Blog
You are not alone here
I was there once
I know the feeling of unknown
and the fear.
You are here not because it is
Your fault
You’re here because it was
necessary for you to move on.
You are you and no one can
Take that from you
I believe in you as I believe in
myself.
You’ll make new good
Memories and friends here
You’ll find yourself back again
give yourself some time.
You are worth more that they
Make you believe
You are not here alone
I was there once.
Fundraiser Post
Hours of Work: 10 hours per week
Salary: £26,080 (pro-rata £7440)
Fixed term contract subject to funding
The position is accountable to Safety4Sisters North West board of directors.
Safety4Sisters offices are based in Manchester.
Safety4Sisters in a feminist, anti-racist organisation which supports migrant women with no recourse to public funds experiencing gender-based violence. We are seeking a fundraiser to support our work and be part of a growing, dynamic team. Working with some of the most marginalised women, primarily those from black and minority ethnic communities, Safety4Sisters provides advocacy, group and refuge support services to uphold their human rights to safety and protection. Our work is delivered through an intersectional and anti-oppressive framework where migrant women survivors needs are centred in our work. The successful candidate will have specialist knowledge of the way in which migrant women are affected by violence against women and girls, a track history or successful funding applications and knowledge of the specific concerns facing the voluntary sector. They will also have excellent ability to communicate and engage with a wide range of people via different mediums.
Please contact - Sandhya Sharma at sandhya@safety4sisters.org for a recruitment pack.
Deadline for application – Friday 4th September 5pm
This post is subject to satisfactory references and a DBS Check. Safety4Sisters is an equal opportunities employer. Due to the nature of the role the above post open to women only and is exempt under the Equality Act 2010, Schedule 9 Part 1.
Whatever you do, whatever you have, whatever you’ve been, wherever you go… you are a migrant. It doesn’t matter if you have got your indefinite leave to remain (ILR) or if you’ve got your citizenship… you are still a migrant.
Once I got my ILR I told myself ‘it’ll be better than before’ but it was still too hard for me. They sanctioned my benefits just because I am a migrant person with high qualifications, and they prevented me to get my course unless I show them my Home Office original letter.
Once I got my citizenship – and became a citizen of this country - I told myself ‘now it will be a new era’, but actually it’s just the same.
Recently, because of the pandemic I couldn’t work anymore and I applied for Universal Credit/Jobseekers Allowance like anyone else, but it’s the same - they ask me when and where and how you got it and where is your original Home Office letter? Again and again. They refused my first application and put me on the end of the list for the second application. They told me ‘we will not pay you forever’, and my response was: I didn’t apply for benefits for the last four years, so don’t worry.
They look to your skin colour, to your style, to your accent; not to what you already paid to be here.‘ You are from where?’ ‘What’s your origin?’ These kinds of questions are like a stigma: You Are Not A Citizen.
It’s like when you go and buy shopping from the second-hand shop - whatever the value of the things, or even if some of them are brand new, they count it as it if was second hand. We are like second hand. We are like second class citizens everywhere.
If you intend to apply for a job, you will have the least opportunity out of anyone, because your home country and skin colour will be an obstacle. Even if you are a citizen here and have good qualifications, your opportunity will be low. If you get the job, your wages will be lower than the British born citizen.
If you want to advance your qualification you need to pay much more than the British born citizen. If you want to apply for benefits and you have your ILR or citizenship, they are still asking where are you from, they may put you on the system, but at the end of the waiting list, and they put more restrictions on your application, delay and delay and delay.
Is it a stigma? Culture, norm or even tradition and honour, we are told wrongly that our body can be a stigma or a shame and now your migrant status! It is unbelievable.
But we are human and can do something good and special in this country and for this country. For you and for ourselves. We are not taking your jobs, your housing, your benefits… we are paying our tax and bills.
Together we can make a big difference, we just need support and respect.
I AM A MIGRANT – IT IS NOT A SHAME OR A STIGMA.
By EK from Safety4Sisters Migrant Women's Group
We have been locked up by abusers and family, we have been locked up by the Home Office and now we are locked up again – how much can we bear?’
