Alwaght-A UN special rapporteur has criticized the UK government for preventing her from inspecting a female detention center in Bedfordshire, Press TV reports.
Rashida Manjoo, the UN’s rapporteur on violence against women, says the UK did not allow her to visit Yarl’s Wood detention center, while she was visiting Britain in April.
The rapporteur said on Saturday during her two-week tour, she received a series of reports on the situation of women detainees inside the detention center, including allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior. However, Manjoo said she was not allowed to go to the facility during the visit.
Following the criticism, Press TV conducted an interview with Adam Hurst, a social analyst. He condemned UK’s refusal to allow inspection, saying reports of violence on women is a very serious issue.
“For Britain to still be living in this culture of violence toward women, when it pretends to its counterparts countries in Asia and West Asia about their human rights abuses or the alleged human rights abuses or abuses of women, for which Britain really cannot make any criticism, when it does not allow an internationally recognized body or at least a representative to enter the detention center, which many analysts and many journalists in Britain know is a haven for abuse, sexual abuse and slavery’, said Adam Hurst.
Rashida Manjoo described the situation in the UK as similar to the way Bangladesh blocked her from visiting a notorious refugee camp in the country. In 2013, the Bangladeshi government prevented her from inspecting Kutupalong refugee camp, which houses members of the Rohingya community in the southeast of the country. Manjoo had received reports of “human rights violations, including violence against women” inside the Bangladeshi camps.
Manjoo, furthermore, questioned if there was something to hide inside Yarl’s Wood, saying she hopes that other countries would raise the issue with Britain of why she was denied to enter the country’s largest immigration center for women.
