PENHA has an ongoing working relationship with organisations based in Kent County, including local colleges and reception centres, to address the challenges faced by young asylum seekers and refugees from East Africa who are living in Kent. Vulnerable young adults are arriving in the UK from the Horn of Africa after long, arduous journeys, and many are traumatised by their experience. They come to seek asylum in the UK but encounter many cultural differences and expectations.
A lack of appropriate sexual education means many young men are falling foul of laws around consent. This is leading to their involvement with the criminal justice system. There is a need to promote healthy sexual relationships and prevent sexual abuse, which is affecting many of these young people and shattering their future. Culturally sensitive support is required, particularly on sexual consent and the law. At the heart of this is consent between partners that challenges gender inequality.
PENHA secured a grant from the National Lottery Awards for All Community Fund to undertake a series of workshops around sexual consent under the theme ‘Beyond managing expectations: Supporting the integration of refugees in Kent’. We produced a leaflet on healthy sexual relationships to be distributed to the colleges and reception centres we attended. We then undertook three intercultural dialogue workshops at Ashford and Canterbury Colleges in April 2023 and Millbank Reception Centre in June 2023.
Ashford College – 25 April 2023
Ibtisam Adem, Youth Worker, delivered two workshops on Sexual Consent and Harassment at Ashford and Canterbury Colleges on 25 April 2023. There was a mixed group of around 25 young males and females who attended the presentation at Ashford College. We divided the attendees into their language groups – Arabic, Dari, Pashto, Kurdish and Farsi – enabling them to follow the presentation, share their experiences and raise issues from the start.
In the workshop, Ibtisam raised the issue of the need for sexual consent to be clear and freely given. However, consent is also an ongoing process and can be withdrawn at any time. It is important to address this to avoid young people getting on the wrong side of British law due to cultural misunderstandings. Already there are many young refugees and asylum seekers in prison or having received criminal convictions.
Ibtisam Adem, Facilitator of the workshops on Sexual Consent at
Ashford College on 25 April 2023. © Bereket Tsegay/PENHA
Ibtisam also addressed concerns about unwanted touching and ‘invading’ people’s personal space. She showed short videos that highlighted these issues, and it was noticed that the visual images resonated even more with the young people. There were discussions on the barriers to having sexual relationships; negative experiences of sexual relationships; cultural and legal differences between Britain and the refugees’ homeland; and how to empower the young refugees to have healthy relationships.
The actual age of consent for sexual contact is 16 while young people must be 18 to get married. This is seen as contradictory to people who come from countries in which people are expected to be married before they engage in sexual activity. It is important to establish that the person you are talking to is above the age of consent.
Canterbury College – 25 April 2023
Ibtisam Adem delivered a second workshop in the afternoon at Canterbury College, which was a repeat of her Ashford College presentation. A mixed group of around 30 young males and females attended the presentation. Again, we divided the attendees into their language groups – Arabic, Dari, Pashto, Kurdish, Farsi and Tigrigna – enabling them to follow the presentation, share their experiences and raise issues from the start.
Presentation slides page at Canterbury College on 25 April 2023. © PENHA
In addition to the content of the Ashford College workshop, participants raised issues of wanting to be able to exercise personal choice in their partner selection and same-sex relationships, which are often negatively viewed within their culture.
We ended the workshop with refreshments and informal discussions between the college staff, translators and young people.
Millbank Reception Centre – 20 June 2023
The Community Mental Health Nurse at East London NHS Foundation Trust Nuradin Ali delivered the Sexual Consent and Harassment workshop at Millbank Reception Centre, assisted by Kenny Mammarella-D’Cruz. Around 15 male centre residents participated and were divided into their language groups.
After his introduction, Nuradin showed videos to highlight the issues of consent and sexual pressure. Alongside highlighting the age of consent for sexual activity, he pointed out that it is illegal to share sexual pictures of people who are under-18 even with their consent. The topic came up of online relationships where people disguise their age to appear older.
Nuradin Ali, Facilitator of the workshop on Sexual Consent at Millbank Reception Centre on 20 June 2023. © Bereket Tsegay/PENHA
Another concern is street harassment – catcalling, whistling, staring, winking, horn beeping, etc – which is threatening to the recipient. Any member of the public who observes or thinks they are seeing sexual harassment can report it to the police, they don’t have to be directly known to the potential victim. This can lead to criminal convictions and imprisonment for the perpetrators.
The actual age of consent for sexual contact is 16 while young people must be 18 to get married. This is seen as contradictory to people who come from countries in which people are expected to be married before they engage in sexual activity. It is important to establish that the person you are talking to is above the age of consent.
The discussion covered: the role of religion in setting attitudes to relationships; in some cultures, you may touch people to get their attention which may be considered sexual harassment in Britain; cultures where refusing gifts/offers, especially from elders, is considered rude can lead to people getting into compromising situations; how someone is dressed is not an indication of willingness to start a relationship or engage in sexual activity.
On this note, PENHA would like to thank Susan Rundle, the Programme Director for ESOL at Ashford College; Rachel Smith, Progression and Destination Advisor and Gary Ashman, the Programme Director for Foundation Learning at Canterbury College; Kelly Wynn, the Centre Manager for Service for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children at Millbank Reception Centre, Kent Social Services; as well as all the professional facilitators and interpreters who assisted us in the smooth delivery of the workshops.
Booklet of sexual abuse cases
The final part of this year’s project on sexual consent and harassment is the publication of a booklet of eight actual sexual abuse cases. These are real-life anonymised stories of the experiences of young refugees. The booklet will be available in print and digital formats.