- asylum seeking woman who is a member of the Safety4Sisters Migrant Women’s Group
COVID-19 is not only a public health crisis but a human rights one. We are told to “stay home” to keep safe. For women Safety4Sisters work with, they are trapped with abuser(s) in conditions ripe for increased violence. Families are forced together with little respite. Economic and psychological impacts of restrictions cause untold stress. For migrant black minority ethnic (BME) women, many of whom have insecure immigration status or language barriers, escaping violence is even more difficult and they remain trapped in life- threatening situations.
Women fear reporting will lead to immigration detention
Many migrant women cannot contact authorities for help as they fear reporting to the Home Office which may
negatively impact their immigration cases, resulting in detention and/or deportation. This is a threat abusers instil as a significant form of coercive control and meets their experiences of years of the hostile environment. As a result, we are deeply concerned that women will not come forward to escape the increased violence they face during the pandemic.
No recourse to public funds keeps women experiencing violence
Migrant women are told by abusers and the state alike that their insecure immigration status means they have no recourse to public funds i.e. cannot access state welfare and housing support[1]. Local authorities and central government view women with no recourse to public funds (NRPF) because of immigration status entirely through the prism of immigration rather than as survivors of violence. Consequently, women face a
stark choice: to remain in violence or leave and risk destitution and possible deportation. Without a clear message from central and local governments, women will fear coming forward. Despite both Priti Patel and Beverley Hughes raising issues of domestic abuse, they are yet to state there is support for all women escaping violence, regardless of immigration status including access to the newly established emergency accommodation released under COVID-19 measures.
A week into the lockdown, our advocate supported a woman with a 3-year-old child to leave her abusive husband - after social services told her to stay but ‘remain vigilant’. The police, whilst temporarily removing the husband from the property, failed to move her to a place of safety stating COVID-19 lockdown guidelines which they interpreted as meaning, and so expressed to her, that she should not move out and so her husband was free to return. As violence against women increases under lockdown conditions and with an already at least 16 killings of women by men in three weeks[2], such responses risk women and children’s lives
COVID-19 pushes migrant women further into poverty and destitution
Many women we assist are asylum seekers living on £37.25 [3]per week or are destitute without any money at all. This means they cannot buy in bulk or buy the more expensive brands which are often the products left on shelves. Women report skipping meals as they have run out of food or say they are observing religious fasting more rigorously to manage lack of food. One survivor didn’t have money for phone credit so was out of contact with us for 2 weeks until she borrowed some money from a friend. During this time, her mental health seriously deteriorated, and she is currently thinking of taking her own life. A survivor of violence, she says, “‘This just feels like the time to go – what have I left? I cannot go out. I cannot use the usual methods I had to take my mind away from my hell!’
Abuse during COVID-19 frays social networks and exacerbates mental health issues
Many migrant women in northwest England, who experience multiple discrimination and violence, had poor mental health even before the pandemic. Restrictions have led to more acute isolation, lack of contact with support agencies, and increased ability of abusers to prohibit contact with family members, friends and olleagues. Women report feeling helpless to maintain control over their lives and maintain social networks. lockdown conditions are heightening previous experiences of trauma. Women say they are scared to go out for fear of racism and being blamed for COVID-19, as experienced over the Manchester bombings. Whether terrorism or a pandemic, migrant women fear the violent repercussions of global crises.
Services working with migrant women escaping violence struggling to survive
Small BME and migrant women’s organisations like Safety4Sisters have been severely underfunded and under-resourced for years due to austerity. Funding is short-term and piecemeal, making sustainability fragile. The recent government announcement of a £2 million fund for domestic abuse helplines and online support is welcome but woefully inadequate. In recent weeks, we have seen a huge increase in workload as we deal with women in increasingly distressed states whose cases are complicated by many refuges denying access and lack of clarity whether women from outside Manchester can get access to emergency COVID-19 provisions.
Demands for action
Urgent action needs to be taken by the government, nationally and locally, to ensure all women - regardless of immigration status - are protected in this time of unprecedented crisis:
1. Put in place a firewall so women coming forward to the police – or any other public service - do not have their data shared with the Home Office. This must be clearly communicated with migrant women; they must be assured that they are safe to report violence.
