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Early Day Motion (EDM)
406: RAPE AND FEMALE ASYLUM SEEKERS tabled by John McDonnell MP,
has gathered 72 signatures since it was issued on 5 December. We
are now anxious to make this over 100. If your MP is not on the
list below, please urge them to sign. The EDM lists essential
demands, such as ensuring that women are able to
speak about the violence they have
suffered, have access to legal representation, appropriate medical
care and other expert help. These demands, if implemented, would
greatly increase the chances of women getting justice and
protection. Getting MPs to sign this EDM raises these issues in
Parliament and will be of great help to our campaign to get rape
officially recognised as torture and persecution*[1].
The easiest way to be in touch is via
www.writetothem.com.
The EDM was issued to coincide with the launch of our Dossier: Misjudging Rape; Breaching Gender Guidelines & International Law in Asylum Appeals. The Dossier’s painstaking research exposes the brutal treatment by the courts and the authorities of rape survivors claiming asylum. It documents how immigration judges flout their own Asylum Gender Guidelines and international law in their rulings. For a report of the Launch and/or to order a copy call 020 7482 2496 or see www.womenagainstrape.net
You might also be interested in an article in the Guardian about the Dossier by Laura Smith published on 5 December http://www.womenagainstrape.net/PressCoverage/GuardianLauraSmith.htm
EDM 406 RAPE AND FEMALE ASYLUM SEEKERS 05.12.2006 That this House welcomes research by Black Women's Rape Action Project and Women Against Rape into the experiences of rape survivors at asylum appeal hearings; calls on the Home Office to ensure that women seeking asylum or refuge in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights after fleeing sexual violence perpetrated by agents of the state are enabled to speak about all the violence they have suffered, and to have access to adequate legal representation and appropriate medical and other expert advice; and calls on the Home Office to ensure that women seeking asylum are treated according to international precedents and to the 2000 Asylum Gender Guidelines, which must be assigned statutory status, and that they are granted refugee status or human rights protection in the same ways as men who are found to have suffered from torture or inhuman and degrading treatment. John McDonnell
Abbott, Diane Bayley, Hugh Breed, Colin Bottomley, Peter Brooke, Annette Burt, Lorely Cable, Vincent Campbell, Ronnie Caton, Martin Clapham, Michael Clark, Katy Cohen, Harry Cook, Frank Corbyn, Jeremy Cousins, Jim Cruddas, Jon Cryer, Ann Dean, Janet Dismore, Andrew Drew, David Durkan, Mark Ellman, Louise Ennis, Jeff Etherington, Bill Featherstone, Lynne Galloway, George George, Andrew Gerrard, Neil Godsiff, Roger Hall, Patrick Harris, Evan Harvey, Nick Hemming, John Hoey, Kate Holmes, Paul Hood, Jimmy Hopkins, Kelvin Howarth, David Hunter, Mark Jackson, Glenda James, Sian C Jenkins, Brian Jones, Lynne Keetch, Paul Lazarowicz, Mark Leech, John Llwyd, Elfyn Love, Andrew Marshall-Andrews, Robert McCafferty, Chris McCarthy, Kerry McDonnell, Alasdair McKechin, Ann Meale, Alan Mitchell, Austin Moon, Madeleine Morgan, Julie Pugh, John Russell, Bob Sanders, Adrian Sarwar, Mohammad Simpson, Alan Soulsby, Peter Strang, Gavin Streeter, Gary Taylor, Dari Vis, Rudi Wareing, Robert N Williams, Betty Williams, Stephen Willis, Phil
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