Skip to content

Female asylum seekers report sexual assaults by British men

newsSep 13, 202621511

Female asylum seekers in the UK have told the Guardian they were raped or sexually assaulted by British men but many are too fearful to pursue criminal prosecutions because they worry reporting could jeopardise their asylum claims. One woman said a hotel staff member repeatedly harassed her, touched her without consent and then used her phone number to text for sex; she was moved after reporting him. A woman placed in a Home Office hotel near Heathrow said a security guard raped her; she reported it to hotel staff but declined to give a police statement because she feared UK police treatment and that reporting would harm her claim. A lesbian asylum seeker from Uganda said a private immigration lawyer forced her to have sex as payment because she could not afford legal fees. All three women were later granted refugee status. The article notes there have been a handful of convictions of asylum seekers for serious sexual offences but no comprehensive published data on crimes by asylum seekers, and that allegations are likely under-reported to Home Office accommodation contractors. A Home Affairs Select Committee inquiry heard evidence of inadequate safeguarding in asylum accommodation, with the British Red Cross giving examples including a staff member attempting to use a key card to enter a woman’s room late at night, illustrating systemic protection failures that may leave victims without routes to report or prosecute.

1 source