Female asylum seekers are reporting rapes and sexual assaults by British men but many say they are too fearful to pursue criminal prosecutions.
Their voices are rarely heard but some have spoken to the Guardian at a time when the far right is intensifying tropes about endemic rape of English women and girls by “fighting age” male asylum seekers.
The rallying cry by far-right agitator Daniel Thomas, known as Danny Tommo, to motivate his black balaclava-clad followers last weekend when they protested about the arrival of asylum seekers in Dover and Portsmouth, focused almost exclusively on unsubstantiated claims of widespread rape perpetrated by asylum seekers.
While there have been a handful of convictions of asylum seekers for serious sexual offences, which have attracted widespread media coverage, there is no comprehensive published data about crimes committed by asylum seekers.
One woman, who spent two years in an asylum hotel after fleeing religious persecution and domestic violence, said she was repeatedly verbally and physically harassed by a staff member at the hotel she was accommodated in. This included unwanted touching and holding on to her hands when handing over documents. After a while he started visiting her room regularly, asking her out for drinks and on dates. He took her number from the hotel database and started texting her repeatedly from his personal phone asking for sex. At that point she reported him to hotel staff and was moved to another hotel.
“It was awful,” she said. “He told me he wanted to have sex with me.”
In another case, a woman who had just arrived in the UK from Iran and had been placed in a hotel near Heathrow by the Home Office, said she was raped by a security guard at her hotel.
“It was very terrifying. I didn’t know what to do. I reported the attack to the hotel staff and I was asked if I wanted to make a statement to the police. I did not know if the police here would be like the police in Iran, so I was too scared to do anything.
“I was also worried that if I reported the rape it would make it more likely that my asylum claim would be refused.”
She was moved to another hotel soon after reporting the rape and does not know what happened to the perpetrator.
In a third case, a lesbian asylum seeker from Uganda whose asylum claim was based on fear of imprisonment or death in her home country if her sexual orientation was discovered, was unable to find a legal aid lawyer to represent her.
“I managed to find a private immigration lawyer but I had no money to pay him, so he forced me to have sex with him as a form of payment even though he knew what my asylum case was,” she said. “I felt there was nothing I could do to prevent this.”
All three women were later granted refugee status. It is likely that incidents of sexual assault and rape of asylum seekers are under-reported to Home Office accommodation contractors.
A home affairs select committee inquiry into asylum accommodation heard evidence about inadequate safeguarding in asylum accommodation. The British Red Cross told the inquiry that this lack of safeguarding had placed “extraordinary strain” on their frontline refugee support teams. They provided examples including a staff member at a hotel trying to use a key card to get into a woman’s room late one night when she was taking a bath. They referred to a “pervasive culture of sexual harassment” in one hotel, including instances of sexual assault.
A spokesperson from Women for Refugee Women, which supports women in the asylum system, said: “The weaponisation of violence against women and girls by far-right groups does nothing to make women safer. It distorts the reality of abuse, creates barriers to support and justice for survivors, and allows perpetrators to hide behind racist stereotypes instead of being held accountable.
“Using violence against women and girls to demonise people seeking safety here is a dangerous distraction. This violence is a systemic problem, not one confined to any nationality or immigration status, and it must urgently be treated as one.”
Ciara Bergman, chief executive of Rape Crisis England & Wales said: “We remain seriously concerned about a lack of appropriate safeguards in place to protect women seeking asylum in the UK from sexual violence, abuse and exploitation.
“This cohort of women and girls are particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation. Many have limited or no information about their rights at all, let alone meaningful avenues through which to enforce them.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Our government has committed to halving violence against women and girls in a decade; it is vital that this includes those seeking asylum and living within the asylum complex.”
Home Office sources said there is published guidance about issues of this kind in Home Office accommodation known as the statement of requirements for asylum accommodation and support. The guidance states: “This would typically include assessing any immediate risk to the alleged victim and others, considering what support services may be required, and determining whether any protective measures are necessary.”
