Blog: 26th May 2023 - Bevan Brittan, Corporate Partner

Domestic Violence and the Istanbul Convention: support to migrant and refugee women

By Jane Bennett, Associate at Bevan Brittan

What is the Istanbul Convention?

The Convention on Preventing and Combatting Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention, was adopted by the Council of Europe on 7 April 2011 and entered into force on 1 August 2014. Using the four P’s (Prevention, Protection, Prosecution and Policy), the Convention seeks to establish comprehensive legal standards as the minimum necessary to protect women against various forms of violence, whether physical or psychological.  The intention is to do so without discrimination and irrespective of age, disability, marital status, nationality, migrant or refugee status, gender identity or sexual orientation.

What is the UK’s position?

The UK signed the Istanbul Convention on 8 June 2012 but did not ratify it until 21 July 2022. It therefore came into force in the UK on 1 November 2022.

In ratifying the Istanbul Convention, the UK did so with reservations.  This included reserving the right not to apply Article 4(3) to the extent that it relates to non-discrimination on the grounds of migrant or refugee status, and Article 59, which sets out steps in relation to residence status to protect migrant and refugee victims. 

The ratification of the Istanbul Convention followed the UK Parliament’s enactment of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, bringing into UK law specific measures to tackle violence against women. However, that legislation did not address many barriers faced by migrant and refugee victims, and the subsequent reservation by the Government of specific Articles of the Istanbul Convention serves to reinforce that gap.

What does this mean for Local Authorities?

• Where a migrant or refugee victim of abuse has children or they themselves have care needs, Local Authorities must consider their statutory responsibilities to those individuals, including under the Children Act 1989 or the Care Act 2014.
• Perpetrators of abuse often exert power by removing documentation and manipulating their victim’s understanding of their immigration status. The Domestic Abuse Commissioner has reported that organisations often mistake a lack of documentation or an inability to explain immigration status as evidence that the individual is undocumented and illegal, as opposed to potentially being a victim of abuse.
• Under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, Local Authorities must have a strategy outlining what support abuse victims and survivors can expect from their services. A lack of guidance from Government about how Local Authorities are to support migrant and refugee victims of abuse, particularly where those individuals have no recourse to public funds or are not eligible for Home Office asylum support, remains.  Most Local Authority strategy documents therefore do not set out pathways to support victims in these areas.

The Government has indicated that its reserved position in relation to Articles 4(3) and Article 59 remains “under review”.  In this and other areas the many barriers faced by migrant and refugee victims, (whether women or not) remains.