The Project's activities
The Women's Project at Asylum Aid is the only project of its kind in the UK. For more than ten years it has combined dedicated legal advice work with original research and country of origin expertise, and used the information from all these sources to inform our policy, lobbying and campaigning activities.
For women seeking asylum, or people working on their behalf, the Women's Project provides:
- Free legal advice and representation
- One-off advice and referrals to other agencies
- Lobbying, campaigning and pushing for reform on issues that affect women seeking asylum
- Training on gender issues in the asylum system
Other free resources include:
- Asylum Aid publishes Women's Asylum News, a free monthly bulletin to which more than a thousand asylum practitioners and advocates already subscribe
- Research reports on asylum and gender issues, including Unsustainable (2011) and Relocation, Relocation (2008)
- Audio CD: 'Home Office gender guidance'. This is designed for newly-arrived women asylum seekers, and for those who work with them, and explains more about the Home Office's obligations under the Gender Guidelines
- Play: Written by Asylum Aid's Policy & Research Manager Debora Singer, 'Random Acts' is a short play about a women seeking asylum, and dramatises many of the barriers faced by women when they apply for protection in the UK
Please note: since the production of the CD and play in 2007, effective advocacy by Asylum Aid and other has forced changes in some areas of Government policy. Childcare is now provided during asylum interviews in all regional offices except London, and the 'gender-sensitive question' has been added to those asked during the asylum screening interview