2. Abolish no recourse to public funds for all women escaping violence.
3. Issue clear guidance on where to house migrant women and about the suspension of healthcare charges.
4. Launch a communications campaign that is accessible and produced in different languages to ensure all
women experiencing violence know what help is available irrespective of immigration status.
5. Include migrant women in safety and protection measures outlined in the Domestic Abuse Bill and the proposed Greater Manchester Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy and make these documents public.
6. Adequate funding for VAWG services including BME and migrant women’s organisations to ensure all women can access lifesaving services.
For more information, please contact: Sandhya Sharma info@safety4sisters.org
Safety4Sisters works to support migrant women across the North West who have experienced gender-based violence and who have no recourse to public funds or state benefits. https://www.safety4sisters.org/
[1] At present, only women on spousal visas who experience domestic violence can access the
destitute domestic violence
2] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/apr/15/domestic-abuse-killings-more-than-double-amid-covid-19-lockdown
[3] Please note that universal credit is £102.47 a week and Job Seekers’ Allowance is £74.35 weekly for people over 25.
Important:
Please be aware that in light of public health concerns we have taken the decision to postpone the International Women’s Day protest dance scheduled for Saturday 14th March.
Full statement below.
In solidarity,
Safety4Sisters
Dear sisters and friends,
A Chilean feminist anthem called “el violador en tu camino” or “the rapist on your way” that has gone viral worldwide reached London in early December. This powerful dance protest with fierce lyrics has been performed by sisters globally from South and North America, India, Kenya, Mexico and Greece to hold the violent men, complicit patriarchal institutions, structures and systems to account.
Please see the video of the powerful protest here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5AAscy7qbI
Safety4Sisters are organising a response from Manchester during International Women’s Week - Saturday 14th March and invite you to join us and do the same protest dance.
Violence against women and girls, including sexual violence is transnational and kills. We at Safety4Sisters and our sisters at Women’s Asylum Seekers Together know the devastating impact of this abuse. We also know the utter silence that surrounds women’s attempts to speak out and seek justice. We know that women are blamed and shamed and that speaking out is risky. This is heightened for black and minority ethnic and migrant women many of whom cannot come forward due to the threat of community backlash, racism, immigration control and deportation.
Where:
We will gather at 12.30am on Saturday 14th March 2020 by Central Library in Manchester (nearest tram stop is St Peters Square). Our protest dance will start at 1pm. The protest takes about 15 minutes to perform.
See our Facebook group for the event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1538883912928187/
Please wear masks/scarfs if you want to remain anonymous. We will have some spare ones on the day.
We will have some folded seats for those who need to be seated. Please find a member of our team if you need one.
Safety4Sisters will be setting up an Facebook page to keep you informed about the protest. We will also be asking for donations to support the dance rehearsals for women and public to help pay for the room for those able. If you can donate, please do get in touch with either of us on info@safety4sisters.org
Rehearsals
We will have a public rehearsal on Friday 13th March in the Collier Room at the Manchester Methodist Hall , Central Hall, Oldham Street, Manchester, M1 1JQ at 6-pm. Please note that this is free and in an accessible space.
If you cannot attend the rehearsal, our dance leader, Magdalen Bartlett will be putting together a video of the dance and lyrics which can be sent to everyone. Please let us know if you would like a video link to this.
Magdalen will also have a prominent place on the day to show everyone the movements that accompany the lyrics.
We hope you can join us. Please let all women in your group and network know. If you run a survivors group or deliver services for a women’s organisation, please do ensure all women in your group are invited to be part of this. We need to make this BIG to show our rage and resistance.
These are the original Chilean women’s protest, we will adapting these slightly.
Patriarchy is a judge who judges us for being born
and our punishment is the violence you don’t see.
It’s femicide, impunity for my murderer,
it’s disappearance, it’s rape.
And it wasn’t my fault, where I was, or how I dressed.
The rapist is you, the rapist is you.
It’s the police, the judges, the state, the president.
The oppressive state is a macho rapist.
Violence against women and girls is international, affecting all our communities. Let’s mark International Women’s Day with this amazing political global action against sexual violence started by our Chilean sisters.
