Home Secretary says nearly all women who attempt to each UK in small boats are raped on their journey

Iam64

In addition, many of us have expressed the belief that families pool money to send their yiung, fit men on the perilous journey to seek asylum - exactly because it’s so dangerous for women and children. Organised criminals aren’t known for showing any care or concern for their victims

These odious individuals also assault and rape young men.

Sex is used as a weapon of war, violence, blackmail and coercion.

It makes me sick and so angry.

MT62

The female migrants who landed in Ceuta complained of being raped, sexually harassed & abused by the male migrants.
It’s not ok.
Primrose isn’t stirring the pot, she is just merely telling us what the Home Secretary stated in her pod cast.
Can’t say I am surprised.
All so depressing to hear.

It was two brief statements in an hour long podcast. Extremely important, but there was so much more to the interview than that.

I agree GrannyGravy. I did include sexual offences against boys and men by these dreadful men. It remains the case that many families believe their fit yiung men are least worst placed to attempt the perilous journey.

It’s so easy to say ‘stop the boats’. I don’t know anyone who isn’t concerned but easy solutions don’t exist. Starmer was right in saying ‘smash the gangs”. Sadly, as with other organised crime groups, that’s a huge challenge

What are Shabana Mahmood's sources for this information? Some of those boats are so unstable that people fall off and drown in spite of keeping as still as they can. The boats are horrendously overcrowded - how does a rape take place under those conditions? A rape involves rather a lot of vigorous unpredictable movement - do the other passengers just sit and watch, if only to stabilise the boat and thus give themselves a better chance of survival? Do the women simply acquiesce, for the same reason?
I have to say that this latest "example" of how wicked the boat people are does sound rather like a wind-up. Oh, I don't reject the idea that such an allegation has been made, but allegations are not the same as facts (preferably backed up with hard evidence). My first reaction when I heard this assertion was that it sounds like just the kind of incendiary statement that might be made by someone with a personal axe to grind, one way or the other. We really shouldn't make up our minds according to what we'd like to believe. It's pretty brainless for one thing, and unhelpful for another.

This is what I read was actually said in the podcast:

"Speaking to the former Tory minister Rory Stewart and Tony Blair’s former close adviser Alastair Campbell, she said sexual abusers would exploit most asylum seekers as long as traffickers continued to decide who came to the UK.

She said: “We’re not in control of this border. The sifting of the people that end up in the north of France and are about to get on a dinghy is done by criminal gangs who are also, by the way, people traffickers. You can almost guarantee that every woman that’s in the north of France has probably been raped along the journey. Some of the men too, they’ve certainly been abused and threatened. That is not the model that should decide whether somebody gets to come to the UK, make this their place of sanctuary and ultimately become one of us.”

I agree AS journeys facilitated by criminal gangs is not the right model for asylum seeker applications. A refugee/asylum screening/application process that does not require very single refugee to make a perilous journey to ensure they arrive on UK soil would result in a refugee/ AS application that:
1)promotes stronger border control
2) smashes the gangs and reduces/extinguishes the risk of sexual abuse by sex traffickers on long journeys before ASs reach northern France to cross the channel.
3) save UK tax payers money as ASs would not have to be housed in the UK whilst their AS/refugee application is being processed. Refugee visas could be controlled and issued before they come.

I know of some children ( seeking asylum) who disappeared one night.

They are vulnerable people.

GrannyGravy13

Casdon do you also object to the multitude of frequent threads on Nigel Farage, the current POTUS or any other oft discussed political news item or is it just asylum seekers?

Am guessing it’s just because posters have the temerity to mention asylum seekers.
Well Casdon the majority of people in this country and in many other countries are sick of boatloads of asylum seekers , a never ending stream of mainly economic migrants.
But everyone can also be horrified about women who make the journey being raped, it’s terrible.I would hope the women were well looked after here when they disembark.

I wish she would show the same concern for the 80,000 women raped in England and Wales every year.

