8
The Plight of Refugee Women
March 28, 2014
By Munire Surucu
In her memoirs, Togo native Fauziya Kassindja recalls the struggles and experiences of what it means to be a woman refugee. They capture many of the dangers plaguing refuge women around the globe. Fauziya’s story begins with her father’s death, leaving her under the guardianship of her uncle. His uncle demands that she marry a forty-five year old man with three wives. Throughout her testimonies, she struggles with cultural impediments. According to Togo’s tribal law, it is customary for fifteen-year-old girls to be subjected to female circumcision, called “kakia”[1], before they get married. In her own words, Fauziya explains“Before being sent to him I would have to be circumcised.”[2] The circumcision procedure is seen as making a girl clean, “reborn”[3] for her husband in Togo, ”Oh, God, we are cleaning this girl to be a good woman and wife. We’re washing her to be a good mother….”[4]
Fauziya had to escape from Togo because she was extremely terrified of genital mutilation. When she fled to United States using falsified documents, she was under the impression that she would be accepted regardless of her documentation. However when she got there, an officer suggested that she go to another country because she would not qualify for asylum. Desperate to never return to Togo, she insisted on staying in the United States and was put into prison. She had a terrible experience in prison since she was isolated for months and her basic feminine hygiene needs were not met, besides being psychologically difficult for her.
Fauziya sought out her cousin Rahuf in order to see if he could help her find a lawyer and eventually secure her release. Eric Bowman became her first lawyer. Eventually, Layli Miller Bashir, who was a law student interning under Bowman, searched for a case to bring the issues of FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) before the US courts.[5] Her studies extensively dealt with Fauziya’s case. Bashir helped Fauziya get her hearing, but the whole process was quite extensive. In order to get Fauziya out of prison, Bashir had to get “Parole first, then asylum.”[6] Fauziya stayed in the prison for almost nine months and was faced with numerous health problems. After the unfavorable outcome of her first hearing, the idea of staying in prison began to weigh heavily on her psyche. She states, “…if I stay here I’m going to die.” Bashir got a lawyer named Karen Musalo who managed to get Fauziya’s case accepted by American University Law School’s Human Rights Clinic. Due to the commendable efforts of this legal aid, Fauziya was granted refugee status by The United States.
Fauziya’s memoir captures the violent stories regarding refugee women, which show considerable security risks. As seen above, refugee women are vulnerable to abuse since they lack individual documents, awareness of legal status and typically face cultural impediments that constrain their options. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, (UNHCR), seeks to address refugee women’s issues by getting ideas directly from refugee women in order to develop and implement new feasible policies. This paper explores how international organizations and affiliated groups provide protection for refugee women and seek to promote gender empowerment.
Though no one is spared violence, refugee women are more impacted by domestic violence due to their position in society and their sex. Agencies have recognized that lack of individual identification has increased the potential for exploitation of refugee women. According to the Report on the Dialogue with Refugee Women, “Domestic violence, which was defined broadly to include psychological as well as physical violence, is often intensified by displacement.”[7] Domestic violence compromises the safety and security of women. Displaced women suffering from domestic violence do not have the ability to access and participate in community activities. A woman is not allowed to leave her house, even for emergency reasons such as purchasing food to feed her children. The male head of the household makes all of the decisions in domestic situations. In some places such as Guinea, refugee women and girls were forced to exchange sexual favors for basic needs.[8]
Domestic violence is built upon cultural and religious taboos that place immense social pressure on women. Displaced women are “virtually imprisoned indoor, fearing arrest and deportation, the wrath of their husband, father, male siblings or other relatives if they leave their homes.”[9] Regional health care consultations reported that there are factors in domestic abuse related to culture and religion. For example, refugee women are denied access to examinations if the doctor is male due to cultural taboo.[10] Peshawar, a refugee from Pakistan, states that her son was so sick and she had to leave to house to get water. When her husband saw her on the way, he was enraged and told her, “Now I have seen you, so other men must have seen and tomorrow my name will be dust.”[11] The husband was more concerned about how people around him thought about his wife’s behavior than the welfare of his own son. Because there are negative public images on women in Pakistani society, Peshawar’s husband accused her of prostitution. Peshawar is a prime example of everyday trauma faced by displaced women and how domestic violence coincides with culture taboos.
Another major problem regarding domestic violence that refugee women face is a result of the lack of individual identification. Sexual abuse happens during the internal armed conflict. In all cultures “rape is a taboo that silences women”, and rape is one of the most common problems facing refugee women.[12] “Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) – including rape, forced impregnation, forced abortion, trafficking, sexual slavery, and the international spread of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS – is one of the defining characteristics of contemporary armed conflict.”[13] Seventeen years old Marion, an internally displaced girl from Sierra Leone, recalled how seven rebels raped her after breaking into her house and threatened her family. Her mother had handed Marion over to the rebels in order to spare the rest of the family’s lives. “I became pregnant and decided to escape. Upon my arrival in Freetown…I was rejected by my community and family.”[14] When she tried to return to them, they rejected her out of taboo. The status of displaced women is demolished because of cultural and religious taboos. Undoubtedly in this kind of circumstance, criminals and perpetrators are protected under cultural taboo. Unwanted pregnancies and social exclusion are only two anchors that restrict the lives of displaced women in order to ensure that they live in fear and silence.
