Introduction and acknowledgements
Recent years have seen a wave of new policy initiatives, laws and constitutional amendments that have strengthened gender equality and women’s rights in Ireland, from the marriage equality and repeal referendums in 2015 and 2018 to the Domestic Violence Act 2018, which introduced a new DSGBV crime of “coercive control.” The Victims of Crime Act 2017, which puts into national law the EU Victims Directive, while less comprehensive in addressing DSGBV than its parent directive, is an important expression of commitment to the rights of victims of DSGBV. Ireland’s ratification in 2019 of the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence significantly bolsters accountability of the Government for its performance in relation to DSGBV. The report of the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality (2021) and the implementing strategy drafted by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Gender Equality (Unfinished Democracy, 2022), are recent milestones in a long journey to make Ireland a more gender equal country. Yet, to date, insufficient attention has been paid in all relevant national strategies to addressing migrant women’s experiences of DSGBV.
At the same time, despite legal and policy advances to counter DSGBV, it remains a pervasive problem. In Ireland, in 2022, Women’s Aid recorded almost 40,000 disclosures of domestic abuse against women and against children and the CSO sexual violence survey revealed that 52 per cent of women and 28 per cent of men reported experiencing sexual violence in their lifetime. Safe Ireland reports that in 2018, 10,782 women and 2,572 children were accommodated or otherwise supported by a domestic violence service, while on 3,256 occasions women were declined accommodation due to a lack of available places (Safe Ireland 2019). There is little data available on the share of migrant women using services, but there is some evidence that it is in the region of 20 per cent in the Dublin area (Women’s Aid 2019). AkiDwA has also worked on documenting less visible forms of DSGBV that primarily affect women from migrant communities, including FGM, estimating that about 6,000 women in Ireland have undergone FGM (Munyi et al. 2021), as well as early and forced marriages, for which there is growing anecdotal evidence (AkiDwA 2022). Regarding human trafficking, Ireland has recorded approximately 40 victims each year since 2019, widely viewed as a severe underestimation, as Ireland continues to be categorised by the US State Department as a “Tier 2” country in terms of its efforts to combat trafficking.
An immediate source of concern is the increased risk of DSGBV, including sexual exploitation and trafficking, in and around emergency accommodation centres. Despite the Government’s stated commitment in 2021 to replace the direct provision system with a community-based, integrated accommodation model for international protection applicants, there has been little progress in implementing the necessary changes. The number of new applicants coming to Ireland increased fourfold between 2021 and 2022, from under 3,000 to about almost 12,000 (Nasc 2022). Combined with the arrival of 75,000 Ukrainian refugees and an ongoing housing/accommodation crisis, the already inadequate direct provision system is under unprecedented pressure. As a result, there is a growing reliance on hotel-based emergency accommodation and associated increased risks of DSGBV in such centres, especially for migrant women and minors (as evidenced by the testimonies presented in this report).
The Third National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, 2022-2026 (the National Strategy) and its Implementation Plan have the potential to be a significant turning point in relation to responding inclusively and effectively to migrant women’s experiences of DSGBV. The Department of Justice’s audit of the two previous strategies (2021) found that both had failed to adequately and appropriately address the needs of migrant women, among other marginalised groups. The fact that both the Istanbul Convention and the Victims Directive require the Government to protect the rights and meet the needs of victims of DSGBV, without discrimination on the basis of immigration status, adds additional pressure to ensure that Ireland’s policy response to migrant women’s experience of DSGBV is what is should be and in compliance with its international obligations. This offers a valuable opportunity to focus current policy discussion on the intersection of DSGBV and migration and what must happen to create inclusive DSGBV policy responses.
This report, From Commitments to Actions: Responding to Migrant Women’s Experiences of DSGBV, reflects a collaboration between AkiDwA, the national migrant women network, and GBV-MIG, an international Gender Net Plus research project at the University of Galway (see the Appendix for details). Drawing on more than a decade of AkiDwA’s advocacy and research on this topic, and the GBV-MIG research carried out during 2020-2022, From Commitments to Actions places the rights and needs of migrant women who are victims/survivors of DSGBV at the centre of consideration in relation to implementation of the National Strategy.
The report is divided into two parts. Part 1 contains five sections. The first four sections each deal with a substantive policy priority area, which is the subject of key goals or actions in both the National Strategy and the Joint Committee on Gender Equality report, Unfinished Democracy, and is directly relevant to addressing migrant women’s experiences of DSGBV. The four areas relate to: targeted awareness-raising campaigns; issues of access to safe accommodation for victims of DSGBV, or those at risk of DSGBV; advancing justice and inclusion for migrant victims of DSGBV; and developing culturally-sensitive understanding of DSGBV and responses to it. Each section provides: (1) an overview of the issue as it affects migrant women; (2) a summary table of the relevant Government obligations in the Istanbul Convention and stated commitments to migrant women in the National Strategy and Unfinished Democracy; (3) a discussion of what is required to achieve improved and inclusive policy responses; and (4) a set of priority actions to ensure that the needs and rights of migrant women victims/survivors of DSGBV will be central and not marginal to the implementation of key actions. The fifth section focuses on Pillar 4 of the National Strategy Implementation Plan and presents recommended priority actions with respect to the implementation and monitoring processes.
Part 2 contains a selection of stories and mini-testimonies of migrant women. “Hana,” “Joya” and “Uzma” participated in GBV-MIG interviews during 2021-2022. Their accounts illustrate the lived realities of encountering the issues discussed in the different priority policy areas presented in Part 1. The mini-testimonies of “Bukola,” “Portia,” “Samantha” and “Beatrice” were documented in focus group discussions facilitated by AkiDwA in December 2022 in emergency accommodation centres. They provide insights into an unfolding crisis in such centres and underline the urgency of prompt enforcement of existing standards and safeguards against DSGBV in accommodation centres under the oversight of IPAS.
Acknowledgements
This report was prepared by Prof Niamh Reilly, University of Galway, Principal Investigator of the EU Gender Net Plus/Irish Research Council GBV-MIG Ireland research project, in collaboration with Dr Salome Mbugua, CEO of AkiDwA. Special thanks are due to the women featured in Part 2 for sharing their experiences in interviews and focus groups. Contributors to the research for this report are Dr Nasrin Khandoker, postdoctoral researcher, University of Limerick, Helen Uchechukwu Ogbu, doctoral researcher, University of Galway, and Niamh Cooney, DSGBV Coordinator, AkiDwA. The report was supported by an Illuminate grant, Innovation Office, University of Galway.
Niamh Reilly, July 2023