Rotherham abuse scandal

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The Rotherham abuse scandal is the organized sexual abuse of children and young people between 1997 and 2013 in Rotherham , Central England. The scope of the scandal became clear when an investigative report was published in 2014 that took stock of the scale of the crimes and showed government officials, the police and local politicians to hide and fail. 1,400 children and young people in the city of Rotherham, the environment and other places in central England by mainly British-Pakistani " grooming " -bands systematically abused and sexually enslaved . This resulted in group rape , forced prostitution and “trafficking” - passing on from one group of men to the next.

Dimension of the scandal

As early as 2010, several cases of systematic abuse of children and adolescents had become known in Central England. Following the arrest and conviction of some perpetrators in Rotherham and the town of Rochdale , 50 km west, suspicions arose that the abuse had spread widely and was largely ignored by law enforcement agencies, schools and youth welfare organizations. Therefore, an independent investigation into the sexual exploitation of children in Rotherham was commissioned, the investigation report of which was published on August 26, 2014.

Prior to this, public awareness had been raised through the autobiographical publication of a girl in Rochdale who had been systematically abused for years under the title Girl A in 2013 .

The investigation, carried out by Scottish social worker and honorary professor Alexis Jay and other independent experts on behalf of the Rotherham County Council , concluded that the police had largely failed and that not a few dozen, but between 1997 and 2013 at least 1,400 children and Young people had been sexually exploited for years. According to the investigation report, most of the victims from the collected and examined cases were "white British children" (German: "white British children and young people"), the perpetrators for the most part came from the Pakistani- British community of Rotherham. The abuse contained in the report includes kidnapping , rape , sexual abuse of young people and children, and human trafficking and forced prostitution .

prehistory

2010 abuse proceedings

In 2010, five men of Pakistani origin were arrested for a series of sex crimes against girls aged twelve. The men had developed relationships with penniless girls and raped them in cars and parks in Rotherham. The men were tried by Sheffield Crown Court and jailed in November 2010. The underage victims were described by the perpetrators as "dirty gori", a Pakistani slang term for dirty white girls. The court noted: "The message must be loud and clear that our society will not tolerate sex offenders who hunt children." In addition to their convictions, the perpetrators were entered in the sex offender registry.

The Times research

In September 2012, a series of Times reports , based on confidential documents from police and social services, announced that the abuse cases were much more widespread than previously known. According to these reports, there was systematic abuse of white girls in Rotherham by men, mostly of Pakistani origin, for which the perpetrators were not being prosecuted by the police. The newspaper cited a 2010 report by the police intelligence bureau discussing "a problem of a local and national nature with a network of Asian men" that " exists particularly in Sheffield and even more so in Rotherham, where there appears to be a significant problem with networks of men from the Pakistani-British community and the exploitation of young white women ”. Reference was also made to a document from the Rotherham Safeguarding Children Board which stated that "crimes have cultural characteristics [...] that are sensitive to local social diversity ".

The South Yorkshire Police Department rejected the Times allegations ; the portrayal of the authorities withholding information was "grossly biased and unfair to the teams of dedicated specialists working together to address the problem".

Reactions

Rother Hamer Member of the House of Commons , Denis MacShane , criticized the police because of the concealment of the extent of abuse and said: "It is clear that trade is much more common with barely pubescent girls, and I regret that the police MPs of Yorkshire not informed of the investigation ”. Lord Ahmed urged the mosque leaders in South Yorkshire to address the issue of sexual exploitation clearly. He said that this question was a “new phenomenon within the Asian community” and that it was “important that the community should rather talk about it instead of remaining silent […]”. Muhbeen Hussain, founder of Rotherham's Muslim Youth Group , said that all communities condemned the exploitation and that "we need Muslim leaders to go out and condemn it and make it clear that it is wrong". Sheffield Pakistani and Muslim Center Chairman Mohammed Ali said the South Yorkshire mosques, imams and committee members had discussed the situation and were aware that it needed to be "addressed".

In November 2012, 58 possible victims of sexual exploitation were identified. The director of child and youth welfare attributed the increase from 50 in the previous year to increased public awareness. A national report by the Office of Children's Commissioner , also released in November, found that thousands of minors were sexually abused by gangs in England every year.

