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Watch Report:
BELGIUM - ABUSED MIGRANT WOMEN FEAR DEPORTATION
Legal Loopholes, Inadequate Shelter Access, Send Women Back to Abusers
November 8, 2012 - (Brussels) – The risk of deportation prevents many migrant women who
experience domestic violence in Belgium [2] from getting the protection they need, Human
Rights Watch said in a report released today. The report was released in
advance of Women’s Day in Belgium, November 11, 2012.
The 57-page report, “‘ [3]The Law was
Against Me’: Migrant Women’s Access to Protection for Family Violence in
Belgium [3],” found three major
protection gaps for migrant women who experience domestic violence in that
country. Women who migrate to Belgium to join a husband or partner may face
deportation if they report the violence during the period when their status is
being confirmed, as do undocumented migrant women. And domestic violence
victims, especially undocumented women, lack adequate access to shelters.
“The women we interviewed face a terrible choice: endure abuse at the hands of
a partner, or report the violence and risk deportation,” said Liesl Gerntholtz [4], women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch.
“Belgium needs to make sure that every woman who experiences domestic violence
can get the help she needs, regardless of migrant status.”
Belgium has passed laws and adopted policies to prevent, investigate, and
prosecute domestic violence and protect victims, including a National Action
Plan. But it has yet to fully address the gaps for migrant women, Human Rights
Watch found. Belgium recently signed, but has yet to ratify, the Council of
Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and
Domestic Violence, which requires countries to ensure protection irrespective
of migrant status.
A law designed to permit women who migrate to Belgium to join a husband or
partner to remain in the country does not protect women if they leave their
abuser while their application for family migration is being processed, if they
leave him without first telling the authorities, or if the partner leaves
Belgium. Proving violence and meeting income requirements are also impediments,
Human Rights Watch found.
Gökce, a Turkish woman with a 12-year-old son, who is also a Turkish national,
fled her abusive husband but later felt compelled to return to him until her
legal status was secure, her sister-in-law told Human Rights Watch.
Undocumented women are particularly vulnerable. Unauthorized stay in Belgium is
a criminal offense and police are required to report anyone who they suspect is
in the country illegally to immigration authorities. Women who do come forward
have few avenues to obtaining legal status, especially if they do not have
children. Ngalla, a 35-year-old undocumented woman from Cameroon, endured seven
years of abuse at the hands of her husband, coming forward only when she
obtained permanent residence through her Belgian children.
“I felt confident then,” she said, “because of my papers.”
Newly arrived migrant women are less likely to have support networks of family
and friends, making them more dependent than other women on shelters to escape
an abusive home. But Belgium lacks sufficient shelter spaces, forcing women to
return to abusive homes.
Undocumented women face particular obstacles accessing shelters, which
generally require women to contribute to the cost. Undocumented women who
cannot do so are ineligible for financial support from local authorities
available to other victims of domestic violence.
Jarmay, an undocumented woman from Ghana, told Human Rights Watch that she
could find nowhere to stay and ended up living on the streets after escaping
her “very violent” partner, who threatened to kill her.
The first time that Hayet, a 29-year-old Moroccan woman, fled her violent
husband with her two children, who are both Moroccan nationals, shelter staff
told her they had no space and suggested she stay with family. But with no
family or friends to help her, Hayet and her children returned to live with her
husband. They finally found shelter space when they fled a second time, after the
violence flared again.
“No one should have to return to a violent home because they have nowhere else
to go,” Gerntholtz said. “Women’s shelters should have enough resources so they
don’t have to turn away women and children who need help.”
The report contains recommendations to the federal government, regions, and
community authorities, including: