Gender Matters: Women and Girls as Asylum Seekers in Europe

Transcription

1 Brown 1 Caitlin Brown History 391 Miller 22 November 2016 Gender Matters: Women and Girls as Asylum Seekers in Europe Conflict and unrest in the Middle East, specifically located in Syria, has sparked a large influx of refugees and asylum-seekers towards Europe. This current refugee crisis is creating tension within European countries as governments struggle to accommodate such a large group of new people. Germany and Sweden have specifically lead the charge, welcoming the majority of the refugees as other European countries remain ambivalent or outwardly hostile in their rejection of refugees 1. Over the course of 2015, Germany accepted 1.1 million asylum seekers and Sweden welcomed 163, While the magnitude and speed at which Germany and Sweden were able to accept refugees is commendable, the short term solutions provided often cause situations which may further violence or encourage more towards women and girls, a historically vulnerable population of refugees. They are at heightened risk of violence, especially sexual violence 3. They face gender-based violence (GBV) during their journey and in transit, within accommodation centers and camps, as well during their interactions with the government and bureaucratic offices of receiving countries. This compounds the trauma and violence against women seeking protection and safety away from areas of conflict. Gender matters within refugee crisis, now more than ever in response to the current crisis in Europe, especially for the 1 Falling Through the Cracks: Refugee Women and Girls in Germany and Sweden, Women s Refugee Commission, 09 March 2016, 2 Ibid, 3. 3 Melissa Fleming, UNHCR concern over testimonies of abuse and sexual violence against refugee and migrant women and children on the move in Europe, The UN Refugee Agency, 23 Oct 2015,

2 Brown 2 consideration of the safety and health of the women and girls traveling great distances seeking protection and asylum. Amnesty International has published a statement raising concerns about female refugees within the current refugee crisis in Europe. The statement highlights that women are more susceptible to violence, assault, exploitation, and sexual harassment during every step of their journey from their homeland to their reception in a receiving country 4. This statement is supported by a joint report published in 2015 by the UN High Commission of Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), and the Women s Refugee Commission. They conducted a joint field assessment of risks and remain concerned about the grave risks to refugee women and girls who are in constant movement in Europe 5. This perpetual possibility of violence starts when women and girls are traveling away from areas of conflict. They face pressure to engage in transactional sex 6 as well as to engage in sex or sexual acts with smugglers, security staff, and other refugees throughout the process of their journey 7. Hala, a 23-year-old woman from Aleppo, Syria told Amnesty International during an interview that At the hotel in Turkey, one of the men working with the smuggler, a Syrian man, said if I sleep with him, I will not pay or pay less. Of course I said no, it was disgusting. The same happened in Jordan to all of 4 Amnesty International, Female refugees face physical assault, exploitation and sexual harassment on their journey through Europe, Amnesty International: Refugees, 18 Jan 2016, 5 Women s Refugee Commission, Report warns refugee women on the move in Europe are at risk of sexual and gender-based violence, WRC: Press Releases and Statements, 20 Jan 2016, 6 Ibid. 7 Amnesty International, Female refugees face physical assault, exploitation and sexual harassment on their journey through Europe, Amnesty International: Refugees, 18 Jan 2016,

3 Brown 3 us. 8 It is a common theme that smugglers, or those working with them, will offer women the opportunity to perform in sexual acts for reduced or eliminated fees, what is referred to as transactional sex. Hala continues, My friend who came with me from Syria ran out of money in Turkey, so the smuggler s assistant offered her to have sex with him [in exchange for a place on a boat]; she of course said no, and couldn t leave Turkey, so she s still there. The smuggler s and accomplices target vulnerable women, attempting to force them into sexual acts for passage to safety the smuggler s know the women desperately need. These tactics are far from infrequent along the journey from areas such as Syria towards Europe. While some smuggler s and accomplices move on to the next woman when their offer is rejected, other s violent behavior is more aggressive. Nahla, a 20-year-old from Syria recounted The smuggler was harassing me. He tried to touch me a couple of times. Only when my male cousin was around he did not come close. I was very afraid, especially that we hear stories along the way of women who can t afford the smugglers who would be given the option to sleep with the smugglers for a discount. 9 The presence of male family members may sometimes curb the violence, but it leaves women traveling alone and female-headed families particularly vulnerable. Some women have chosen instead to marry in hopes that this will increase their protection from sexual violence 10. Tirana Hassan, Amnesty International s Crisis Response director, calls it unacceptable that their passage across Europe exposes them to further humiliation, uncertainty and insecurity. 11 As refugee women and girls flee areas of conflict, already vulnerable in their condition, they are vulnerable to exploitation by smugglers who know 8 Amnesty International, Female refugees face physical assault, exploitation and sexual harassment on their journey through Europe, Amnesty International: Refugees, 18 Jan 2016, 9 Ibid. 10 Ibid. 11 Ibid.

