07/07/2013 Sunday Politics Yorkshire and Lincolnshire

who say their local mosques are turning a blind eye to the sexual

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2167 seconds

Sunday Politics for your washer and Lincolnshire. Coming up, in denial.

We have an exclusive report in which Muslim women claimed local mosques

are turning a blind eye the sexual grooming of young girls. There are a

lot of people who are out of themselves and eye can give you

examples of some of them. journalist turned politician who was

captured by the Taliban and converted to a slump tells this

programme why many women are scared to speak out about the abuse being

carried out in their communities. People need the strength to say no.

I've wish someone had helped me. guest today is Sarah Champion and

Kris Hopkins. I've speak to both of them in a moment but we look at the

controversy surrounding street grooming and what is being done to

combat the problem. You'll make eye know why have been abused. This

video warning of the video -- the dangers of gangs of British

Pakistani men preying on vulnerable, usually white girls, was released a

few weeks ago. It has been the reaction to an issue that has been

happening for a decade or more. It has not been really understood.

Investigations by the home affairs committee recognises that a number

of different agencies were involved, leading to the dangers of victims

slipping through the net. Three years ago, it recommended that each

local authority should set up in one building, what they called a

multi-agency safeguarding hub. Here professionals and voluntary

organisations could come together in one easily accessible site. We

contacted 19 local authorities across Europe truck, Lincolnshire

and the North Midlands to see how much progress has been made. Eight

have established some form of multi-agency approach, although some

have not then in place for a long and they might go under different

names. Another four are actively working on setting up a centre to

bring those local agencies together, although progress does

vary. Said in to have no centres are any plans to go down this route. The

Justice Minister, Damian Green, town -- told Sunday Politics he is

satisfied progress is being made. Until we can assume that grooming is

not an issue in any part of the country for any council. Ten years

ago, people tended to disbelieve often young teenage girls who were

in trouble, may be involved with alcohol and drugs. We now know that

was a terrible error and we have seen some of the full court cases

that have come up. There will be more to come. -- the full court

cases. -- offal. Hundreds of mosques across the country heard a sermon

written by a Bradford Imam condemning this shameful -- shameful

behaviour of against children. A tiny number of men are involved and

it has become an issue for the entire community. Years have been

lost because the authorities and media were not listening to earlier

warning voices. If they had just given me one ounce of support in the

media for the sort of stuff I've was doing, why cannot tell you what a

difference it would have made. I've think we would have set out on a

road that would have trouble Blake avoided what is happening now.

Champion Ann Cryer says if we had listened to her a decade ago there

would not be the case as there are now. Political correctness got in

the way. Is that accurate? One of the things we have been obsessed by

is the fact there have been prosecutions for Asian men, but

there have been more prosecutions for white men. What we need to focus

on is the children. Children are being abused and unless we do

something about it, this will carry on. The minister said he did not

seem that concern that a multi-agency approach is going

forward. It has to go forward. All areas need a multi-agency approach

we cannot deal with this effectively. Kris Hopkins, you

caused a stir when you said were groups of Muslim men going around

raping white children? Do you stand by that statement? I've certainly

do. When it comes to street grooming, the vast majority of

perpetrators are people of Pakistani origin. The lady is right in that

the vast majority of rapes of children undertaken by white men,

but in relation to street grooming, it is separate and this is one of

the issues, we keep clouding this up. We need to be frank and

purposeful about what we are trying to do. There is an issue in that

ridiculous community relating to this model of criminality. He is not

mincing his words. Street grooming is a problem largely associated with

the British Pakistani community. Is that a point? This is an area which

the British media have focused on. It is a problem in the community.

This is one model. If we only focus on Asian men street grooming we will

miss all the other people. Going through Sheffield courts there is a

gang of six people, led by a white woman. Yes, we need to focus on

Asians but we need to focus on the whole world. It is going on and we

cannot turn a blind eye to it. too obsessed with? We have just

heard a sentence of apologies. I'd do not know our police officer who

will look on the other direction if they identify someone of any racial

creed. You mention in your introduction that one Imam has

written one sermon, but we need this conversation in every household and

every street. We need everyone to start having this conversation.

Fundamentally, we need to empower women because men have failed women

in this community and the wider community to address this issue.

