UK academics call out Suella Braverman's 'divisive claims' about child grooming.

LONDON -- A group of researchers and policy leads from universities across the UK on Thursday penned a joint letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Suella BraverAman, urging all politicians to 'refrain from making partial, inaccurate or divisive claims' about child sexual abuse.

The remarks are a response to comments made by Ms Braverman last month in which she repeatedly spoke about 'the predominance of British-Pakistani males who hold cultural values totally at odds with British values'.

In an interview to Sky News, she had said that British-Pakistani men 'see women in a demeaned, illegitimate way, and pursue an outdated and frankly heinous approach to the way we behave'.

She was referring to sexual abuse reports from Rotherham, which was rocked by a child sexual exploitation scandal in which five British PakistAani men were convicted of grooming, raping and exploiting young girls.

The new letter penned by university officials and academics points to these stereotypes and says, 'Doing so undermines attempts to ensure policy-making is evidence-based, fair and inclusive.

'Many recent political announcements and accompanying media discussions have clearly fallen short in this regard, perpetuating misinformation, racism and division.

'Whatever the intention, stereotyping around child sexual...