The lack of individual work permits is an issue faced by refugee women. These women are forced to work informal jobs where they often endure exploitation, sexual harassment and abuse. In some cases, displaced women are faced with difficult conditions that bar them access to the basic goods and services without personal work documentation. Since the women do not have enough money to pay for rent or even food to feed themselves or their families, the women risk being taken advantage of sexually by landlords and others.[15] Internally displaced women and girls, who live in remote areas, are vulnerable to face severe challenges. As an example, “unable to find adequately paid jobs and therefore be at risk of exploitation, working, for instance, for extremely low wages on isolated farms, living squalid conditions and being effectively trapped.”[16] Even though these women face exploitation, rapists and attackers, they have to remain silent in order to support their families. Rwandan refugee participant Immaculee described the problems of refugee women in South Africa, saying that refugee women do not have access to work and “will resort to anything, even prostitution, to feed their families; they are really traumatized.”[17] Innocent refugee women do not express their frustration since their voices are not being heard. Consequently, displaced women are forced to resort to prostitution because of the absence of income generating. Sex becomes the most crucial way for them to support themselves and their family.
The other reason for the rampant exploitation of refugee women is gender inequality. The UNHCR handbook defines the meaning of equality as: “Equality does not mean that women and men will become the same but that women’s and men’s rights, responsibilities and opportunities will not depend on whether they are born male or female.”[18] Without having knowledge of gender equality, women depend on men for access to basic goods and services necessary for livelihood. For example, food ration cards are distributed only to male to heads of household, so women become dependent on the men for their most basic needs. UNHCR staff reported from Pakistan that this method of rationing had a severe impact on a family, “where a ration card belonging to deceased refugee man was recalled, leaving his remaining four widows and 25 children without access to food.”[19]
The lack of proper documentation restricts the freedom of movement of refugee women. Refugees seeking asylum reported that refugee women are not aware of their right to file a claim different from their husbands. It was emphasized that without having male owned documents, refugee women are unable to leave the state freely. When host governments do extend documentation only to men, refugee women are further restricted in their freedom of movement.[20] The lack of individual identification makes refugee women live in fear; if they intend to escape the police will arrest them. Because refugee women do not know their human rights, they offer their bodies for permission to pass through borders. “Women and adolescent girls in search of protection may also be forced to offer sex to border guards and others in return for permission to pass and are at greater risk of being trafficked into prostitution and other forced labor.”[21] Refugee women suffer psychologically from these incidents. The lack of societal structure only adds to the women’s problems: “Lack of, or biases in, judicial systems and/or in traditional justice mechanisms often leave them with no redress or result in further stigmatization and discrimination.”[22] Refugee women claim that often judges or immigration officials lack awareness of the status of women within the culture from which female asylum seekers come. This negatively impacts their ability to claim and be granted asylum.[23]
Internally displaced women and girls who live in remote areas have to get permission from their male relatives to move. The remoteness of the area coupled with their lack of resources make it much more difficult for them to access such documentation. “They have to travel long distances, for instance, to obtain documentation or assistance, putting further strain on their meager resources and reducing the chances of being able to access reproductive healthcare services and education.”[24] Upon resettlement, the personal identity of women is at risk. Such problems occur regarding divorce, child custody, polygamous marriages and unaccompanied and separated children without proper identification.[25] Refugee women exposed with domestic violence are at severe risk. Culture of neglect establishes consensus between domestic violence and sex abuse for displacement women. Because displaced women do not have their own personal documentation separate from the men, they depend on their husband’s decisions and sometimes on their families. “While female genital mutilation (FGM) is banned in Finland, women explained that some families send their girls under the guise of holidays to their counties of origin for FGM to be performed.”[26] Refugee women often remain exposed to risks that are worse in the new resettlement environment.
United Nations High Commissions for Refugees intends to obtain tangible solutions surrounding awareness of status and consultation for refugee women. UNHCR’S reports present the experience of a select number of refugee women and suggestions for change. The foremost evolving of UNHCR with refugee women is structure participatory assessments, by listening to their needs and concerns in order to provide protection activities. Female refugees want to engage in the confidential process carefully by encouraging active participation. Refugee women stress that the integration process is supposed to be done in two ways; first, counseling those who are faced with sex abuse and other trauma issues, second, using their capacity to get skills and knowledge to achieve a decent life. Those who engage in the conference share their experiences with the UNHCR committee to address several solutions. The focus of these committees is to bridge the gaps in policy implementation between UNHCR and other relevant stakeholders groups. Policies like, “the promote refugee women’s participating, leadership and decision making, build women’s resources, develop long-term and integrated approaches, and enhance men’s participation in promoting gender equality.”[27]
The displaced and refugee women participants have concentrated on ensuring the volume of their voice in peace negotiations. They achieve this by promoting refugee women’s participation as leaders in the decision-making practice. A refugee women participant stated, “those making the decisions are not those who are living the lives of refugees.”[28] Refugee women need involvement in the decision making process in order to produce useful policies and opportunities to all aspect of their lives. In other words, ensuring women’s interest in all levels of government or various institutions will facilitate a needed change in the mainstream approach.[29] Better access to all levels of institutions on refugee women’s issues provide women with abundant information about UNHCR and other affiliated group programs. Furthermore, the participation will connect refugee women to UNHCR and other affiliated organizations in the planning and implementation stage. Making sure the refugee women are part of the “doing” instead of depending on outside assistance and ultimately becoming the “with” of other organizations.[30] Refugee women are willing and ready to take their own issues in their own hands.