UK home secretary warns of sexual violence against women making Channel crossings - The News International
UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has claimed nearly all women attempting to reach Britain in small boats from northern France have been raped during their journey.
Speaking on The Rest Is Politics podcast, Mahmood said criminal gangs and people traffickers were exploiting asylum seekers trying to reach the UK.
βYou can almost guarantee that every woman thatβs in the north of France has probably been raped along the journey. Some of the men too, theyβve certainly been abused and threatened,β Mahmood said.
She argued the UK needed greater control over who could enter the country rather than allowing trafficking gangs to determine who reaches the Channel.
Mahmood also criticised far-right activists who have protested against immigration, saying they would βkillβ or βkick me out of my own countryβ if they gained power.
βTheyβre just troublemakers. They donβt think Iβm a true Brit and they hate the fact that Iβm a Muslimβ, she said.