4 Brown 4 these populations will be more financially unstable, creating new instances of sexual gender based violence; they prey upon their weakness, jeopardizing the health and safety of the refugee women. Sexual gender based violence (SGBV) continues to be a pattern in the lives of refugee women and girls once they reach accommodation areas and camps. Accommodation areas lack sex-segregated facilities and sleeping quarters, leading to increased vulnerability of women and girls to SGBV. Women s Refugee Commission investigated the camps set up in certain areas of Germany and Sweden and concluded in their report that while both Germany and Sweden have signed, and Sweden has ratified, the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (the Istanbul Convention), which outlines specific support services that must be in place to protect refugee women, both countries had gaps in accommodation centers that left women and girls unsupported and unprotected against sexual gender based violence 12. These camps have no separate living spaces or sexsegregated latrines or shower facilities which left women and children increasingly vulnerable to violence 13. Some women felt unsafe sleeping around men, specifically single men, that they would leave designated sleeping areas and opt for sleeping on the open beach as they felt safer 14. With instances of men staring at women as they use latrines and showers at the shared facilities, some women took it upon themselves to stop eating and drinking in order to avoid using the 12 Falling Through the Cracks: Refugee Women and Girls in Germany and Sweden, Women s Refugee Commission, 09 March 2016, 13 Ibid. 14 Amnesty International, Female refugees face physical assault, exploitation and sexual harassment on their journey through Europe, Amnesty International: Refugees, 18 Jan 2016,

5 Brown 5 bathroom, while minimizing their bathing 15. This severely compromises the health and wellbeing of women, as well as can lead to health complications down the road due to malnutrition and infection. Women and girls do not have access to the amenities and spaces they need to feel safe in camps. The Women s Refugee Commission notes that some camps are attempting to institute dedicated women-only spaces to allow a place for gathering and community, and encourages continued establishment of such spaces. However, the accommodations established by Germany and Sweden need additional support and structure in order to adequately meet the needs of refugees. Germany and Sweden must also acknowledge the very real consequences of life in the camps on the safety of women and girls. A joint assessment between UN Children s Fund (UNICEF) and the German government found that children and women refugees and migrants are particularly vulnerable to becoming victims of violence, abuse, and exploitation in reception and temporary accommodation centers 16. Minister of Family Affairs, Manuela Schwesig, said that measures for protection from sexual violence and harassment need to be taken and says that she hopes a partnership with UNICEF will bring about changes to better enable the protection of children, youth, and women in the facilities 17. They also face more pressures for transactional sex within the camps. As one 22-year-old anonymous Iraqi woman recalled, in Germany a uniformed security guard approached her and offered her some clothes in exchange for spending time alone with him 18. The report by the Women s Refugee Commission 15 Ibid. 16 Government of Germany and UNICEF join forces for refugee and migrant children in Germany, UNICEF: Press Releases, 14 Dec 2015, 17 Ibid. 18 Amnesty International, Female refugees face physical assault, exploitation and sexual harassment on their journey through Europe, Amnesty International: Refugees, 18 Jan 2016,

6 Brown 6 commented on the violence, indicating that one of the most distressing concerns within the camps, as described by multiple NGOs that they interviewed, is the risk for sexual violence and abuse of women and children by staff, including guards or volunteers 19. They were in Cologne when nine security guards at an accommodation center were accused of sexual misconduct, including assault and rape; they were accused by asylum-seekers living in the camp via an open letter in an open letter, some of whom were minors and an investigation into the situation is still ongoing 20. Hierarchies of power coupled with prevalence of SGBV leave women and girls susceptible to violence even once attaining relative safety as an accommodation center. The physical accommodations present in the camps in Germany and Sweden are not the only barrier facing refugee women and girls. While many experience instances of sexual gender based violence en route to the camps in Germany and Sweden, they often receive little support within the camps. There is no standard to identify and support SGBV survivors and access to health and mental health services can be complex 21. Health care is limited to emergency services for acute disease and pain, leaving the question of access for post-rape healthcare up to the individual discretion of the doctors or hospitals 22. There are some social workers in the camps, but they are sparse and inadequate for the size of the population 23. This gap between care and needs is even more pronounced in the Swedish camps were psychosocial services are hard to access 24 for traumatized SGBV survivors who cannot access mental health care it makes their navigation of the asylum process that much more difficult. 19 Falling Through the Cracks: Refugee Women and Girls in Germany and Sweden, Women s Refugee Commission, 09 March 2016, 20 Ibid. 21 Ibid. 22 Ibid. 23 Ibid. 24 Ibid.

