Media

Women for Refugee Women works across a range of media to give voice to women’s experiences in the asylum process. If you have media queries, please email us on samantha@refugeewomen.co.uk or call us on 020 7250 1239 or 07518 397761.

Women for Refugee Women’s recent media coverage:

November 2018

After 17 years, it’s time to close Yarl’s Wood, New Statesman, Helen Lewis, 20 November 2018
Natasha Walter and ‘Robbina’, a woman in our network who was previously locked up and attempted to take her own life in detention, spoke about why it is time to close Yarl’s Wood, BBC Look East, Nabihah Parker, 19 November 2018
“For me, Yarl’s Wood was another torture”, Unlocked 18, ‘Gabby’, 14 November 2018
Female Artists Are Auctioning Off Their Work To Support London’s Refugee And Migrant Women, ELLE, Louise Donovan, 7 November 2018

October 2018

Legal aid access and no family separations: an immigration detention wishlist, The Guardian, Diane Taylor and Caroline Bannock, 10 October 2018
Revealed: sick, tortured immigrants locked up for months in Britain, The Guardian, Diane Taylor and Niamh McIntyre, 10 October 2018
Featured Social Founders: Natasha Walter, Social Founder, Caroline Diehl, 15 October 2018

September 2018

Abbott unveils plan that would level playing field for non-EU migrants, Morning Star, Lamait Sabin, 13 September 2018
More than 100 pregnant women detained in UK removal centres since major review called for ban, The Independent, May Bulman, 11 September 2018
Three ways for activists to stay hopeful in these grim times, The Guardian, Natasha Walter, 4 September 2018

July 2018

The Home Office wants to keep the horrors of Yarl’s Wood a secret – here’s what happened to me, The Independent, ‘Gabby’ a woman in our network shares her story of detention, 25 July 2018
Sajid Javid told: ‘torture victims driven to suicide by system’, The Guardian, Amelia Hill, 11 July 2018
Why the Women’s March sees Trump’s UK visit as ‘a glorious opportunity’, 50.50 OpenDemocracy, Sian Norris, 11 July 2018

June 2018

#AllWomenCount: art and culture at the forefront of World Refugee Day, The Conversation, Anna Ball, 18 June 2018

May 2018

100 years of the women’s vote: the art of the suffragette movement, The Sunday Times Magazine, Leaf Arbuthnot, 20 May 2018
‘The Truth About Fake News’ – the portrayal of refugees and asylum seekers in the media, The Meteor, Alice Toomer, 4 May 2018
Abusive men ‘using immigration fears to control women’, The Guardian, Karen McVeigh, 2 May 2018

April 2018

Sajid Javid urged to adopt ‘new approach’ to immigration by major charities, The Independent, May Bulman, 30 April 2018
Asylum policy is a gendered issue, IPPR, Marchu Girma, 20 April 2018
Detention and Destitution: The Asylum Journey in the UK, Samantha Hudson, Wasafiri, 2 April 2018

March 2018

Secret world: The women in the UK who cannot report sexual abuse, BBC, Megha Mohan, 27 March 2018
Our grassroots director Marchu Girma speaks about refugee and asylum-seeking women’s #MeToo stories and the need for safe reporting mechanisms on BBC World Service, 27 March 2018 (skip to 47:10)
Why we must continue to fight for the women of Yarl’s Wood, Stylist, Clare Considine, 13 March 2018
A message from the women of Yarl’s Wood on International Women’s Day, New Statesman, written by women on hunger strike in Yarl’s Wood, 8 March 2018
Woman on hunger strike after losing her job, house and marriage when she applied for a passport to go on honeymoon, The Daily Mirror, Ros Wynne Jones, 8 March 2018
Marchu Girma spoke about the All Women Count lobby of parliament on the Victoria Derbyshire show, BBC, 8 March 2018 (skip to 1:40:00)

Speaking to the women hunger striking at Yarl’s Wood, Dazed, Clare Considine, 8 March 2018
here’s what you can do to support refugee women, i-D Magazine, Clementine de Pressigny, 8 March 2018
Refugees are spending International Women’s Day lobbying Parliament, The Big Issue, Alan Woodhouse, 7 March 2018
“We won’t stop until our voices are heard” – inside the hunger strike at Yarl’s Wood, The Pool, Clare Considine, 1 March 2018
No more secrets: how a strike at Yarl’s Wood is giving refugee women a voice, Prospect Magazine, Samantha Hudson, 1 March 2018

