Lifting the curtain on gender specific persecution ICCL Women's
Committee launches report A startling 75%-90% of the world's
refugee population is estimated by the UNHCR to be women and
children. Yet discussion of refugees tends to concentrate
exclusively on the `male' experience of persecution and treats
women refugees as appendages of the male, very rarely dealing
with the distinct difficulties which women face. The Women's
Committee of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties launched an
important report on Monday 26 June dealing with some of the
difficulties specific to women refugees and asylum seekers as a
result of their gender - issues largely ignored amongst
Ireland's policy makers. The report, an important document,
states: ``The archetypal image of the political refugee, fleeing
persecution due to direct involvement in conventional political
activity often fails to correspond with the reality of many
women's experiences. The circumstances that give rise to women's
fear of persecution are often quite u