Women seeking asylum in UK allege sexual abuse in mixed-sex hotels
-Claims of sexual violence made against other asylum seekers and staff include case of a 14-year-old who was allegedly raped

在英国寻求庇护的女性指控在男女混住的旅馆遭受性虐待
——对其他寻求庇护者和工作人员的性暴力指控包括一名14岁的据称被强奸的案件


(Women are being housed in mixed hotels even when they have disclosed being victims of sexual abuse in their home countries.)

（即使妇女们已经透露自己在本国遭受过性虐待，她们仍然被安置在男女混住的旅馆里。）
新闻：

Women and girls seeking asylum in Britain have alleged that they were raped, sexually assaulted and harassed after being placed in mixed Home Office accommodation.

在英国寻求庇护的妇女和女孩声称，她们被安置在内政部指定的混合住所后遭到强奸、性侵犯和骚扰。

An Observer investigation has uncovered claims of sexual violence at multiple Home Office hotels including allegations against fellow asylum seekers as well as hotel staff.

《观察家报》的一项调查发现，多家内政部旅馆都发生了性暴力事件，涵盖对寻求庇护者和酒店工作人员的指控。

In one case, a 14-year-old girl was allegedly groomed and raped after being separated from her mother at a hotel housing mostly single men in south-west England. The girl’s mother, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Observer that her daughter had previously experienced abuse and was “extremely vulnerable”.

在其中一起案件中，一名14岁的女孩据称在与母亲分离后，在英格兰西南部一家主要由单身男子居住的酒店遭到诱骗和强奸。女孩的母亲在不愿透露姓名的情况下告诉《观察家报》，她的女儿之前就已经遭受过虐待，并且“非常脆弱”。

Despite this, she and her sibling were placed in a different room to her, across the corridor, next door to a group of men. The mother said she repeatedly raised concerns with hotel staff and asked for her children to be moved into her room, but was told this was not possible. When she tried to keep her door propped open at night so she could keep watch on them, she says she was told by staff that it must be closed.

尽管如此，她和她的兄弟姐妹还是被安排在走廊对面的另一个房间，隔壁住了一群男人。这位母亲说，她多次向酒店工作人员提出担忧，并要求将她的孩子搬进她的房间，但被告知这是不可能的。她说，当她试图在晚上把门撑开，这样她就可以监视他们时，工作人员告诉她必须把门关上。

The girl is said to have been targeted by a man from the neighbouring room who gave her food and invited her into his room. The alleged rape was only discovered months later, in October 2023, after the girl began suffering gynaecological problems.

据说这名女孩是隔壁房间的一名男子的目标，他给了她食物，并邀请她进入自己的房间。几个月后，也就是2023年10月，在女孩开始出现妇科问题后，强奸案才被发现。

Her mother claimed failings by the Home Office had allowed the man to “prey on her” daughter. “The security was lax in the hotel where they put us. There were fights, constant smoking in the rooms, screaming, fighting, arguing. It was horrible. I said, ‘I’m not comfortable because my children are not with me’.”

她的母亲声称，由于内政部的失职，这名男子得以“捕猎”她的女儿。“他们安排我们去的酒店保安很松懈。房间里不停地抽烟、尖叫、打架、争吵。太可怕了。我说，‘我不舒服，因为我的孩子不在我身边。’”

She said her daughter had been “suicidal” after the incident and had refused to go to school. “[My daughter] said, ‘I don’t feel like being here.’”

她说，她的女儿在事件发生后有“自杀倾向”，并且拒绝上学。“（我女儿）说，‘我不想待在这里。’”
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


The hotel was later closed. The Home Office said it was “extremely concerned” about the case and was investigating. The mother said it seemed as though the Home Office “knew what they did was wrong” because when the original hotel closed down, the family was moved to a women-only hotel.

这家酒店后来关闭了。英国内政部表示，他们“非常关注”此案，并正在进行调查。这位母亲说，似乎内政部“知道他们做错了什么”，因为原来的酒店关闭后，这家人就搬到了一家女性专用的酒店。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


“That’s what they should have done originally but it seemed they wanted to cut costs,” she said. The family are pursuing a human rights claim.

她说：“他们本就应该一开始这样做的，但他们似乎想要削减成本。”这家人正在提起人权诉讼。

In another case, a pregnant woman supported by the charity Rape Crisis was housed in a mixed-sex hostel and remained living there after her baby was born. She described single men, living in the neighbouring rooms, who would “drink together and smoke different things”, and said she was often followed.

在另一起案件中，一名由“强奸危机”慈善机构资助的孕妇被安置在一家男女混住旅馆，并在孩子出生后一直住在那里。她描述了住在隔壁的单身男人，他们会“一起喝酒，抽不同的烟”，并说她经常被跟踪。

Another woman, also supported by Rape Crisis, was placed in mixed accommodation, even after she disclosed being trafficked for sexual exploitation. After she arrived in the UK, the woman, from Sierra Leone, found herself subjected to further abuse from an individual whom she had previously trusted, so was taken to a “safe house” while she waited for her asylum claim to be processed.