February 2018

Gemma Lousley and a woman on strike in Yarls’ Wood spoke on Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio 4, Jane Garvey, 27 February 2018
100 Immigrant Women Are on Hunger Strike at a Notorious UK Detention Center, Broadly, Zing Tsjeng, 26 February 2018
#AllWomenCount: Demanding Safety, Dignity And Liberty For All Women, Social Change Agency, Jinan Younis, 26 February 2018
Yarl’s Wood women feel desperate, says Diane Abbott, The Guardian, Amelia Gentleman, 23 February 2018
More than 100 women in Yarl’s Wood detention centre go on hunger strike over ‘inhumane’ conditions, The Independent, May Bulman, 22 February 2018
This state sanctioned suffering must stop, Church Times, Mark Oakley, 16 February 2018
This London Activist Wants #MeToo to Include Refugee and Migrant Women, Global Citizen, Imogen Calderwood, 6 February 2018
Lives interrupted: Caroline Walker’s paintings of female asylum seekers in London, FT Magazine, Liz Jobey, 2 February 2018

January 2018

5 stories about seeking refugee status in the UK, i-D, Ryan White and Olivia Head, 26 January 2018
Nine Incredible Women’s Organisations To Get Involved With In 2018, ELLE, Olivia Blair, 17 January 2018

December 2017

Woman spending Christmas in a detention centre reveals ‘there is no hope’, The Metro, Zoe Drewett, 25 December 2017
What’s it like to seek asylum at Christmas? These women have much to teach us about hope, The Pool, Hattie Garlick, 12 December 2017
Inside Yarl’s Wood: ‘Seema begged for help as blood seeped through her bandages’, Left Foot Forward, Amelia Womack, 7 December 2017
‘I survived sexual violence – then I was detained at Yarl’s Wood’, i News, Grace Banks, 6 December 2017
Natasha Walter and ‘Voke’ spoke about our research on the continued detention of vulnerable women at Yarl’s Wood on BBC Look East, 1 December 2017

November 2017

Natasha Walter spoke about the human cost of the inefficient asylum appeals process on the Victoria Derbyshire show, BBC Two and BBC News, 29 November 2017
More rape and torture victims being held at Yarl’s Wood, report says, The Guardian, Alan Travis, 15 November 2017
Majority of women held at Yarl’s Wood are later released into community, prison watchdog reveals, The Independent, May Bulman, 15 November 2017
My great-grandparents died in the Holocaust but now I want German citizenship, The Observer, Natasha Walter, 12 November 2017
The government is still subjecting vulnerable women to abuse at Yarl’s Wood, The Pool, Samira Shackle, 2 November 2017
Why Is The Home Office Still Detaining Victims Of Torture And Sexual Violence?, The Huffington Post, Nazek Ramadan, 2 November 2017
Asylum seeker’s ‘traumatic’ time inside detention centre, BBC News, Frankie McCamley, 1 November 2017 (top watched video on the BBC website for the day)
Refugee: Yarl’s Wood detention centre was like room where I was raped, feature looping all day on Sky News, Laura Bundock, 1 November 2017. Kate Osamor MP and Natasha Walter also spoke on Sky’s All Out Politics show.
Natasha Walter, Caroline Spelman MP and ‘Jane’ talk on Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio 4, Jenni Murray, 1 November 2017
Vulnerable women ‘still locked up in Yarl’s Wood immigration centre’, The Guardian, Amelia Hill, 1 November 2017
Home Office detaining sexual violence victims in breach of its own guidelines, finds report, The Independent, May Bulman, 1 November 2017
Our Research Shows Vulnerable Women Seeking Asylum Are Being Detained Against Home Office Policy, The Huffington Post, Sarah Cope, 1 November 2017

October 2017

“Everyone deserves to feel safe.” Natasha Walter, director of Women for Refugee Women, Northern Soul, Emma Yates-Bradley, 30 October 2017
‘I dream of being an accountant’: Wall of Dreams shines refugees’ hopes over London, The Guardian, Danuta Kean, 13 October 2017

September 2017

Bloom time: the London floristry scheme helping refugee women, The Guardian, Sarah Graham, 21 September 2017

