Today (7 November 2024), Rape Crisis England & Wales and Imkaan have released a new report, 'Not Safe Here: The systemic failures to protect women and children from sexual violence and abuse in asylum accommodation'.
Featuring detailed interviews with asylum-seeking women and the professionals supporting them, 'Not Safe Here' chronicles their experiences of sexual violence and abuse prior to, during and since attempting to seek safety in the UK under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.
Key findings
- Women do not feel safe while living in Home Office provided asylum accommodation.
- Women and girls are being forced to share spaces – including bedrooms – with strangers.
- Women who have fled sexual violence and abuse in their home countries have faced further sexual violence and threats of sexual violence while living in asylum accommodation.
- The processes in place to disclose sexual violence and abuse are difficult to navigate and there is not adequate specialist support available.
- The accommodation provided is reportedly unsafe and unclean.
The poor physical conditions, mixed-sex settings, lack of support, and the scrutiny victims and survivors face throughout the asylum process, have created a living environment that is often severely re-traumatising for women who are already fleeing sexual violence and abuse.
Report recommendations
'Not Safe Here' outlines several recommendations for the Government, including making urgent changes to the current asylum system to protect women and girls who have experienced, and could likely experience more, sexual violence and abuse on its premises.
- Appropriate and safe accommodation: asylum-seekers should be housed in long-term, community-based accommodation that is clean and safe, rather than hotel accommodation
- Staff vetting and training: all asylum accommodation staff should be thoroughly vetted and given in-depth training and guidance on safeguarding and the rights of their residents.
- Robust complaints and misconduct procedures: these must be strictly followed when complaints are made against staff.
- Abolishing the ‘no recourse to public funds’ policy.
- Independent asylum advocates: these advocates, based within by and for specialist VAWG organisations with expertise in supporting migrant women, should help to identify vulnerabilities and carry out risk assessments as women enter the early stages of the asylum support system, as well as support women whose applications have been rejected and are at risk of destitution.
- Long-term, sustainable funding for specialist services: including both sexual violence and abuse services, and services led by-and-for Black and minoritised women that support migrant, refugee and asylum-seeking women.
- Independent review of Home Office contracts with accommodation providers.
- A new VAWG inspectorate for non-standard accommodation shaped by sexual violence and by and for expertise to ensure accountability.
Ciara Bergman, Chief Executive Officer at Rape Crisis England & Wales, said:
"Every woman seeking asylum in the UK has a right to be treated with dignity and respect, and is entitled to protection under the law. For anyone to be sexually assaulted, intimidated or exploited at any time in their life is a travesty, and for these experiences to then be repeated and compounded in a system which is both detaining and responsible for protecting them is a scandal.
We thank the survivors who came forward to speak about their experiences and those of their fellow residents, and we also thank the many organisations and professionals who worked with us to produce this report. It is not enough to listen – the Home Office must now act; it must acknowledge this crisis and work with us to implement immediate and substantial changes to the conditions which enable residents and staff to abuse some of the most vulnerable women and children in our society, and for women and children to be re-traumatised in this way."
Ghadah Alnasseri, Co-Executive Director at Imkaan, said:
"Our 'Not Safe Here' report highlights the alarming reality faced by asylum-seeking women in the UK. These women endure not only the trauma of past experiences of violence but also the added harm caused by the very asylum accommodation system meant to protect them, compounded by a broader sentiment of hostility toward asylum seekers that is rooted in decades of racist and xenophobic media narratives and 'hostile environment' immigration and asylum policies.
We must ensure that Black, minoritised, and migrant women who experience violence have access to safe, long-term, community-based housing, receive support from properly funded, specialist 'By and For' violence against women and girls (VAWG) services, and that stronger accountability measures are implemented to protect them. By acting on the recommendations in our report, the government can help build a system that prioritises women’s safety, well-being, and dignity, providing them with the justice and support they deserve."