Let's hear now from Yvonne Ridley, journalist turned politicians who

has spoken to a number of Muslim women in Europe sure who claim

people in positions of authority are turning a blind eye to the problem

of grooming. Released after ten days captivity in Afghanistan in 2001,

Yvonne Ridley was captured by the Taliban while working for a national

newspaper. Once freed, she kept a promise made to one of her captors

to read the Koran. In it, she says she found a religious framework

which could be used to empower women, one reason why she converted

to Islam. After joining the Respect Party, or she is now President, she

stayed in last year's Rather by-election and was appalled to find

grooming going on in the town by Pakistani Muslim men. Within the

first few hours, by established that grooming and the issue of grooming

was a major concern for voters. Not just from the wider community but

from the Muslim community as well. Respect Pete the Conservatives and

Liberal Democrats to fourth place but that did not put her off. It is

pure the large number of court cases are just the tip of the iceberg,

while local authorities across England including Ryedale and

Hambleton have been found wanting, was recently by a home affairs

select committee when it comes to understanding and responding to

grooming. This poem was written by a West Yorkshire girl who was 13 when

her Pakistani groomer showered her with gifts and then began to beat,

rape and enslave her. She told her story to a bond and at one point he

tried to hang her from a tree and she thought she was going to die.

I've felt safe around him. He started playing mind games with me.

He hit me with bottles and locked me in the boot of his car for hours.

But we need the support to say no. By which someone had helped me.

Yvonne Ridley has attempted to get Muslim women to speak out and

finally she brought a small group together, but their identities are

ahead in. They spoke openly about the challenges facing the Muslim

community. Eye and angry and if people are in denial that is a

shame. There are a lot of people at it and eye can give you examples of

some of them who are leaders. Eye have heard of 20 of sexual abuse

going on, but what can I'd do about it? Me, as one person? If a woman,

especially in the slim woman, speaks up eye can be targeted and so can my

family. The maze -- the media focuses on the Muslim community all

the time but it is calling on everywhere. It is unfair and a white

people do not commit this crime at all. You need to understand what is

going on. Do you think it would even more helpful if mosque committees

reflected the community that is served by that mosque? Men in masks

do not think about it. They brush it under the carpet and think let

someone else deal with that. They say we only want to deal with the

good issues. Yvonne Ridley has joined us and they

are joined from London by Ajmal Masroor from the Islamic Society of

Britain. Yvonne, were you shocked by some of the responses? Eye was in

some ways. What I've was trying to get through, was that the Muslim

community must address this issue. It has to be done through the

mosques. Unfortunately, most of the mosque committees are a male driven.

We need to get more women into these committees and more women involved

within the Muslim community. That is the way forward to this problem.

What do you make of the comments? Yvonne is right that mosques are

mostly male dominated. Our vast majority of mosques in this country

do not have space for a ladies to pray. Of course, it is also not

friendly to young people and it puts them off mosques very quickly. I'd

lead prayers and eye have just come out of a prayer session. Fire eye

lead, I'd encourage all communities to participate. -- where eye lead.

I'd believe, our children are honourable and unsafe, there is more

abuse amongst our children as well as grooming. This is as a result of

a total failure when it comes to teaching our children and having the

right healthy attitude towards sex and sexuality. We heard in the

report that women Yvonne had spoken to said the mosques were turning a

blind eye to this awful crime. What can be done? Very simply those

mosques need to be cleaned up very quickly. Local communities need to

feel empowered through programmes we are doing and there needs to be more

discussion and debate so they can get rid of those people running

mosques in a tribal style. Mosques should be run democratically. Local

people should run them free from interference from those who have lit

a goal tested interests. -- politically vested interests. But

this is not exclusively happening within the Moslem community. Within

the Catholic Church, priests have been found in this trouble. Our

issue is that we should stand together and protect our children,

no matter where they come from or their religion or ethnicity. Yvonne,

what do you make of those comments? In the media point of view, this has

been focused on men of British Pakistani origin. Eye and the plant

the issue of Roman Catholic priests has been brought up, but it is only

when this was brought out into the community, but this was brought out

and the Catholic Church was forced to confront the situation. Is the

problem being dealt with? We need to do the same in the Muslim community.

We need to do the same nationwide. The one common theme in all of this

is meant. It is not just Muslim men, it is men of all faiths and no

faiths. We have to discover what is happening that they have so little

respect for women in their own should be done that is not being

done now? First of all, well done to those girls who spoke at Waverley.

You could hear the frustration in their comments, they felt there was

nowhere to go. If they are victims and need help, then they contact the

police or my office and eyeball make sure they get a safe route to law

enforcement. -- eye will make sure. And Ann Cryer brought this up in

2001 and nothing was done there. The police and the authorities ignored

her, as did her own political party, so do not say contact me, eyeball

sort this out. This has got to be a wholehearted community effort.

