin, Ben, Rustom and Zubin.

    Introduction

    In the theatrical performance ‘Cris d’Exil’, produced by the women’s commission of the Association de Solidarité avec les Travailleurs Immigrés (ASTI) of Valence, Marie-Claire, a 30-year-old woman from the Democratic Republic of Congo is dumped with her toddler at a mainline station in Paris by a people-smuggler. Marie-Claire had escaped what has been called Africa’s first world war (1998–2004), having suffered the loss of family and friends and rape at the hands of soldiers and security servicemen of the Kabila government. Marie-Claire’s torment does not end with her arrival in France. She has no money, no shelter and no identity or travel documents. Her and her child’s basic needs are met by refugee support organisations but she feels isolated and deeply depressed. These feelings are compounded when she hears of her mother’s death and the disappearance of the daughter she left behind in the care of her parents. With the help of the Valence ASTI women’s commission, Marie-Claire begins a journey of recovery from her ‘internal exile’ and while waiting to hear about her claim for asylum, she becomes involved, with local associations, in the fight for asylum seekers’ rights. Marie-Claire’s story ends hopefully in that she obtains exceptional leave to remain in France and finds a place for herself and her child in French society (Schwertz-Favrat 2004).

    In real life, the circumstances of Sara’s flight from danger are not dissimilar to those of Marie-Claire but unlike the latter’s story, Sara’s is not an optimistic one:

    Sara’s life all changed the day her pharmacy in Uganda was raided by soldiers. She was taken to a ‘safe house’, where she was kept in a tiny cell and repeatedly raped and tortured whilst facing interrogation. Although freed after several days she was again to face the same ordeal when the soldiers came back to find her and her husband. Forced to flee Uganda she came to England where despite this continued persecution, her asylum case has been refused. Even a medical report stating that ‘the medical evidence gives strong support for the history of repeated rapes leading to life threatening gynaecological complications necessitation [sic] major surgery’. Moreover, Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and the government themselves all attest to the use of rape against women in Uganda as a means of coercion. Sara claimed asylum in 2003 and was forced into destitution in December 2004 when her appeal was turned down. Sara lived rough for many months. She now stays with an English woman and lives off Red Cross parcels, while she tries to find a solicitor to take up her case and put in a fresh claim using new evidence that she has been able to recently gather. Sara also has had no news about her husband and children and prays they are safe. (WAST 2008).

    The fictional and real-life stories of Marie-Claire and Sara represent those of thousands of women who flee conflict, violence and discrimination perpetrated by states, private agents, local communities and families. Women and girls constitute at least 50 per cent of any refugee population in the world today (UNHCR 2008a: 12). Many undertake long, often perilous journeys on their own, sometimes accompanied by small children. Others pay people-smugglers, desperate to reach a place of safety by any means. At best, they will face overbearing or indifferent officialdom or verbal harassment and abuse from male travelling companions; at worst they risk sexual violence, being trafficked for prostitution, physical harm, serious illness and in extreme cases death. A small proportion of these journeys will end in Britain or France. It is worth noting that the vast majority of people who flee their country end up in neighbouring states, that consequently they remain within their region of origin and that, in fact, only 14 per cent of the world’s refugee population resides in Europe (UNHCR 2008a: 7).

    Women come to Britain and France to avoid being caught up in war and situations of political conflict. They may flee to escape repression by governments who view them as subversive political agitators. But many arrive because they risk gender-related persecution such as forced marriage, ‘honour’ crimes or female genital mutilation (FGM). However, for most of these women, arrival in Britain or France marks the start of a new phase of problems and troubled circumstances, beginning with public hostility and xenophobic attitudes towards asylum seekers and refugees, procedural difficulties involved in claiming asylum and refusal by the state, in both countries, to recognise certain types of gendered persecution or acknowledge the reality of danger and conflict in particular countries as a means of deterring unfounded and fraudulent claims. Moreover, recent moves towards ‘managed’ or ‘selective’ migration (immigration choisie) by the British and French governments place women asylum seekers in an even more disadvantaged position as managed migration favours skilled labour migrants while excluding family migrants and asylum seekers. The sum of these attitudes were contained in a speech made by Nicolas Sarkozy in 2005, at a UMP (Union pour un Mouvement Populaire) conference entitled ‘Selective Immigration for Successful Integration’. He declared:

    ‘Bogus’ asylum claims, marriages of convenience, fiddled family reunification, lapsed tourist visas. I want it to be understood that for France to remain the generous and welcoming nation that she has always been, one must now demonstrate proof of commitment to her in place of all those who flout her generosity by subverting it. I want France to choose immigration rather than have it imposed. After all it is natural to want to welcome those immigrants we need rather than those for whom we have neither work nor accommodation. (Nouvel Observateur, 11 June 2005).

