Admiral Ben Key, the British Navy’s chief of staff, on Sunday defended internal investigations within the agency into allegations of sexual harassment against women, especially female recruits, over the years.
Key announced an internal investigation in October — in the face of independent inquiries — into the situation of women within the British Navy after a woman, on condition of anonymity, reported having been raped during her service.
The assault allegations come on top of the alleged existence of lists where female recruits are listed in the order in which they should be raped in the event of a «catastrophic event». The facts also include «sexual gestures and comments» towards female personnel.
«One of my challenges or concerns about this is that, in reality, (an independent inquiry) would only add time, and one of the things we need to do is to investigate these things much more quickly,» he told BBC Radio 4, as reported by the network on Sunday.
In this sense, Key has reiterated that an independent investigation «would lead» to worse results, at the same time that he has expressed that the external investigators could not get to understand the naval life, as well as the pressures that the men and women in service feel «in the day to day».
Last October, Key said he was «deeply dismayed» by the allegations. «I want to assure our people and anyone reading this that any such activity, so far removed from the highest standard of the Royal Navy is, in itself, totally unacceptable,» he said on his Twitter profile.