Two important statements in my view. Will have a listen when I get time. Thanks mamie

CarrotTop

What are Shabana Mahmood's sources for this information? Some of those boats are so unstable that people fall off and drown in spite of keeping as still as they can. The boats are horrendously overcrowded - how does a rape take place under those conditions? A rape involves rather a lot of vigorous unpredictable movement - do the other passengers just sit and watch, if only to stabilise the boat and thus give themselves a better chance of survival? Do the women simply acquiesce, for the same reason?
I have to say that this latest "example" of how wicked the boat people are does sound rather like a wind-up. Oh, I don't reject the idea that such an allegation has been made, but allegations are not the same as facts (preferably backed up with hard evidence). My first reaction when I heard this assertion was that it sounds like just the kind of incendiary statement that might be made by someone with a personal axe to grind, one way or the other. We really shouldn't make up our minds according to what we'd like to believe. It's pretty brainless for one thing, and unhelpful for another.

Maybe before they get on the boats.

Sueinkent

I wish she would show the same concern for the 80,000 women raped in England and Wales every year.

Sounds like we have enough of our own men raping, why encourage more to come across & assault our woman.
Watching undercover cops on YouTube nicking these sexual pests- they follow women from nightclubs & photograph them down below, or pestering them for sex.
Isn’t there enough of our own men who I call ‘ten to twoers’ pestering young women for sex.

Thanks NotSpaghetti for a reasoned response to this issue.

This, in particular, made me pause for thought...

70 to 80% of women have experienced "some sort" of sexual assault by the time they reach Calais I think I read.

There have been surveys here in the UK, and the States - unofficial surveys but none the less important for being so - which revealed that a similar percentage of women have at some point in their lives been sexually assaulted. And though this is only anecdotal, every single woman I've known - including myself - has had, at the very least, lewd comments aimed at them - casually, by complete strangers.

The problem is men. Men with a certain mentality or mind-set; those men who view women as little more than chattel, misogynists, the inadequate and insecure males whose fragile egos are threatened by the mere presence of a woman with a voice or an opinion... even men preaching from the pulpit - that women should obey their husbands.

I watched a video, made by someone in the congregation of an American 'pastor' preaching about the sins of women who wear shorts - yes, shorts - instead of what he referred to as 'pants' or dresses; and he informed said congregation that, if he was on the jury presiding over the rape or assault of such a woman, then "I'm tellin' ya - that man's going free, he's goin' free"... this to a murmur of approval from the congregation. His justification? "A man's a man, a man's a man". He then alluded to how men in "some countries" make their women cover-up and, amused by his own observation, suggested that maybe they had the "right idea". It's alleged that this pastor is Pete Hegseth's 'spiritual guide', but whether that's factual, I've no idea.

This 'manosphere mentality', this mentality - the 'Tate' mindset - is spreading over here, where stupid, impressionable, young men are paying sums of money to subscribe to the misogynistic content-creators' self-improvement psychobabble. It's fertile ground here.

If anyone is under the impression that this kind of behaviour, this mentality, is peculiar only to the men arriving on boats, then I'd suggest they do a little research into the ever-growing manosphere and listen to their ignorant and ill-informed 'take' on wimmin.

To Dickens and SueinKent what makes you think that being concerned about the rape and sexual assault/abuse of those seeking asylum means that we are not also concerned about these crimes happening on our shores?

They are not mutually exclusive 🤦‍♀️

GrannyGravy13

To Dickens and SueinKent what makes you think that being concerned about the rape and sexual assault/abuse of those seeking asylum means that we are not also concerned about these crimes happening on our shores?

They are not mutually exclusive 🤦‍♀️

I'm pretty sure women are as concerned about home-grown rapists and abusers, but you can't deny that some appear to believe this is something that's peculiar to asylum seekers, almost by default.

