User:Makeitmakesense/Refugee women

Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SBGV) - Aya
An estimate given by the UNCHR regarding the 2015 European Union (EU) refugee 'crisis' stated that approximately twenty-percent of the refugees entering the EU were women.

In response, institutions tasked with addressing sexual and gender based violence such as the Common European Asylum System (CEAS), have formally integrated gender sensitivity training to meet both international and EU standards.

These include the 1951 Refugee Convention, Convention on the Elimination of All Discrimination Against Women, and the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325.

However, research on the matter conducted in 2016 by Jane Freedman amongst key actors such as refugees, Frontex (European Border and Coast Guard officials), the UNCHR and human rights organizations have highlighted that the integration of gender specific anti-violence training has yielded poor results in practice.

Women made vulnerable due to their refugee status have reported border personnel tasked with overseeing their health and safety as the perpetrators of SBGV. Refugees entering the EU have voiced concerns of low accessibility to basic shelter and services in camps with high population densities as a fundamental barrier to ensuring safety from SBGV.

Refugee women also face increased exposure to violence on their journeys. This occurs most often at the hands of those facilitating their voyage, which Freedman refers to as ‘smugglers’. The legal nature of these incidents of violence renders reporting difficult and inaccessible. Moreover, the frequent changing of asylum routes due to border closures in the EU compounded refugee women’s exposure to violence by increasing the duration of their route.

Access to Justice - Shayan
It’s important to note that rape and sexual offences varies by definition of country; therefore, access to justice may vary. However, many pervasive figures of access to justice persists in:

Under-Reporting of Sexual Violence Against Refugee Women
Many refugee workers and officials may deny the existence of these issues because they are never reported. Refugee women may then be blamed for the violence against them. Misogyny is a pervasive element to under-reporting due to ostracization of being sexually assaulted both in their own culture and communities, it may be deemed as “shameful” to report. Moreover, there is no language availability in order to report the violence and hinders their ability to voice their experience.

State Legality Problems
At times, refugee women do not hold legal documents proving they are legally in a country. Some families of refugee women might have placed the onus on the male “heads of households” holding their legal documents thus making them inaccessible. Without these documents, many refugee women lack access to legal services and resources as legal persons in their landed country. In addition, the legal sources for refugee women in and outside of their designated areas. without other non-governmental organizations, the United Nations’ Human Rights Council or other domestic law services available to them are not able to gain access to or seek legal counsel. There is also a lack of trust within their landed country's government, and therefore many refugee women do not feel safe disclosing this issue.

UN Conventions
The United Nations’ Human Rights Declaration and Refugee Women and International Protection No.39 (XXXVI) - 1985 are international legislations that protect refugee women, children and their rights. However, because these laws are internationally legislated they limit the scope of holding perpetrator(s) to account due to the centralized power of domestic justice systems where the ability to access justice and ratify international legislation lies with the state.