Abuse inquiry urges survivors from BAME community to come forward

By Margaret Davis, Crime Correspondent17th July 2019News EnglandChild Abuse, Ethnic Minorities, Ethnicity, News England, Non-Recent / Historic Abuse, Sexual Abuse

Abuse survivors from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds have been encouraged to come forward, after research for a major inquiry revealed they make up less than 10% of victims who have shared their experiences.

The Truth Project – part of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) – said 92% of the people whose accounts were analysed for its latest report were white.

The analysis is based on a total of 2,894 victims and survivors who told their stories to the project, which is running throughout England and Wales and is aimed at allowing people a safe space to share what they have been through.

It is the second of these briefings published by the Truth Project, and the first in which ethnicity has been included.

Michael May, head of the Truth Project in Oxford where its next sessions will be held in September, said it is “vitally important” for survivors in the BAME community to speak out so lessons can be learned for the future.

He told PA: “I think it’s vitally important for them to come forward. If we don’t hear from them about the things that are required to keep children in their communities safe from sexual abuse then we may not make the right or most suitable recommendation.

“We don’t want to be another institution that failed them.”

He said people from a BAME background may face greater challenges in coming forward, and added that the Truth Project is working to be more accessible.

He said: “The BAME statistics are lower than the national representation but I am not surprised by this. In this area we are talking about communities where ideas of shame and honour are so closely linked to family and community cohesion that the barriers are significantly higher than for the majority of society.

“We are doing more specific engagement work nationally to ensure that members of these communities understand what we are offering and the lengths to which we will go to ensure their confidentiality and respect their needs.

“We are, for example, offering interpretation throughout engagement with us so that the participant can choose the language in which they wish to share.”

The latest report, which is due to be updated and published quarterly, showed that almost half (44%) of survivors of child sexual abuse feel their experience had a negative impact on their schooling and future employment.

Almost a fifth of victims said they were unhappy in school as a result of their abuse.

About 85% of survivors said the abuse affected their mental health, with 37% experiencing depression.

Two-thirds of those who told their stories to the project were female.

Principal researcher Dr Sophia King said: “We can see that there’s a very wide range of impacts that are reported, from mental health, to physical health, to an impact on employment.”

The IICSA panel, chaired by Professor Alexis Jay, will have access to findings gathered by the Truth Project when making recommendations to help keep children safer in the future.

On Wednesday the inquiry is also due to publish a further 60 experiences survivors have shared with the project, which has heard from more than 3,500 people to date.

Anyone who wants to get in touch with the Truth Project can visit www.truthproject.org.uk, call 0800 917 1000 or email [email protected].