"many of the perpetrators still running wild"
Suella Braverman has announced the government’s campaign to tackle child sexual exploitation.
Following several stories about grooming gangs abusing young girls, the Home Secretary has launched new initiatives.
According to Ms Braverman, political correctness has stopped individuals in positions of responsibility from taking action.
The Home Secretary did not hold back in naming British Pakistani perpetrators of the crime.
While initiating an urgent focus on mandatory reporting, the government announced plans for an extensive investigation into how to deal with the problem.
The Home Office thinks those in positions of trust who were responsible for looking after young girls “turned a blind eye” to abuse “out of political correctness, out of a fear of being called racist, out of a fear of being called bigoted”.
According to Suella Braverman, this terror has caused “thousands of children” to have their “childhoods robbed and devastated”, with “many of the perpetrators still running wild”.
Suella Braverman called the silence of these experts, especially those working for state organisations, “outrageous”.
Any profession involved in the protection of children would now be required by new regulations to report any information that might give rise to concerns about the safety of children and to take appropriate action.
Sky presenter Sophy Ridge presented Ms Braverman with a 2020 report which found that grooming gangs “are most commonly white” but added that “high profile cases… links between ethnicity and this form of offending could not be proven”.
Despite the assessment of child sexual exploitation not being exclusive to a particular ethnicity, the Home Secretary referenced the 2014 report into child grooming in Rotherham and the subsequent 2015 report by Louise Casey, both of which were “unflinching in their assessment of the problem” of ethnic grooming gangs.
Suella Braverman added: “There have been several reports since about the predominance of certain ethnic groups – and I say, British Pakistani males – who hold cultural values totally at odds with British values, who see women in a demeaned and illegitimate way and who pursue an outdated and frankly heinous approach in terms of the way they behave.
“We’ve got to stamp that out with criminal law and proper safeguarding and we’re only going to do that if as a society we face up to the facts and truth of what’s going on.”
She cited “vulnerable English girls” as the focus of victims experiencing the crime.
Ms Braverman added:
“Vulnerable English girls, sometimes in care or facing challenging life circumstances, are being “pursued and raped and drugged and harmed by gangs of British Pakistani men, who’ve worked in child abuse rings or networks
“We’ve seen institutions and state agencies – whether it’s social workers, teachers, the police – turn a blind eye to these signs of abuse out of political correctness, out of fear of being called racist, out of fear of being called bigoted.
“As a result, thousands of children have had their childhoods robbed and devastated and there are many of the perpetrators still running wild, behaving in this way.
“It’s now down to the authorities to track these perpetrators down without fear or favour relentlessly and bring them to justice.”