Human trafficking worse than thought in UK, says new report

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.