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'Sexual violence and abuse is a constant risk'

The UK asylum system is retraumatising victims and survivors of sexual violence and abuse and putting them at risk of further harm in accommodation provided by the Home Office.

Our report seeks to give voice to some of these women, as well as the professionals supporting them.

It follows a recent Women for Refugee Women report that highlights the related issues of coercion and control in asylum accommodation.

Read our full report

[A line drawing of a group of women of different ethnicities.]

'Some of us have escaped war, some of us have been trafficked. We are here because we cannot go back. And they are treating us like we are nothing ... they put a fear in us, we can't even complain at all'

Evelyn, a survivor of child rape, sexual abuse and sexual exploitation who was trafficked to the UK from Nigeria when she was just 19.

Lana's story

After fleeing to the UK from Iran to escape death threats, Lana was sexually abused by staff members at her Home Office provided asylum accommodation.

One of the perpetrators initially portrayed himself as a manager who could be trusted and Lana turned to him to complain about another member of staff who had been sexually harassing her.

However, the member of staff she turned to was not in fact a manager and went on to abuse his position of trust and power, emotionally manipulating Lana and coercing her into a relationship. This relationship was physically violent and abusive.

Lana went through official channels to make a complaint about this man and he was temporarily suspended.

But Lana told us that the Home Office decided to take no further action because it was "her word against his" and the staff member went back to working at the same accommodation.

She said the perpetrator continued to target and pursue sexual relationships with other women living within the asylum accommodation.

[This cropped image shows part of a line drawing of a group of women.]

A huge proportion of women and girls currently seeking asylum in the UK have survived sexual violence and abuse in their home countries.

[Asylum-seeking women crop 2]

One of those women is Josephine. This is her story.

Josephine and her children fled to the UK from Nigeria to escape persecution from Boko Haram militants, as well as multiple forms of gender-based violence from their own family and community.

For Josephine, this included being raped and sexually abused by her husband on multiple occasions.

"Even when you dont want, you have to," she told us. "Some days I dont have strength to struggle, I dont struggle. I dont like talking about these stories anyways. It was horrible back home."

Female genital mutilation

Josephine's husband had also forced their eldest daughter to undergo a procedure known as female circumcision or female genital mutilation (FGM). And was insisting that their younger daughters have it too.

"He spoke to me about it but I refused," said Josephine, whose niece had died as a result of the procedure. "The last day before I left the country ... he beat the hell out of me. I went to the police station. But because he knows them there in the police, they did nothing."

Asylum denied

Josephine experienced trauma upon trauma in Nigeria. But despite this, the Home Office rejected her asylum application because she couldn't remember the exact date on which her daughter was circumcised.

"I dont even want to remember it because its, its, its not even something [I am able] to think about it," said Josephine, who had submitted hospital evidence of her daughter's experience of FGM.

"So, because of it, they rule that I am lying. That they dont accept it. They completely disregarded everything"

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It is very common for survivors of sexual violence and abuse as well as other traumatic experiences to find it very difficult to talk about what happened to them. Yet the UK asylum system routinely expects women to do this as part of the asylum claim process.

What's going wrong?

Our report found that many features of the UK asylum system are creating an environment where victims and survivors of sexual violence and abuse are being retraumatised, and where women and children are being put at risk of further harm.

These features include:

The Home Office's outsourcing of asylum accommodation and support provision to other agencies that are failing to safeguard those in their care.

Women and children being forced to share spaces including sometimes bedrooms with strangers.

The scrutiny that survivors of rape and sexual abuse face throughout the asylum process.

A lack of specialist support.

The Home Office's 'hostile environment' and 'no recourse to public funds' policies the latter of which forces women with failed asylum claims into destitution, making them more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.

Unclean and unsafe accommodation.

[A quote from Tia, a support worker, reads: "They live in such an uncertain and unsafe environment. It's an environment that doesn't protect them, doesn't support them. And, actually, puts them more at risk because they are completely disempowered"]

How can these problems be fixed?

Our recommendations include:

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 should be based within specialist VAWG (violence against women and girls) organisations that are led by, and for, Black and minoritised women, and that have expertise in supporting migrant women. Advocates should help to identify vulnerabilities and carry out risk assessments as women enter the early stages of the asylum support system. They should also 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.
An independent review of Home Office contracts with accommodation providers.
A new VAWG inspectorate for non-standard accommodation: to ensure accountability, this inspectorate should be shaped by those with sexual violence expertise and those with expertise in services led by, and for, Black and minoritised women.

Find the full list in our report

Let's shout about what's happening in the UK asylum system

Please show support for asylum-seeking women and children by sharing our report on social media. We need as many people as possible to hear about these injustices.

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Are you a journalist who wants to cover this story?

Please contact us at media@rapecrisis.org.uk

This address is not staffed 24 hours but a member of our team will respond as quickly as possible.

Have you been affected by these issues?

Please know that you're not alone. If you're currently living in England and Wales including in asylum accommodation there are lots of organisations and services that might be able to offer you support.

Here are some links you might find helpful:

[A young woman is on the phone while sat on a sofa.]
Our 24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line

This is a free phone and online chat service for anyone aged 16+ who's been affected by any form of sexual violence or abuse. We offer interpreters over the phone if you need to speak in a language that's not English.
[Two middle-aged women looking at something on a mobile phone together.]
Information in more langauges

Over on the 24/7 Support Line website, we have information about the Support Line and about sexual violence and abuse in 18 more languages.
[A woman wearing a white headscarf looks straight into the camera. Only her head and shoulders are visible.]
Imkaan (co-author of our Not Safe Here report)

Check out Imkaan's 'Get Help' page which lists organisations across the UK that specialise in helping women and girls from Black and Minoritised communities who have experienced violence or abuse.
[An elderly woman sits at a table and is writing in her journal.]
Women for Refugee Women

This organisation offers support to refugee and asylum-seeking women in London, including trans women, through a range of creative and educational activities. Click this link to find out how you can access support.

Right of reply

Before publishing Not Safe Here, we offered a right of reply to the four organisations holding Home Office contracts for asylum accommodation and support provision.

At the time of writing the report, the following companies held contracts for the provision of asylum accommodation: Clearsprings Ready Homes, Mears Group and Serco. The charity Migrant Help held the contract for the national Advice, Issue Reporting and Eligibility Support (AIRE) helpline and support service.

We sent all four a summary of the issues raised in the report that related to their specific organisation, and gave them a right of reply. Migrant Help and Serco provided responses, and we included their comments at relevant points throughout the report.

Serco said:

We completely refute the suggestions that you are making about the work that we do in providing accommodation for asylum seekers the accommodation, communication and complaints systems are all meeting the standards required.

We also have complete confidence that our teams who are responsible for providing the accommodation services to these vulnerable people at a particularly difficult time in their lives are carrying out their work in a professional and compassionate manner.

Please note: Rape Crisis England & Wales did not provide Serco with further details of women who raised concerns about the company's services in the report, despite its repeated requests that we do so. This was to make sure that we respect and protect the confidentiality of the women who shared their stories with us.

Migrant Help responded to each of the specific issues we raised with them, and shared the following comment about the report as a whole:

"As an organisation that works to support displaced, trafficked and exploited people, we are grateful to [Rape Crisis England & Wales] for doing this important work, and we actively welcome your report.

We agree that it is imperative that the best support possible is provided to survivors of sexual violence, and, in cases where this support falls short, it is critical that an honest analysis is conducted, and similar incidences are prevented in the future. Thank you for bringing these issues to our attention."

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