AI NEWS: NEW PLANS FOR CITIZENSHIP RULES MAY LEAVE WOMEN IN CYCLE OF VIOLENCE

As part of the new Government's new Citizenship qualifying rules where new migrants to the UK will lose the right to claim "recourse to public funds" for up to a year , Amnesty International is worried that many women entering the UK could be trapped in violent situations without any financial help on offer.

Women affected would be international students; women temporary workers, women visitors, women that have been trafficked to the UK for sex, and women who have entered the UK on valid visas as either a spouse or a long-term partner.

Archie Panjabi, star of East is East and Bend It Like Beckham, is fronting an Amnesty and Southall Black Sisters campaign that seeks to highlight this flaw in the new rules.

A new report by Amnesty/Southall Black Sisters believes women could now be trapped in a cycle of violence, and the report will reveal the extent of the problem in the UK of violence towards women of non-UK origin.

Archie Panjabi said "It's hard enough for a woman to escape from violence, but to then be told that you are not entitled to any state help because of a failing in the law is, in my opinion, unacceptable. They are left with no option but to either stay in a violent situation or risk a life dependent on others or on the streets."

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