July 2017

A moment that changed me: becoming godmother to a refugee’s baby, The Guardian, Sarah Graham, 7 July 2017

June 2017

What Life Is Like For Refugee Women Arriving In The UK, Refinery29, Sarah Raphael, 21 June 2017

March 2017

‘They will get you’: Britain’s refugee detention centres are no go areas for journalists, IBTimes, Matt Kennard, 27 March 2017
Too many women will spend this Mother’s Day trapped in a British detention centre, Independent, Sarah Cope, 26 March 2017
Noma Dumezweni, actress, discusses our work and her own refugee story, Sky Politics show with Adam Boulton, 13 March 2017
If you’re outraged by the father who tried to ‘fix’ his lesbian daughter with corrective rape, then you should be fighting UK immigration laws, Independent, Sarah Cope, 11 March 2017
No Women’s Day without refugee women, Open Democracy, Che Ramsden, 8 March 2017
For refugee women, periods are a dangerous, shameful time, Thomson Reuters News Foundation, Anna Pujol-Mazzini, 8 March 2017
The women dedicated to helping female refugees who come to the UK, Metro, Nicole Morley, 8 March 2017
A robust asylum system needn’t rely on detention. So why are vulnerable women being locked up?, Telegraph, Caroline Spelman MP, 7 March 2017
Pointless, cruel and expensive: it’s time to close Yarl’s Wood, Politics.co.uk, Gemma Lousley, 6 March 2017
Ukip using refugee crisis as a ‘dirty word’ to tap into deprived communities, Labour MP warns, i News, Heather Saul, 2 March 2017
Women refugees in UK still facing abuse – but who is listening?, IBTimes, Sofia Lotto Persio, 2 March 2017
Women for Refugee Women campaigners urge UK government to end detention-based asylum system, IBTimes, Sofia Lotto Persio, 1 March 2017

February 2017

The UK’s Abandonment of Child Refugees Is A Disgrace For Us All, Huffington Post, Asher Kessler, 13 February 2017
Vermin, filth, threats: the scandal of Britain’s housing for asylum seekers, Guardian, Frances Ryan, 2 February 2017

January 2017

Protesters flood Downing Street in Uproar over Trump travel ban, London News Online, Jack Dixon, 31 January 2017
The political gets personal at Women’s March on London, IBTimes, Sofia Lotto Persio, 21 January 2017 – women refugees take to the stage in Trafalgar Square
Things refugees are tired of hearing, BBC Three, 3 January 2017 – featuring Meltem, Rehab and Shahd from our network of refugee women

December 2016

For Pregnant Refugees, Every Day Is a Fight to Survive, Broadly, Sarah Graham, 2 December 2016

November 2016

One Clear Action Our Government Can Take To End Violence Against Women: Closing Yarl’s Wood, Huffington Post, Sarah Cope, 25 November 2016

October 2016

When the Calais camp closes, what will happen to its vulnerable women? Guardian Comment is Free, Natasha Walter, 3 October 2016

September 2016

The refugee crisis is a feminist issue. We can’t just sit by and watch, Guardian Comment is Free, Helen Pankhurst, 19 September 2016
A ‘graveyard’ of refugees’ lifejackets has been placed outside the Houses of Parliament, Mashable, 19 September 2016
‘Listen to the Women’, Charities Urge, Ahead of UN Refugee Summit, Huffington Post, Sarah Cope, 13 September 2016
Set Her Free, Huffington Post, Emma-Louise Boynton, 12 September 2016
“What they took with them”: Cate Blanchett in plea for refugees ahead of summit, Mail Online, 12 September 2016
Yarl’s Wood is ‘No Good’: Protesters Slam UK Detention Center, Call for Closure, Sputnik News, 12 September 2016

August 2016

Home Office forced to reveal pregnant women kept in immigration detention centres, Politics.co.uk, Ian Dunt, 3 August 2016
Good Chance set up a theatre in the Calais jungle – now they’re coming to the Southbank, Evening Standard previews our event ‘Why Women Refugees Are Often Unheard And Unseen’, part of Good Chance Theatre’s Encampment, 1 August 2016

July 2016

Women’s Equality Party launches campaign calling on UK PM May to act, Newsweek, 22 July 2016
Yarl’s Wood: Six sex assault allegations investigated, BBC News, 15 July 2016

