Trust and mistrust in the lives of forcibly displaced women and children

Abstract

This paper aims to consider the experiences of displaced women and children throughout the experience of displacement and the issue of trust (or mistrust) throughout this journey towards future emplacement. Issues around trust and mistrust in conflict situations and considerations around interpersonal and broader based gender-based violence in politicised contexts are explored. Various stages of displacement are viewed and, through the use of examples, from experiences within refugee camps, reception in host countries and resettlement in countries of asylum insights into the lived experiences of displaced women and children are provided. This paper therefore draws upon research projects and practitioner experience, including research carried out within refugee camps, in the UK on the dispersal of asylum seekers, qualitative research into agency responses to the trafficking of children and young people, plus a scoping study involving qualitative research into non-statutory understandings of trafficking.