Refugee Women and Their Human Rights

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Abstract

According to the researches have been made by UNHCR, 1998 , found that 80% of the refugees immigrating to the United States and other countries of second asylum are women or children. Women are the most vulnerable population because of both physical realities and traditional cultural roles and perspectives. a lot have left their family and support systems behind. Some have lost their husbands and children to war, Disease and famine. a lot of women refugees have stay their time in refugee camps where conditions are crowded and frequently Unhealthy.

Most of them have been the victims of violence. All have left everything familiar behind. As if the tragedy and fear that forced these women to leave their homes, including what was a burden enough, many refugees find themselves in a foreign country, with unknown customs, language, values and conventions. They are immediately faced with the major role changes, which further increases their vulnerability.

Refugees women are affected differently than men by events of their past, and have special concerns arising from these events and responses. Regardless of the details that led the women to flee their homes, typically they come to the countries of refuge to second asylum refuge with all-encompassing human needs ,including the spiritual, social, and psychological

Health Care

Refugees should be provided by full natural examination within the first year of their stay. this may be the only form of health care provided to many during this period of time.

Language barriers, limited transportation, deficient knowledge of the refugee agency regarding health needs, and limited knowledge of health care sources all inhibit the refugee woman’s access to primary and specialty health care. refugee women might not know about financial aid during the presentation of the various agencies. Personal and cultural issues may also cause a woman to hesitate seeking health care. Many refugee women come from very private backgrounds and may fear allowing someone outside their culture to examine or treat them. Others have always relied on traditional methods of treating illness, and may distrust western medicine techniques.

Safe home

This important reason may greatly increase or decreased the refugee woman’s. In many countries of first asylum, refugee women live in the crowded refugee camps where she may be Exposed to violation or disease.

Some refugees women may stay in survive ,brothels or sweatshops. Although there may be different options for the refugee woman in countries of second asylum, shelter that is safe, comfortable, and affordable may still be difficult to find.

Childbirth

Refugee women tend to have the best parity, delayed prenatal care, and lower hematocrits than their host country counterparts. Refugee women are also more likely to have complications during labor and delivery and to deliver low birth weight babies. Financial implications of having children may also increase the physical and emotional strains on refugee women.

Each culture has its own views of childbirth, and these need to be assessed in terms of the culture and on an individual level. In general, exploration should be made of a woman’s desire to prevent or space births – regardless of the woman’s faith background. The challenges and difficulties of refugee life may override religious proscriptions.

Sexual Abuse

This factor is one of the most important factors that expose women for Migration. Refugee women are extremely vulnerable to sexual abuse and rape. Women of many cultures tend to be dependent upon men for the important life needs , food, safe home, etc. in a lot of cultures, women are viewed as property and are expected to submit to men. This, coupled with the fact that men are generally physically stronger than women, opens the door to sexual and physical abuse outside and inside marriage. In most third world countries, abuse is not even reported due to the social status of women. Refugee women bring this background to their countries of asylum.

Because of their vulnerability, rape and sexual assault are extremely common among female refugees and immigrants. Though few are forthcoming with such history, horrifying reports of cruelty and rape have been reported by the few who will speak out. Note also that dealing with psychological and physical trauma may take many years or may never occur

FGC

Until just a few years ago, few in the West were aware of the practice of female genital cutting (FGC) or female genital mutilation (FGM). FGC has also been called female circumcision (FC), but that promoted for a comparison to male circumcision, which in many cases is misleading as male circumcision does not cause discomfort other than the procedure, nor is it related to control over the circumcised person. Today, it is known that more than 114 million women in the world have undergone some form of FGC

Early Marriage

In some cultures, it is not uncommon for girls to get married at early ages. When these women Migrate from their countries to any country, they may be only 14-17 years old. The difference of age in married women, may cause the woman to feel further isolated in the larger society and she may have a more difficult time making friends, since she may feel she does not “belong” with the girls her own age or with the older married women. Due to their young age, these women generally have fewer personal resources to deal with the strain of being a wife in this culture, as well as to stress created by relocation in general. These women need much support and a sense that they are accepted.

Refugee women in Canada

Refugee women who arrive in Canada are subject to a refugee determination system that is separated from the economic factors that influence the policy of refugees. A claimant’s request for refugee status is determined in accordance with the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees definition which states that a refuge is any individual who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of the nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail of the protection of that country.

