Women refugees face great hurdles

Issue 

BY RACHEL EVANS

MELBOURNE — Women refugees in Australia face many hurdles, says Iudita Trifa, a community and industry organiser at Northcote Women's Working Health Centre.

The introduction of temporary protection visas in 1999 has reduced certainty for newly arrived asylum seekers who enter without papers. While previously those deemed refugees received permanent protection visas, their visas now only run for three years, leaving many fearful of what will happen when they expire.

Refugees on temporary protection visas have no access to migrant resource centres or government-funded English classes. While they can work, most women remain at home to look after children compounding their isolation. Mental illness is a big problem for many refugee women, according to Trifa.

The biggest issue for refugee women on temporary protection visas is access to health care. Many women refugees are forbidden by their husbands to see male doctors, which in rural areas can mean women simply have no access to health care.

Doctors' use of translators for refugee women can add time and cost to medical help. Many women are given medication without adequate explanation of side-effects.

In Cobram, a small Victorian town, 15 Iraqi women are completely reliant on one facilitator to help them with everything they need to get by without English. If funding for the facilitator disappears, then these women will have no support at all.

"Campaigning for an end to temporary protection visas and an increase in funding to services is crucial for refugee rights activists and for feminists who want to improve conditions for refugee women", Iudita explained.

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