Women’s Rights and Yarl’s Wood (London)

Event Date:

Wednesday, 10 March 2010

Human Rights Watch and Dianne Abbott MP host a discussion at the House of Commons to launch Human Rights Watch’s new report, “Fast-Tracked Unfairness: Detention and Denial of Women Asylum Seekers in the UK.”

Yarl’s Wood has been in the news this month with women on hunger strike over poor conditions and prolonged detention, and criticism from the Children’s Commissioner about healthcare standards for children. But how do hundreds of women end up in Yarl’s Wood in the first place? This meeting will discuss the so-called "detained fast-track" procedure, the asylum process that many women go through at Yarl's Wood.

Human Rights Watch will present the report’s findings and recommendations to the government. Copies of the report will be available at the briefing.

The meeting will be chaired by Dianne Abbott MP and speakers include:

· Liesl Gerntholtz, Director, Women’s Rights Division, Human Rights Watch

· Gauri van Gulik, Advocate and Researcher, Women’s Rights Division, Human Rights Watch

· Dr Juliet Cohen, Head of Medical Services, Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture

· Alison Harvey, General Secretary, Immigration Law Practitioner’s Association

The Human Rights Watch report, “Fast-Tracked Unfairness: Detention and Denial of Women Asylum Seekers in the UK” can be accessed at: http://www.hrw.org/node/88671

The discussion will be held in Committee Room 21 from 6.30-7.30 p.m.

For further information or to register please email eleanor.hevey@hrw.org.