The vacuum left by the state has been filled by far right politicians who have distorted the
\nissue with lies and Islamaphobia, Andrew Norfolk, a journalist for the Times who
\nhas covered the issue extensively, told RT.<\/p>\n
\n RT:<\/b> You’ve worked extensively on this issue – is there
\n evidence of neglect on the part of authorities due to the racial
\n or religious character of a crime?<\/i>\n <\/p>\n
Andrew Norfolk:<\/b> I think that conclusion is unavoidable.
\n Just to give you one example in the North of England, we obtained
\n over 200 confidential documents that showed there was a ten year
\n history in one town of young girls typically aged between 11
\n and14-years-old being targeted and befriended and then being
\n given alcohol and
\n
drugs and eventually being passed around ever increasing groups
\n of men to be used for sex. That was known about for ten years by
\n the police force concerned, by the local authority concerned and
\n there was an abject failure to take the
\n
action that was needed to protect those children and to prosecute
\n the offenders.\n<\/p>\n
\n RT:<\/b> So why did nobody react in the appropriate
\n way to this?<\/i>\n<\/p>\n
\n AN:<\/b> I think one of the factors that you have \n RT:<\/b> So what other factors could be in play \n AN:<\/b> The thing we on the Times have been \n RT:<\/b> We\u2019re bviously dealing with a \n AN:<\/b> Multiculturalism is a very thorny issue in \n RT:<\/b> So what’s the way out of this vicious \n AN:<\/b> The way to tackle the crime, I am <\/p>\n
\n already been very clearly discussing is there
\n was\u00a0<\/span>a terror of
\n treading into what was seen as a cultural minefield. There was
\n an\u00a0<\/span>additional
\n problem in that some of these agencies genuinely don\u2019t seem to
\n have\u00a0<\/span>understood
\n quite how serious these crimes were. There was a sense that
\n girls\u00a0<\/span>were somehow
\n consenting to their own abuse. The reality was far, far
\n worse.\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\n here when we talk about a rise in the number
\n of\u00a0<\/i>crimes committed by
\n the Muslim committee?<\/i>\n<\/p>\n
\n arguing from the very first story we published
\n about\u00a0<\/span>this more
\n than two years ago was that here is a crime pattern, a crime
\n pattern\u00a0<\/span>that the
\n authorities have ignored for at least 10 years. If you\u2019re going
\n to\u00a0<\/span>address this
\n you need to understand why this has happened. There are
\n issues\u00a0<\/span>there to
\n this day which to this day no research has been carried out to
\n try to\u00a0<\/span>discover.
\n For example issues surrounding the age of consent, in this
\n country\u00a0<\/span>you have
\n to be sixteen before you can legally consent to have sex. In
\n the\u00a0<\/span>communities
\n from which the main offenders come from, in their home
\n communities\u00a0<\/span>back
\n in Pakistan, village tradition says that puberty is the age of
\n consent and\u00a0<\/span>religious law, Sharia, also says that
\n puberty is the age at which a girl can
\n be\u00a0<\/span>marriage. And
\n the average age for puberty in this country is
\n 11-years-old.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\n cross-cultural problem here. What does this
\n situation\u00a0<\/i>say about the
\n authorities\u2019 efforts to integrate these committees?<\/i>\n<\/p>\n
\n this country. The idea that you should
\n allow\u00a0<\/span>different
\n communities to develop separately and to continue with
\n traditions\u00a0<\/span>which
\n make them feel more comfortable with their life in a country
\n where those\u00a0<\/span>traditions are completely alien. The Times
\n would never suggest the use of young\u00a0<\/span>girls or sex is condoned in those
\n societies, but the fact is there was
\n clearly\u00a0<\/span>a lesser
\n degree of shame.\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\n circle – is there a way to tackle both the growing
\n crime\u00a0<\/i>rate among the
\n Muslim population and growing Islamophobia?<\/i>\n<\/p>\n
\n increasingly convinced for the Muslim community
\n itself\u00a0<\/span>to take the
\n lead in exposing and eradicating those who think it\u2019s alright to
\n do\u00a0<\/span>this to girls.
\n There are some very encouraging signs finally that there
\n are\u00a0<\/span>some leading
\n Islamic organizations are prepared to grasp the nettle on this
\n and\u00a0<\/span>do something
\n about it. In terms of Islamophobia one of the troubles was
\n because\u00a0<\/span>for ten
\n years because no mainstream politicians or media were looking at
\n this\u00a0<\/span>the field was
\n left to the far right politics to spread poisonous
\n distorted\u00a0<\/span>lies.
\n They were claiming that somehow this was part of some global
\n Islamic plot\u00a0<\/span>to
\n impregnate every white girl in the country and spread the Islamic
\n Khalifa \u2014\u00a0<\/span>that was
\n nonsense. When there are problems on the backstreets of northern
\n towns\u00a0<\/span>the elite in
\n London has to look and say:<\/span> \u201cwe\u2019re going to do something about
\n it,\u00a0<\/i>we won\u2019t leave it to
\n the far right to rant about it.\u201d<\/i>\n<\/p>\n