Please note that this is women only. We use an inclusive definition of women and female and welcome trans women, gender-queer women and non binary people who are significantly female-identified.
Come Join Us!
Safety4Sisters and Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit have developed a comprehensive Practitioner’s Guide to supporting women at risk of violence and abuse with no recourse to public funds.
This up to date and detailed guide looks at:
Public Funds - definitions and questions
Different types of immigration status
Guide to emergency and longer-term support for women at risk of domestic and other violence, abuse or trafficking.
This guide is developed to assist practitioners to support women’s rights to safety and protection, prevent women becoming street homeless or returning to abusive situations.
Demand & Remember – Safety 4 all Sisters-
WHAT DO WE WANT?
An end to violence against women and girls
WHEN DO WE WANT IT?
NOW!
WDWW?
Human rights.
WDWWI?
NOW!
WDWW?
No more abuse
No more rape
No more murders
No more HBV
No more exploitation
No more trafficking
No FGM
No forced marriage
No more child brides
WDWWI?
NOW!
WDWW?
More refuge space
More counsellors
More resources
Specialist services
No barriers
No immigration questions
Just safety
Just care
WDWWI?
NOW!
WDWW?
Young women empowered,
Healthy relationships.
Free from fear
Girls confident & happy
No barriers
No immigration questions
WDWWI?
NOW!
WDWW?
Police protection
consistent
effective
without judgement
no barriers
no immigration questions
WDWI?
NOW!
WDWW?
Justice in Criminal justice system
Civil justice in civil courts
Children in homes without violence
Protection for women protecting their children.
Legal aid
No barriers
No immigration questions
WDWWI?
NOW!
WDWW?
Freedom from poverty
Freedom from forced financial dependency
Freedom from destitution
And from those immigration rules striking us down as NRPF
Creating vulnerability,
and hierarchies of access to safety
WDWWI?
NOW!
WDWW?
Freedom from coercive control
Freedom from religious
or political fundamentalism
Spewing out misogynistic,
Racist, homophobic, rules
WDWWI?
NOW!
WDWW
Women to be respected
to live out dreams,
to be ourselves,
whoever we are,
wherever we are,
WDWWI?
NOW!
Together today we demand, we remember
In solidarity with our global sisters
We make these demands
We remember women murdered, exploited, tortured
throughout the world
At home,
On the streets
On forced migration journeys
In refugee camps
In tents
In prisons
In the trafficker's lorries
In detention centres
In the slave owners’ houses.
In the sweat shops
And yes
In the UK homes of women forced to migrate
trapped in violence by
enforced immigration rules.
Reinforced by the hostile environment.
Nowhere to run.
And we remember
those whose whereabouts are unknown.
migrant women undocumented,
silenced,
unrecorded,
invisible,
disappeared.
… …………………………………………………………
WDWW?
Safety 4 all our sisters
WDWWI?
NOW!
WDWW?
An end to violence against every women & girl
WDWWI?
NOW!
For Human Rights Day 2019, we proudly launch the Safety4Sisters Women’s Group Zine.; Our Journey: Let Us Think, Let Us See, Let Us Speak
With thanks to Community Foundations For Lancashire and Merseyside for funding this project
Undocumented - Street Homelessness and Migrant Women
Welcome to our first bulletin on the realities of migrant women with no recourse to public funds (NRPF) escaping domestic abuse. All the women we work with are subject to immigration control. This exacerbates the existing barriers that all women face, as well as the barriers specific and extraordinary to migrant women when considering their immigration status, such as NRPF. Many of these experiences are documented by colleagues working in the field, including Platform for the International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM), Southall Black Sisters and the #StepUpMigrantWomen campaign. We start off our series by looking at women’s experiences of street homelessness. So often, migrant women are not identified as street homeless, or they are not counted in the data collected on visibly homeless people. Our experiences demonstrate that women do in fact end up in dangerous and fragile housing situations or have periods of time rough sleeping as a result of the barriers linked to insecure immigration status.
