Kurdistan Refugee Women's Organisation (KRWO)

Introduction

The past year has been a very successful year for KRWO. We have bcome a well-equipped organisation, able to develop and expand our work to reach more women within our community. Our events, projects, and campaigns attracted widespread attention from the community. The work of KRWO is receiving a lot of recognition within our community and within the wider women’s movement. We are building good relationships with a number of other organisations working in the same field and are able to share our knowledge and experiences to try and push for changes. Importantly, our joint project (Violence against Women- Women against Violence) with the Middle East Centre for Women’s Studies was significant. We are in a position to employ 2 part-time employees (outreach worker and information worker and a full time co-ordinator (Gulala Bakir) who will manage and develop the activities of KRWO. In addition, we have six volunteers taking part in different activities, to whom we are extremely grateful for their time and efforts.

This is an exciting time for our organisation and we hope to be able to build on the successes over the last year in order to develop our work for the benefit of all women in our community.

 

Who we are?

KRWO is a self-help group of Kurdish refugee women who have fled Iraq, Iran and Eastern Turkey following civil war, state persecution, death threats and physical and emotional torture for supporting the human rights for women and children in Kurdistan. The group was formed in 1999 and is registered as a charity (No.1077954). The organisation was formed to support Kurdish women living in the UK and to help them secure their basic needs and rights.

We have 2 branches one in North London and one in the South London. Our work began by providing a drop in advice session once a week in North London and Southwark. Demand for our services grew considerably and as a result we have tried to respond to these needs by developing our work in a joint project with the Middle East Centre for Women’s Studies on the areas of advice, support and information. It has been clear to us that our activities are desperately needed by women within our community and we are committed to ensuring that we provide what women need and that it makes a real difference in their lives.

KRWO has a set of aims, which have guided our work over the last 12 months:

 

• To empower Kurdish refugee women, familiarise them with their rights, provide advice, assistance, advocacy, counselling and casework on welfare rights, housing, domestic violence and immigration
   

• To produce and collect information on all matters relating to Kurdish women and to educate the public about their needs and expectations
   

• To encourage the integration of Kurdish women into British social life and their active participation in the wider society
   

• To provide a safe environment where Kurdish women can meet each other to discuss issues relating to the quality of their lives
   

• To educate and raise awareness among Kurdish women by organising seminars, talks, discussions and conferences
   

• To work with other women’s organisations in the UK in order to exchange views and to share information.

Why do we do this?

Many women arrive from Kurdistan traumatised by the experience of fleeing for their lives, and having lost all their possessions. They often have no knowledge of English, and no knowledge that in this country they are entitled to equal treatment with men. Many of them not only lack housing and the means to access health and other services, but also lack the belief that as women they have the same human rights as men; rights that entitle them not to be assaulted, locked up, or abused. In the UK many women in our community become isolated and depressed, and domestic violence is not uncommon.

The best way for us to explain why we commit ourselves to this work is for us to provide some examples of the needs that we are seeking to address:
 

• A woman from our community was being beaten by her husband and was not allowed to go out. She was not willing to allow the police to prosecute her husband as she was threatened with death.
   

• Another woman had been suffering domestic violence, had asked for a divorce, and had then had to flee from her family because she was threatened. She was living in a women's refuge where she could not communicate with anyone as she speaks no English.
   

• A woman we knew about wanted to marry someone from outside our community. Her family forbade her to do this, and in her distress she stabbed herself repeatedly. Later after she had recovered in hospital she came to us looking for support. We helped her to take control of her life and she has chosen to marry the man she chooses, and move away from her family, for her own safety.
   

• One Kurdish woman had been living here for 15 years, and had asked her husband for a divorce. She went to Kurdistan to visit her family, and was killed there by her husband or his associates.
   

• One woman contacted us from outside London (but in the UK). She described how she had had acid poured over her face and throat when she was in Kurdistan by men from the Islamic movement, in order to hurt and disfigure her. One of us went to visit her, and took the details of what has happened. We now plan to visit her again in the near future, to help her to get medical attention.

Many women who face violence and abuse are unable to take any action because they are so frightened from the threats they receive. These women know what they want but are too frightened to go and get it. KRWO has a vital role to play in supporting these women to secure their basic human rights. The women are not used to having an organisation such as KRWO that will support them and for many they will have never been able to share their experiences and to receive support and advice.