British screenwriter Jemima Goldsmith recently addressed the issue of sexual abuse in the United Kingdom, emphasizing that it spans across all communities, with the common factor being men abusing their power.
In a post shared on X, Goldsmith, the former wife of ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan, highlighted that sexual abuse occurs across all socio-economic backgrounds, races, and faiths. This statement followed a condemnation from Pakistan’s Foreign Office, which criticized the rising racist and Islamophobic remarks targeting Pakistanis in the UK.
The controversy stemmed from a public debate initiated by tech mogul Elon Musk regarding the term “Asian grooming gangs,” which sparked concerns about perpetuating harmful stereotypes against Pakistanis.
Goldsmith provided troubling statistics related to abuse by several institutions in the UK, including the Catholic Church, British boarding schools, and British Asian grooming gangs.
She noted that between 1970 and 2015, the Catholic Church in England and Wales faced 3,000 reported cases of child sexual abuse, 936 allegations of paedophilia, 133 convictions, and 52 defrocked priests.
Goldsmith also referenced the thousands of alleged victims of abuse in UK boarding schools over the decades, with 425 paedophile suspects and 160 charges filed between 2012 and 2018.
Regarding UK Asian grooming gangs, she pointed out that at least 1,400 victims were identified between 1997 and 2013, with 60 convictions for child rape.
Goldsmith clarified that the exact number of victims is difficult to determine, as many cases go unreported for years. She also highlighted systemic failures to prosecute offenders and protect victims.
She noted that the common denominator in these instances is men, often from closed, hierarchical, and gender-segregated communities, who exploit their power.
The issue resurfaced in the UK after Musk’s comments about British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s handling of the scandal, accusing him of complicity in the abuse while serving as the country’s leading prosecutor. Musk’s remarks reignited the debate about how grooming gangs, particularly those involving Pakistani men, have exploited young girls.
British feminist writer Julie Bindel pointed out that many on the right seem more concerned with the ethnic and religious identity of the perpetrators rather than the victims, questioning the true motives behind their focus on the issue.
However, experts, including The Guardian, criticized the lack of reliable data on gang-based sexual exploitation, particularly with regard to ethnicity. A report from November by Hydrant, a British program on child sexual exploitation, revealed that in 2023, ethnicity was recorded in only a third of the cases. Of those, 83% of perpetrators were white, and 7% were Asian, including 2.7% with Pakistani heritage. These figures challenge the prevailing narrative, though the Guardian noted the difficulty in assessing their accuracy due to incomplete data.