Hundreds of mosques took part in the special unprecedented programme. It

speaks volumes about how determined Muslims or to crackdown on this

issue. I'm not saying eye will solve this. It does need to be a community

response. I've had spoken to elders in the mosques. It is about how to

be in power women and how do we make sure we have a stronger relationship

tween the police and particularly women and girls in that community?

How do we give them confidence to speak out? How do we make sure

victims are looked after and that the judicial systems and social

services work in the right direction? We need to constantly

challenge our behaviour and give safe hazards to those victims to get

some justice. Your local council, Sarah Champion, was slammed by the

home affairs select committee recently, saying it was inexcusably

slowed in dealing with the number of grooming cases. How do we know they

have got that? There were gaps in provision and support but that was

relating back to 2009. Ryedale and Hambleton took the accusations very

seriously and we now have a multi-agency approach. I'm concerned

with your opening piece that an awful lot of the country does not

have this approach. We have talked about communities and it is

admirable that mosques are doing something about it, but they cannot

work in isolation. It needs to be hospitals which are trained. If a

13-year-old girl is presented for abortion, there needs to be people

who say it is calling on here? Social services and voluntary

organisations and police and education need to be on the team,

because it is pulling data together, that we will catch these people.

you not think that the public has a right to know what is going on in

Ryedale and Hambleton? One prosecution and the council will

still not make fully public... 2010 there were five prosecutions,

there are 30 four underway at the moment. Your facts are wrong.

just going off the report that the camp will not make public. At the

end of the day, more than 600 victims. Absolutely, and for each

one of those victims, Taiwan to justice. -- eye wants justice. I'd

completely agree. Not having a multi-agency approach beans across

the country, there will be thousands of children suffering this. You,

like me, do not want this happening. We need to be empowering women, but

we also need to empower agencies. Why is Ryedale and Hambleton so

reticent? We have tried to speak to them. One of the senior Labour

councillors called me as lumbar phobic and a this is an election

issue. You will understand they do not work for the council, so I'd

don't know. But it is in your back yard? Eye will answer your question,

if you were let me. I'm working closely with the number of

organisations. You are right, there is not enough going on and every

single child needs to be protected. It is not only my local area for

this is happening, it is across the country and if you keep on focusing

in one place, it is one of the places that has a multi-agency

approach, then I'd think you're going in the wrong direction.

do you make of Chris Hopkins point that there is a clear cultural

problem here? The cultural problem about sex and sexuality is actually

for the whole community, the Muslim community and noncommunity. --

non-Muslim. Sex is not taught with responsibility or any relationship

aspects to it. Sex has become mechanised. As long as she -- it

gives you pleasure, you can do it as much as you like. The pornography

that is prevalent in our society, it is causing havoc in the minds of

young people. There should be an overhaul of our attitudes to sex

education and our mentality and behaviour towards the opposite sex.

Religion or no religion, these criminals do not do any of these

criminal activities using religion as an excuse or a cover. They do it

because they are criminal, twisted and sick. We need to protect our

children, we need to protect everyone from every background and

that can only be done when we are united and stop blaming one another

and look at the problems as a problem and find a solution which is

collect abandoned because of us stop Kris Hopkins are you satisfied the

Muslim community is doing enough to address this problem? It is specific

individuals who have a problem but there are cultural issues there. It

is a patriarchal society. There are really, really good people in this

community, but where are the issues around equality? Some of the values

that go on, the way girls are treated and families, the way the

workload is spread out, where the opportunities for boys and girls are

different, and know that is not universal, but there are some fixed

cultural things about the way girls and women are treated which I'd

think lays the trail, the education for young boys who think they can

treat girls in a different way when they get that opportunity. Do you

agree with that Yvonne, ? entirely. The way men are few women

in this country entirely leaves a lot to be desired. The equal pay act

has never been enforced and there are is still disparity. The attitude

goes right into the heart of Westminster. Sarah Champion, a

female MP, she is in the minority. Sarah Champion, are you satisfied

that never again will political correct as a and investigation into

grinning as it has done in the past? Eye am not satisfied at all. This is

something that political parties think it is fine to kick around. It

is not. It is about protecting children and politics should not

come into it, nor should political correctness. Kris Hopkins?Eye think

it will still play out. I'm confident eye have a good police

commander who is going in perceived of these criminals. For the fact

that the young girl early Ron did not have confidence to speak out,

the fact that many parents are still frustrated and there is lots of

hidden criminality going on, there is a long way to go on this journey