Supporting Brazilian Women in London: Service Provision for Survivors of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Yara Evans and Cathy McIlwaine April 2017 ©McIlwaine/Redes da Maré ISBN 978-1-910195-28-4 Supporting Brazilian Women in London: Service Provision for Survivors of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Yara Evans Cathy McIlwaine London April 2017 1 Contents List of Tables ........................................................................................................................................... 3 List of Figures and Boxes ........................................................................................................................ 3 Acronyms ................................................................................................................................................ 4 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. 5 Key Findings ............................................................................................................................................ 6 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 8 2. Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) ................................................................................... 8 3. Methodology ................................................................................................................................. 10 4. The Brazilian Community in London ............................................................................................. 11 5. VAWG in London ........................................................................................................................... 14 5.1 The Way Forward: taking action to end VAWG .......................................................................... 14 5.2 Mayoral Strategy on VAWG 2013-2017 ...................................................................................... 15 5.3 The VAWG Consortium and ASCENT .......................................................................................... 15 6. Service Provision for Brazilian Women Survivors of Violence in London ..................................... 16 6.1 Service Providers: generalist and specialist ................................................................................ 16 6.2 Accessing Services ....................................................................................................................... 17 6.3 Service Users ............................................................................................................................... 18 6.4 Perpetrators ................................................................................................................................ 19 6.5 Types of Violence against Brazilian Women in London .............................................................. 20 6.6 History of VAWG ......................................................................................................................... 25 6.7 The causes and risk-factors underlying VAWG ........................................................................... 26 6.8 Demand for Service Providers .................................................................................................... 28 7. Seeking Help .................................................................................................................................. 29 7.1 Seeking help as last resort .......................................................................................................... 29 7.2 Self-Awareness and Stigma ......................................................................................................... 30 7.3 English Language ......................................................................................................................... 31 7.4 Immigration Status ...................................................................................................................... 32 7.5 Children ....................................................................................................................................... 34 7.6 Religion and the Church .............................................................................................................. 35 8. Violence Against Brazilian Women and the British system ........................................................... 37 8.1 The British Criminal Justice System ............................................................................................ 37 8.2 Social Services ............................................................................................................................. 44 9. Service Provision: engagement and outcomes ............................................................................. 44 10. Addressing VAWG ......................................................................................................................... 49 11. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 51 References ............................................................................................................................................ 53 Appendix I – Organisations approached to participate in the research ............................................... 57 Appendix II – The London VAWG Consortium ...................................................................................... 58 2 List of Tables TABLE 1: SERVICE PROVIDERS – CODING ............................................................................................................. 10 TABLE 2: SERVICE PROVIDERS ACCORDING TO NATURE OF SERVICES PROVIDED ............................................... 16 TABLE 3: CHARACTERISTICS OF BRAZILIAN WOMEN SURVIVORS OF VIOLENCE WHO ACCESS HELP .................. 18 TABLE 4: CHARACTERISTICS OF BRAZILIAN WOMEN WHO ACCESS HELP ............................................................ 19 TABLE 5: TYPES OF VIOLENCE AGAINST BRAZILIAN WOMEN IN LONDON ........................................................... 20 TABLE 6: HISTORY OF VIOLENCE IN BRAZIL .......................................................................................................... 26 TABLE 7: VIOLENCE AND BEING UNDOCUMENTED ............................................................................................. 28 TABLE 8: INCREASED DEMAND FOR SERVICE PROVIDERS ................................................................................... 28 TABLE 9: SELF-AWARENESS AND STIGMA ........................................................................................................... 30 TABLE 10: KNOWLEDGE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ......................................................................................... 31 TABLE 11: BEING UNDOCUMENTED ..................................................................................................................... 32 TABLE 12: BEING DOCUMENTED .......................................................................................................................... 34 TABLE 13: RELIGION, CHURCHES AND VAW ......................................................................................................... 36 TABLE 14: VAW AND THE BRITISH CRIMINAL JUSTICE.......................................................................................... 38 TABLE 15: PERPETRATORS AND THE BRITISH CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM ........................................................... 40 TABLE 16: BRAZILIAN WOMEN AND ACTION TOWARDS PERPETRATORS ............................................................ 41 TABLE 17: BRAZILIAN WOMEN AND OUTCOMES OF SERVICE PROVISION ........................................................... 45 TABLE 18: ADDRESSING VAWG ............................................................................................................................. 49 List of Figures and Boxes FIGURE 1: THE VAWG SPECTRUM .......................................................................................................................... 9 FIGURE 2: DISTRIBUTION OF BRAZILIANS IN ENGLAND AND WALES (2011 CENSUS) .......................................... 12 FIGURE 3: DISTRIBUTION OF BRAZILIANS IN LONDON (2011 CENSUS) ................................................................ 13 BOX 1: SERVICE PROVISION TO BRAZILIAN WOMEN SURVIVORS OF VIOLENCE: THE CASE OF WSPF ................. 46 FIGURE 4: NUMBER OF BRAZILIAN CLIENTS ......................................................................................................... 47 FIGURE 5: AGE OF BRAZILIAN CLIENTS ................................................................................................................. 47 FIGURE 6: CLIENT’S IMMIGRATION STATUS ......................................................................................................... 47 FIGURE 7: PERPETRATORS IMMIGRATION STATUS .............................................................................................. 47 FIGURE 8: ASSISTANCE PROVIDED TO BRAZILIAN CLIENTS .................................................................................. 48 FIGURE 9: BRAZILIAN CLIENTS IN LONDON .......................................................................................................... 48 3 Acronyms BAME Black, Asian and Minority