June 2016

Haven Sent, Standard Issue Magazine, Sarah Graham, 20 June 2016
We’re calling on the Government to tell the truth about women at Yarl’s Wood – join us (and related news story: Home Office refuses to reveal if women in Yarl’s Wood immigration centre have been raped), The Telegraph, Radhika Sanghani, 13 June 2016
Home Office ordered to release information on pregnant women, Politics.co.uk, Ian Dunt, 13 June 2016
Anger over Home Office’s refusal to answer Yarl’s Wood rape questions for ‘commercial reasons’, Bedfordshire on Sunday, 13 June 2016
‘Hell on Earth’: Surviving in a Women-Only Detention Center, Broadly, Aimee Stanton, 13 June 2016
Why Are The Home Office Refusing To Answer Questions About Yarl’s Wood?, The Debrief, Vicky Spratt, 13 June 2016

May 2016

Pregnant women in detention centres kept hidden by the Home Office, Politics.co.uk, Ian Dunt, 17 May 2016
How Was This Woman Locked Up In Yarl’s Wood For 18 Months, For No Reason? The Debrief, Vicky Spratt, 2 May 2016

April 2016

It’s time for an absolute ban on detaining pregnant women, The Justice Gap, Jane Ryan, 18 April 2016
Historic vote could make it illegal to detain pregnant women in UK immigration centres, The Telegraph, Radhika Sanghani, 13 April 2016
Yarl’s Wood: House of Lords votes to end detention of pregnant women in UK, Bedfordshire on Sunday, 13 April 2016

March 2016

Seeking liberation, seeking comfort: women migrants in the UK, Open Democracy,Ché Ramsden, 24 March 2016
The reality of being a pregnant woman in Yarl’s Wood, The Pool, Sarah Graham, 21 March 2016
Natasha Walter and Meltem Avcil discuss the detention of female asylum seekers on the Murnaghan show, Sky News, 13 March 2016
Detaining women refugees is imprisonment, plain and simple, Guardian, Lola Okolosie, 9 March 2016
What Goes On At Yarl’s Wood Should Be A National Scandal – So Why Isn’t It?, The Debrief, Vicky Spratt, 9 March 2016
“Home Secretary, you are a woman too”: protesters call on Theresa May to free Yarl’s Wood detainees, New Statesman, Anoosh Chakelian, 8 March 2016
Yarl’s Wood Has No Place In Civilised Society, Morning Star, Kate Osamor MP, 8 March 2016
So solidarisch zeigen sich Frauen weltweit, Brigitte, 7 March 2016
‘The detention of women who seek asylum is a stain on our national character’, The Justice Gap, 7 March 2016
Guest post: “Detention is no place for pregnant women”, Mumsnet, Sarah Graham, 7 March 2016
Set Her Free, video produced by Mumsnet in collaboration with Women for Refugee Women, 4 March 2016
Romola Garai: Detaining pregnant refugees is stain on our national character, Evening Standard, 4 March 2016
‘Solidarity with my sisters’: the campaign to change the lives of refugee women, Guardian G2, Natasha Walter, 2 March 2016

February 2016

The Women Suffering In Yarl’s Wood Detention Centre, Refinery29, Charlotte England, 18 February 2016
Inside Yarl’s Wood: ‘Britain will give me leave to remain – when I am buried here’, International Business Times, Orlando Crowcroft, 9 February 2016
Inside Yarl’s Wood: ‘Britain supported Nelson Mandela – yet it treats us like this‘, International Business Times, Orlando Crowcroft, 9 February 2016

January 2016

Long-awaited report calls for end to detention of pregnant women at Yarl’s Wood, Bedfordshire on Sunday, 14 January 2016

December 2015

All the donated sweaters in the world aren’t enough to solve the refugee crisis, The Guardian, Natasha Walter, 30 December 2015
International Migrants Day: ‘Yarl’s Wood was like being tortured for a second time’, International Business Times, Lydia Smith, 17 December 2015
“I don’t want anybody else to be detained like I was”, Cosmopolitan, 3 December 2015 – interview with Set Her Free campaigner Meltem Avcil, winner of Cosmo’s Ultimate Campaigner 2015 award
How To Stage A Protest, Marie Claire, Corinne Redfern, 3 December 2015 (and in print, January 2016 issue)
The stories of women I met at Yarl’s Wood show how British detention laws remain the most barbaric in the EU, The Independent, Kate Osamor MP, 1 December 2015