A belief that's further highlighted by groups of angry men - some almost bandaged in balaclavas and face coverings and others adopting the tactics of the traditional football-hooligans, alleging the protection of 'our women and children' - which could be true for some, but is more likely motivated by racism. IMO of course, others can disagree - however extensive police data obtained via Freedom of Information requests reveals a significant, documented overlap between individuals participating in anti-immigration and anti-asylum protests and histories of domestic abuse.

(The italics are to indicate the information is from Google-AI)

FWIW, I'm not comfortable with importing men from cultures that centre women as second-class citizens either, and I don't think a leaflet explaining the position of women in a western democracy - which leaflets are, allegedly, handed out to new arrivals, will do much to alter their thinking. But this depressingly 'medieval' mind-set exists within our own culture, too. Is the point I'm trying to make...

Doesn't mean to say the rapists were fellow travellers,does it?

Emeraldforest

Doesn't mean to say the rapists were fellow travellers,does it?

Indeed it doesn't. It could have happened anywhere on their journey from their native country and could just as likely have been natives of the country they were passing through as it was to have been a fellow traveller.

Is it time to 'put your money where your mouth is' and give support to the Government in their proposal to fast track Afghan women and girls?

Yes, MT62, I do think safe routes would ameliorate the situation, for many of the women and children.

Maremia

Is it time to 'put your money where your mouth is' and give support to the Government in their proposal to fast track Afghan women and girls?

Yes.

You can almost guarantee that every woman that’s in the north of France has probably been raped along the journey.

Fairly obvious: "along the journey,"

CarrotTop

What are Shabana Mahmood's sources for this information? Some of those boats are so unstable that people fall off and drown in spite of keeping as still as they can. The boats are horrendously overcrowded - how does a rape take place under those conditions? A rape involves rather a lot of vigorous unpredictable movement - do the other passengers just sit and watch, if only to stabilise the boat and thus give themselves a better chance of survival? Do the women simply acquiesce, for the same reason?
I have to say that this latest "example" of how wicked the boat people are does sound rather like a wind-up. Oh, I don't reject the idea that such an allegation has been made, but allegations are not the same as facts (preferably backed up with hard evidence). My first reaction when I heard this assertion was that it sounds like just the kind of incendiary statement that might be made by someone with a personal axe to grind, one way or the other. We really shouldn't make up our minds according to what we'd like to believe. It's pretty brainless for one thing, and unhelpful for another.

Mahmood, in her role as Foreign Secretary, said a lot on the podcast. This post is about one comment she made .i.e. "You can almost guarantee that every woman that’s in the north of France has probably been raped along the journey".

Ie before leaving France, before getting on a boat to cross the channel and by sexual predators en route during the asylum seeker journey.

She didn't present this as a definitive statistic. However it is the case that human rights organisations, medical and international organisations corroborate that this kind of sexual violence is systemic and widespread for women on this asylum seeker/refugee migration pathways.

Doctors Without Borders frequently treat such women for this trauma and their various clinics along these routes and have noted that sexual exploitation by smugglers is extremely prevalent UNHCR has repeatedly warned about this high sexual risk.

Mahmood didn't say anything new.

... I wish there was another phrase for "traffickers" - when you think about their violence, predatory behaviour, bullying - undoubtedly, and utter disregard for human life be it man, woman, or child... calling them traffickers just doesn't convey the horror of what they do, or are prepared to do. And referring to them as 'smugglers' almost romanticises them. I know that's what they are technically but IMO they could be categorised as terrorists because they are in effect if not in motivation, a threat to national security.

I suppose they are part of a wider 'mafia' of corruption and crime, and very difficult for stretched law enforcement both here and elsewhere to capture?

Casdon

It’s the monthly small boat migrants thread. Wind them up and watch them go.

The illogical 'monthly small boat migrants thread'.

Maremia

Yes, MT62, I do think safe routes would ameliorate the situation, for many of the women and children.

What do you class as a safe journey?
Hi would that stop them being raped please?

They need a security guard with a gun I would say to protect these women.