Statement on harmful narratives around migrant victims of domestic abuse

We stand with the more than 100 organisations, including specialist services, who have warned that the debate about false domestic abuse claims and the immigration system must not fuel harmful narratives about migrant victim-survivors.

At SafeLives, we want a system that protects every adult and child affected by domestic abuse, challenges perpetrators, and helps people reach safety and rebuild their lives.

Any misuse of routes designed to protect victim-survivors must be taken seriously. Where exploitative advisers, agencies or individuals are encouraging false claims, this should be investigated and addressed. But tackling misuse must not come at the expense of survivors who need safety, support and protection.

Domestic abuse is already underreported. Migrant victim-survivors face additional barriers, including insecure immigration status, No Recourse to Public Funds, racism, language barriers, fear of deportation, fear of destitution and fear that they will not be believed.

Perpetrators often exploit these barriers and fears as part of the abuse. They may threaten to report someone to the authorities, tell them they will lose their children, warn them they will not be believed, or convince them that seeking help will put them at greater risk.

Perpetrators can also manipulate systems by making counter-allegations, presenting themselves as the victim, or using statutory processes to continue control after separation. This is not unique to cases involving migrant survivors. Counter-allegations are a known tactic used by perpetrators across all communities and circumstances. We provide guidance and training to multi-agency professionals, supporting them to work together to confidently identify perpetrators and support victims.

That is why frontline expertise matters. Specialist By and For organisations, IDVAs/IDAAs, domestic abuse practitioners and many frontline professionals are already alert to these tactics. They understand the patterns of coercive and controlling behaviour, the risks of counter-allegations, and the need to look at the whole picture rather than a single claim or incident.

The rest of the system must be just as aware. Any response to misuse must be led by evidence, specialist knowledge and a proper understanding of perpetrator tactics. It must not create a climate where migrant and refugee survivors are demonised, disbelieved or pushed further away from safety.

Counter-allegations are a very real fear. They do happen. We know perpetrators abuse the system and use the tactic of claiming they are the victim. But this is not just about migrant survivors. Perpetrators across all communities use these tactics.

By and For organisations know this. Specialist services know this. Many frontline professionals know this. We have the expertise to understand the patterns, to ask the right questions, and to identify when the system is being manipulated.

What we need is for the whole system to trust that expertise and build on it. What we must not do is demonise some of the most vulnerable victims of abuse in our society: migrant and refugee women. They already face fear, racism, isolation and threats from perpetrators. Public debate must not make it even harder for them to come forward.

Dawn Munroe, Director of specialist By and For service, Bambuuu, and Innovation Lead at SafeLives

This media narrative is not only harmful. It is dangerous.

My mother, a migrant from Mali, faced many of the same barriers that too many women still face today. That was 38 years ago. And yet migrant women are still fighting to be seen, to be safe and to be believed.

Her courage became my compass. Her struggle became my purpose: to ensure no woman has to walk that path alone.

Behind every headline are real women and children living with trauma, fear and the lasting impact of navigating systems that were never built with them in mind. I am one of those children. I grew up seeing what happens when women survive violence while also battling disbelief, isolation and hostility.

By and For organisations exist because mainstream systems have not always met the needs of marginalised communities. We are the bridge. We meet women where they are, with cultural understanding, trust and care.

Narratives like this do not just misinform. They silence. They create fear. They make women question whether they will be believed. And when women do not come forward, they remain in danger. That is a risk far too high for any society to accept.

We must do better. We must choose compassion over suspicion, truth over sensationalism, and justice over rhetoric. Because safety is not a privilege. It is a right.

Annie Gibbs, founder of specialist By and For service, Amour Destiné, and SafeLives Pioneer

The way this issue is discussed matters.

When public debate suggests, or allows the impression to grow, that migrant victim-survivors are routinely making false claims, it does significant harm. It can stop people from coming forward. It can reinforce dangerous myths. It can make professionals more suspicious of disclosures. It can undermine trust in specialist By and For services. And it can hand perpetrators another way to silence and control their victims.

We are also concerned about the risk of isolated cases of misuse being treated as evidence of a wider problem. A rise in applications for support does not automatically mean a rise in false claims. It may also reflect unmet need, increased awareness, or the reality that too many migrant survivors have previously been unable to access safety at all.

Routes such as the Migrant Victims of Domestic Abuse Concession are not loopholes. They are vital protections for people who may otherwise be forced to choose between staying with an abuser, facing destitution, or risking removal from the UK.

The response to domestic abuse must be grounded in evidence, not fear. It must recognise the whole picture of abuse, including how perpetrators exploit immigration status, poverty, isolation, racism, fear of statutory systems and the threat of disbelief. It must also recognise the expertise of specialist organisations who support migrant, Black and minoritised women and girls every day.

Tackling misuse and protecting survivors are not opposing aims. We need both. But any policy or practice response must be careful, proportionate and survivor-centred. It must hold exploitative advisers and perpetrators to account, without creating a presumption of disbelief around migrant survivors.

No survivor should be left behind because of who they are, where they are from, or their immigration status.

At SafeLives, we want a system that protects every adult and child affected by domestic abuse, challenges perpetrators, and helps people reach safety and rebuild their lives. That means listening to survivors, learning from specialist services, trusting frontline expertise, and making sure public debate does not make it harder for anyone experiencing abuse to seek help.

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