FEMALE and ethnic minority troops are far more likely to complain about bullying in the military in a system that is not adequate for handling concerns, MPs are warning in a report published today.
Women account for 11 per cent of the military’s staff but filed 23 per cent of grievances last year.
Complaints by troops of Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) origins were also “disproportionately high,” Parliament’s defence committee has found.
The MPs also heard allegations that troops are put under pressure to drop complaints in a system that the committee deemed not fit for purpose.
The independent watchdog is “understaffed and inadequately resourced” with less than a dozen staff to investigate complaints.
The committee warned: “We are not convinced that ministers understand — or are sufficiently committed to discovering — the root causes of BAME and female service personnel complaints.
“They must get a grip on this important problem urgently,” they added.
The bullying of women and minorities in the military has come under intense scrutiny this year after police began investigating claims that soldiers had sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl on an army base.
An employment tribunal is also looking into claims that two black soldiers were racially abused while in the Parachute Regiment.
Dr Julian Lewis MP, chairman of the defence committee, warned that the “whole system risks losing credibility” unless the SCOAF is given more resources.
But veteran of the Afghan war Joe Glenton told the Morning Star that a more radical approach is needed, and called for an “armed-forces union” to protect troops.
“The military, to paraphrase some of some senior officers who submitted evidence for this report, is institutionally incapable of self-reflection or self-criticism,” he said.
“Trying to operate according to Blackadder-esque values and standards will not cut it in 2019.
“We are told that our soldiers, sailors and airmen protect democracy at home and even spread it overseas.
“They should be able to exercise it as part of an armed-forces union in which they can organise to defend themselves from the callousness and the routine misjudgements of uncaring generals and self-interested ministers who treat military workers like their own personal train set.
“There is a grand British military tradition of soldiers organising for their own class interests that stretches from the Putney Debates through to the veteran-led settlement of 1945. It is long overdue a reprise.”
