‘Hearing the Right Gaps’
| DOI | 10.1177/0964663912444945 |
| Author | Helen Baillot,Sharon Cowan,Vanessa E Munro |
| Published date | 01 September 2012 |
| Date | 01 September 2012 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
‘Hearing the Right
Gaps’: Enabling and
Responding to
Disclosures of Sexual
Violence within the
UK Asylum Process
Helen Baillot
Independent Researcher, UK
Sharon Cowan
University of Edinburgh, UK
Vanessa E Munro
University of Nottingham, UK
Abstract
The barriers that prevent or delay female victims of sexual assault from disclosing
to criminal justice authorities, and the obstacles that often disincline professional
and lay decision-makers from finding such narratives credible, have been well docu-
mented. This article explores the extent to which such difficulties may be repli-
cated, and compounded, in the case of female asylum-seekers; it will examine
the complex ways in which the structure and processes, as well as the heavily poli-
ticised context, of asylum decision-making may contribute towards a silencing of
sexual assault narratives. The article will explore the ways in which the intersec-
tion of race, ethnicity, gender, culture, religion, language and nationality present
distinct challe nges to women asylum applicants for whom an alleged rape is a part
of their claim, and reflect on some of the difficulties this presents in terms of asses-
sing the credibility of sexual assault allegations, and of the overall asylum claim.
Corresponding author:
Sharon Cowan, University of Edinburgh, School of Law, Old College, Edinburgh EH8 9YL, UK
Email: s.cowan@ed.ac.uk
Social & Legal Studies
21(3) 269–296
ªThe Author(s) 2012
Reprints and permission:
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DOI: 10.1177/0964663912444945
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Keywords
Rape, asylum, disclosure, culture, trauma, narrative
Introduction
It is widely accepted in the UK criminal justice context that – despite several concerted
initiatives to improve police responses and increase victim support – women often
remain reluctant to officially report alleged experiences of rape. Various explanations
have been offered for this, ranging from personal feelings of shame, embarrassment
or self-blame in relation to the incident, and concerns about reactions to a formal com-
plaint from family, friends and the perpetrator himself,to fear of being disbelieved by the
police or facing hostile cross-examination in the courtroom (Kelly et al., 2005; Lees,
1996). While the rolethat an allegation of rape plays is very differentin the asylum rather
than criminal justice context, and the dynamics of the asylum appeal tribunal can be dis-
tinguishedin important ways from those of the criminalcourtroom, for the female asylum-
seeker who claims to have experienced rape, these same barriers to disclosure will often
continue to be significant. They may be compounded, moreover, by past experiences of
victimisation, engrained distrust of state officials and cultural taboos around sex, gender
and sexual purity, as well as communicative difficulties arising from differences in lan-
guage, dialect and narrative convention. The ability or desire of applicants to disclose
an experience of rape, and their understanding of its potential relevance to their asylum
claim is also significantly influenced by a number offactors, such as: the abbreviatedtime-
scales within which decisions on asylum applications are made – by both the UK Border
Agency (UKBA)and the Tribunal; the structuredformat and processes adopted forasylum
interviews; the pro cedural mandates of the appeal heari ng; and the divergence in the levels
and quality of legal and social support currently provided to asylum applicants.
In this article, we draw upon a series of semi-structured interviews with stakeholders,
tribunal observations and case file analyses in order to highlight the nature and signifi-
cance of the obstacles to disclosure that may confront female asylum-seekers in the UK
who claim to have experienced rape. Whilst recognising the difficulties for asylum
decision-makers of judging the veracity of frequently un-documented accounts of histor-
ical abuse, the question of how, if at all, an effective formula for distinguishing true
claims from false could be developed was beyond the scope of this study. Thus, without
assuming that all disclosures of rape are ‘true’, we explore herein the ways in which such
disclosures are (and are not) currently facilitated and responded to by decision-makers
and other key professionals within the UK asylum process. More specifically, we illus-
trate the need for those soliciting accounts of alleged persecution from asylum claimants
to probe for, and pursue, subtle cues that could indicate an experience of sexual violence,
otherwise unlikely to be disclosed. We also explore the potential impact that a claim of
rape, and the manner and circumstances within which it is disclosed, can have upon cru-
cial assessments of claimants’ overall credibility. Finally, we highlight a tendency
amongst some asylum professionals to marginalise, trivialise or ignore accounts of rape,
a tendency that, we argue, both occludes the narratives of asylum-seeking women who
have suffered sexual violence, and poses substantial obstacles to securing justice.
270 Social & Legal Studies 21(3)
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