Report finds that three-quarters of councils are failing to implement measures to protect vulnerable young boys and girls An inquiry into child sexual exploitation by gangs will be launched on Friday, as a report finds that three-quarters of councils are failing to implement measures to protect vulnerable young people. Fears about the rise in child sexual exploitation have being growing after high-profile cases of groups of mainly Asian men grooming teenagers for sex in Derby and Rochdale. The Office of the Children’s Commissioner (OCC) warned that the problem is more widespread and stereotyping of perpetrators could mean victims are being missed. The OCC is taking the unusual step of exercising its powers under the 2004 Children’s Act to investigate the scale of sexual exploitation of girls and boys by youth street gangs and other groups in England in a two-year study. Under the powers local authorities, police, health and education professionals and the judiciary will be forced to provide information about child sexual exploitation for the first time, said Sue Berelowitz, deputy children’s commissioner, leading the inquiry. “There is a huge gaping hole in our knowledge about this area. Children are being failed, they are subject to a most pernicious form of sexual abuse and they cannot access protection and support,” she said. “We believe this is happening in every part of the country and these children need to be protected.” Sexual, and often violent, exploitation of children and young people was happening throughout the country, often perpetrated by young people in street gangs, and not only by certain groups of men, she said. “It is a very worrying picture, with patterns that differ according to demographic and area,” she said. “In Derby it was Asian men but in [a recent case in] Torbay white men were involved. It happens in cities but also in rural areas. If it is happening in those areas it is happening everywhere.” A report by Bedfordshire University released on Friday reveals that three-quarters of councils have failed to put in place government guidance issued in 2009 to protect children from sexual exploitation. Professor Jenny Pearce, principle investigator of the two-year report, What’s Going on to Safeguard Children and Young People from Sexual Exploitation?, said some local authorities were turning a blind eye to abuse. “We are seeing only a quarter of LSCBs [local safeguarding children boards] being proactive and that is shameful. What worries me is that to ignore the problem is to collude in the abuse,” she said. The issue has come under the spotlight after a series of cases. In January the ringleaders of a gang in Derby who groomed girls for sex were given indefinite jail sentences, while in Rochdale nine men were found guilty of a series of sexual exploitation related offences. The report states that there is “no one model of how young people are sexually exploited”: 31% were exploited by a older “boy/girlfriend” but 27% of cases involved young people exploiting other young people. “Recent media attention has suggested predominance of exploitation through an organised network of perpetrators,” the report adds, but finds that this was only true of 18% of cases studied. Sue Jago, report author, said: “The danger is that local authorities think this only happens to a certain type of child by a certain group of men, and then they are blinkered to different models of abuse.” The study finds that less than half of all LSCBs collected data on exploitation, prosecutions of sexual predators was low and the experience of going through the court process often left abused children traumatised. It highlights a snapshot of 158 cases, that resulted in only 34 convictions which, it said “reflects the low number of cases reaching court [and] may also reflect the low number of people receiving appropriate support before, during and after the court proceedings.” Young girls, particularly in violent gang situations, were too often seen as part of the problem, rather than as abused children, said Berelowitz. “These girls are too often seen as transgressors or aggressors, rather than victims,” she added. “But the abuse of young girls by gangs and groups transcends the awfulness of anything I have ever seen.” Berelowitz detailed a case where girls of 11 and 12 were expected to give oral sex to lines of young men. Another example involved young women being offered as “payment” as part of a drug deal or girls associated with one gang being sexually abused as “payback” by another gang. The report suggests that the most vulnerable children are falling prey to sexual predators. Sexually exploited young people studied were up to four and a half times more likely to be accommodated in residential care, just under half were known not to be attending school while 41% were already in contact with children’s services. The minister for children and families, Tim Loughton, welcomed the inquiry and said the findings of the Bedfordshire study would help inform a government action plan expected next month. “Child sexual exploitation is an appalling form of child abuse and we are determined to do everything possible to stamp it out,” he said. “LSCBs have a key role in tackling child sexual exploitation but too many are not taking the issue seriously enough and abuse is often remaining hidden from view. Raising awareness must be a priority along with tackling the difficulties that young victims and their families can face in getting justice.” ‘She was making me do stuff with them’ Sarah was fifteen when she ran away from home last year after a series of fights with her mum and step-dad in her Yorkshire home. She had nowhere to go, and when a girl her own age who she hung around with, and knew from school, said she’d give her a place to stay she was grateful. “She said she was looking after a house and I didn’t have anywhere to go,” said Sarah. She slept at the house for a few nights, but soon visitors, a group of men, started coming to the flat. “Before I knew it she was making me do stuff with them I didn’t want to do,” she said. The men, who she thought were a group of friends, were nice to her at first. “They keep on giving you stuff, buying me stuff. But the girl I was with was pressuring me and saying she’d give me weed and whatever, but she was doing it so she could get her weed and beer and money.” The girl took away her keys and locked the door. Sarah was frightened, she thought about phoning the police but feared what the consequences would be. “I was feeling proper scared, like if I said no she would do something. It made me feel upset and sick.” At the end of two weeks Sarah was allowed out of the house, and found support at a Children’s Society project based in Keighley and Bradford. Although she sometimes still sees her abusers, she feels she is stronger and more aware of the dangers now and wouldn’t be abused again. “Before I didn’t want to talk about it but there are people who listened to me, and I got it all out. I’ve moved away from the place where it happened, it’s behind me now.” • Names have been changed in this section to protect the identity of the speaker. Child protection Children Social care Alexandra Topping guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Well, that didn’t take long: Hilary Swank has officially apologized for celebrating the birthday of Chechnya’s leader , a charming fellow accused of kidnappings, torture, and killings. But she can take comfort in the fact that she’s not exactly a trailblazer when it comes to stars rubbing shoulders with questionable figures….
