This policy briefing addresses issues relating to asylum applications in the UK by persons who fear persecution relating to their sexual or gender identity or expression.
People who do not comply with sexual or gender identity or expression (SOGIE) norms continue to face persecution in many parts of the world:
This is a collection of personal reflections from Deborah Singer MBE about the Women's Project at Asylum Aid.
When the Women's Project suggested providing childcare during asylum interviews, the Home Office laughed. Now they provide childcare across the UK.
When we suggested female asylum seekers be automatically allocated female interviewers for their asylum interviews, the Home Office said this was operationally impossible. Now they tell us that their pilot in Glasgow proved very successful.
When women flee human rights abuses and seek protection in another country, they are dependent on an asylum process that may not take account of their experiences as women. This research, conducted by NatCen Social Research and Asylum Aid, seeks to address the evidence gap in terms of understanding the factors underpinning the overturn of women's asylum refusals on appeal. The study involved interviews with women and a range of stakeholders, including support organisations, legal representatives and First-Tier Tribunal judges. In addition, a range of case files were analysed.
This is the first comprehensive gender analysis of the asylum system in the UK. It seeks to assess all aspects of claiming asylum in the UK from a gender perspective including decision making, the asylum procedure, and reception and detention conditions. As women have constituted one third of all main asylum applicants since 2003, failing to take into account gender issues can have a significant impacts on the consideration of women's asylum claims and the treatment of women asylum seekers.
In 2014 Asylum Aid conducted research on credibility in asylum claims, published in Gender and Refugee Law.
The key reason why women are refused asylum is because they are not believed. The assessment of credibility plays a central role in the determination of an asylum applicant’s needs for international protection.
We are the Protection Gap Advocates.
We are women who have been through the asylum system.
We have made a video explaining some things you should know before your asylum interview.
This research project exploire the legal principle of internal relocation and assesses its application and impact on women asylum seekers who have experienced gender based persecution. This report discusses key issues regarding the use and application of internal relocation and women's access to international protection. The research analysed how legal representatives believe internal relocation is being applied to many women's asylum claims.
The analysis hilighted worrying trends that legal representatives identified including:
The research maps the number and profile of stateless persons in the UK and puts a human face on their situation. It also examines the UK’s legal obligations to stateless persons under international law and analyses the impact of current policy and practice. Based on these findings the report makes recommendations for improvement. While the work owes a debt to previous studies, this is the first time that this hidden issue has been subject to such comprehensive quantitative and qualitative research.
