Leading women’s rights groups have warned that the far right movement has “hijacked” the issue of women’s safety for political gain.
More than 100 organisations have written to prime minister Sir Keir Starmer to urge the government to stop far-right groups from “weaponising” violence against women and girls (VAWG) for a “racist, anti-migrant agenda”.
It comes after weeks of far-right protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers across the country, with many participants claiming to be there under the banner of “protecting” women and girls in their community.
The letter states how in recent weeks, the organisations had seen “vital conversations” about VAWG be “hijacked by an anti-migrant agenda” that “fuels division” and harms survivors.
The groups have expressed concerns that the issue is being “hijacked by people seeking to use women and girls’ pain and trauma – and the threat of it – for political gain”.
The letter, co-ordinated by End Violence Against Women Coalition, Women for Refugee Women, Hibiscus and Southall Black Sisters, read: “Over recent weeks, people claiming to care about the ‘safety of women and children’ have left families, women and children living in temporary asylum accommodation afraid to leave their front door.
“They follow in the footsteps of the rioters who used the appalling murder of three young girls as an excuse to bring violence to our streets; with targeted attacks against migrant, minoritised and Muslim communities.”
The statement was supported by frontline organisations including Rape Crisis England and Wales, Refuge and the Suzy Lamplugh Trust.
The groups have joined to “refuse to let women’s safety be turned into hate speech” and have told the government to act urgently to prevent misinformation spreading.
They warned that they had seen MPs share false statistics about the nationality of perpetrators, and warned that ministers saying protestors have “legitimate concerns” risks “normalising and enabling the spreading of racist narratives by the far-right”.
The organisations warn that false narratives reinforce “damaging myths” about gender-based violence, such as that it primarily comes from strangers.
They say the false picture allows perpetrators who harm women and girls “to hide behind racial stereotypes and scapegoating”, while hostile immigration policies put marginalised women and survivors in the UK at an “even greater risk of harm”.
“The far-right has long exploited the cause of ending violence against women and girls to promote a racist, white supremacist agenda,” Andrea Simon, director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said.
“These attacks against migrant and racialised communities are appalling and do nothing to improve women and girls’ autonomy, rights and freedoms.”
Andrea Vukovic, co-director of Women for Refugee Women, said the organisation had supported women in recent weeks that had fled war and persecution, and have been too afraid to leave their homes due to attacks on migrant and racialised communities.
Selma Taha, executive director of Southall Black Sisters said: “Attempts to weaponize VAWG through racist scapegoating of migrants not only distract from real solutions, but also deepen the marginalisation of Black, minoritised and migrant victim-survivors.
“The government, our public institutions, and the media must take responsibility for shaping an accurate, evidence-based narrative on immigration, and must end the normalisation of far-right misinformation in debates on immigration and VAWG.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “All acts of violence against women and girls are intolerable, so our upcoming VAWG Strategy will set out how we will protect the most vulnerable and halve these crimes in a decade.
“At the same time, we know that people are concerned about the impact of illegal migration. That’s why we are changing the law to deny registered sex offenders’ asylum and we will do everything in our power to deport them from the UK.”
