The Swedish municipality of Falkenberg is one of the few local governments to implement female-only asylum homes for underage girls, after a number of cases of sexual abuse by young boys. The gender segregation has been in place in the municipality since March of last year after a number of sexual assaults on young girls. The justification for the move was that if the girls continue to live with the underage boys, there is still a risk of sexual abuse occuring. The former situation saw the young girls in the care of the state rarely leave their rooms for fear of attack, Swedish broadcaster SVT reports. Head of the female-only asylum home Lama Akkache defended the segregation saying, “staff often mention that the girls have thrived.” Akkache added, “When we had communal living they kept mostly in one of the girls’ rooms and spent time there, but now they dare to come out into the living room, participate in activities and use more of the space.” Mahbobah Hakimi is an asylum seeker who has lived at the female-only asylum home for over a year and said she was happy with the move. ” I think it’s best to stay with other girls,” she said and went