Xinhua News Agency, London, August 8 (Reporter Du Juan Xu Feng) A report officially released by the United Kingdom on the 8th showed that between 2018 and 2020, 650 British minors were strip-searched by the London police, most of whom were of African descent. Many inspections are not carried out in the company of relevant adults as required.
The report, released by England's Children's Commissioner Rachel De Souza, said the minors stripped were aged between 10 and 17, more than 95 per cent were boys, and 58 per cent were boys. The boy is of African descent.
Such incidents are increasing year by year.
The data also showed that 23 per cent of strip searches were not carried out in accordance with regulations, that is, without adults such as parents or social welfare agencies present.
African Americans still make up the majority of inspections that are not conducted as required.
The report pointed out that the police did not take further legal action against the person involved in 53% of the incidents, and the low success rate of the search indicated that such "aggressive" strip searches were "probably improper or unnecessary".
At the same time, because the examination involves private parts of the body, it may cause psychological trauma to the above-mentioned children.
About one-fifth of such strip searches did not record the location of the inspection, the report said, indicating a "lack of reasonable oversight" of police operations.
The report aroused great concern in the UK.
In a written interview with Xinhua, Irina Bonner, a spokeswoman for the British Society for the Protection of Children, said: "We are shocked that so many children have been strip-searched. We are also surprised that nearly a quarter of the searches took place without the relevant adults present. strip searches are invasive and traumatic. We are equally concerned about the disproportionately high rates of these types of tests for children of African descent.”
Anna Edmondson, head of policy and public affairs for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, stressed that police and the government need to work to eliminate racism, discrimination and prejudice in policing to prevent further harm to children.