Refugee women’s voices raised at sell-out conference

Our autumn conference, ‘Raising Refugee Women’s Voices’, took place on Thursday, 3 November and was a sell-out success.

Speaking at the conference were the UK Border Agency’s Head of Asylum, Emma Churchill, as well as Frances Nicholson from the UNHCR, a representative of the Refugee Women’s Strategy Group and Yvonne Strachan from the Scottish Government’ s Equalities Unit.

Over 150 people, from across the UK and from all sorts of backgrounds, attended the event and went away feeling informed and inspired by the talks and workshops.

Why focus on refugee women?

We chose to focus on the issues faced by refugee women both in the UK and around the world because we feel that a truly humane asylum system must recognise the needs of all individuals – and that by recognising the needs of some of the most vulnerable, will become a better system for all.

The UN's Frances Nicholson revealed the findings of a major UNHCR project, ‘Survivors, Protectors, Providers’, which gathered views from refugee women around the globe.

She joined our chief executive John Wilkes in calling for the UK Government to pledge to improve its services for asylum-seeking and refugee women when it joins other nations at the UN’s ministerial summit in Geneva next month, to mark 60 Years of the Refugee Convention.

Healthy debate around seeking asylum in Scotland

There was some healthy debate, too, around day-to-day issues crucial to women seeking asylum in Scotland. The UKBA’s Emma Churchill was questioned about how women with children could be expected to survive on the Azure card, a pre-paid card given to people whose cases had been refused but couldn’t be returned home.

She was also challenged over the policy of requiring new arrivals to lodge their asylum claim in Croydon – rather than in the Home Office’s regional branches. These are issues we will continue to raise with the UK Government in the hope of making a change.

Video feedback from the conference

Our blogging volunteer Alieu was busy filming conference participants – giving us lots of material to share with you on delegates’ reactions. They’ll be on our site soon, so watch this space!

Read our press release about the event