Observer article: Women seeking asylum in UK allege sexual abuse in mixed-sex hotels

[RoyalCorgi]

This is extremely sad. It illustrates perfectly why women and girls need same-sex accommodation.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/mar/23/women-seeking-asylum-allege-sexual-abuse-in-mixed-sex-hotels

Interesting article in the Observer today:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/23/the-observer-view-on-gender-failure-to-accurately-record-biological-sex-harms-us-all

Related:

The report, designed and carried out by a team of seven women with personal experience of the UK’s asylum system, uncovered shocking new findings:
❌ Male detention centre staff are still watching women in intimate situations, including whilst showering, getting dressed, or using the toilet, despite the Home Office banning this practice in 2016.
❌ Women are subject to intrusive and degrading practices by male staff, including through the use of ‘constant supervision’ and through using male staff to ‘search’ women, despite the ban on this.
❌ The unifying factor across asylum-seeking women in detention is their experience of gender-based violence; as corroborated in our research spanning a decade.
https://www.refugeewomen.co.uk/decade-of-harm/

Not forgetting there used to be a well respected women's organisation based in London specifically for refugee women who had been sex trafficked.

Needless to say the Labour funding body decided this work could be carried out more effectively in a mixed hostel environment managed by the Salvation Army. ie it was cheaper.

This was years ago.

Its not that they dont know it is totally inappropriate to house women in mixed sex accommodation, but they just keep on doing it.

Not forgetting that local councils continue to use "unregulated" accommodation for lone teenagers 16 and over (it used to be younger but supposedly this has been stopped) who are meant to be able to live independently. But in the case of young women often become targets of pimps.

DSD and her mum were housed in similar accommodation after they got evicted for non payment of rent in the early 90s. DSD was mid teens and got constantly pestered by men who were also housed there who were asylum seekers. They used to knock on the door or accost her in the passage. Her mum wouldn't let her stay with us and, to be fair, we lived nowhere near DSD's school.

I think this is a problem in all these settings. There didn't seem to be anyone supervising things.

Appalling. Those poor women. And the total lack action against the men.