Medlemmer af grooming-gang i Huddersfield.

Til trods for at grooming og seksuelle overgreb på børn i England antager epidemiske dimensioner, nægter myndighederne at afsløre hvem, der står bag. Det «har ikke offentlig interesse», hedder det. Hensynet til overgrebsmanden vejer igen tungere end hensynet til offeret. Hvornår får den almindelige mand og kvinde nok?

Næsten 19.000 børn blev i løbet af tolv måneder i 2018-19 udsat for seksuelle overgreb af såkaldte grooming gangs, viser tal fra de britiske myndigheder. Fem år tidligere lå tallet på ca. 3.300, og man snakker nu om en epidemisk udvikling af sådanne overgrebssager. Det er den britiske avis The Independent som skriver dette.

Alligevel mener flere med kendskab til grooming gangs, at de reelle tal er langt højere:

Campaigners say the true figure is far higher and accused the government of failing to tackle child sexual exploitation, despite promises made after high-profile cases in Rotherham and Rochdale. […]

Sarah Champion, the Labour MP for Rotherham, said the figures show that grooming “remains one of the largest forms of child abuse in the country”.

“Too many times, government has said it will ‘learn lessons’, yet 19,000 children are still at risk of sexual exploitation,” she told The Independent.

Sarah Champion måtte i 2017 trække sig fra Corbyns skyggeregering efter at have skrevet et indlæg i The Sun med bl.a. følgende tekst:

British Pakistani men ARE raping and exploiting white girls… and it’s time we faced up to it.

BRITAIN has a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls.

There. I said it. Does that make me a racist? Or am I just prepared to call out this horrifying problem for what it is?

For too long we have ignored the race of these abusers and, worse, tried to cover it up.

No more. These people are predators and the common denominator is their ethnic heritage.

Da tidligere indenrigsminister Sajid Javid i 2018 varslede at myndighederne ville gå «head on» og undersøge, hvorfor et flertal af overgrebsmanden havde pakistansk baggrund, måtte han imidlertid ikke gå af for at pege på en kendt årsag:

Sajid Javid has ordered an investigation into why members of sexual grooming gangs are disproportionately from a Pakistani background.

The Home Secretary said the controversial move would explore the «particular characteristics» of offenders in order to prevent cases like those suffered in Rotherham, Telford and Newcastle.

Men nu vil de britiske myndigheder ikke dele fundene fra sine undersøgelser med folket, angivelig fordi det ikke har offentlighedens interesse. Myndighederne skjuler sig også bag et røgtæppe om at politikerne skal have fred og ro til at udarbejde deres politik knyttet til grooming gangs:

In December, The Independent was told that the work had been completed but would only be used for internal policy-making and would not be publicly released.

In response to a freedom of information (FOI) request asking for the research carried out and any reports drawn up as a result, the Home Office confirmed it held the information but would not release it.

In a letter to The Independent, officials said they had applied a “public interest test” but the information was exempt from the act because it concerned the development of government policy.

“One of the main purposes of the exemption is to protect the ‘safe space’ necessary for ministers and officials to consider policy options in private without risk of premature disclosure,” it added.

“Disclosure would risk pre-empting decisions still to be made by ministers. In addition, the information could be misleading if made public and used out of context.”

Sir Humphrey Appleby fra «Javel, statsminister» kunne ikke have afsluttet brevet bedre selv:

The letter added: “We recognise that this topic in general and any insight and learning are matters of strong public interest, although it does not necessarily follow that it is in the public interest to disclose any specific information relating to it.”

Antallet af kendte ofre for grooming gangs er måske omkring 100.000. Hvert offer har familie og omgangskreds, som er indirekte ramt af overgrebene. Til sammen er måske omkring en million mennesker i England direkte og indirekte ramt de sidste ti år af seksuelle overgreb mod børn. Omregnet til danske forhold ville tallet være omkring 75.000 personer.

Hvornår får den almindelige mand og kvinde nok af at hensynet til overgrebsmanden går før offeret?

George Orwell havde desværre så alt for ret da han sagde: «The further a society drifts from truth the more it will hate those who speak it.»