7 Brown 7 Survivors of violence face many obstacles within the camps and their physical journeys, but the legal systems set in place by European governments present another layer of difficulty for refugee women and girls. There is first the problem of language in the accepted definition of refugee. Established within the Geneva Convention, and ratified by Germany and Sweden, women and children are added as exceptions to the norm with special guidelines to address their specific experiences. However, this addition of special guidelines implies that the original so-called gender neutral Convention was developed with adult male, heterosexual asylum applicants in mind and raises questions about the adequacy of adding women and children via exceptional guidelines in addressing the conceptual biases and protection gaps the definition creates 25. When a third party s social norms is imposed on those applying for asylum through this lens of refugee then it ignores the material realities of the women and children seeking asylum. The special guidelines serves to reinforce the original definition of refugee as adult heterosexual male, maintaining a certain standard of refugee and a certain gender norms attached to that definition. This can complicate the ways in which women and children interact with the asylum process. Additionally, Sweden has recently made changes to their Swedish Aliens Act in 2006 concerning the definition of refugee in the hopes of addressing some of the concerns around gender. Eva Nilsson states, Significance of these changes is that persons who have a wellfounded fear of persecution on account of their gender or sexual orientation and who, according to previous legislation, were granted protection as persons otherwise in need of protection, are now regarded as refugees under the United Nations Refugee Convention. 26 These changes were 25 Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, Gender and Forced Migration, in Germany in Transit: Nation and Migration , ed. Deniz Göktürk, et. al (Oakland: University of California, 2007), Eva Nilsson, Persecution on Account of One s Gender: Refugee Status or Status Quo? feminists@law 2, no. 1 (2012),

8 Brown 8 made in light of recommendations from the UNHRC with the longstanding recognition that women have been particularly disadvantaged by the Convention. However, Nilsson criticizes the law for failing to adequately address the needs of women in situations of violence. She says that a woman who risks abuse from a partner may still be excluded from refugee status as the risks she faces are not defined as based on membership of a particular social group. 27 The separation of the subject and the persecution of this crime ends up personalizing the violence, which then ignores the pattern of domination and control within domestic abuse, but constructed as a private or cultural event 28. Nilsson concludes, An analysis of the preparatory work thus reveals that the gender perspective implemented in the legislation is also a gender biased perspective. Hence, the perspective contained in the act not only preserves the structure and integrity of the Convention (the ground/persecution divide), but also the power structures in society. 29 Instead of addressing the original concerns around gendered language within the Geneva Convention, the changes to the Swedish law continue to uphold violence against women within the culture, failing to protect the women it was changed to protect. The process by which refugees can claim asylum is also a structural barrier to women and girls seeking protection. They experience violence through the bureaucratic process on top of the violence experienced on their physical journey towards safety. Debora Singer illustrates the differential impact of credibility assessments on men and women, as often a third of women asylum seekers have refusals overturned on appeal this difference matters. Singer says that the 27 Ibid, Ibid, Eva Nilsson, Persecution on Account of One s Gender: Refugee Status or Status Quo? feminists@law 2, no. 1 (2012),

9 Brown 9 key reason women are initially refused asylum is because they are simply not believed 30. There are very high chances that women and girls will have experienced sexual violence before reaching the country at which they are claiming asylum, throughout their time in transit and in camps. Then once they reach a place where they can interview for asylum, they face three big hurdles. First, they have little to no documentary evidence, as one may have photographs of political activism but rarely of sexual violence 31. Second, without physical evidence, the oral testimony carries more weight but trauma can affect memory, which can make stories inconsistent and full of gaps 32. Shame and stigma against sexual violence can make it difficult to disclose her story at all or at the right time 33. Together, this produces a story which lacks coherence, a major turn off to interviewers for asylum. The third hurdle is the standard of proof the Home Office uses; Singer maintains that the office needs to use a lower standard, one reliant on reasonable likelihood of risk on return, rather than setting the bar too high and instantly failing these women 34. When women fail it can result then in the inability to obtain protection from persecution and perpetuate the cycle of violence these women experience, diminishing their ability to seek safety. The work of Jane Herlihy forwards the claims of Singer about the psychological effects of trauma as a barrier to fair refugee status determination. Herlihy also states that psychological effects, the most common among refugees as PTSD and depression, coupled with shame and 30 Debora Singer, Falling at each hurdle: credibility assessments in women s asylum claims Free Movement, 16 June 2015, 31 Ibid. 32 Ibid. 33 Ibid. 34 Debora Singer, Falling at each hurdle: credibility assessments in women s asylum claims Free Movement, 16 June 2015,