November 2015

“What have I got to lose?” Hunger strikes and protests at Yarl’s Wood detention centre, New Statesman, Sarah Graham, 10 November 2015
Home Office broke rules on handcuffing asylum seekers, says charity, The Guardian, Lisa O’Carroll, 9 November 2015
Hundreds protest against Yarl’s Wood detention centre, Socialist Worker, 8 November 2015 – with quote from Jade, London Refugee Women’s Forum secretary

October 2015

Jane is incredible and talented. And UK asylum rules are forcing her to beg, The Guardian, Natasha Walter, 29 October 2015
Stop detaining pregnant women at Yarl’s Wood, The Justice Gap, Jane Ryan, 28 October 2015
Civil disobedience may be the bravest option for feminists but it’s not always the smartest one, New Statesman, Caroline Criado-Perez, 22 October 2015 – with Marchu Girma

September 2015

Rape and child abuse ‘rife’ in German refugee centre, Mail Online, 24 September 2015 – Natasha Walters comments on the dangers facing detained women asylum seekers
Women’s Institute centenary: 100 years of UK’s largest voluntary women’s organisation, Yahoo News, 15 September 2015 – mentions our Solidarity Quilt with Shoreditch Sisters WI
Solidarity With Refugees march – in pictures, featuring two photos of WAST members on Guardian Online, 13 September 2015
Finally, refugees are in the limelight. How do we help them once the news moves on? New Statesman, Marchu Girma, 11 September 2015
Former Detainees Urge UK To Close Down Yarl’s Wood Detention Centre, Buzzfeed, Siraj Datoo, 10 September 2015
Inside Yarl’s Wood: ‘My disabled wife was forced to crawl on the floor to get food’, The Telegraph Online, Radhika Sanghani, 4 September 2015
Concerns over ‘worrying lack of transparency’ as MP Catherine West is barred from Yarl’s Wood, Bedfordshire On Sunday, 1 September 2015

August 2015

Persecuted for being Christian – we fled to Britain only to be locked up, The Telegraph Online, Radhika Sanghani, 27 August 2015
Home Office bar on immigration detention centre visit is appalling, says MP, Harringey Independent, 27 August 2015
Inside Yarl’s Wood, Stylist magazine, 26 August 2015
Inside the UK’s worst detention centre: ‘Hell must be better than that place’, The Telegraph Online, Radhika Sanghani, 20 August 2015
What will it take for the shameful detention of women at Yarl’s Wood to stop? New Statesman, Caroline Criado-Perez, 12 August 2015
Women for Refugee Women’s director Natasha Walter and campaigner Maimuna Jawo, Channel 4 News, 12 August, 2015
Yarl’s Wood conditions and treatment deteriorated significantly since 2013, The Independent, 12 August 2015
Conditions at Yarl’s Wood have got worse says Prison Inspector, Bedford Times & Citizen, Victoria West, 12 August 2015
Why I don’t want to be in Yarl’s Wood ever again, BBC News Online, Sally Graham, 12 August 2015
Sophie Radice, Comms person for Women for Refugee Women on Radio 5 Live, listen from 50.49, 12 August 2015
Prison’s Watchdog: Yarl’s Wood Detention Centre is ‘ a place of national concern’, The Telegraph Online, Radhika Sanghani, 12 August, 2015
Inside the UK’s worst detention centre: ‘Ten weeks of hell for fleeing forced marriage‘, The Telegraph Online, Radhika Sanghani, 12 August 2015
Yarl’s Wood is symptomatic of Britain’s paranoia about migrants, The Guardian, Ellie Mae O’Hagan, 12 August 2015
UK prisons inspector seeks time limits on detention of migrants without trial, The Guardian, 12 August 2015

