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UK: Home Office refuses to reveal whether women in Yarl's Wood have been raped in case it 'damages the commercial interests' of companies

14 June 2016

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"The Home Office is refusing to reveal how many detainees have been sexually assaulted or raped inside Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre in Bedfordshire in case the information becoming public knowledge harms the “commercial interests” of private companies that are involved in running it, The Independent can reveal.

Like all Government departments, the Home Office is subject to legislation that requires public bodies to disclose information that is in the public interest. However, since The Independent submitted a request for information about sexual violence against detainees in the centre in March, the Home Office has refused to disclose this information. A member of Home Office staff argued this was on the grounds that: “disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests” of people involved with running Yarl’s Wood."

See the article: Home Office refuses to reveal whether women in Yarl's Wood have been raped in case it 'damages the commercial interests' of companies (The Independent, link)

Some background on Yarl's Wood and the controversies and scandals associated with the detention centre: Yarl's Wood: migrant detention centre condemned again (Statewatch News Online, August 2015)

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