British Parliament Home Affairs Committee

In October 2012, the UK Parliament's Home Affairs Committee criticized South Yorkshire Police Chief David Compton and one of its top executives, Philip Etheridge, for dealing with child abuse. The committee examined evidence on three members of a family implicated but not convicted in abuse cases involving 61 girls, as well as another case involving another suspect. David Compton said "ethnicity" was not a factor in determining whether a suspect was investigated. The committee also said it was very concerned, like the public.

In January 2013, the district administration chairman, Martin Kimber, was summoned to appear before the committee to explain the lack of arrests for sexual exploitation despite several investigations and the identification of 58 young girls. Member of Parliament Keith Vaz also asked why no more was done after the five men were arrested in 2010: "Lancashire had 100 criminal cases in the year before last, and South Yorkshire had no prosecutions." The County Council apologized for her "Systemic failure" that "let down" victims of child abuse.

The investigation report

On August 26, 2014, the report was presented to the independent investigation into the sexual exploitation of children in Rotherham by Professor Alexis Jay. He found that the number of children and adolescents who were sexually abused in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013 is at least 1,400 with a "conservative estimate".

In the case studies Jay presented, schoolgirl grooming was mostly done by young male members of pimp gangs . They impressed the girls, who mainly came from broken families and were neglected by their parents, with fast cars, gifts, free drugs and promises of love and ensured that they completely lost contact with the family.

From the age of 11, according to the report, children were "abducted, trafficked, raped, beaten and intimidated by multiple perpetrators in other cities in England." Three previous surveys - conducted in 2002, 2003 and 2006 - had already produced similar results, but had been "effectively suppressed" because officials "did not believe the data". The investigation team found cases of children "who were doused with gasoline - threatened to set them on fire - threatened with firearms, watched brutal violent rape - threatened with being next if they were." told someone about it ”.

The report also states that "a girl who was ready to testify received a text that stated that the perpetrator had her younger sister under control and that the choice of what would happen next was up to her." She then withdrew her statement. At least two other families were terrorized by groups of perpetrators. The latter were sitting in cars in front of the family's home, throwing windows and making threatening phone calls. In some cases, victims went back to the perpetrator, believing that it was the only way to protect their parents and other children in the family. In the most extreme cases, no one in the family believed that the authorities could protect them.

Although the majority of the perpetrators were known to be of Asian or Pakistani origin, several agency officials described themselves as nervous about identifying the perpetrators' ethnicity, fearing that they might be viewed as racists ; others - as the report points out - “remembered clear instructions from their superiors” not to provide such ethnically related information. A staff member who tried to alert high-level police officers to the rise in these abuse cases in 2002 was told not to do so; in addition, he was subsequently suspended and sidelined. The report also found that the police showed a lack of respect for the victims who were seen as "undesirable".

Reactions

Members of the British-Pakistani community condemned the sexual abuse. Labor Party's Roger Stone resigned as chairman of the Borough council; he would take full responsibility for "the historical misconduct so clearly described in the report". According to Rotherham's chief executive , Martin Kimber, Rotherham officials are not at risk of disciplinary action.

In February 2016, the Hindu Council UK and the Sikh Federation (UK) criticized the media and authorities for calling the rape gangs "Asian"; this is inaccurate and brings other ethnic groups into disrepute. Because of political correctness , the perpetrators were not referred to as Pakistani Muslims .

Sarah Champion, a Labor MP for Rotherham constituency, denounced "Britain has a problem with British-Pakistani men" and said political correctness has exacerbated the problem. The case represents "an organized attack on white children of men from a certain ethnic group". Officials had stood by for years because they were "more afraid of being labeled as racists than of overlooking child abuse".

Child births

In the aftermath of the publication of the investigation report it was also reported that more than 100 children were born as a result of gang rapes of the underage girls. Some of the children were taken from their mothers by the perpetrators; others by the authorities who “forcibly” put the children up for adoption. In addition, there have been a large number of sometimes forced abortions and miscarriages. In many cases, the authorities did not intervene, although the girls concerned turned to them.

Even in one case in which the horrified parents of a 14-year-old pregnant woman asked the police and welfare authorities for help, they remained inactive for a long time. Instead, the perpetrator forced her to terminate the pregnancy because he feared a DNA test . Afterwards, the girl was placed with foster parents, but the perpetrator found her again and again tyrannized and impregnated her in the care of foster parents and authorities. This time, the perpetrator allowed her to become pregnant on condition that the child became a Muslim. Therefore, according to the will of the offender, she was not allowed to eat pork during pregnancy, among other things. The perpetrator only let go of her because he was sent to prison for another crime, bodily harm to a third party. After he was released, he again threatened her.

