Rape summit in London sparks charge of 'hypocrisy'
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Version 0 of 1. The government has been accused of hypocrisy for hosting this week's Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict in London, while failing victims of rape on its own doorstep. The foreign secretary, William Hague, and film star Angelina Jolie, special envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, are co-chairing the conference, which begins on Tuesday at the Excel Centre in east London and aims to create "irreversible momentum against sexual violence in conflict". But sources at the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), as well as charities working with asylum seekers and victims of torture, are growing increasingly concerned at the failings of UK immigration and Home Office officials to deal with the cases of women who have been victims of sexual violence when they arrive in the UK as war refugees. The Refugee Council's women's advocacy manager, Anna Musgrave, said it was hypocritical of the government to have the Foreign Office pledging to help to stop rape as a weapon of war while the Home Office was treating its victims so shoddily. "This summit demonstrates there is a dangerous lack of joined-up thinking when it comes to tackling sexual violence against women. These are the same women," she said. "On one hand, you've got real progress being made in conflict zones overseas, but when those same victims make it to UK shores it's a completely different story. Women often aren't believed, and instead of being protected they're further traumatised by the asylum system. It's critical that the government tackles this issue with the same gusto at home as it's doing abroad and protects the survivors of sexual violence." Despite a commitment last year to train staff in what to do if a woman tells them she has been a victim of rape, there has been little change. Often a traumatised woman arriving in the UK is taken to be interviewed by a male official and a male translator and expected to disclose everything that has happened to her in a matter of minutes, said Musgrave. Sometimes her children may be in the room. "Of course, it means often a woman won't disclose until far later and that is then used against her – 'why didn't she disclose at the beginning? She must be lying'. The lack of resources and gulf between policy and practice means there is some rank hypocrisy at work in the way we treat the very small number of women who actually make it to the UK," said Musgrave. One refugee from the rape-riven war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a sexual-violence victim whose family was massacred, told the Observer that her treatment by a "screaming" Home Office official felt like a continuation of the horror she had experienced in the DRC. "It was very, very difficult. When you are a refugee, you think you might be treated kindly in the UK but ... they behave in the same way. Before I even told my story I was shouted at, screamed at: 'Why do you come here? Why did you sleep in a cardboard box on the street?'" Marie has been waiting for a year for a decision on her asylum application. The first refusal was overturned on appeal. "You don't feel safe ever. The only basic humanity I have seen is from charities. The Home Office think I am a liar and they can come for me in the night, any time. I know what the officials are capable of. They say they want to save women from atrocities. I am that woman." Charities point out that refugee rape victims do not fall under policies set up to protect UK victims of domestic abuse. |