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| Picture belonging to the same article: ©Sean Dempsey/PA - Yarls Wood immigration removal centre in Bedfordshire. |
An official UN
inquiry into Britain's record on tackling violence against women was prevented
from investigating conditions inside Yarl's Wood, Britain's biggest, most
controversial immigration detention centre for women, it has been claimed.
Campaigners are
furious that Rashida Manjoo, the UN special rapporteur on violence against
women, did not visit the Bedfordshire detention facility during her two-week
inquiry, despite having told several groups that she was keen to inspect Yarl's
Wood.
The Home Office
organised her itinerary, the first UK visit of its kind by an independent
expert charged by the UN human rights council to monitor violence against
women. In a statement delivered at the start of her investigation, Manjoo
vowed: "[I] will look at violence that is perpetrated or condoned by state
authorities, and violence encountered by women facing new vulnerabilities due
to the increased influx of immigrant women, asylum seekers and refugees."