Judgments

On February 24, 2016, six people involved in the sexual offenses were found guilty. The verdicts on jointly committed rape, deprivation of liberty and pimping of 15 victims. The youngest victim was only eleven years old. Three brothers and their uncles of Pakistani origin received long prison sentences ranging from ten to 35 years. The leader received a 35-year prison term. Two accomplices were sentenced to 13 years and 18 months respectively on probation.

The verdict leads to further proceedings: The National Crime Agency has started investigations against 23 people into 57 cases of abuse and has announced further investigations against other suspects. A lawyer from Sheffield is planning a lawsuit against Rotherham Borough Council on behalf of 65 injured women. The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating 55 cases against law enforcement officers, including those relating to inaction and corruption, and had issued 26 misconduct notices on the day of the judgment .

In addition, Theresa May , who was then Minister of the Interior, initiated a process at the end of which the convicts with dual citizenship are to be stripped of their British citizenship .

In February 2017, six British-Pakistani perpetrators were sentenced to long prison terms.

Comparable series

Series of gang sexual abuse of children and adolescents, child prostitution and human trafficking were also uncovered in other English cities in the course of the 2010s, including Rochdale , Oxford , Derby , Halifax and Newcastle , each with a similar pattern and predominantly groups of Pakistani offenders. There, too, the authorities remained inactive for a long time and did not take the victims seriously.

In the Telford abuse scandal , the extent of an estimated 1,000 victims was similar to that in Rotherham; the first such acts were committed as early as the 1980s. Social workers have been aware of the abuse cases since the 1990s, but the authorities have been inactive for decades. In the files, the girls concerned were identified as "prostitutes" and not as victims of abuse. Doctors who performed abortions and pharmacists who sold the morning-after pill did not intervene either.

