International Women's Day 2023: Domestic Abuse, Housing and Istanbul Convention on Violence Against Women - Part 1

This is the first webinar in our International Women's Day 2023 two-part series on Domestic Abuse & Housing. Event details for Part Two can be viewed here, which will focus on domestic legislation and useful points for practitioners. 

The Istanbul Convention was ratified by the UK on 21 July 2022 (entering into force on 1 November 2022), some ten years after it became a signatory in 2012.  But does it really have any impact on domestic law? Does it really fill in the ‘gaps’ in housing rights for survivors of domestic abuse?

Our speaker panel will discuss the background to the Convention, the domestic legislation in the years before ratification and whether the Convention has any real impact. They will also consider the Convention against the backdrop of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 and whether this Act provides any real and effective housing rights for those with No Recourse to Public Funds.

Speaker Panel

Liz Davies KC, Garden Court Chambers
Liz is a social housing silk ranked in Chambers and Partners and Legal 500 and has been ranked as a "star individual" and Tier 1. She specialises in all aspects of housing law, with particular expertise in homelessness and the allocation of social housing. She also practises in areas of community care and Children Act cases, particularly where accommodation might be an issue. 

She acts as a consultant to the homelessness charity Crisis, and has assisted in drafting the Homelessness Reduction Act 2018, and amendments to the Domestic Abuse Bill relating to homelessness. She is the co-author of Housing Allocation and Homelessness (Luba, Davies, Johnston & Buchanan, LexisNexis, 6th ed, 2022). She is Joint Head of Garden Court Chambers.

Marina Sergides, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers
Marina specialises in all aspects of social housing law. In particular, Marina has extensive experience with cases involving vulnerable occupiers and victims of domestic abuse and is instructed on cases involving occupiers with mental health problems and represented by the Official Solicitor. She has extensive experience in nuisance possession proceedings, section 204 homelessness appeals, unlawful eviction and harassment claims, disrepair claims, judicial review, human rights, public law defences, disability discrimination and ASBO in the civil courts. Marina was CO-Chair of HLPA from 2020 to 2022 and is a contributor to Housing Law Handbook, A Practical Guide. She has also given evidence to the APPG on Legal Aid.

Aleisha Ebrahimi, Senior Policy Advisor to the Domestic Abuse Commissioner
Aleisha Ebrahimi is Senior Policy Advisor to the Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales. Aleisha leads on the Commissioner’s family justice system work portfolio. 

Aleisha is also an Associate Lecturer of family law at University College London’s Law Faculty, where she is completing her PhD in international human rights law. Further, Aleisha is a lecturer at Sciences Po in Paris, France where she is convenor for her module ‘Gender and International Human Rights Law’. As part of this module, Aleisha delivers content on maternal rights, domestic abuse, the role of UN human rights treaties and women in times of war. She delivers specialist teaching on the causes and consequences of rape, coercive control and economic violence. 

As part of her broader work on gender, Aleisha researches and writes on the complexities of coercive control, post-separation abuse and the intersection between the rights of women and children. Her research profile can be accessed here.