As such, claimants are subject only to eligibility criteria. decision-makers determine if these refugees meets the requirements of the Convention definition thus entitling him or her to refugee status.The central concern behind the formulation of the Guidelines is how gender-specific forms of persecution can be accommodated by the Convention refugee definition.

Canadian International Development Assistant

designed for refugee women operate independently role that the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) plays in providing assistance to refugees around the world. CIDA manages the Canadian government’s development assistance programs and projects. Assistance provided by CIDA on behalf of refugees overseas is administered through its International Humanitarian Assistance program. CIDA’S policy regarding refugee assistance is described as complementary While some funding is targeted specifically for refugee women, CID’s overall approach to refugee assistance is aimed at refugees in general, on the understanding that by virtue of constituting the majority of the refugee population, women and their dependents are assumed to benefit most from any CIDA-sponsored in iterative.

It is not uncommon for the power structure of a refugee camp to be male-dominated and for women refugees, in spite of their majority status within most camps, to be excluded from the management and distribution of even the most basic items such as food, clothing, or blankets. As a result, women, and by extension those who depend upon them, are vulnerable to abuses in the system, in particular the distribution of supplies. Their food rations may fall short of the recommended allotment as male distributors favor themselves, family members, and friends. Worse, women may be forced to perform sexual favors in exchange for basic necessities.

CIDA dispenses, but does not oversee, the funding it allocates to refugee programs. Instead, CIDA relies upon agency funding, such as the United Nations High Commissar for Refugees, e Red Cross, and NGOSt,o design and implement gender-sensitive distribution structures inside the camps. To its credit, CIDA has repeatedly urged these agencies to implement programs that solicit and incorporate input from refugee women. Although CIDA funding is not contingent upon such an arrangement.

Aid organizations continue to respect structures and traditions which deny women their human rights instead of working directly with the female community organizers activists to support a gender-responsive agenda.

About United States refugee women

There is a proud tradition in the United States of protecting refugees, and has set an example for other countries in protecting women from gender-related violence. But the ability of refugee women to gain asylum in the U.S. was significantly undermined by a 1996 immigration law called the “Illegal Immigration Reform

and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.” That law created new barriers for asylum seekers including:

“expedited removal” process, which gives INS inspectors at airports and borders – rather than trained immigration judges – the power to order the immediate deportation of a person who arrives in the U.S. without proper travel documents
mandatory detention” of asylum seekers who are subject to the expedited process
a filing deadline that bars asylum claims that are not filed within one year of a refugee’s arrival

In 1996, USA Board of Immigration Appeals issued a ground-breaking decision recognizing that asylum could be granted based on fear of female genital mutilation as result of the outcry which happened because the sexual assault on Fauziya Kassindja

In 2001, Attorney General Janet Reno took another critical step towards protecting women refugees when she vacated a 1999 Board of Immigration Appeals decision in Matter of R-A- that would have prohibited a victim of severe domestic violence from receiving asylum. The Department of Justice had just previously proposed regulatory changes to further confirm that women with gender-based asylum claims may be eligible for asylum. But those regulations have yet to be issued. The U.S. government’s leadership in recognizing gender-based asylum claims is crucial in setting an example for many other nations and should be applauded.

But this leadership in developing refugee laws to account for gender-based persecution is undercut when women are prevented on procedural grounds from presenting their claims for asylum. When a woman with a gender-based asylum claim is barred from applying for asylum because of “expedited removal” or an unrealistic filing deadline, or when a woman fleeing domestic violence is detained and, in despair, abandons her asylum claim so that her child will not have to endure the lengthy separation caused by that detention, something is significantly wrong with U.S. laws and procedures

Conclusion

We should provide Canadian Refugee women by complete health care and take note of things that make the woman more or less uncomfortable , social care , initial care should be provided by another woman as many cultures view this as most appropriate , and all of care development must provided to these refugee to upgrade them into normal level or the best level in their life. also they should be treated with special sensitivity and respect their rights.

Each refugee have difference needs and interested. They carry the heavy weight of a violent, frightening, and often tragic past, as well as the pressure of facing an unknown future. Like the old pioneers helped one another build their lives with barn raisings and other support, we too should reach out and help these refugee women rebuild their lives.

References

United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (1998). Progress Report on Refugee Women.
Hathaway, Jarnes The Law of Refugee Status. Toronto: Butterworth 1991.
What is FGM? Web.
Downs, Bernstein, and Marchese, “refugee women” 1997.
Texas Department of Human Services Refugee Resettlement Program (1999).

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