How we support refugee women in the UK
Power
by building community through support groups
Through our creative and educational activities such as English lessons, drama, yoga, radical knitting and more, we provide support groups for refugee women to build their confidence and skills. Our warm and welcoming space helps to combat the isolation faced by women seeking safety and creates pathways for women to rebuild their lives on their own terms.
Influence
by supporting refugee women to tell their stories
When women tell their own stories, they can change minds and build understanding about what it means to seek safety in the UK. We support refugee women in the UK, and asylum-seeking women, to speak to the media, to parliamentarians, at events and through the arts.
Change
by campaigning for a fairer UK asylum system.
Working alongside refugee and asylum-seeking women in our network, we publish robust research on the experiences of refugee women. This helps us to fight for a fairer UK asylum system, and to end immigration detention in the UK. We work with policy makers to make the case for a fairer asylum process; and creatively campaign to make change.
What can you do?
Donate and fundraise
Our campaigns for change
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Our latest news
Get updates on our campaigns for refugee women in the UK and help to put an end to immigration detention in the UK.
HMIP inspection exposes systemic failures and harm in the immigration detention of women
The findings in the HMIP report provide further evidence that immigration detention is harming women and failing to safeguard those who are most vulnerable in detention.
This report confirms what women with experience of detention have told us for years: immigration detention is not a safe environment and causes deep and long-lasting harm and re-traumatisation. Existing safeguarding mechanisms are failing in practice. that repeatedly detains survivors of rape, trafficking, abuse and torture, and then fails to recognise or respond appropriately to their needs, is a system that is severely failing and needs overhauling.
Our response to the Immigration and Asylum Bill announced on 30 June 2026
Women for Refugee Women (WRW) is deeply concerned by proposed changes announced by the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood MP, today 30 June 2026, that signal further restrictions to the UK’s asylum system.
The measures outlined, if realised, will cause profound harm to women and children seeking safety in the UK, many of whom have already fled violence, exploitation, and persecution.
At a time of global instability with millions of people displaced and when the UK should be strengthening protections for people seeking safety, this Bill instead doubles down on draconian deterrence and enforcement. This will have serious consequences for some of the most vulnerable people in the asylum system.
Supporting Survivors of Torture: A Guide for Professionals
We're proud to have co-produced a trauma-informed guide for professionals with Trauma Treatment International, Care4Calais, and Refugee Legal Support on supporting survivors of torture.
Statement regarding the violent unrest – June 2026
11-06-26. Our statement regarding the violent unrest we have witnessed on our streets this week. This violence does not exist in a vacuum. It has been legitimised by certain politicians and elements of the media that repeatedly scapegoat members of our society. When this dehumanising, divisive and racist rhetoric comes from those in power, it doesn’t just give cover to violence, it emboldens it. And it has real life consequences - for people seeking safety in the UK, for migrant communities, for people of colour, and for all of us.