Street homelessness is a risk for migrant women leaving abuse as so often they are rendered destitute due to the NRPF condition. They are also at risk of falling foul of immigration rules as they may be breaching the conditions of their visa that may stipulate they remain in relationship with partners, not claim public funds and have enough money to support themselves. The migrant experience of homelessness is often left unrecorded in policy provision, in part because there are few agencies that provide appropriate support and as a result there is little documentation of their situations. When women tell us of their experiences, they reference how they must sleep in parks and stations, or how they are left to wander the streets or stay with friends, families and acquaintances who may be reluctant to host them (through poverty, fear of repercussion etc). Sometimes women tell us they have no choice but to stay with strangers. This gap in safety and protection when leaving violence exacerbates women’s chances of being found by abusers and puts them in danger of further exploitation and violence. It is well known that when leaving abuse women risk facing repeat victimisation. Additionally, migrant women are exposed to the controlling arm of the state and to non-state discrimination, racism or of being reported to immigration authorities.
Mimi
Mimi left horrific abuse from her partner. She had experienced a miscarriage due to his violent attacks. Having fled the property they shared together, she phoned the police who took her to an overnight hostel. However, she could only stay one night because she was subject to the ‘no recourse to public funds’ condition and so could not claim housing benefit. The following morning, she was directed to go to the city’s housing and homelessness department where she was told they had no duty to her because she had “NRPF”. Mimi was advised to wait for the Social Services to ring. She waited until 5pm and then had to leave because the homelessness department the building was closing, and all the office staff were leaving. She wandered around outside until 10pm where she found a police station. They took her back to the original overnight hostel, who directed her to the same homelessness department the next morning. That day she received the phone call she had been waiting for from Social Services. They advised her to make her way to their office some 3 miles away, but she had no money and the office was in the area from which she was fleeing. She had heard nothing from the police, and so did not know if her abuser was still in the area. Mimi walked the streets again, still bleeding heavily from her recent miscarriage, and crying. With no one to turn to, she met a man on the street who saw her distress and offered to help her. She told him her story and he found a female friend to put her up for a night. Both strangers were empathic and supportive – but this could so easily have not been the case. Two days later Mimi was given the Safety4Sisters number by another agency. We were able to immediately get her into safe emergency accommodation, ensure safeguarding and protection measures were in place, and offer her the emotional support over the following days that she needed.
Yasmin
Yasmin is a recovering alcoholic on medication for liver problems. She had been sleeping rough in a park for two weeks having escaped brutal violence from her husband. Immigration control had stripped her of the ability to claim housing or welfare support. As a result, Yasmin had been refused an offer of accommodation or a safe hostel space by the homelessness department. Yasmin was left to sleep rough in the same town that her husband was living and potentially still looking for her. When we asked the the local domestic violence service why her care needs had not been considered by Social Services (as a route to identify her as an adult who could be eligible for accommodation under the Care Act 2014), we were told by the social workers that because she was using the 24-hour McDonalds next to the park for toilet access (necessary because of the liver damage), Yasmin’s needs were deemed as “being met”.
Both these cases highlight how migrant women who are subject to NRPF do become street homeless, despite the fact they need immediate safety and protection from the gender-based violence they have experienced. Migrant women are still routinely refused life-saving support by services and professionals that prioritise their insecure immigration status and as such negate their status as victims of abuse. The services set up to provide safety to women experiencing violence in the UK are prepared to leave this group of women at risk of further violence, either on the streets or at the hands of their abuser. Women routinely tell us that they have no trust in the authorities and public duty safeguards, believing - with reason - that they may be sent back to violence.
If - like us - you believe that this is inhumane you can take the following action in your work.
1. If you know of an undocumented woman who has experienced gender-based violence, make a referral to our Routes to Safety project. This project is delivered in conjunction with Southall Black Sisters and the Angelou Centre and provides support to undocumented women.
2. Make a referral to the Southall Black Sisters NRPF fund when dealing with migrant women with irregular status to ensure that they have funds to remain safe. This fund can offer accommodation in hotel/B&B/refuge and subsistence costs.
3. For women who are claiming asylum there are new practice guidelines from the Home Office which mean that they can pay support and housing costs for their stay within refuges and specialist domestic abuse accommodation. See more here.
