18 August 2017
Anti-racist campaigners say Corbyn was right to accept Sarah Champion’s resignation
Anti-racist campaigners have rounded on those such as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Sajid Javid who yesterday tweeted “Corbyn wrong to sack Sarah Champion. We need an honest open debate on child sexual exploitation, including racial motivation.”
Sarah Champion resigned from the Shadow Cabinet after an article in her name in The Sun claimed amongst other things that “BRITAIN has a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls…These people are predators and the common denominator is their ethnic heritage.”
Stand up to Racism campaigners and many others argue that investigations into rape, sexual abuse and exploitation, abhorrent crimes that must be rooted out of society, reveal no link with racial and ethnic background and focusing on ethnicity distracts from the crucial task of preventing this crime in all communities.
Sabby Dhalu, Stand up to Racism Co-Convenor said:
“We condemn the sexual abuse & exploitation of women & children and the historic failure of those responsible to properly tackle the crime & bring the perpetrators to justice. We support and seek justice for all victims of sexual exploitation regardless of their social or ethnic background. We condemn and seek prosecution of all those responsible for these crimes irrespective of their ethnicity or creed.
“Jeremy Corbyn was right to accept Sarah Champion’s resignation from the Shadow Cabinet. Champion’s comments in her article in The Sun were particularly reprehensible, irresponsible and shocking at a time when Muslim communities are experiencing a rise in racist and Islamophobic attacks, including acid attacks and the deliberate targeting in a terrorist attack in Finsbury Park where Makram Ali was killed and ten people were injured.
“As an MP for Rotherham, Sarah Champion should know that 2014 Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Exploitation in Rotherham by Alexis Jay OBE revealed that:
‘As has been stated many times before, there is no simple link between race and child sex exploitation….’ (Pg 91)
“And the report reminds us of the conclusions reached by the Deputy Children’s Commissioner that:
‘…one of these myths was that only white girls are victims of sexual exploitation by Asian or Muslim males, as if these men only abuse outside of their own community, driven by hatred and contempt for white females. This belief flies in the face of evidence that shows that those who violate children are most likely to target those who are closest to them and most easily accessible.’ (Pg 94)
“Champion further stated that:
‘..we must accept that for gang-related child sexual exploitation, the convictions have largely been against British Pakistani men.’ (The Sun, 11 August 2017)
“This statement is particularly disturbing from an MP who should be aware of paedophile rings, historic sexual abuse and exploitation which is currently the subject of a major inquiry including allegations relating to Jimmy Saville, as well as more recent cases in the public domain involving paedophile rings in sports, schools, religious groups and others.
“Research by Sheffield Hallam University shows the majority of sex offenders in the UK are white, at 81.9% and that 5.6% of offenders are of South Asian Heritage (2007). When examining these statistics or discussing other cases, Jimmy Saville and Rolf Harris, there is rightly no discussion of the link between white, British, English, Australian & Christian culture and child sex abuse. Focussing on the background of perpetrators – which is only happening when they are from a non-white background – distracts from the crime itself, why it takes place and preventing it in future.”
“At the root of sexual abuse is misogyny, sexism, exploitation and a negative attitude towards women, girls and vulnerable children, from the perpetrators, those that knew of such crimes but took no action and the institutions of authority with responsibility. This is what must change in government institutions, the police and across all communities.”