Asylum Aid has urged the government to abandon its safe country list after it emerged that women were facing human rights abuses in countries deemed safe by the Home Office.

Albania, Jamaica and Ukraine are among 24 countries on the Home Office's "safe country list" even though lesbian women in Jamaica have been cut, raped, burned and shot on account of their sexuality

In a report launched to coincide with Refugee Week, the charity highlights instances where girls who have been trafficked from Albania are returned to family members who trafficked them in the first place. Perpetrators of domestic violence in Ukraine can cite the victim's behaviour in provoking outbreaks as an excuse for abuse.

Maurice Wren, co-ordinator of Asylum Aid, accused the Home Office of failing to recognise the specific risks women face. "This research demonstrates that countries which the Home Office asserts are safe may be anything but safe for women."

Meanwhile, a separate report from campaign groups including Refugee Council and Amnesty International says that Home Office figures reveal that three out of four asylum applications in Britain are made by people fleeing countries in conflict.

"Refugees are people forced to flee their homes in fear of their lives - this is a fact that is too often overlooked," said Maeve Sherlock, Refugee Council chief executive, speaking on behalf all the agencies.

- Fleeing the Fighting: How conflict drives the search for asylum from www.refugeeweek.org.uk and Safe for Whom? from www.asylumaid.org.uk