Continue reading …When you gotta go, you gotta go—even on Everest. And an environmental group says it’s high time the mountain has portable toilets. “Human waste is a problem,” explains the director of Eco Nepal, who thinks Everest would stay cleaner if the hordes of climbers who brave its slopes had…
Continue reading …A plane carrying 32 passengers went down in Papua New Guinea today, and local villagers say just four people survived the crash. The Airlines PNG Dash 8, a twin-propeller plane, crashed en route from Lae to Madang, the AP reports; there was reportedly a violent storm going on at the…
Continue reading …The Paris prosecutor’s office has dropped an investigation into a French writer’s claim that Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her for lack of sufficient proof. The prosecutor’s office said today that Strauss-Kahn admitted to sexual aggression against writer Tristane Banon but that it is too late to prosecute for that…
Continue reading …President Obama raised a combined $70 million for his own campaign and the Democratic Party this summer, easily exceeding his $55 million goal and walloping his Republican rivals, his campaign announced today. The number does, however, represent something of a slowdown for Obama, who raised $16 million more than that…
Continue reading …Herman Cain is being dishonest in touting his “9-9-9” plan, positioning it as some kind of tax cut, when “in reality tens of millions of lower income Americans would face tax increases,” Washington Post fact checker Glenn Kessler has concluded, giving Cain three out of four Pinocchios. The plan would…
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Vote for extension of the European financial stability facility opens way to more loans for struggling eurozone states Slovakia has become the 17th and final country to approve the expansion of the eurozone’s rescue fund, two days after rejecting the plan . MPs in Bratislava ratified the extension of the European financial stability facility (EFSF) to €440bn (£382bn) by a substantial majority on Thursday. The vote means that the EFSF can now issue more bonds, make loans to struggling eurozone states, and fund the recapitalisation of weak banks. Despite opposition to the plan, 114 of Slovakia’s 150 MPs voted to give the EFSF more powers. Thirty MPs voted against, with six either abstaining or not attending the vote. “Slovakia is back on the map of Europe,” declared Robert Fico, head of the opposition Smer party. Smer had opposed the EFSF expansion on Tuesday because the prime minister, Iveta Radicova, had made it a vote of confidence in her coalition government. The eurozone debt crisis has gathered pace since July, when EU leaders agreed to expand the EFSF to €440bn. Now, experts warn that the bailout fund may need to be increased to €2tn. “The EFSF would still be too small to support countries such as Italy or Spain should the necessity arise,” said Lutz Karpowitz, an analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt. President Herman van Rompuy and President José Manuel Barroso said the enhanced EFSF would provide a “stronger, more flexible tool to defend the financial stability of the euro area”. Radicova lost Tuesday’s confidence vote because a junior coalition partner, Freedom and Solidarity, refused to support the EFSF. It argued it was unfair to expect Slovakia, which endured tough austerity measures before joining the eurozone in 2009, to help wealthier Greece. Slovakia’s parliament also agreed to hold a general election in March 2012. Smer is currently leading the opinion polls, suggesting it could lead the next government. Radicova, who remains as prime minister, has asked Freedom and Solidarity to quit her cabinet. European debt crisis European Union European banks Europe European monetary union Europe Slovakia Banking Graeme Wearden guardian.co.uk
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Defence secretary accused of running ‘maverick foreign policy’ in Sri Lankan Development Trust dealings involving Adam Werritty Liam Fox faced fresh accusations of running a shadow foreign policy after it emerged he was involved in setting up a private investment firm to operate in Sri Lanka in apparent contravention of UK government policy, with his controversial friend Adam Werritty as its key contact. The defence secretary was intimately involved in negotiations with the Sri Lankan regime as recently as last summer, according to Lord Bell, his friend of 30 years, agreeing a deal that allows the Sri Lankan Development Trust to operate in the country in the same period in which he now says he withdrew his involvement. The trust was a venture designed to rebuild the country’s infrastructure using private finance with a sideline in charitable projects for Tamil communities. Labour urged the government to come clean on Fox’s work in Sri Lanka and whether it might have contravened the government’s official policy, while a senior Whitehall source said the minister had been operating a “maverick foreign policy” and it is this that will ultimately decide his political fate. The government has adopted an arm’s-length policy on Sri Lanka, calling for an independent inquiry into alleged war crimes. Since 2006 it has also had a policy to limit development work to urgent humanitarian assistance and “de-mining” areas affected by the civil war. Fox told the Commons on Monday he had worked with “a number” of business, banking and political contacts to establish the trust in Sri Lanka. He named only Werritty, his close friend who is at the heart of the scandal over his unofficial role as Fox’s adviser. “Neither myself, Mr Werritty nor others sought to receive any share of the profits for assisting the trust,” he said. In June 2010, he met the Sri Lankan foreign minister in Singapore, along with Werritty and MoD officials. “The purpose of the meeting was to make