BLACK, MINORITY ETHNIC AND REFUGEE WOMEN AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

That this House notes that the Government has brought forward new legislation on domestic violence; draws attention to the acute under-funding of Black, Minority Ethnic and Refugee (BMER) Women's services; notes that research conducted by BMER women's organisations such as IMKAAN and Saheli reveals that many BMER services are facing closure, dangerously reducing BMER women's access to places of safety; further notes that women suffering from abuse and violence who do not have settled immigration status in the UK are prevented from seeking protection due to the no recourse to public funds requirement; believes that alternative safe housing, benefits and specialist services are often prerequisites to leaving an abusive relationship; calls upon the Government to acknowledge the value of small-sized grassroots specialist BMER women's projects such as Saheli, IMKAAN, Southall Black Sisters, The Asian Women's Resource Centre and African Women's Care, and to sustain investment in them; urges the Government to meet the demands made by IMKAAN and Southall Black Sisters and abolish the no recourse to public funds requirement for all women with insecure status who are subject to violence and abuse in the contexts or marriage, domestic work and trafficking; and further calls upon the Government to set up a national cross-governmental violence against women strategy and, within that, a strategy around the needs of BMER women.