    Unsurprisingly then asylum application rejection rates in Britain and France are high and relatively small numbers of women, whether primary asylum applicants or dependants, are accorded refugee status or humanitarian protection. Despite their small numbers, in both countries, refugee women come up against numerous barriers preventing their integration into the labour market and other spheres of society. Asylum-seeking and refugee women, and particularly those who are newly arrived or unable to communicate in English or French, are highly dependent on refugee support non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and refugee community associations¹ which fill the gaps left by the state in the provision of vital services. Activist refugee networks, groups and community associations emerge out of the resourcefulness of asylum-seeking and refugee women while NGOs encourage them to participate in civil society structures and civic action as a way of combating their isolation and of feeling empowered enough to fight for certain rights and of eventually gaining an equal status and voice with other members of society.

    The study of asylum-seeking and refugee women

    The study of asylum-seeking and refugee women in post-1945 Europe does not have a long history. Early research which was carried out in response to the increasing visibility of women in international refugee migration flows, their arrival in west European countries and to debates and discussions about the ‘gender neutrality’ of asylum and immigration policy-making and implementation, included studies by Bhabha and Shutter (1994); Bloch, Galvin and Harrell-Bond (2000, 2001); Callamard (1999); Crawley (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001); Indra (1989, 1999); and Spijkerboer (2000). However, these studies focused either on critiquing the masculine bias within the field of refugee studies or the lack of a gender thinking and approach in immigration and asylum policy-making and legislation. More recent work commissioned by some of the larger refugee support NGOs has explored asylum-seeking and refugee women’s experiences in particular areas of destination society life. For example, Dumper (2002b) has written on the wastage of refugee women’s skills and barriers against their insertion into the British labour market while the Maternity Alliance in Britain has published reports on pregnant women’s experiences during the asylum process and in detention (McLeish 2002; McLeish, Cutler and Stancer 2002). In addition, a number of English- and French-language academic studies on the consideration of gender-based persecution in European refugee status determination (RSD) procedures,² on migrant and refugee women’s activism and on refugee women and the labour market have appeared over the last five years (Bassel 2007, 2008; Bloch 2005; Freedman 2007, 2008b, 2008c; Freedman and Valluy 2007; Hunt 2008). Few European studies have considered all the main stages of the journey of asylum-seeking and refugee women from the time of their arrival in a destination country to the first steps taken to become part of that society (for example, Schlenzka, Sommo, Wadia and Campani 2004).³ Moreover, there is a lack of comparative accounts of asylum seekers and refugees in general and women more particularly which could answer certain questions. For example, why have gender guidelines become part of the asylum policy instructions issued to border officials and asylum application caseworkers in Britain but not in France; or why are refugee communities more widely scattered in Britain than in France; or why is it more difficult for women to set up a refugee community association in France than it is in Britain? Finally, in examining the experiences of asylum-seeking and refugee women in their interaction with statutory and voluntary agencies, the majority of studies either focus on what happens to asylum-seeking and refugee women or on how they react to what happens to them. Few studies look at how asylum-seeking and refugee women are affected by policies and their implementation as well as their responses (whether reactive or creative) in order to effect change for the better.

    Rationale and aims

    Since the early 1990s, asylum seekers and refugees have attracted increasing attention within public debate so that many of the (mostly negative) traits attributed formerly to labour and family migration and the themes discussed in relation to the ability of immigrants to ‘fit in’ (citizenship, nationality, European-ness) are now overwhelmingly associated with asylum seekers and refugees and a dichotomy is constructed between ‘good migrants’ and ‘bad migrants’ in mainstream political and media discourses. The major EU governments, presenting refugee migration into and across western Europe as a new and alarming phenomenon, have sought to curb it and to control the lives and experiences of refugees from the time of flight from the country of origin to reception and settlement in the destination country through restrictive legislation. Public discussion of refugee migration has also included the production of a body of academic literature on refugee issues and has led to the emergence of an entire field of refugee studies.

    However, politicians, media and academics have largely ignored the gender dimension of refugee motives for flight, refugee movements, the gendered impact of public policy and the contribution of women refugee migrants to reception societies. The research on refugee migrant women, mentioned above, testifies to the efforts of feminist scholars to write women into the refugee ‘story’ in order to reformulate and complete public understanding of the reality of the refugee phenomenon. This study forms part of that effort and contributes to the growing literature on women refugees.

    The work presented in this book represents the first full-length study to focus not only on refugee migrant women as users of state and voluntary sector services in France and Britain, but also on their involvement in political and civic action and activism and as agents of change. Therefore, it does three things. First, it contributes to the literature on the reception and settlement of refugee women in destination societies in the West. It examines asylum-seeking and refugee women’s interactions within and with processes and structures related to asylum and immigration (including detention) and those to do with housing, health, education and training and employment.

