21 Avenue Road, Southall, Middlesex, UB1 3BL

T: 020 8571 9595 · F: 020 85746781 ·

www.southallblacksisters.org.uk

STRUGGLE NOT SUBMISSION

Southall Black Sisters (SBS) was set up in 1979 to meet the needs of Asian, African and Caribbean women. Since then we have helped thousands of women facing violence and abuse at home. Apart from providing welfare services and support we have run campaigns to highlight and bring about changes in the social, political, economic and cultural constrictions that have led women to our door. We have sought to liberate women from these constrictions on their individual freedom. Our services are in high demand. On average, we deal with over 3500 cases and enquiries each year. Our expertise on the needs of Asian women has led to national recognition.

Our campaigns and casework have been numerous and include that of Kiranjit Ahluwalia – who killed her violent husband in a desperate act for survival. She was given a life sentence for murder. As a result of a campaign that catapulted SBS to national fame, Kiranjit was released; her original conviction was quashed and reduced to manslaughter. Over the years, we have also campaigned against the two year rule in British immigration law, which require people who come to the UK to join their spouse to remain within the marriage for at least two years before they can apply to stay permanently. Women who experience domestic violence are trapped by this rule, as leaving the relationship may mean that they face deportation. In addition, they face destitution as they are also not entitled to any state benefits. However, our campaigning has proved effective and the Government has introduced a domestic violence rule, which allows women with evidence of violence to apply for indefinite leave to remain. We have also successfully obtained a temporary solution to the problem of no recourse to public funds with a promise from Government to introduce benefits for victims of domestic violence in April 2012. We have also worked extensively on issues such as forced marriage, honour based violence, and suicide and self-harm.

SBS is the only comprehensive frontline service for abused women in Ealing, providing both crisis intervention and medium to long-term support and casework. Our intervention can help to prevent tragedies such as women being killed (through murder or suicide) or even killing their abusers as their only means of escape. Various bodies have called upon our expertise from the Parliamentary Home Affairs Select Committee on Domestic Violence, to the UN Commission on the Status of Women. After 32 years we continue to be at the forefront of struggles against violence and discrimination against women, both through working with individual women and in national (and international) initiatives.

September 2015

Page 1