Since it’s launch, WiRL has grown from a brainstorming session between 20 individuals to an established network with more than 200 members who meet quarterly to take forward initiatives based on the network’s shared values:
WiRL's current activities include:
- Holding quarterly meetings of members. Our quarterly ‘Kitchen Tables’ provide an inclusive and stimulating space to bring issues to the table as the basis for discussion and collaboration.
- Run free public events, including in partnership with our members, to raise awareness and increase understanding of gender-based protection needs. This includes our series of public seminars on ‘Refuge in a Cold Climate: the Impact for Women’ exploring refugee women’s experiences in the context of rising hostility and reduced protection.
- Providing workshops to support members in their work, most recently a workshop on ‘Safe Spaces’ in spring 2023, to support legal advocates for women and girls who have experienced SGBV.
- Creating new research about the experiences and rights of refugee women, drawing on our members’ diverse knowledge and expertise. In 2022, the Women in Refugee Law special issue of Refugee Survey Quarterly reviewed the state of protection in domestic jurisdictions and internationally, identifying setbacks to adequate protection for women at risk of persecution, and proposing inclusive ways forward. An edited collection is now in the planning stages. See WiRL publications.
- Coordinating submissions to public consultations and inquiries by institutions such as UN bodies, the European Union, or UK Parliamentary Committees to ensure that women’s protection needs are voiced in policy and legal developments at national and international level. See WiRL publications.
- Providing an ever-growing number of online resources on the WiRL website, including through WiRL's database of resources – academic publications, law and case law, NGO reports, guidance and briefings to inform the work of practitioners and scholars.
- Contributing to knowledge exchange and dialogue relating to refugee women through our social media channels (currently LinkedIn).
- Further expanding and diversifying WiRL’s membership to support experience-led scholarship, law and practice.
- Making use of our expert and diverse Steering Group for oversight, accountability and strategic planning based on agreed Terms of Reference.
In all these activities we seek to make the most of our diverse membership to improve scholarship, policy and practice with and for refugee women globally.
