Migrant group accuses Dept of Justice of stonewalling asylum process

Published: Tuesday, July 27, 2010

A group representing female migrants has accused the Department of Justice of blocking a proposal to provide a dedicated centre for vulnerable women in the asylum process.

Salome Mbugua, director of the charity Akidwa, said there was ''considerable resistance'' from senior officials at the department to a proposal to designate one of the state's 50 asylum centres for non-national female victims of violence, enforced prostitution and people trafficking.

Akidwa has discussed the proposal with the department's Reception and Integration Agency (RIA), which operates the state's asylum accommodation network. However, the proposal has not progressed. A spokesperson for the department said that ''it is not that RIA is resistant to the Akidwa proposal; rather it is yet to be convinced of its merits''.

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