Consent in Refugee and Migrant Communities

Abstract

AbstractApproaches to gendered violence are generally based on a rights approach, encouraging women to seek help from the criminal justice system and services that might support them. But a victim’s rights approach to sexual violence and consent is only effective if women see those rights mirrored back at them in the help and protections they seek. Drawing on data from 19 semi-structured interviews with refugee and migrant antiviolence advocates in Australia, this chapter uses Sally Merry’s (Merry, Human Rights Quarterly 25:343–381, 2003) concept of a ‘rights consciousness’ to explore the tensions women might experience when problems related to gender are presented as a legal issue. Highlighting the tensions refugee and migrant women might face between taking on a rights defined self, and a self tied to family, kin and community, the findings explore three themes: “Marriage is Consent”, “Loyalty to Men”, and “Experiences with Justice”. Taken together, these findings advance the need to consider sexual violence and consent not just in individualistic legal terms, but as an issue of social justice that considers broader, intersecting inequalities. Rather than encouraging women to take up their rights, efforts should focus on how to ensure a rights approach is affirmed in responses to sexual violence and consent.