The Queen visits the Ashiana Network
Published
The Queen met staff and clients at the community-based project which supports for South Asian, Middle Eastern and Turkish women and girls who are experiencing domestic violence.
The Ashiana Network is community-based project first established in 1989. It grew from a need for safe housing for young south Asian women who were experiencing familial domestic violence and began as a seven-bed house with resettlement support, becoming an independent charity in 1994.
The Network has since expanded to provide a range of services for South Asian, Middle Eastern and Turkish women and girls.
Her Majesty was shown the facility by former refuge resident Ayda Nemati, who arrived in the UK in 2009 with her husband, before being sold to another man without her passport or visa. Ms Nemati was kept as a prisoner for a year and a half before managing to escape to the refuge, where she remained for four years before being supported to move in to her own accommodation.
The Queen spent time with residents at the refuge who have recently escaped systematic violence, and heard about the charity’s pioneering work to end violence against women and girls. The Queen has long been a champion of preventing violence against women, becoming Patron of the UK charity, SafeLives, in February 2021.
The Ashiana Network supports South Asian, Middle Eastern and Turkish women who have experienced traumas including domestic and sexual violence, forced marriage, honour-based violence, financial abuse, coercive control and immigration-related abuse.
During the visit, The Queen also met key staff including the Director of the Ashiana Network, Shaminder Ubdi, and representatives from partner organisations such as the GMSP Foundation and the London Borough of Waltham Forest.
The Queen’s work on preventing violence against women
For several years, The Queen has worked to highlight the efforts of domestic abuse charities and their work to support victims and survivors, both in the UK and overseas, with the aim of breaking the taboo around the subject.
Related content
The King and Queen, joined by Members of the Royal Family, will mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day Landings
A speech by Her Majesty The Queen at the Charleston Festival 2024
Books and gardens are faithful friends to whom we can always turn to. They both have the ability to comfort, to cheer and to connect us with people and nature, reminding us...
A speech delivered by The Queen at a Reception to recognise those who support survivors of sexual assault and to relaunch of the Washbags Project
Thank you for sharing your stories, thank you for your kindness, thank you for not remaining strangers to those enduring the darkest of times, and, most of all, thank you for...
The Queen's speech at a reception to recognise those who support survivors of sexual assault
Your stories and your experiences are vital tools as we seek to bring about change: to forge a world in which people, whoever and wherever they are, do not live in fear of...
A speech by Her Majesty The Queen on her first visit to The Royal Lancers (Queen Elizabeths’ Own), having been appointed as Colonel-in-Chief
My father described the Regiment as a “highly efficient entity, highly skilled, and full of personalities”, I have no doubt that your upcoming deployments will be...
The Queen's support of the Arts
A speech by Her Majesty The Queen at a reception to celebrate International Women’s Day and to mark the end of the WOW Girls Festival Bus tour
Let your lives be the stones that will shatter glass ceilings everywhere and inspire generations to come.
A speech by Her Majesty The Queen at the Grand Final of BBC's 500 Words, Buckingham Palace
Between you, you have created more than a million stories of thought-provoking adventure for future generations to study and enjoy. Thank you to everybody who has taken part...
Charities and Patronages
The Queen celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Poppy Factory at Clarence House
15 February 2024The Queen opened Maggie's new cancer support centre at the Royal Free Hospital
01 February 2024The Queen hosts authors and illustrators of the new Modern-Day Miniature Library
30 January 2024The Queen's Introduction to Queen Mary's Dolls' House's Modern-Day Miniature Library
It has continued to enchant generations of children and adults who come to marvel at its perfect proportions, extraordinary attention to detail and, perhaps above all, the...
The Queen's speech at The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition 2023
Well done to each and every one of you – you are quite brilliant and I have, as ever, enormously enjoyed reading your entries.