Legal News
Britain rejects rape victims asylum pleas (4 November 2013)
Date: 04/11/2013
The Home Office has been accused of rejecting Asylum Claims from African women whose struggle has been championed by William Hague, the foreign secretary.
Nearly two-thirds of women who have fled the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo -which has been described by the United Nations as the “rape capital of the world” have been denied asylum in Britain in recent years.
Many of those who have been turned down include women who say that they were raped by militiamen or soldiers as children. This had led to claims that the government lacks a “joined-up’ strategy.
The asylum rejections come despite the fact that Hague has been campaigning heavily against the use of rape and sexual violence as a “weapon of war”.
Hague travelled to DR Congo in March this year with actress Angelina Jolie, a UN special envoy, to meet rape victims and to demand more action to bring the perpetrators to justice.
It has now emerged that the foreign secretary has brought to light the case of a young Congolese woman whose claim to asylum was rejected by the Home Office when she came to Britain as a thirteen year-old, but whose immigration case remains unresolved.
The Congolese woman, who is now in her early twenties, was raped as a child by government officials in Kinshasa, the capital of DR Congo, according to Hani Zubeidi, her Lawyer.
She was being held in detention at the time after her and her family were rounded up on the grounds of her Father’s opposition political activities.
“Her father was killed in detention, but she later left DR Congo with her eldest brother and sister to claim asylum in Britain,” said Zubeidi.
Originally, the woman was listed as a dependant on her brothers application, but when his case was rejected, her initial plea for asylum was also scuppered. When she turned 18, she was allowed to apply for asylum in her own right.
“The brother was returned to DR Congo about four years ago and disappeared,” said Zubeidi. His client however, has remained in the UK as part of a large backlog of cases. “She’s a model citizen and wants to go to University,” said Zubeidi.
“The delay in resolving her case is proving detrimental”.
From 2008 to 2012, the Home Office rejected on average 65% of asylum claims from Congolese women. It is believed by experts that 80% of these cases are likely to have cited rape or sexual violence; though that does not in itself prove that a claimant faces persecution if turned away. The rejection rate fell to 50% in 2012.
The Home Office said, “We consider every application on a case-by-case basis. But we believe those who do not need our protection should return home at the earliest opportunity. All claims are handled sensitively.”
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