Pragna Patel
Founding member of the Southall Black Sisters (SBS) and Women Against Fundamentalism
Pragna Patel is a founding member of the Southall Black Sisters (SBS) and Women Against Fundamentalism. She worked as a co-ordinator and senior case worker for SBS from 1982 to 1993 when she left to train as a solicitor. In 2009 she returned to SBS as its Director. She has been centrally involved in some of SBS’ most important cases and campaigns around domestic violence, immigration and religious fundamentalism. She has also written extensively on race, gender and religion.
Pragna and her colleagues at SBS have been leading campaigns to raise awareness of transnational marriage abandonment and to reform family and immigration law, policy and practice to address the needs of survivors. They have trained family law judges, worked with the previous President of the Family Division and have brought together immigration law practitioners to form a working group to work with the Home Office with a view to reforming immigration law.
Pragna's Past Training
Tutors: Pragna Patel, Southall Black Sisters, Nath Gbikpi, Islington Law Centre and Sulema Jahangir, Dawson Cornwell
The webinar will look at the phenomenon of transnational marriage abandonment, a form of domestic abuse which involves migrant women being deliberately stranded abroad, and how immigration lawyers can assist stranded spouses to return to the UK.
Topics:
1) The phenomenon of transnational marriage abandonment: what is it and what common experiences are reported by stranded spouses
2) Litigation relating to the phenomenon of transnational marriage abandonment: what has been done in family law and what needs to be done in immigration law
3) Assisting victims of transnational marriage abandonment to return to the UK: theory and practice
Programme:
13:45 – 14:00 Registration
14:00 – 14:10 Introductions
14:10 – 14:30 the phenomenon of transnational marriage abandonment: common experiences and why it is a form of domestic abuse
14: 30 – 14:50: SBS’ work to include the phenomenon of transnational marriage abandonment in family law regulations and in immigration law
14:50 – 15:00; group discussion/Q&A regarding the phenomenon of TMA
15:00 – 15:45: different options to assist stranded spouses to return to the UK, with case studies
15:45 – 16:00: Q&A
16:00 – end