it clear that although I would no longer be able to participate in the project, the others involved would continue to do so,” he said on Monday. But Bell told the Guardian on Thursday that discussions took place last summer in which Fox agreed with the governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka that the trust would invest in roadbuilding and other infrastructure projects using private investment. Bell, whose PR firm Bell Pottinger was employed by the Sri Lankan government until last year to improve the country’s reputation abroad, said the deal had been struck between Fox and the head of the Sri Lankan bank: “In order for these funds to operate they would need an agreement with the country. The financial interests of Sri Lanka come under the governor of the Central Bank. My understanding is that the infrastructure development fund would be set up and have an agreement with the Sri Lankan government to invest in Tamil communities in Sri Lanka. It’s a fine idea with a good sense of purpose.” He added that “of course” part of the strategy was to improve the regime’s reputation abroad. Kevan Jones, shadow defence minister, said: “Liam Fox told the house about the trust on Monday. It’s clearly not a full explanation. If he was still striking deals with the Sri Lankans last summer, how does that fit with official UK foreign policy? He has to explain these negotiations. You can’t have a situation where a government minister is appearing to run a completely separate foreign policy from that of the government.” Fox’s parliamentary and private offices both said last night that Fox ceased to have any involvement with the trust on entering government. The only activity the Sri Lanka Development Trust appears to have engaged in has been the payment of up to £7,500 of Fox’s travel expenses, incurred on three trips to the country in 2009 and 2010. The trust was originally registered to an address close to the Houses of Parliament in London, 40 George Street, which is also the offices of 3G, the “Good Governance Group”, which is chaired by Chester Crocker, a former US politician. He also sits on the board of Bell Pottinger LLC, the US wing of Bell’s publicity firm. Bell denied that there was any connection between his firm or its US subsidiary and Fox’s Sri Lankan operation. The trust has since transferred to the Lothian Road in Edinburgh, giving its address as No 50, a substantial granite and glass-fronted office block where a number of firms including the HQ of the Scottish oil exploration firm Cairn Energy and corporate offices for Clydesdale Bank are based. When the Guardian visited the building there was no sign of any physical presence of the organisation. Two legal firms also based in the building are not believed to be connected. As a legal trust, it does not have to register either with the Charities Commission or on the register of businesses at Companies House. It does not have to publish the names of its trustees, it purpose or its beneficiaries. Bell said that the trust consisted of two bodies, the Sri Lanka Infrastructure Development Fund, which was intended to raise money abroad from investors who would then share in the profit of ventures on the country, and the Sri Lanka Charitable Fund which would undertake charitable projects in Tamil areas in the north and east. Inquiries in Colombo could not establish any activity the trust or its subsidiaries have so far carried out. Aid experts, senior politicians and officials in Sri Lanka said they had no knowledge of the trust. Nether the trust nor its subsidiaries are registered by the National Secretariat for Non-Governmental Organisations, a prerequisite for any such project. On a trip in March 2009, shortly before the end of the bloody but successful government offensive, Fox called for the creation of “a special fund with the help of international partners … to help the Sri Lankan government in handling the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the war ravaged areas in the north and east [of the country].” Fox told local journalists he was suggesting “a new, independent, Sri Lanka construction fund”. One aim of the fund, he said, would be to divert cash that had been flowing from ethnic Tamils overseas to the LTTE into reconstruction. No activity on the ground appears to have occurred. “I have my ear pretty close to the ground and I doubt a major new reconstruction project in the north [of Sri Lanka] could get going without my knowledge and I have never heard of this trust,” said one senior aid official in Colombo, the commercial capital. The source of the trust’s money for the transport to Sri Lanka for Fox is unknown. Contributions to the cost of the trips were also received from the Sri Lankan government via its London embassy. Human rights groups have been critical of Fox’s outspoken support for the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is now in his second term of office and has been accused by campaigners of repressing the press and opposition. WikiLeaks cables revealed American diplomats’ concerns at alleged government complicity in human rights abuses committed by troops and paramilitaries during the latter stages of the civil war. The United Nations has repeatedly pressed Sri Lanka for greater accountability and transparency. Additional reporting: Severin Carrell Liam Fox and Adam Werritty links Liam Fox Sri Lanka Foreign policy Defence policy Ministry of Defence Polly Curtis Jason Burke Rupert Neate guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …An Illinois man apparently believes the rivers are made of Heineken beyond the pearly gates. The TribLocal reports that the 46-year-old came upon a refrigerated beer trailer containing kegs inside and taps on the outside on Tuesday at a banquet hall in Buffalo Grove. He also came upon a pitcher….
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