另一名妇女也得到了“强奸危机”组织的支持，她被安置在混合住所，甚至在她透露自己已经被贩卖以进行性剥削过之后。在抵达英国后，这名来自塞拉利昂的女子发现自己受到了一个她之前信任的人的进一步虐待，因此在她等待庇护申请被处理期间，她被带到一个“安全屋”。

In reality, this was a hostel housing both men and women, including people using drugs. She told the charity it was “the most scary seven months” of her life.

实际上，这是一个男女都住的旅馆，包括吸毒者。她告诉慈善机构，这是她一生中“最可怕的七个月”。

The cases have prompted calls for urgent action by the Home Office to tackle “systemic failures to protect women and children from sexual violence in asylum accommodation”. Ciara Bergman, chief executive of Rape Crisis, said the failings amounted to a “scandal”.

这些案件促使人们呼吁英国内政部采取紧急行动，解决“在庇护场所保护妇女和儿童免遭性暴力方面的系统性失误”。“强奸危机”组织首席执行官西亚拉·伯格曼表示，是这些失误构成了“丑闻”。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


Sarah Collier, a human rights solicitor at Irwin Mitchell, said the firm was seeing “a lot of issues with women in asylum accommodation”, including that people were being housed in mixed hotels even when they had disclosed being victims of sexual abuse in their home countries or on the journey to Britain.

欧文·米切尔律师事务所的人权律师莎拉·科利尔表示，该法人发现“女性在庇护住宿方面存在很多问题”，包括人们在透露自己在本国或在前往英国的途中遭受过性虐待后，仍被安置在混住旅馆。

She said that in cases where a resident had a criminal background, they were often contained and the Home Office tried to deport them. But in cases where complaints were raised by fellow hotel residents, very little was done.

她说，在住客有犯罪背景的情况下，他们通常会受到控制，内政部试图将他们驱逐出境。但如果是其他旅馆住客提出的投诉，他们几乎没有采取任何措施。

In the case involving the girl who was allegedly groomed and raped, she said her mother had “raised concerns more than once that were not heeded”. “There was a man in the room next door to the daughter’s room, a single man. He was an adult, and he effectively started to groom the daughter. The mother would see it; she would make them leave their door open during the day.”

在这名女孩被强奸的案件中，她说她的母亲“不止一次地提出了担忧，但没有得到重视”。“在女儿房间的隔壁有一个男人，一个单身男人。他是一个成年人，他实际上开始引诱女儿。母亲会看到；她会让他们白天开着门。”

She said it was “very morally wrong” for the child to have been placed “unsupervised” in mixed accommodation, in a room neighbouring single men.

她说，把孩子放在“无人监督”的混合住宿中，与单身男子住在一起，这在道德上是“非常错误的”。

“You wouldn’t put someone who has been fleeing domestic violence from a male perpetrator into a mixed hostel. The Home Office is very well aware of the risk.”

“你不会让一个从男性施暴者那里逃离家庭暴力的人住进男女混住的旅馆。内政部非常清楚这种风险。”

Charities and support groups have long raised concerns about the safety of women in asylum accommodation. These include that women and girls are being forced to share spaces – including bathrooms – with strangers, and that women who have fled sexual violence and abuse in their home countries have been forced to live in mixed accommodation where they have faced further sexual violence and threats of sexual violence – including from staff.

长期以来，慈善机构和支持团体一直对收容所里女性的安全表示担忧。这些问题包括，妇女和女孩被迫与陌生人共用空间（包括浴室），从本国逃离性暴力和虐待的妇女被迫住在混合住所，在那里她们面临着进一步的性暴力和性暴力威胁，包括来自工作人员的威胁。

The full scale of the abuse remains unclear because the Home Office has failed in its duty to comply with freedom of information laws, refusing a request to supply basic data about the number of reports of sexual violence in asylum accommodation without providing any reason for the refusal.

虐待行为的全面规模尚不清楚，因为内政部未能履行信息自由法的职责，拒绝提供有关庇护场所性暴力报告数量的基本数据，并没有提供拒绝的任何理由。

It also refused to provide data on the number of staff accused of sexual misconduct, and the number dismissed as a result, because it said it did not hold easily accessible information on staff complaints about sexual misconduct and that to get the figures would require a “manual trawl”. It subsequently failed to share the outcome of an internal review without providing any explanation, despite this being due two months ago.

内政部还拒绝提供有关被控性行为不端的员工人数以及因此被解雇的员工人数的数据，因为它表示，它不掌握员工对性行为不端的投诉的容易获取的信息，而且要获得这些数据需要“人工搜索”。随后，它没有分享内部审查的结果，也没有提供任何解释，尽管这本应该在两个月前完成。

Research by charities indicates the problems are widespread. A recent survey by Women for Refugee Women found almost a quarter of women had been subjected to sexual harassment or abuse from another hotel resident, while 12% had experienced this from hotel staff.

