UK: Suella Braverman to make reporting child sexual abuse a legal duty; slams British Pakistani gangs

United Kingdom Home Secretary Suella Braverman, on Sunday (April 2), unveiled her plans to make failure to report child sexual abuse illegal for people who work with children in England. Additionally, in a series of interviews with UK-based media outlets, the Indian-origin minister while addressing the new laws also spoke about the culture of silence around British Pakistani male gangs involved in such crimes.

While the home secretary’s move is subject to consultation, it follows a recommendation made last year by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) which had also described sexual abuse of children as an “epidemic that leaves tens of thousands of victims in its poisonous wake”.

The inquiry which lasted for nearly seven years into the institutional failings in England and Wales concluded that people in positions of trust should be compelled by law to report child sexual abuse. In line with this, Braverman has vowed to “right one of the greatest injustices seen in Britain in modern times”.

Additional details about the proposed policy by the home secretary are expected in the upcoming days. The home secretary also said how under this policy it will be made clear that anyone working with vulnerable groups and children in a safeguarding role, like teachers or social workers, “can’t get away with inaction”.

In a series of interviews, Braverman also said that the policy will target criminals who hold cultural attitudes that are incompatible with British values. She also spoke about how they have been left unchallenged within their communities out of political correctness and fear of being called racists.

“The perpetrators are groups of men, almost all British Pakistani, who hold cultural attitudes completely incompatible with British values,” said the home secretary to BBC. She added, “They have been left unchallenged both within their communities and by wider society, despite their activities being an open secret,” adding that there has been a “wilful turning of a blind eye, a failure to act and that silence has enabled this abuse”.

“What we've seen is a practice whereby vulnerable, white, English girls, sometimes in care, sometimes who are in challenging circumstances, being pursued and raped and drugged and harmed by gangs of British Pakistanimen who've worked in child abuse rings or networks,” said Braverman, in an interview with Sky News.

(With inputs from agencies)

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