What has been debunked are the sweeping claims that:
- Sexual exploitation in the UK is disproportionately or uniquely committed by men of Pakistani or Muslim heritage.
- There exists a singular phenomenon of "Pakistani rape gangs" uniquely distinct from other forms of child sexual exploitation.
- The existence of these gangs proves something essential about Pakistani culture or immigration.
Tommy Robinson, and those on the far-right who share his agenda, have weaponized real cases to push their narratives. The big picture from the CSA Centre's own data is that:
"Of defendants proceeded against for child sexual abuse offences in 2022/23, 88% were White, 7% Asian, 3% Black and 2% Mixed or Other ethnicities." [1]
Compare that to the census: Asians (including South Asians) are 9% of the population but only 7% of offenders (i.e. under-represented). Meanwhile, white Britons are 82% of the population but 88% of CSE offenders (they're actually over-represented). According the Home Office’s own review, "The majority of child sexual abuse gangs are made up of white men under the age of 30." [2]
Racist grifters love to flog lurid myths about "Pakistani rape gangs" to frighten gullible Britons into voting against immigration. And racist griftees eat those stories up, because in their eyes, rape by a non-white person is somehow "worse" or "scarier" than rape by a white person. But if someone is genuinely worried about roving gangs of ethnically homogenous rapists, they should probably avoid Robinson’s marches. Statistically, that's where they're more likely to be.
1. https://www.csacentre.org.uk/app/uploads/2024/02/Trends-in-O...
2. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/dec/15/child-sexua...