Getting it right first time: women and asylum
Asylum Aid recently exposed very high rates of refusal for women seeking asylum in the UK. Russell Hargrave has written a guest blog to tell us more: The typical image of a political refugee is of a single male, fleeing conflict in which he has become embroiled at home. But in 2009 more than 7000 women applied for asylum in the UK. The factors which lead women to seek asylum can be very different from their male counterparts. Women face persecution for their political activities, but also for their gender. They may come from societies where violation of women’s rights is the norm,...
Read MoreFour years on: Join IKWRO in remembering Du’a Khalil Aswad
Four years ago today a 17 year old girl named Du’a Khalil Aswad was stoned to death in the square of her home town Bashiqa, in Northern Iraq. Today, it is still unclear why Du’a was killed. Some say that she was simply talking to a boy in the street. Others claim she had spent a night away from home, or had run away with a boyfriend. Either way, the men of her village took it upon themselves to ‘punish’ her. Each year at least 5,000 women and girls around the world are stoned, burnt, stabbed, beaten, strangled, electrocuted or otherwise put to death in the name of...
Read MoreGovernment plan on violence against women and girls: OUR VERDICT
IKWRO explains why the government’s new action plan on violence against women and girls does do enough for victims of ‘honour’ based violence
Read More100 years of International Women’s Day: Still not equal, and some are less equal than others
This blog was also featured on the Independent’s website for International Women’s Day 2011. Today is the hundredth anniversary of International Women’s Day. It’s a day to celebrate the progress that women around the world have made in fighting for their rights over the past century. And it’s a day to look to the century to come, the challenges that remain for the world’s women and the obstacles that lie ahead. Despite claims that discrimination is over, women’s rights remain a major concern in the UK. From lower pay to sexist imagery in the media, women...
Read More‘Honour’ based violence – Government plan does not do enough
Press release 7 March 2011 ‘Honour’ based violence – Government plan does not do enough The Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation today welcomed the government’s new action plan on violence against women and girls, but expressed concerns that the document does not do enough to help victims of ‘honour’ based violence. IKWRO Director Diana Nammi said today: “Every single day girls and women in the UK are locked up, threatened, beaten, forced into marriage and even murdered by their families in the name of so called ‘honour’. While acknowledging the specific...
Read More