“I Will Experience This Trauma Over and Over Again”: Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, Forced Migration and Structural Violence

Forced migration has reached unprecedented levels as millions are forced to seek refuge from conflict, persecution, and violence. This exodus includes women enduring the traumas of displacement alongside sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). Upon reaching supposed places of refuge, they encounter the structural violence of immigration and asylum regimes. Against this backdrop, the intersection of SGBV, forced migration, and structural violence emerges as an urgent area of study. Drawing from extensive qualitative interviews in Australia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, we set out to examine the impact of structural violence on the lives of forced migrant survivors of SGBV. The article introduces a novel framework to analyze how SGBV, forced migration and structural violence intersect and impact on the lives of survivors. The framework synthesizes (a) the intimate violence of dependency, (b) the slow violence of everyday life, and (c) the gender insensitivity characteristic of determination regimes. Survivors endure a range of injustices: the intimate violence of dependency traps women in controlling relationships; the asylum system’s slow violence leaves them in substandard and undignified conditions; and gender-insensitivity renders their SGBV experiences invisible, often retraumatizing survivors. Within this framework, we describe how these intersecting forms of structural violence underpinning immigration systems, systematically fail those at risk of SGBV, rendering them vulnerable to interpersonal violence instead of protecting them. We call for immigration and asylum systems to prioritize the protection and well-being of women, many of whom are SGBV survivors. As forced migrants face increasingly hostile statutory regimes, we must recognize and address the structural violence that perpetuates harm and denies them protection. Failure to act risks further perpetuating the cycle of violence, trauma and injustice, undermining principles of safety and refuge for those in dire need.