Women trapped in violence

The Belfast AI office did some media work around the launch of Amnesty and Southall Black Sisters' new report, 'No Recourse' No Safety, this week.

The report highlights the difficulties faced by women with insecure immigration status (i.e. they are not UK residents and perhaps depend on spousal visas), who experience domestic violence but find it near impossible to leave home and seek refuge because of the government's refusal to provide them with financial support in their own right.

The report gives details of one such case, Ana, a Polish woman in Northern Ireland who fled a violent partner but then had to rely on the charity of a local Women's Aid refuge when she was refused housing benefit by the NI Housing Executive. She is just one of scores of cases annually here.

Patricia did an early morning interview for Radio Ulster, Fionna another one for Irish News TV and a few pieces made their way into other print and online media.

We plan to follow up the media launch with meetings with political decision-makers here, who have the power to help such vulnerable women.