MADRID 4 Oct. () –
The Royal Navy has concluded this Friday a long investigation that has ended with the recognition of abuses based on “misogyny, bullying and other unacceptable behaviour” against female crew members of its combat submarines, and which has led to an apology public issues issued by the leadership of the military branch.
Although the report, published this Friday, points out that this campaign “does not represent the usual norm” within the Navy Submarine Service, it does note examples of this type of harmful behavior “at all ranks.”
During the presentation of the report, the result of an investigation that began in October 2022 and covers episodes from 2014 to 2020, the commander in chief of the British Navy, Admiral Ben Key, has apologized for what he described as a ” intolerable behavior”, which has however been resolved without the opening of proceedings in civil courts, although the Navy has expelled, demoted or reprimanded more than twenty of the accused.
VIOLATION LIST
Admiral Key himself ordered the launch of the investigations after the wave of complaints unleashed at the time by retired officer Sophie Brook, who received the apology in person from the head of the Navy this Friday.
“I have apologized unreservedly to Ms Brook, and I now offer my public apologies to her and all staff, past or present, who have been subjected to any form of unacceptable behavior during their time in service. I am truly sorry. true,” the admiral said in a statement.
After Brook decided to sound the alarm, a subsequent investigation by the ‘Daily Mail’ newspaper revealed the existence of several complaints of assault and examples of a campaign of sexual harassment, translated for example into the existence of lists where recruits appear according to the order in which they should be violated in the event of a “catastrophic event.”
The complaints also accused Navy officers of making “sexual gestures and comments” toward female personnel. Some recruits have also reported being hit with clipboards.
The investigation has not led to formal accusations of sexual assault but the Navy has acted on its part to punish several people involved. Specifically, it has carried out 28 independent investigations that led to the dismissal of 18 people, of whom four were demoted in rank and six faced disciplinary or administrative measures.
Some of the allegations were reported to the Ministry of Defense’s serious crimes unit, but the Navy indicates in its final report that there was insufficient evidence to initiate criminal proceedings.
In response, the NGO Center for Military Justice, in charge of providing legal services to some of the affected women, has denounced through lawyer Lucy Baston the “enormous difficulties” entailed by the Navy’s internal complaints process, a “biased and brutal process for anyone who has been sexually assaulted or subjected to sexual harassment.”
“At every stage of this process, the women we support have been subjected to defamation for having the audacity to complain about the treatment they receive,” she added in a statement published on the social network X.
“I hope this apology marks a turning point,” Baston emphasizes, “but we continue to support the women who suffer these indignities today and who are prohibited from speaking to the press or Parliament about it while they continue to serve in the Army, as is the case with most of our clients.
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