Domestic Abuse and Women with No Recourse to Public Funds: Where Human Rights Do Not Reach (Executive Summary)

Abstract

This Executive Summary (8 pages) outlines findings and recommendations from research to identify the experience of women who are subject to immigration control and experience domestic abuse in the UK. Focussing on one immigration rule, ‘no recourse to public funds,’ it concludes that the fundamental rights of women in the UK, to life, and to freedom from torture, are being violated. The state does not uphold the rights of these women, nor is it neutral. Rather, the role of the state prolongs the abuse and makes it worse. This summary also summarises recommended changes to law and policy.

Keywords: gender based violence against women, domestic abuse, migrant women, immigration controls, no recourse to public funds

JEL Classification: K33