Women are not safe within the UK asylum system, and are being put at risk of further harm according to a new report by Rape Crisis.

Thousands of survivors of sexual violence are currently seeking asylum in the UK. Sexual violence is often a major cause for women to leave their country of origin and is commonly experienced on the journey to a safe country.

Asylum seekers who are fleeing sexual abuse are entirely dependent on the Home Office for support, accommodation and recovery from abuse. Charity Rape Crisis has found that the asylum system is re-traumatising women who have been victims of abuse.

In 2024, the charity conducted interviews with eight women who have navigated the UK asylum system as survivors of sexual violence.

From these interviews, it was established that women and children were forced to share communal areas, and sometimes bedrooms, with unrelated men. It was reported that women and girls do not feel safe within the asylum complex and are at risk of experiencing further sexual violence whilst staying in asylum accommodation.

One of the women interviewed by Rape Crisis fled with her children to the UK from Nigeria. The woman explained that her husband was continuously raping her and that her eldest child was forced to undergo female genital mutilation. Despite this, the Home Office rejected her asylum application because she ‘couldn’t remember the exact date on which her daughter was circumcised’.

They also found that the services, communities, and protection vital for survivors’ rehabilitation are at risk of failing due to a lack of funding and investment. They have urged the government to end the use of ‘institutional accommodation’ to address these problems.