UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said that, in her assessment, almost all women trying to reach the country in small boats from northern France may have been raped during the journey. She said this in an interview with The Rest Is Politics podcast, The Guardian reports.
According to Mahmood, British authorities do not control the selection of people who end up in northern France and board inflatable boats bound for the United Kingdom. She argues that the process is determined by criminal groups that are also involved in human trafficking.
Mahmood said that women on such routes are likely subjected to sexual violence, while some men face abuse and threats. In her view, the decisions of criminal groups should not determine who gets the opportunity to find refuge in the United Kingdom.
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Refugee Council director Imran Hussain welcomed the minister's recognition of the scale of sexual violence against refugee women and girls. At the same time, he questioned the authorities' closure of safe and legal routes which, in his view, could protect people from exploitation.
Hussain noted that women and girls fleeing war and persecution face sexual violence both in armed conflicts and while seeking safety. He called for new safe routes not to be limited to a few hundred people. According to him, the government last year closed family reunification, a legal route for refugees used predominantly by women and children.
The UK government said that the Border Security Command monitors the situation in the English Channel around the clock, and everyone arriving by small boat is detained, checked and processed.
Source: UA
