Women in Refugee Law (WiRL) is re-centring the experiences and rights of women within refugee law, policy and practice.
Founded and led by Dr Christel Querton (Senior Lecturer in Law, UWE Bristol) and Dr Moira Dustin (Assistant Professor of Law, University of Sussex), WiRL is a global transdisciplinary and cross-sector network- with over 360 members in 50 countries- addressing obstacles to the international protection of refugee women.
Addressing gender inequality in international protection
Dr Christel Querton said: “Despite the fact women continue to make up half the world’s refugees and displaced people, research shows that their protection needs continue to be overlooked in many jurisdictions. The work of WiRL is becoming increasingly important, especially as we see refugee rights and women’s rights being eroded more generally too.”
WiRL recently carried out a series of events made possible through funding from UWE Bristol’s AHRC Impact Acceleration Account (IAA). By utilising partnerships with organisations in the asylum sector, it was able to maximise its outputs and impact.
Championing equitable research and policy-focussed outputs
In September 2025, WiRL partnered with Asylos to co-host a roundtable in London to explore the current practice of using safe country concepts and the impact on women seeking asylum in the UK. The event was designed to facilitate coproduction and knowledge-exchange alongside women with lived experience of seeking asylum and being refugees. Over half of the participants were women with lived experience and/ or from organisations that worked directly with them (in addition to scholars, advocates and legal practitioners). Following the event, WiRL published a policy report that highlighted gender-specific concerns about designating a country “safe”. WiRL also made recommendations for change, emphasising the importance of recognising and valuing knowledge produced by women with lived experience.
Strengthening the capacity and expertise of decision influencers
In July 2025 and February 2026, WiRL co-hosted two specialist legal training events for asylum and immigration practitioners with a particular interest in gender-based claims for asylum. Partnering with the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA), the first online training session was UK-focussed. For the second training session, WiRL partnered with the Global Strategic Litigation Council and specifically considered the East Africa region. This training will enable advocates and legal professionals to support the fairer determination of women’s asylum claims. These events attracted over 90 online attendees and were made into video resources that remain freely accessible online.
Supporting advocacy efforts at community and government level
Dr Moira Dustin said: “Our work challenges the assumption that legal and policy changes in the last 30 years have displaced the need for continued research and advocacy efforts. WiRL aims to safeguard advances, and to identify and address contemporary obstacles to the protection of refugee women globally. Our website hosts a database of over 500 resources relating to refugee women which can be accessed by anyone, we also run public information events on pertinent topics. We are increasingly involved in policy work, including informing UN councils, national governments and regional protection frameworks.”
To find out more about the Women in Refugee Law network visit https://wirl.org.uk/ or connect with Dr Christel Querton at Christel.Querton@uwe.ac.uk.