zitat aus dem untersuchungsbericht:
"THE ‘RACE ISSUE’
“The issue [of CSE perpetrators] was predominately Asian men and they were
scared that would cause a problem. We would tell them that in the forums and they
were uncomfortable. Stats on ethnicity were taken out of presentations. There was
resistance to focusing on who the perpetrators were.” A voluntary sector worker
There is a small but established community in Rotherham which is of Pakistani
heritage which accounts for around 3% of Rotherham’s population. This is referred to
as ‘PHC’ in the Council, standing for Pakistani Heritage Community. Other ethnic
minorities, including the Czech and Slovak Roma, in total account for 8% of the
population.9 Inspectors heard evidence from a range of quarters that indicated
RMBC struggled historically and into the present day with the issue of race. It seems
that with an intention of not being racist, their ways of dealing with race does more
harm than good.
“Rotherham isn’t a very PC place, I think that is why the Council overcompensated
too much. It doesn’t want to be accused of being racist. It is known that this happens,
perpetrators have been known to say ‘I’ll use the race card.’” A former officer
Some interviewees talked about a historical context in which RMBC were concerned
not to do anything that might be seen as ‘offensive’ to a minority community.
“We weren’t allowed to hold forums near pubs because it might upset the Muslim
people…Muslim colleagues thought this was silly…” A former officer
The problem has been that that so called ‘political correctness’ has cast its shadow
over the actions in subsequent years.
“They (the politicians) wanted to use any other word than Asian males. They were
terrified of [the impact on] community cohesion.” A current officer
“[My] experience of council as it was and is – Asian men very powerful, and the white
British are very mindful of racism and frightened of racism allegations so there is no
robust challenge. They had massive influence in the town. For example, I know all
the backgrounds to the Asian Councillors… but don’t know anything about white
Members. Not about race only but the power and influence – the family links in those
communities are still very strong. Definitely an issue of race.” A current officer
Inspectors heard a range of views and thoughts from interviewees about attitudes to
race and culture that caused them concern and reinforced the conclusion that the
Council could not deal sensibly with the issue. Indeed, some Councillors held racist
9 Office for National Statistics, Census Data 2011
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or wholly outdated or inappropriate views. Many of these views were known about
but not challenged.
“The girls, the way they dress, they don’t look 14-15 years old, the way they make up
– they look more adult. They go into clubs, get served in bars, It’s very difficult for
me, very modern dress…..They have been fooled definitely [men in Asian
Community]. The British Asians. If you have identified so many perpetrators, why
have there been so little arrests? They feel British Asians have been hit by Jay.” A
current Councillor
“They’re [people of Pakistani heritage] some of the nicest people you could meet.
But there are a dozen rotten apples at the bottom of the barrel, which you have to
keep a close watch on.” A current Councillor
“It’s difficult to ask questions regarding Pakistani heritage.” A current Councillor
There was a sense that it was the Pakistani heritage Councillors who alone ‘dealt’
with that community. Inspectors believe this is inappropriate. It would not of course
have reflected Rotherham’s equality policy or indeed the ‘One Town, One
Community’ campaign. 10
There was a view among Members that relations with the Pakistani heritage
community needed to be ‘brokered’ through the Pakistani heritage Councillors.
“I have listened to Mahroof and Shaukat. I’m quite happy to go into an Asian house
and deal with issues.” A Councillor
There was a sense that Pakistani heritage Members were handed a ‘community
leader’ role by white Councillors who weren’t sure or didn’t want to deal with the
issues around the Pakistani heritage community. They then were able to rescind
their responsibility for their constituents as a whole.
“They weren’t challenged in their views by other Members because they were seen
as the experts on Pakistani heritage issues…..” A police officer
The former Deputy Leader, Jahangir Akhtar, was sometimes seen to be able to
‘deliver’ on difficult issues for the council. Inspectors were told that he had been able
to stop young ‘Asian’ men coming out on the streets when the EDL wanted to march
in the town.
“Given the town’s problems with the EDL, someone with this kind of reach and
influence into the local population was extremely helpful.” A former senior officer
10 ‘One Town, One Community’ is a campaign with the aim of developing good interfaith relationships.
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Pakistani heritage Councillors had and have (whether acquired or taken) a
disproportionate influence in the council, particularly on issues which appeared to
affect the Pakistani heritage community such as the taxi trade.
“I think what we’re probably talking about [is] the disproportionate influence one
particular community has, how it punches above its weight and the power these
politicians have.” A Councillor
Some claimed that Jahangir Akhtar’s influence extended to the police:
“There was once a situation where a girl from a Pakistani heritage family went
missing, they [Asian Councillors] went straight to the Chief Superintendent and that
influenced our operations, they held a lot of power.” A police officer
The key matter of concern here for Inspectors is that RMBC’s inability to talk about
race and the different communities in Rotherham had implications for their approach
to dealing with CSE.
