British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said that almost all women who set off in small boats from northern France towards the United Kingdom may have experienced rape during the journey.
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During an interview on “The Rest Is Politics” podcast, she also warned that far-right activists who appear with their faces covered would kill or deport her if they came to power.
Speaking with former Conservative minister Rory Stewart and former Tony Blair adviser Alastair Campbell, Mahmood said sexual abusers benefit from the majority of asylum seekers, as long as traffickers decide who can enter the United Kingdom.
“We do not control this border. The people who end up in northern France waiting to board a dinghy are selected by criminal gangs, which are also people-smuggling gangs,” the minister said.
According to her, it is almost certain that any woman in northern France may have been raped during the journey. She added that some men may also have been abused and threatened.
Mahmood stressed that such a situation should not be the criterion determining whether a person is allowed to come to the United Kingdom, consider it a place of refuge and later become part of British society.
When Alastair Campbell asked her about masked protesters who block ports and express support for her policies, the minister said they should “disappear”.
“They are just troublemakers. They would kill me within a minute if they had the chance, and they would certainly deport me from my own country. We need to be clear about who they are. They do not consider me truly British and they hate the fact that I am Muslim,” she said.
The British minister also said that she sees herself as part of the pro-Palestinian cause. She said she felt “very uncomfortable” about the arrest of activists opposing the ban on Palestine Action.
Merseyside Police arrested 82 people on Monday during the Labour Party conference. They were suspected of wearing or carrying items expressing support for a proscribed organisation.
The arrests took place during a protest organised by “Defend Our Juries”. Dozens of protesters sat outside the conference centre in Liverpool, while many held handmade placards expressing support for Palestine Action.
“For those of us who have been part of the pro-Palestinian cause throughout our lives, these are people we often know. We have taken part in protests alongside them, and it is very uncomfortable to see them face Section 13 of the Terrorism Act,” Mahmood said.
Although she acknowledged that her political position was difficult, she defended the enforcement of the ban. “You have to be able to uphold your principles even when it is uncomfortable, because you will want to uphold them even more strongly when it concerns something you feel passionately about and care deeply for,” she said.
Meanwhile, on Sunday British authorities were preparing for the arrival of a migrant dinghy heading towards the southern coast. Vessel-tracking data showed that it was being followed by the French coastguard and rescue craft as it approached the Channel boundary.
The boat appeared to have set off on Sunday morning from an area near Utah Beach in Normandy.
Caroline Dinenage, the Conservative MP for Gosport in Hampshire, said there was “nothing to suggest” that the dinghy would reach the county’s coastline. However, she said police were “making preparations in case the situation changed”.
A government spokesperson said the Border Security Command monitors the Channel around the clock and works to protect the border. He stressed that it was essential for every person arriving in small boats to be stopped, checked and processed.
Imran Hussain, director of Refugee Council, welcomed the Home Secretary’s acknowledgement of the prevalence of sexual violence. However, he asked why the government had closed the safe and legal routes that could protect asylum seekers from abusers.
“Our services tell us that women and girls fleeing war and persecution face sexual violence both in the conflicts they have escaped from and during the journeys they are forced to undertake to find safety,” Hussain said.
He added that, following the government’s announcement last week about creating new safe routes, the organisation had called for them not to be limited to just a few hundred people.
According to Hussain, last year the government closed family reunification, a safe route for refugees used mainly by women and children.
“It is right to talk about the risks women face during these journeys, but we must not close the safe routes that could remove them from danger. Protecting women requires more safe routes, not fewer,” he concluded. / THE GUARDIAN
