Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls
This year’s theme reminds us that the promise of human rights must be realised for every woman and girl, including those seeking safety across borders. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) affirms that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. Equally, the 1951 Refugee Convention, with its 75th anniversary this year, was designed to ensure protection for those fleeing persecution. But in practice, refugee women often encounter systems that fail to recognise the gendered nature of the dangers they face.
Refugee Women
Research by Women for Refugee Women shows that women who have already survived gender-based violence, rape or trafficking are too often subjected to further harm in the UK asylum system. Many are disbelieved by default, left destitute, or re-traumatised by accommodation that does not protect their safety or dignity. One survey found that asylum-seeking women housed in temporary hotel accommodation described constant monitoring, degrading treatment and environments that re-traumatised rather than supported them. These conditions do not reflect the protections the Refugee Convention and human rights law were supposed to guarantee.
Human Rights Are Women’s Rights
Women’s rights must be at the heart of any credible human rights framework. For us at René Cassin, this means insisting on an asylum system that truly understands and responds to women’s lived realities – one that protects them from gender based violence, recognises the particular harms they face, and provides routes to safety free from discrimination or neglect. Human rights cannot remain abstract principles. Justice demands policies that confront the specific dangers encountered by women seeking asylum. Real action requires building processes and support systems that restore safety, autonomy, and dignity to women whose lives have been shaped by persecution, violence, and displacement.
This International Women’s Day
On this International Women’s Day, we stand with refugee women and girls in immigration detention. We stand with them to commit to defending their rights so that dignity, justice and protection are not conditional but real for all.