June 2015

Calls to close Yarl’s Wood, Bedford Today, Tracey Wye, 8 June 2015
To create a buzz, go online. To create real change, go out and protest, The Guardian, Natasha Walter, 7 June 2015
Yarl’s Wood detention centre ‘is a prison’, report on the protest by the BBC, Leana Hosea, 7 June 2015
Yarl’s Wood Detention , Three Countries BBC, Nesta McGregor from 15.55, 7 June 2015
Reopen your heart, Britain, and close Yarl’s Wood, actress and campaigner Romola Garai writes for The Sunday Times, 7 June 2015
Hundreds protest to demand closure of Yarl’s Wood immigration centre, The Observer, Mark Townsend, 6 June 2015
Massive Yarl’s Wood protest in pictures, Bedfordshire on Sunday, 6 June 2015
‘Shut this hell hole down’: Activists stage massive Yarl’s Wood campaign, Bedfordshire on Sunday, 6 June 2015
Yarl’s Wood protesters demand shutdown, coverage of the protest on Channel 4 News, 6 June
Set Her Free; the protest you have to know about, feature on the protest in Marie Claire, 4 June

May 2015

Nesta McGregor, Three Counties Radio from 01.12, 24 May 2015
Mayor says close ‘inhumane’ Yarl’s Wood‘, Bedfordshire on Sunday, 23 May 2015
#SetherFree Yarl’s Wood Protest will be ‘biggest since children were held there’, Bedfordshire On Sunday, May 18 2015
Yarl’s Wood Guard suspended over alleged assault on Women, The Observer, Mark Townsend, 25 April 2015
What Kate Hopkins wrote was monstrous. But save your anger for the politicians who decided to let migrants drown, New Statesman, Sarah Ditum, 20 April 2015

April 2015

Women for Refugee Women call to stop ‘ tinkering around with Yarl’s Wood’, Bedfordshire On Sunday, 19 April 2015

March 2015

Feminism is on the move again, but there is still a lot of work to do, Huffington Post, Natasha Walter, 2 March 2015
Natasha Walter on Woman’s Hour, talking with Jane Garvey about Yarl’s Wood, 3 March 2015
‘Headbutt the bitch’: why Yarl’s Wood needs to ditch male guards, The Telegraph Online, Radhika Sanghani, 3 March 2015
What crime have I committed to be held like this? Amelia Gentleman visited Yarl’s Wood with Women for Refugee Women for the Guardian, 3 March 2015
Thanks to Channel 4, we now see just how appallingly Yarl’s Wood shames Britain, The Independent, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, 2 March 2015
Yarl’s Wood: undercover in the secretive immigration centre, Channel 4 News filmed undercover for this brilliant investigation. Women for Refugee Women supported one woman who had been detained, Esther, to talk candidly to the news programme about her experiences in Yarl’s Wood, 2 March 2015

January 2015

Set Her Free, a spectrum of solidarity for asylum-seeking women, Open Democracy, Agnes Woolley, 21 January 2015
Conference makes the case for ending detention, The Guardian, Caroline Criado-Perez on the launch of our report, 14 January 2015
Four Men Watched Me, Jackie Long’s report on our research on Channel 4 News, 14 January 2015
Women’s privacy ‘violated’ at Yarl’s Wood, Newsweek, 14 January 2015
Yarl’s Wood criticised by charity for women refugees, Sanchia Berg report for World At One, BBC Radio 4, 14 January 2015
Female detainees at Yarl’s Wood routinely humiliated, claims report, The Guardian, Amelia Gentleman, 14 January 2015

2014 and earlier

December 2014

Inside Britain’s worst Immigration removal Centre at Christmas, The Telegraph Online, Radhika Sanghani, 24 December 2014
The New Statesman Christmas Campaign 2014: End the detention of women seeking asylum, 4 December 2014

November 2014

Why has Serco been awarded the contract to continue running Yarl’s Wood? New Statesman, Caroline Criado-Perez, 27 November 2014
Serco given Yarl’s Wood Immigration Contract despite ‘vast failings’, The Independent, 24 November 2014
New Serco Yarl’s Wood deal slammed, Daily Mail Online, 24 November 2014
Yarl’s Wood Contract renewal ‘ unacceptable’, BBC, 24 November 2014
Inside the notorious Yarl’s Wood immigration centre, Cole Moreton speaks to detainees and campaigners, Newsweek, 5 November 2014
This is what life is like inside an immigration centre, Meltem Avcil & Sophie Radice on London Live TV, 5 November 2014