Political Consequences

Sarah Champion was criticized as a racist and lost a job in the Labor Party. Sammy Woodhouse started an initiative to change the law, known as Sammy's Law , to erase victims' criminal records as the perpetrators often coerced them into criminal records in order to increase their dependence. Woodhouse is also campaigning for a law to prohibit rapists from contacting their children. In May 2020, MP Tom Hunt called on the government to publish a report on grooming gangs commissioned in 2018 and at the same time referred to a petition with this request, which had received 123,600 signatures.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The usual translation of "trafficking" is "human trafficking", which is also true here. The main connotation in this context is that the girls are being driven around from one rape to the next.
  2. ↑ cf. Thomas Kielinger in Die Welt from August 29, 2014: Rotherham Scandal - The perverse downside of the multicultural cult - accessed on September 1, 2014
  3. ↑ a b c d Rotherham child abuse scandal: 1,400 children exploited, report finds . In: BBC News . August 26, 2014. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
  4. ↑ Alexis Jay will lead child abuse failings probe at Rotherham . In: BBC News . November 1, 2013. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
  5. ↑ Jens-Peter Marquardt: 1400 children abused in Rotherham. Victims' calls for help ignored , ARD Tagesschau, August 27, 2014 ( Memento from August 30, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ http://www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/panorama/1400-Maedchen-vergewaltigt-Das-Schweigen-von-Rotherham-id36257162.html
  7. ↑ a b c d Alexis Jay: Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham 1997 - 2013 . Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
  8. ↑ a b Heather Saul: Rotherham child abuse report finds 1,400 children subjected to 'appalling' sexual exploitation within 16-year period . In: The Independent . August 26, 2014. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
  9. ↑ a b Five Rotherham men jailed for child sex offces , BBC. November 4, 2010. 
  10. ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11065354/Drugged-and-targeted-for-sex.-They-were-the-lucky-ones.html
  11. ↑ Five guilty of grooming teenage girls for sex , Independent. 5th November 2010. 
  12. ↑ a b c South Yorkshire Police deny hiding girls' sex abuse , BBC. September 24, 2012. 
  13. ↑ a b c d e South Yorkshire Police 'must get a grip' on child abuse , BBC. October 16, 2012. 
  14. ↑ MPs seek hidden files on Rotherham sex-grooming . In: The Times , January 9, 2013. Retrieved February 9, 2013. 
  15. ^ A b c Rotherham council apologises to child grooming victims , BBC. January 8, 2013. 
  16. ↑ a b c Police files reveal vast child protection scandal . In: The Times . Retrieved January 23, 2013.
  17. ↑ a b c d Lord Ahmed calls on mosques 'to speak' about sex abuse , BBC. September 28, 2012. 
  18. ↑ a b c Rotherham sex abuse: More girls at risk , BBC. November 21, 2012. 
  19. ↑ Abuse in Rotherham Town of Silence. FAZ, February 19, 2015, accessed on November 20, 2016 .
  20. ^ Paul Peachey: Rotherham child abuse scandal: Threats and collusion kept justice at bay . In: The Independent , August 26, 2014. Retrieved August 27, 2014. 
  21. ↑ a b c Becky Johnson, " 'Horrific' Cases Of Child Abuse In Rotherham. " Sky News, Aug. 26, 2014.
  22. ↑ a b Paul Peachey: Rotherham child abuse report: 1,400 children subjected to 'appalling' sexual exploitation over 16-years . In: The Independent , August 26, 2014. Retrieved August 27, 2014. 
  23. ↑ Real or imagined: Racism 'fear' over Rotherham child abuse , BBC News . August 27, 2014. 
  24. ↑ Sikh group calls for politicians and media to stop using term 'Asian' to describe Rotherham grooming gang . In: The Independent , February 28, 2016. Retrieved November 20, 2016. 
  25. ↑ a b Cathrin Kahlweit: Abuse in Rotherham: About the incomprehensible. In: sueddeutsche.de. May 11, 2020, accessed May 11, 2020 .
  26. ↑ Hansjörg Müller: Looking away until you don't go anymore , Basler Zeitung, August 12, 2017.
  27. ^ John Bingham in The Telegraph , August 31, 2014: Rotherham: politics 'imported from Pakistan' fueled sex abuse cover-up - MP - accessed September 3, 2014
  28. ^ Robert Wright in Mirror, August 30, 2014: Rotherham child sex scandal resulted in 100 babies as abuse victim reveals she fell pregnant TWICE - accessed September 3
  29. ↑ Julian Robinson in Daily Mail-Online, August 31, 2014: More than 100 teenage girls in Rotherham gave birth to their rapists' children - accessed September 3
  30. ^ Rotherham abuse trial: Six guilty of sex offenses , BBC, February 24, 2016
  31. ↑ Six convictions for child abuse , NZZ, February 24, 2016
  32. ↑ Rotherham: Court Imprisonment for Long Child Abuse Time Online Feb. 26, 2016, accessed February 27, 2016
  33. ^ Rotherham child abuse trial: four men and two women found guilty , The Guardian, February 24, 2016
  34. ^ IPCC update on investigations into how South Yorkshire Police handled reported child sexual exploitation in Rotherham , IPCC website, February 24, 2016
  35. ↑ James Cusick: "Asian sex abusers to be stripped of UK citizenship and deported" The Independent, February 26, 2016
  36. ↑ Men jailed for Rotherham child sexual abuse BBC, February 2, 2017
  37. ↑ Allison Pearson: Oxford grooming gang. We will regret ignoring Asian thugs who target white girls. In: The Telegraph , May 15, 2013.
  38. ↑ Sandra Laville: Professionals blamed Oxfordshire girls for their sexual abuse, report finds. In: The Guardian , March 3, 2015.
  39. ↑ Andrew Norfolk: A disturbing pattern is repeated again, and more cases to come in: The Times , August 11, 2017th
  40. ↑ Lizzie Dearden: Grooming gangs 'are abusing girls across the country', victims and investigators warn. In: The Independent , October 8, 2017.
  41. ↑ Harriet Agerholm: Telford MP calls for inquiry into 'extremely serious and shocking' abuse in the town. In: The Independent , March 11, 2018.
  42. ↑ Claudia Becker: Authorities, doctors, pharmacists - a whole city looked away. In: Welt (Online), March 13, 2018.
  43. ↑ Tom Hunt: We must see report into activities of grooming gangs. In: ipswichstar.co.uk. May 8, 2020, accessed on May 11, 2020 .