In Rotherham, the phenomenon of CSE emerging from the late 1990s onwards
concerned a majority of white, female, adolescent or teenage victims and a majority
of Pakistani heritage adult male perpetrators. Early concerns raised about CSE by
youth workers and others had also repeatedly mentioned taxi drivers.
This predominant involvement of Pakistani heritage men was certainly the view of all
those who Inspectors spoke to who had been close to operational work around street
grooming and CSE in Rotherham in the previous 15 years. Victims shared this view.
Our review of case files and strategy meetings held about perpetrators and victims
as well as other information we came across, confirmed that perpetrators were
usually described as being Pakistani men. This was a matter of fact.
However the wider culture in Rotherham we have described meant that from the
outset the added dimension of the ethnic background of perpetrators was an
awkward and uncomfortable truth which, in the view of the inspection team, affected
the way that the Council (and the police) dealt with CSE.
“Everyone here will say it’s not a race issue, that white people abuse too. That’s true,
but there is a race issue here.” A social worker
“I got my knuckles rapped by [manager] on that occasion for mentioning Asian taxi
drivers… she had been told [what I’d said] was controversial and not to mention
ethnicity.” A youth worker
Staff perceived that there was only a small step between mentioning the ethnicity of
perpetrators and being labelled a racist.
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“They were running scared of the race issue… There is no doubt that in Rotherham
this has been a problem with Pakistani men for years and years… People were
scared of being called racist.” A former police officer
On the ground, individual professionals felt under pressure. “We had specific
instances where taxis were involved [in CSE]. We tried to follow it up with taxi
licensing, but I can’t remember how far we got. We were constantly being reminded
not to be racist.” A former social worker
Another social worker recalled a strategy meeting about an exploited young person
where Pakistani heritage taxi drivers were referred to as “men of a certain ethnicity,
engaged in a particular occupation.”
“If we mentioned Asian taxi drivers we were told we were racist and the young
people were seen as prostitutes.” A former social worker
“…you couldn’t bring up race issues in meetings… or you would be branded a
racist.” A key partner
“The number one priority was to preserve and enhance the [Pakistani heritage]
community – which wasn’t an unworthy goal but it wasn’t right at the time. It was
difficult to stand up in a meeting and say that the perpetrators were from the
Pakistani Heritage community and were using the taxi system - even though
everyone knew it.” A former key partner
Frontline staff were clearly anxious about being branded racist. Whether there was
an element of self-censorship or otherwise, the impact of this was clear. The Council
was not dealing with a serious problem right before its eyes.
Certainly this was not limited to frontline officers. There was also a clear perception
among senior officers that the ethnic dimension of CSE in Rotherham was taboo.
“They wanted to use any other word than Asian males. They were terrified about [the
effect on] community cohesion. I got this sense from overhearing conversations
between [senior Member] and [senior officer] ….they were terrified of the BNP.” A
former senior officer
The background threat of the BNP (British National Party) or EDL (English Defence
League) exploiting the problems in Rotherham for their own divisive ends may have
been a rationale for not talking about the ‘race issue’ openly. But in fact this made it
worse. Even if at some point, by some people, this was well intentioned, it has not
served any positive purpose at all. It has in effect suppressed a problem that should
be dealt with openly and properly.
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Staff in Licensing felt that some Councillors made representations on behalf of taxi
drivers. Councillor Mahroof Hussain suggested he had done this in his capacity as a
ward Councillor owing to the large number of Pakistani heritage drivers in his ward.
He states this may have given the impression that he was overly representing the
community or the trade and that he would not place undue pressure on officers.
Staff felt that Jahangir Akhtar and Mahroof Hussain suppressed discussion for fear
of upsetting community relations.
A police officer who spoke to us about a police operation said:
“We’d be at [community] meetings talking about community issues. When there we
discussed targeting taxi drivers and the Pakistani heritage community in relation to
CSE, we were even discussing particular families we had concerns about. These
members would push back. Neither believed the extent of the problem that we were
trying to communicate… They were saying to us ‘it will cause a lot of community
tension if they are targeted specifically’… We wanted their support…” A police officer
Other Members contributed to this silence:
“It’s difficult to ask questions regarding Pakistani heritage. Never got a response
from Stone.” A Councillor
“They weren’t challenged in their views by other Members because they were seen
as the experts on Pakistani heritage issues…” A police officer
Rotherham’s suppression of these uncomfortable issues and its fear of being
branded racist has done a disservice to the Pakistani heritage community as well as
the wider community. It has prevented discussion and effective action to tackle the
problem. This has allowed perpetrators to remain at large, has let victims down, and
perversely, has allowed the far right to try and exploit the situation. These may have
been unintended consequences but the impact remains the same and reaches into
the present day.
“People were afraid that they’d get into trouble if they said something that was
perceived as racist….that was probably why the issue had been allowed to escalate
so far, and that if someone had had the guts to stand up and say ‘I don’t care what
colour you are, that’s a child’, then maybe they could have dealt with it.” A police
officer
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quelle:
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