October 2014

Politicians’ actions speak louder than words, Boyd Tonkin speaks out for women in Yarl’s Wood, Independent, 31 October 2014
Death prompts new call for Yarl’s Wood to be closed, Bedfordshire on Sunday, 26 October 2014
Gay and lesbian asylum seekers face intrusive sexual questions, The Independent, 23 October 2014
Meltem Avcil interviewed for Vogue October 2014

August 2014

Detainees paid pin money to paint, clean and serve food, Channel 4 News, 22 August 2014

June 2014

Yarl’s Wood: asylum seekers to give evidence in Parliament, The Guardian, 28 June 2014
The Angelina Jolie effect at the Sexual Violence Summit, The Guardian, 11 June 2014
Theresa May needs to step up and help female victims of sexual violence coming to the UK, The Telegraph, 11 June 2014
Jade and the Shoreditch Sisters take the solidarity quilt to the Foreign Office Summit , The Evening Standard, 10 June 2014
Jade and the Shoreditch Sisters speak to London Live about the solidarity quilt, 10th June 2014
Margaret’s Story: Raped in the Congo, locked up in the UK, The Guardian, 9 June 2014
CNN News, ITN News and ITV London News, 10 June 2014, covering the Summit
Tua Fesse Fesse speaks about claiming asylum in the UK, BBC Radio 4 Analysis, 2 June 2014

May 2014

‘Abri’ (our blogger from inside Yarl’s Wood) speaks to Catrin Nye BBC Asian Network, 12 May 2014
BBC reports on House of Lords debate on Yarl’s Wood, BBC Democracy Live, 6 May 2014

April 2014

Rachel Walker of the Women’s Institute on knitting together a culture of solidarity, Open Democracy, 28 April 2014
20 -year-old Meltem Avcil lifts the lid on Yarl’s Wood, Cosmopolitan, 17 April 2014
UN Investigator barred from UK detention centre, RT News, 16 April 2014
UN rapporteur banned from Yarl’s Wood, Simon Israel for Channel 4 News, including interview with Meltem Avcil, 15 April 2014
UN Inspector denied access to Yarl’s Wood, Sarah Cox for Bedfordshire on Sunday, 15 April 2014
UN Inspection of Yarl’s Wood was blocked, claim campaigners, Mark Townsend in the Observer, 13 April 2014
Set Her Free campaigners take quilt to Yarl’s Wood, Bedfordshire on Sunday, 11 April 2014

March 2014

Teen Spirit: Young Feminist Heroes, Kira Cochrane talks to Meltem Avcil about campaigning for refugee women in the Guardian, 29 March 2014
Why is the most fashionable Women’s Institute knitting again? Radhika Sanghani in the Daily Telegraph on the Women’s Institute solidarity quilt, 17 March 2014
Meet the professional refugees lucky to get the minimum wage, Amelia Gentleman in the Guardian, including an interview with Agnes from Cote d’Ivoire, 8 March 2014
Where do we go next on the road to women’s equality – Juliet Stevenson points the finger at the brutal treatment of refugee women in the Independent, 9 March 2014

February 2014

Former Yarl’s Wood Detainee Calls For an End to ‘Detention Hell’, Bedfordshire On Sunday, 17 February 2014
Yarl’s Wood Detention Centre Shames Britain – When Did “Refugee” Become a Dirty Word? Laurie Penny joins the campaign, New Statesman 17 February 2014
The Ordeal of Refugees at Yarl’s Wood Shames Us All Allison Pearson speaks out, Telegraph, 12 February 2014
Zadie Smith calls for end to Women’s ‘Waking nightmare’ at Yarl’s Wood, The Guardian, 10 February 2014
Three-Quarters of Detained Women Claiming Asylum in UK Have Experienced Rape or Torture, Huffington Post, 4 February 2014
Lesbian asylum seekers, Natasha Walter with Jane Garvey and Tim Barden, BBC Woman’s Hour, 3 February 2014
Women Asylum Seekers’ Despair Behind Bars, Sky News, 2 February 2014

January 2014

Criticism of treatment of women asylum seekers, BBC World Tonight, 29 January 2014
Handling of female asylum seekers puts UK to shame, Independent, 29 January 2014
Our Duty to Refugee Women is to Care, Interview with Meltem Avcil by Ros Wynne-Jones, Daily Mirror, 29 January 2014
Why we must end the detention of female asylum seekers in the UK, New Statesman, 29 January 2014

Link to archive