    Second, as there are no substantial studies on political activity as a vector of settlement and citizenship-building in destination societies, a significant part of this book is devoted to asylum-seeking and refugee women’s political activity and activism. The book as a whole brings into question yet again the meaning of ‘politics’ and the relation between the personal and the political. The ‘political refugee’ was, for many years, assumed to be a man. Now this assumption is challenged. The collectives and associations of refugee women (from Southeast Asia, Latin America, Iran, North Africa) which have formed over the past thirty years are at the crossroads of feminism and refugee activism. Lesselier (2007) argues that their desire to organise separately shows that women have specific needs and concerns and that they want to combine their activism in relation to the country of origin with their reflections on their position as women. She also argues that awareness of gender persecution and the demand for asylum for women persecuted as women contributes to the reconceptualisation of ‘politics’. The figure of the refugee now includes not only political activists, but also those who fight, in any way, for women’s rights, those who breach social norms in their countries of origin, and those who flee sexual violence and are not protected by their state.

    Finally this book eschews what Griffith et al. criticise as ‘a certain parochialism of vision’ by adopting a comparative framework (2005: 21). Britain and France are selected because both countries consider themselves guardians par excellence of the democratic principles and practice of equality, justice, freedom of speech and action. It follows therefore that they are presented as a ‘safe haven’ or pays d’asile for those who are denied rights based on these principles. However, they are also the leading architects of ‘Fortress Europe’ in which ‘good migrants’ are needed and welcomed but from which ‘bad migrants’ should be kept out. Urban unrest among communities of migrant origin in both countries and the rise of far-right parties, particularly in France, have challenged the established (British) multiculturalist and (French) universalist frameworks governing relations between the majority population and those of immigrant and ethnic minority backgrounds and have fuelled debates about ‘French-ness’, ‘British-ness’, ‘European-ness’ on the one hand and the ‘other-ness’ of refugee migrants on the other hand. Besides, Britain and France are amongst the major refugee-receiving countries within the EU and their colonial history makes them natural destinations for people from former colonies. Despite their geographical proximity and the fact that their governments must adhere to common international and EU conventions, they also display differences in asylum and immigration policy, in their respective approaches to the reception and settlement of refugee migrants and in the political and civic rights accorded to non-nationals. Britain and France therefore provide different but representative examples of West European refugee destination countries from which useful comparisons may be drawn.

    Methodology and methods

    This study of asylum-seeking and refugee women’s lives and experiences of participation in Britain and France attempts to combine, though not uncritically we hope, a number of frames of feminist thinking. First, it draws inspiration from established, second-wave feminist thinking whereby it places women at the centre of accounts of refugee migration and migrants in a bid to discover all the stories that can be told. Second, it aims to show that refugee women’s stories can form the basis of enquiry and add new knowledge and understanding to the existing body of work in contemporary international migration. In doing the first two things, this study presents different ways of envisioning some key concepts used in the study of migration and migrants in destination countries such as Britain and France. For example, the concepts ‘refugee’ and ‘persecution’ are reconceptualised using gender as an important category of analysis (Chapter 1) while the traditionally accepted boundaries of what constitutes citizenship and participation (in political life) are extended through gendered analyses of refugees’ experiences and lives (Chapters 5 and 6).

    The qualitative and quantitative information gathered and presented in this book is obtained from a number of sources including academic literature, newspaper and periodical sources, government agency statistics, ‘grey’ literature, internet sources, interviews with key informant and asylum-seeking and refugee women, a survey questionnaire and two round-table meetings (held in Paris in October and December 2005) bringing together key informants in the area of refugee migration. It should be noted that this book does not in any way constitute an empirical study but that data from pilot interviews, the survey questionnaire and from the round-table events has been used to sharpen our interpretations of textual material used.

    As far as the academic literature is concerned, secondary sources consulted covered the main areas of migration history in Britain, France and Europe; women, international and European migration; women, political participation and citizenship; feminist activism among women from immigrant and ethnic minority communities in Britain and France. The literature pertaining to gender, refugee migration/migrants is discussed in the section above on ‘The Study of Asylum Seeking and Refugee Women’.

    Newspaper and periodical sources provided important primary material. Newspaper articles relating to government policy, immigration and asylum law and the refugee experience in Britain were taken mainly from quality broadsheets. The majority of articles consulted presented non-gendered commentaries and analyses. Amongst periodical sources, one title stands out in terms of the vast scope of issues it covers in relation to asylum-seeking and refugee women and hence of its usefulness for this study: Women’s Asylum News, a campaigning monthly bulletin of the Refugee Women’s Resource Project (RWRP) provides gender-specific information on refugee women’s NGOs, associations, projects, events; local- and national-level government policy; the implementation of asylum law and its

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