Local UK Islamic Mission mosque, Madina Masjid, recently welcomed FACES member Sujel Miah to talk about our work addressing child sexual exploitation in Luton.

Sujel represents Luton Council of Mosques on the FACES working group and has been instrumental in supporting our engagement work and conferences.

He spoke at both jummah congregations at Madina Masjid, the Friday prayer for Muslims that’s usually prayed in groups at a Mosque. After the prayer, individuals generously donated £600 to support the work of Faiths Against Child Sexual Exploitation.

FACES have been working in Luton for two and a half years connecting with faith organisations and building support and partnerships between local and national charities, schools and faith groups. We offer training to adults working with young people and we are developing workshops for children.

The conversations we’ve held within faith communities through our Breaking The Silence training and fundraising efforts have proven to counter the often heard narrative that faith communities, and in particular South Asian Muslims, shy away from topics surrounding CSE.

Having honest and proactive discussions around child sexual exploitation is difficult for many people, a difficulty that is increased when the media discourse often frames religion as a driver of abuse.

Despite this, we continue to see an increased commitment from individuals and organisations in faith communities to end CSE in all its forms and have engaged directly with over 400 from people mostly from Muslim and Christian communities in Luton and across the UK.

If you would like to support our work you can download a standing order form from our website and follow the instructions for making one-off donations via online banking or return the form to your bank to set up a regular donation.