Women and girls failed by the UK asylum system

This briefing draws attention to ways in which the UK is not fulfilling its Refugee Convention obligations or its Women, Peace and Security (WPS) commitments, including in ways that specifically or disproportionately concern and directly harm women and girls.

Worse, its developing asylum policy is set to worsen this failure.

This is a betrayal of the UK’s commitment to WPS.

To ensure its WPS agenda and stated commitments to the rights of women and girls are not undermined by its asylum policy, the UK government should:

• Reinstate the suspended immigration rules for refugee family reunion on the same basis as prior to the suspension.
• Repeal provisions of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 relating to asylum decision-making.
• Abandon proposals to increase the marginalisation and exclusion of people granted asylum in the UK by halving the period for which asylum is granted, quadrupling the period of lawful residence required before an application to settle is permitted, and reducing the protection in the UK offered by a grant of asylum by further restrictions on access to public funds and new barriers to refugee family reunion.
• Work with other governments to create and expand safe routes for refugee women and girls to seek and receive asylum, including in the UK and from regions of conflict and countries of transit.