Moving from evidence to policy: prioritising the rights, safety and health of trafficked and asylum-seeking women and girls exposed to violence
Lead Research Organisation:
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Department Name: Public Health and Policy
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Publications
Ager A
(2012)
What strategies are appropriate for monitoring children outside of family care and evaluating the impact of the programs intended to serve them?
in Child abuse & neglect
Kalt A
(2013)
Asylum seekers, violence and health: a systematic review of research in high-income host countries.
in American journal of public health
Zimmerman C
(2011)
Migration and health: a framework for 21st century policy-making.
in PLoS medicine
Zimmerman C
(2011)
Human trafficking and health: a conceptual model to inform policy, intervention and research.
in Social science & medicine (1982)
| Description | The Women-At-Risk in Migration (WARM) project used evidence from studies on asylum-seeking and trafficked women to improve responses to women's health and safety needs. Collaborating with the International Organization for Migration, Scottish Refugee Council (SRC) and On the Road (Italy), LSHTM contributed to: a) UK and EU policies to improve detection of and responses to migrant women's experiences of violence and their health needs; b) improved procedures and services (i.e., immigration, policing, support services) addressing health; c) a global training package for health providers; d) improved awareness among asylum-seeking women of study findings and support options in Scotland and Italy. Diverse outcomes and areas of influence completed and in progress include: PRACTICE * International training package for health providers on treating trafficked people developed, tested and translated into Spanish and Arabic; * 175-210 health providers trained to care for trafficked people: - Seven two-day training sessions for 25-30 participants (each) in Costa Rica, Belize, Mexico, Antigua, Guyana, Egypt and Jordan. * Cross-national guidance to identify trafficked people among applicants for international protection. * Health Protection Agency (HPA) page on human trafficking for HPA Migrant Health website. * World Health Organisations Fact sheet on trafficking in women. 8 Health screening section on Victim Intake Form of the Vulnerable Persons Team of the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) of UK Human Trafficking Centre to screen for victim's health needs. * Public information sessions on vulnerable migrant women, including: 16 Days Against Violence Against Women, Refugee Week. * Professional information and training session,s e.g., Royal College of Emergency Medicine; Serbian Lawyers Association; SOCA Vulnerable Persons Team, Rape Crisis Scotland. * Asylum Screening Unit procedures (e.g., private rooms to discuss violence, distribution of health information leaflets. POLICY * Targeted policy briefing notes, advocacy and/or contribution of evidence to: * European Commission Ad Hoc Committee to the EU Convention on Preventing Violence Against women to support special provisions for asylum-seeking women. * Head of the Overseas Visitors Charging (OVC) Regulations, Department of Health, who is preparing proposal for Ministerial review to exempt certain trafficked persons from NHS charges. * UK Border Agency to adopt procedures to refer women reporting sexual violence to health services. * United States Agency for International Development policy on children outside of family care evidence summit to inform aid strategy * Policy conference with 150 stakeholders to engage in issues affecting refugee women, especially health. * Improved health screening policy in Scotland (within 14 days) for asylum-seeking women. BENEFICIARIES * 3500 leaflets distributed for asylum-seeking women in Scotland via service providers; SRC information packs; SRC website, available in seven languages. * 5,000 leaflets distributed in paper and via web to migrant women in Italy. PARTNERSHIPS * New collaborations with Department of Health, UN High Commission for Refugees, Refugee Council, Asylum Aid. ACADEMIC * Migration and health series in PloS Medicine * Presentations e.g., London Migration Research Group; Gender Centre (SOAS), University of San Francisco. * Refinement of survey instrument modules used in Canada, Cote d'Ivoire, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. |
| Exploitation Route | Healthcare, immigration policy-making, policing, refugee services, policing Products of WARM can be used by health care providers to offer safer, better services to trafficked people, by immigration officials to improve the ways they detect and respond to the health and other care needs of trafficked people; by asylum-seekers to make them more aware of experiences and health symptoms among other asylum-seeking women and places to seek health care and support; by policy-makers to inform their decisions about the health and welfare of vulnerable migrant women and by academics to improve the ways that they survey vulnerable migrant women. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education |
| Description | Exemption from Department of Health's overseas visitor's charging regulations for non-self-identifying trafficked persons |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| Impact | We formed a rapid response coalition to input into the Head of the DoH review of the Overseas Charging regulations to exempt certain trafficked people from charges for medical care.Coalition included: DoH lead on violence, Human Rights Watch, Poppy Project and Institute of Psychiatry. If passed, this exemption will permit trafficked people who do not wish to formally identify themselves to police or immigration services as 'trafficked' to receive free medical care. |
| Description | Responding to disclosure of sexual violence in the asylum process |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| Impact | Advocacy and advisory coalition of Scottish Refugee Council, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and LSHTM coordinating with the UK Border Agency to advise on referral procedures for asylum-seeking women reporting sexual violence to receive medical care and support. These discussions are in progress. Pilot-testing of procedures are expected to take place in 2013. Evidence from report at: http://genderviolence.lshtm.ac.uk/files/2009/10/Asylum-seeking-Women-Violence-and-Health.pdf |
| Description | Optimise : optimising medical and safety responses for trafficked persons |
| Amount | £449,990 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Department of Health (DH) |
| Department | Policy Research Programme (PRP) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2012 |
| End | 02/2015 |
| Description | Study on trafficking, exploitation and abuse in the Mekong |
| Amount | £191,356 (GBP) |
| Organisation | ANESVAD Foundation |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | Spain |
| Start | 01/2011 |
| End | 07/2013 |
| Description | Referral of asylum-seeking women reporting sexual violence to sexual assault services |
| Organisation | United Nations (UN) |
| Department | United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Scottish Refugee Council and LSHTM and London Refugee Council to promote UKBA referral of asylum-seeking women who report sexual violence to appropriate sexual assault referral services, including briefing note for policy-makers |
| Start Year | 2011 |
| Description | Responding to human trafficking in England : supporting the Department of Health and NHS response |
| Organisation | King's College London |
| Department | Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | New partnership to carry out a 3-year research project to support the Department of Health and NHS response to human trafficking, as part of National Referral Mechanism for victims/survivors of trafficking. See: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/iop/news/records/2012/October/Human-trafficking.aspx |
| Start Year | 2012 |
| Description | Caring for trafficked persons |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Primary Audience | |
| Results and Impact | Presentation for government and NGO representatives |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Police victim support for trafficked people |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Primary Audience | |
| Results and Impact | Presented for the Serious and Organised Crime Agency and UK Human Trafficking Centre |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | |
| Description | Theorising and measuring change : prevention of trafficking of women and girls for domestic and garment work |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Primary Audience | |
| Results and Impact | The proposed Theories of Change (ToC) can be used as frameworks to underpin trafficking intervention(s) and guide monitoring and evaluation research. For the intervention, the ToC provides a schema for understanding and operationalising intervention goals at each stage of implementation. For evaluation, the ToCs can guide the development of measurement options, data collection instruments, data analysis and interpretation. The ToCs may also be beneficial to guide future replication of interventions of similar types in diverse settings. To develop the ToC we drew on our previous research on trafficking and worked backwards from a stated impact (reduction of trafficked women and girls) and the primary outcomes to make explicit the causal pathways expected through a process of change. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | |
| Description | Violence, health and vulnerable migrant women |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Primary Audience | |
| Results and Impact | Lecture at the University of San Francisco |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Violence, health and vulnerable migrant women |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Primary Audience | |
| Results and Impact | Lecture as part of the 16 Days of Action Against Violence Against Women for organisations in Scotland, hosted by the Scottish Refugee Council and local groups. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |