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Foreword
INTRODUCTION
Foreword
FEBRUARY 2023
Image credit: Aran Illingworth
This issue of Legal Women attempts to acknowledge the sheer scale today of refugee and displaced people who have had to leave their home due to real adversity. Refugees, asylum seekers, economic migrants, forced migrants, trafficked people, men, women, children and unaccompanied minors, who experience profound displacement. The issue recognises the fragility of frameworks designed to protect, that often lead however to ‘push back’. It acknowledges the uneven sharing of responsibility by the international community to host refugees and displaced people.
This issue frames the uplifting stories of some refugee women, and other women who work to support them. All the artwork, photography and poetry featured in this magazine has been gifted to us by those refugees, asylum seekers and forced migrants listed below. ■
Molly Bellamy
Molly Bellamy
We would like to give special thanks to the following contributors for their artwork, photography and poetry: ‘To Drop Anchor’ cover artwork by Elmira & Ramona Zadissa, photography by Abdul Saboor, ‘A Journey Away’ artwork by Aran Illingworth, ‘Broken Human Rights’ artwork by Senait Moges, ‘No Voice’ artwork by Masoumeh Jafari, ‘This Matter’ Poem by Haymanot, ‘Home’ Poem by Warsan Shire.
Cover Image Credit and Artist’s Bio: We, Elmira Zadissa (she/her) and Ramona Zadissa (they/them), were born into the same family in the SWANA region. By the proxy of social and political injustices and via routes of asylum-seeking, in our formable years, we ended up in the northern part of Scandinavia. A life path running along the margins has shaped our queer feminist, social and environmental activism. Today we acknowledge that we enjoy the privilege of being EU nationals in the post-Brexit hostile environment of the UK. We are interested in the points at which human characteristics overlap. Our practice seeks to uncover the stories and ideas that arise at these intersections.
LW magazine is for everyone; lawyers, solicitors, barristers, advocates, judges, legal executives and those working as paralegals, legal secretaries, advisers or recruiters, the list is endless. We welcome the many male champions as readers and contributors.
Our mission is to:
■ Provide clear information on gender parity
■ Inspire practical initiatives to create real change
■ Promote innovation in leadership and practice