10 Brown 10 stigma, make it difficult to present stories at all, central to the process of claiming asylum 35. Non-disclosure in the asylum process can be enough grounds for reason for refusal, inferring that the person applying is dishonest 36. However, individuals have multiple reasons for avoiding the disclosure of past traumatic events, such as sexual violence. One is simply the impact of the events that bring up such feelings as confusion, shock, and shame 37. Second, they feel the need to build up trust and confidence before talking about topics such as sexual issues, but interviews may not provide the time and space for such trust 38. Lastly, they feel scared that the details shared within the interview will somehow be passed on to their government or they may not be believed at all 39. The interaction between the applicant for asylum and the interviewer is of utmost importance within the process. When interviewers lack the training and knowledge of locating and talking with survivors of SGBV, they can provide spaces where applicants feel unsafe or unable to discuss their histories and reasons for applying for asylum. This creates more barriers and obstacles, particularly for women and girls most susceptible to SGBV, to achieving protection and safety. There also presents many obstacles for women and girls who wish to report SGBV. Many in transit refuse to seek help or medical attention for fear of delaying the journey to Europe 40. In other instances, women may be afraid of reporting interpersonal violence for fear that a family member may be sent back. A new domestic-violence law in Germany expands the definition of what constitutes a sex crime, but it can potentially have negative effects on female refugees as it 35 Jane Herlihy, Psychological barriers to fair refugee status determination related to our understanding and expression of gender, in Gender in Refugee Law: From the margins to the centre, ed. Efrat Arbel, et. al (London: Routledge, 2014), Ibid, Ibid, Ibid, Ibid, Falling Through the Cracks: Refugee Women and Girls in Germany and Sweden, Women s Refugee Commission, 09 March 2016,

11 Brown 11 makes it easier for authorities to expel refugees convicted of such sex crimes 41. Therefore, women who are experiencing such violence may become even more hesitant to report or reveal it to police or social workers for fear that their husband, brother, cousin, etc. may be sent back 42. Franziska Brantner, a member of the German parliament and the Green Party, comments on the messy double standard that exists within German law. She says that, while Germany has made changes to the law on sex crimes, we aren t yet ready to look at how women refugee victims are facing sexual violence from German security personnel, and other refugees we still can t see that female refugees have specific needs. 43 Because women are rarely involved in the decisions by policy makers and civil society representatives, especially refugee women, they become most adversely affected by laws created. In all too many cases gender is deprioritized in the decision making process, especially around policies and programs directed to address the needs of refugees and those from conflict areas 44. There is a necessary link between gender and security that the governments of Europe must address to adequately meets the needs and safety of refugee women and girls. Germany and Sweden remain in a unique position due to their policies set forth to welcome refugees across their borders. Both have accepted a large influx of people from conflict areas, leading to the creation of short-term solutions. However, while commendable that they opened their borders, especially when their neighbors remained ambivalent or hostile, they are still not enough to adequately serve the needs of refugee women and children. While both countries have ratified the Istanbul Convention with the protection of refugee women and children in mind, they have yet to translate that ratification into proper actions for the health and 41 Elizabeth Weingarten, Is Germany Failing Female Refugees? Time., Ideas, World Affairs, 7 Sept 2016, 42 Ibid. 43 Ibid. 44 Ibid.

12 Brown 12 safety of those refugees. This however does provide them another opportunity to showcase progressive leadership within Europe, not only opening their doors, but potentially leading the way for combatting SGBV within refugee crises. German officials have already spoken up about the needs associated within some of their camps, and this recognition may provide the foundation for building stronger infrastructure. This may potentially serve to spark a move towards a stronger community effort in the face of violence to protect and serve those persecuted. For those who have no other options to escape the violence and conflict of their homelands, at the very least should not be continually subjected to more violence throughout the process of acquiring protection and asylum within a new country.

13 Brown 13 Bibliography Amnesty International. Female refugees face physical assault, exploitation and sexual harassment on their journey through Europe. Amnesty International: Refugees. 18 Jan Falling Through the Cracks: Refugee Women and Girls in Germany and Sweden. Women s Refugee Commission. 09 March Fleming, Melissa. UNHCR concern over testimonies of abuse and sexual violence against refugee and migrant women and children on the move in Europe The UN Refugee Agency. 23 Oct Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, Elena. Gender and Forced Migration. In Germany in Transit: Nation and Migration Edited by Deniz Göktürk, et. al Oakland: University of California Press, Government of Germany and UNICEF join forces for refugee and migrant children in Germany. UNICEF: Press Releases. 14 Dec Herlihy, Jane. Psychological barriers to fair refugee status determination related to our understanding and expression of gender. In Gender in Refugee Law: From the margins to the centre. Edited by Efrat Arbel, et. al. London: Routledge, 2014 Nilsson, Eva. Persecution on Account of One s Gender: Refugee Status or Status Quo? feminists@law 2, no. 1 (2012). Singer, Debora. Falling at each hurdle: credibility assessments in women s asylum claims. Free Movement. 16 June Weingarten, Elizabeth. Is Germany Failing Female Refugees? Time. Ideas, World Affairs. 7 Sept Women s Refugee Commission. Report warns refugee women on the move in Europe are at risk of sexual and gender-based violence. WRC: Press Releases and Statements. 20 Jan