News

To mark International Women’s Day this year we are highlighting just a few of the numerous hard-working charities that we encounter in the course of our work at Duncan Lewis Solicitors.

These not-for profit organisations provide vital support to women, many of them vulnerable, who are victims of domestic abuse, trafficking or are seeking refuge in the UK, but who have nowhere else to turn.

There are too many charities providing lifeline services around the country to mention but our team has nominated a few they feel deserve a special mention.

Public law solicitor Shalini Patel regularly works with a charity called Women for Refugee Women (‘WFRW’), which campaigns for the rights of women who are recognised refugees, asylum-seekers and survivors of trafficking.

Previously, Shalini and her team worked closely with WFRW during the preparation of its special report, “From one hell to another – the detention of Chinese women who have been trafficked to the UK”, by providing statistical information from their own cases.

Shalini said: “I am currently instructed on their first ever legal challenge against the opening Derwentside IRC in County Durham on 28 December 2021. Despite assurances in an Equality Impact Assessment that in-person legal advice would be available, the Home Office has opened Derwentside without this in place which severely restrict the detainees’ fundamental right to access of justice. The work that WFRW does is hugely important and I urge everybody to check out their website and support them in any they can, even by sharing our post and raising the charity’s profile.”

The theme for this year’s International Women's Day is “Break the Bias” which makes it difficult for women to move ahead and urges supporters to cross their arms to show solidarity and post a picture online.



For more information about Women for Refugee Women please visit their website HERE and for more on this year’s IWD and its theme Break the Bias, visit IWD22.