慈善机构的研究表明，这些问题很普遍。“妇女援助难民妇女”组织最近的一项调查发现，近四分之一的女性遭受过其他旅馆居民的性骚扰或性虐待，12%的女性遭受过旅馆工作人员的性骚扰或虐待。

Of the 59 women who were surveyed, 81% said they were in a mixed hotel. Two-thirds of those said they would have preferred to be in a women-only hotel or a hotel with women-only spaces and floors.

在接受调查的59名女性中，81%的人说她们住的是混住旅馆。三分之二的受访者表示，她们更愿意住在女性专用旅馆或有女性专用空间和楼层的旅馆。

The Observer was also told about multiple claims of sexual abuse that were allegedly perpetrated by staff. In one case, a woman who fled Iran due to threats against her life from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards was placed in hostel-style initial accommodation, where she stayed for two years. According to Rape Crisis, the charity supporting her, she was groomed and sexually exploited by two staff members, including one who invited her to his home.

《观察家报》还被告知多起据称由工作人员实施的性虐待指控。在一起案件中，一名妇女因受到伊朗革命卫队的生命威胁而逃离伊朗，她被安置在招待所式的初始住所，在那里住了两年。据支持她的慈善机构“强奸危机”称，她被两名工作人员诱奸和性剥削，其中一名工作人员邀请她去他家。

She reported his behaviour and this was reported to the Home Office and accommodation provider, leading to the man being suspended temporarily. But there was “no effective route to follow up after the complaint had been submitted” and the woman “was not directly contacted about the progress of the investigation or the outcome of her complaint”, the charity said. The perpetrator stayed working at the hostel and faced no further action.

她报告了他的行为，这被报告给了内政部和住宿供应商，导致该男子暂时被停职。但该慈善机构表示，“在提交投诉后，没有有效的跟进途径”，该女子“没有直接联系调查进展或投诉结果”。行凶者继续在旅馆工作，没有面临进一步的措施。

Another worker at a Home Office hotel accused of sexually exploiting a female asylum seeker went on to groom another victim after the initial allegations were not investigated.

在最初的指控未被调查后，另一名被控性侵一名女性寻求庇护者的内政部酒店工作人员继续对另一名受害者进行诱奸。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


Gemma Lousley, policy and research manager at Women for Refugee Women, said that as well as the most serious cases, the charity also often heard about “very insidious but really distressing … lower level behaviours” that “seem to happen really routinely”. These included “knock and walks”, where “male staff members knock on the door and just walk in, before the woman has given a response to say it’s OK to come in”.

“妇女援助难民妇女”的政策和研究经理杰玛·洛斯利说，除了最严重的案件，该慈善机构还经常听到“非常阴险但非常令人痛苦的……低级行为，似乎真的经常发生”。其中包括“敲门进”，即“男性工作人员敲门，然后直接走进去，在女性做出回应说可以进来之前”。

She called for a “more preventative approach”, including more robust reporting processes. “Hopefully, any government interested in tackling violence against women and girls, and particularly this government who have made it really clear that it’s a priority, would include asylum-seeking women within that. Clearly, one thing that would really help that is women being offered the choice of women-only accommodation,” she said.

她呼吁采取“更具预防性的方法”，包括更健全的报告程序。“希望任何有兴趣解决针对妇女和女孩的暴力行为的政府，特别是已经明确表示这是一个优先事项的政府，都将寻求庇护的妇女纳入其中。显然，有一件事会真正有所帮助，那就是为女性提供女性专用的住宿选择。”

In 2023, the Women and Equalities Committee raised the same issues: “The Home Office should conduct an urgent review of safeguarding policies and practices across all asylum support contracts, to ensure the asylum support contracts safeguarding frxwork is being consistently and effectively implemented in all settings. It should publish its review and an action plan within three months.”

2023年，妇女与平等委员会提出了同样的问题：“内政部应该对所有庇护支持合同的保障政策和做法进行紧急审查，以确保庇护支持合同的保障框架在所有环境中得到一致和有效的实施。它应该在三个月内公布审查结果和行动计划。”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Protecting the health and safety of women and girls in the asylum system is of paramount importance, and we are very clear that our mission to halve violence against women and girls applies to all women in the UK, no matter their circumstances or their background.

一位内政部发言人说：“保护庇护系统中妇女和女孩的健康和安全至关重要，我们非常清楚，我们将对妇女和女孩的暴力减半的使命适用于英国所有妇女，无论她们的情况或背景如何。”

“We are therefore extremely concerned at the incident reported to have taken place in 2022, and we will thoroughly investigate any other reports that are passed to us, together with our contracted accommodation providers.

“因此，我们对报道发生在2022年的事件非常关注，我们将与我们的合同住宿供应商一起彻底调查传递给我们的任何其他报告。

“The Home Office remains determined to end the use of asylum hotels over time, as part of our wider effort to restore order to the asylum system.”

“随着时间的推移，内政部仍决心停止使用庇护旅馆，这是我们恢复庇护体系秩序的更广泛努力的一部分。”