The campaign Violence against women. What state are we in? copes with a new video spread on social media - today June 20, International Refugee Day - the obstacles preventing asylum-seeking and refugee migrant women who have been or are subjected to violence from accessing the protection due to them under the Istanbul Convention .
In his Report on the application of the Istanbul Convention in Italy, published in January 2020, GREVIO, the Council of Europe's Group of Experts on Violence Against Women, dedicated a lot of space to the condition of migrant women, denouncing the many obstacles of an institutional nature that prevent asylum-seeking and refugee migrant women from escaping violence.
In particular, GREVIO reports that "the absence of effective procedures for assessing vulnerabilities may lead to the repatriation or expulsion of victims of violence in violation of the obligation of non-refoulement "and"the lack of training in the field of gender-based violence of those who work in welcoming migrants severely limits access to international protection and support services to get out of situations of violence ".
GREVIO stigmatizes the impact of the 2018 Safety Decree, which canceled humanitarian protection and replaced the SPRAR system with the new SIPROIMI system, limiting the reception of asylum seekers to the CAS and drastically reducing support and social integration paths.
“In the experience of D.i.Re, which for about 3 years has been carrying out the project in partnership with UNHCR Leaving violence. Living safe", explains the president of D.i.Re Antonella Veltri, “This also translates into a great difficulty for migrant women seeking asylum and refugees to access the support of anti-violence centers, even considering that more than 25 per cent of women welcomed by anti-violence centers D.i.Re every year they are foreign ".
La difficulty registering residence is another problem reported by GREVIO that does not only concern asylum seekers, who are prevented by the Security Decree, but "migrant women in general, including refugees, due to the difficulty in obtaining a regular rental contract and the large resort to sub-letting and informal housing ”, adds Veltri. "Without de facto residence it is impossible to access services, including shelters, and to regular work, or autonomy which is the goal of any path to escape from violence ".
According to GREVIO, the problem of migrant women who arrived in Italy with family reunification "Who live in situations of domestic violence from which they are unable to escape for fear of losing their residence permit", adds Veltri, "as the workers of the anti-violence centers know well".
For this GREVIO recommends, among other things as you can read here, to the Italian State of further expand access to an autonomous residence permit from the partner for women.
The campaign Violence against women. What state are we in? was launched by D.i.Re-Women networked against violence on March 8 with the aim of make known the GREVIO recommendations e ask the institutions to apply them to make the Istanbul Convention effective in Italy.
The campaign is realized thanks to the kind contribution of the Kering Foundation
