LONDON: Modern slavery and human trafficking is a much bigger problem in Britain than previously thought, the National Crime Agency warned.
The revelation comes amid a public outcry over another major sex abuse ring in the country.
The conviction of a gang of 18 men in the northern city of Newcastle for sexually abusing vulnerable teenage girls has focused attention on the communities where such attacks have taken place.
The gang, consisting mostly of South Asian men, raped or assaulted the victims — 13 white girls and women, aged from 15 to their early 20s — after drugging them or threatening them with violence at especially-convened parties — often referred to as “sessions” — where they were supplied with drugs and alcohol. Some girls were abused while asleep.
The offenders were found guilty following four trials, the last of which concluded on Tuesday.
It was the latest shocking grooming case to hit the country following similar high-profile scandal in the northern town of Rotherham that took place between 1997 and 2013.
Labour MP Sarah Champion said people had become more afraid to be called a racist than being wrong about child sexual abuse
Champion, the Labour MP for Rotherham, who is the shadow minister for women and equalities, called for a government commission into the crimes.
But some experts also warned that the shocking scandal could lead to a rise in hate crime against Muslim and south Asian communities.
Speaking to Arab News, Fiyaz Mughal OBE, founder of Tell MAMA, a body that records anti-Muslim hate crime said that one of the direct consequences of such a horrific story is a spike in anti-Muslim attacks.
“We know from Rotherham and the grooming scandals that affected so many young girls, that the wider impacts of such activities are long term,” Mughal told Arab News.
“The serious psychological and physical damage they cause to the girls who are abused, the impacts on the families of the girls and abuse against innocent people of Pakistani heritage who are then targeted for hatred and on occasion, violence, shows that the impacts are wide and deep.
“Grooming affects whole communities and fractures race and cultural relations across our country and has also been a driver for extreme groups who use such poisonous events to radicalize young minds against others.”
That view was echoed by Neil Chakraborti, professor of Criminology and director of the Center for Hate Studies at the University of Leicester. Chakraborti said that tension and emotion were understandable following such a scandal but that communities had to fight against the backlash and come together.
“We know from previous that there is a rise in hate crime,” he told Arab News.
“Many feel a backlash from awful incidents like this and that was the case with similar shocking grooming cases and scandals.
“I understand emotions are high and tempers fray, it was similar after the Manchester bombing.
“But while that was clearly a different set of circumstances to the grooming scandal, we can learn from its aftermath, when the community came together and had a dialogue and honest debate about the failings. People and communities need to talk to one another and focused on community cohesion.”
Sexual exploitation is the most common form of modern slavery reported in the UK according to the NCA.
The NCA’s vulnerabilities Director Will Kerr said that trafficking into modern slavery was now so widespread that ordinary people would be coming into contact with victims every day without knowing it.
Human trafficking worse than thought in UK, says new report
Human trafficking worse than thought in UK, says new report
US senators visit key Ukrainian port city as they push for fresh sanctions on Russia
- The visit and the push for Congress to take up sanctions on Russia come at a crucial moment in the conflict
WASHINGTON: A delegation of US senators was returning Wednesday from a trip to Ukraine, hoping to spur action in Congress for a series of sanctions meant to economically cripple Moscow and pressure President Vladimir Putin to make key concessions in peace talks.
It was the first time US senators have visited Odesa, Ukraine’s third-most populous city and an economically crucial Black Sea port that has been particularly targeted by Russia, since the war began nearly four years ago. Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, Chris Coons, Richard Blumenthal and Sheldon Whitehouse made the trip. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis had planned to join but was unable to for personal reasons.
“One of the things we heard wherever we stopped today was that the people of Ukraine want a peace deal, but they want a peace deal that preserves their sovereignty, that recognizes the importance of the integrity of Ukraine,” Shaheen said on a phone call with reporters.
The visit and the push for Congress to take up sanctions on Russia come at a crucial moment in the conflict. Delegations for the two sides were also meeting in Switzerland for two days of US-brokered talks, but neither side appeared ready to budge on key issues like territory and future security guarantees. The sanctions, senators hoped, could prod Putin toward settling for peace, as the US has set a June deadline for settlement.
“Literally nobody believes that Russia is acting in good faith in the negotiations with our government and with the Ukrainians,” Whitehouse said. “And so pressure becomes the key.”
Still, legislation to impose tough sanctions on Russia has been on hold in Congress for months.
Senators have put forward a range of sanction measures, including one sweeping bill that would allows the Trump administration to impose tariffs and secondary sanctions on countries that purchase Russia’s oil, gas, uranium and other exports, which are crucial to financing Russia’s military. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has also advanced a series of more-targeted bills that would sanction China’s efforts to support Russia’s military, commandeer frozen Russian assets and go after what’s known as Moscow’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers being used to circumvent sanctions already in place.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has co-sponsored the Senate’s sweeping sanctions and tariff legislation, also released a statement during the Munich Security Conference this weekend saying that Senate Majority Leader John Thune had committed to bringing up the sanctions bill once it clearly has the 60 votes needed to move through the Senate.
“This legislation will be a game changer,” Graham said. “President Trump has embraced it. It is time to vote.”
Blumenthal, who co-sponsored that bill alongside Graham, also said there is bipartisan support for the legislation, which he called a “very tough sledgehammer of sanctions and tariffs,” but he also noted that “we need to work out some of the remaining details.” Democrats, and a handful of Republicans, have been opposed to President Donald Trump’s campaign to impose tariffs around the world in an effort to strike trade deals and spur more manufacturing in the US
In the House, Democrats are opposed to the tariff provisions of that bill. Instead, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, has proposed separate legislation that makes it more difficult for Trump to waive sanctions, but does away with the tariff provisions.
A separate bill, led by the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Gregory Meeks, would bolster US military support for Ukraine by $8 billion. Democrats currently need one more Republican to support an effort to force a vote on that bill.
Once they return to the US, the senators said they would detail how US businesses based in Ukraine have been attacked by Russia. The Democrats are also hoping to build pressure on Trump to send more US weapons to Ukraine. “Putin understands weapons, not words,” Blumenthal said.
Still, the lawmakers will soon return to a Washington where the Trump administration is ambivalent about its long-term commitments to securing peace in Ukraine, as well as Europe. For now, at least, they were buoyed by the conversations from their European counterparts and Republican colleagues.
“We and the Republican senators who were with us in Munich spoke with one voice about our determination to continue to support Ukraine,” Coons said.
