“No woman or girl should ever have to feel unsafe in her home or community and I am determined to stamp out these appalling crimes,” PM Rishi Sunak said last week as the detailed measures of tackling domestic violence were released by the government. Under the current scheme of measures, domestic abusers will face tags and tougher management under new measures to protect women and girls. The new proposals go further than ever before in protecting women and girls from harassment, aggression and violence, and focus on stopping domestic abuse before it takes place.
Asian Voice reached out to the community and MPs to know their assessment of the measures and how much faith they have in the government for implementing these measures.
But more must be done
In a statement shared with Asian Voice, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said, "There is a national epidemic of violence against women and girls which needs to be treated urgently. That is why I am championing a public health approach to end the violence and misogyny too many women face and build a safer London for everyone. As part of this, I’m funding a new £1million toolkit available to every secondary school in London to help pupils recognise and tackle misogynistic behaviour. City Hall is delivering a multi-award-winning ‘Have A Word’ campaign which asks men to reflect on how they can help tackle violence against women and girls. This is in addition to investing an additional £17.7m in support services and taking action to rebuild trust and confidence in the police and criminal justice system to ensure victims are supported and empowered to get the justice they deserve. My GPS tagging crime scheme is also working to quickly identify those including domestic abusers, who break their license conditions, protect victims and crucially put the onus on perpetrators to change their behaviour rather than victims and has surpassed 1,000 tagged offenders. But more must be done. We know the cost of living crisis is disproportionately impacting women, particularly those whose lives are impacted by abuse and inequality. That’s why I’ve recently announced a new £4million investment that will help women and girls access the help they need. We need the Government to follow City Hall’s lead and deliver funding to support women and girls affected by violence as well as properly fund long-term programmes to prevent abuse from happening in the first place by putting the emphasis on changing the behaviour of men and boys.”
Rape survivors wait for more than 1000 days for their cases to complete in court
Labour & Co-op MP for Feltham & Heston, Shadow Minister for Business and Consumers and Co-Founder & President of the Fabian Women’s Network, Seema Malhotra MP told Asian Voice, “The Government’s commitment to treat violence against women and girls as a national threat is clearly needed. But while Tories say one thing, they do another. We are at a time when incidents of violence against women and girls are the highest on record, when the charge rate in rape cases has dropped to a historic low of 1.5%, and when rape survivors are in many cases having to wait more than 1,000 days to have their cases completed in court. The Government’s Policing Requirements commit to making use of the existing legislative framework when it is clear that the current framework is failing so many victims of rape and domestic violence. As the former Shadow Minister for Preventing Violence against Women and Girls, I am proud that a Labour government would make tackling and eliminating violence against women and girls a national priority. We would put specialist domestic abuse workers and a specialist rape unit in every police force, to make sure victims have access to support and trained investigators. We would fast-track rape cases to bring down the unacceptable and traumatic waiting times and delays, and introduce a new statutory minimum sentence for rape of seven years. We will introduce a new Domestic Violence Register to track offenders and protect victims."
Police have been slow to act
Commending the government’s stance and measures, Author, and Communication Ambassador Lead, The Girls’ Net, Rabina Khan told the newsweekly, “The government’s latest measures on tackling domestic abusers are a step in the right direction. It was a long time coming. Lawmakers finally heard calls from campaigners, women’s rights activists, services, and charities for domestic abuse to be treated in the same way terrorism is – a national threat. Home Office Minister Sarah Dines recently promised in an interview that for the first-time violence against women and girls is going to be a national priority for policing. At a time when the police is unable to root out offenders among its own officers, this will be a challenge in rebuilding trust. I know of women where husbands and partners have breached Non-Molestation Orders and the police have been slow to act. The government’s promise of additional funding is welcomed but omits those with No Recourse to Public Funds. Specialist women’s charities supporting women from Black, Asian and minority communities face a financial crisis struggling to keep their services open to vulnerable women. The funding isn’t immediate but is to be rolled out over a two-year period – at a time when the cost of living is forcing women to choose to stay with abusers it’s important for charities and services that need the lifesaving funds now. In 2022, 2.4 million people in England and Wales experienced domestic abuse and one in four women experienced domestic abuse before the age of 50. We won’t know if the measures will work until those working in the frontline, supporting domestic abuse survivors and the survivors themselves tell us there is hope.”
Not a problem we can police our way out of
City Hall Labour and London Cop-op Party, London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow, Krupesh Hirani told us, “I welcome the package of measures brought forward by the government. Any attempt to crack down on violence, especially against women and girls, should be applauded however, I do think that this is a bit of a missed opportunity. Further measures could, and should, be implemented; most notably the creation of a standalone domestic violence register, an action championed by the Labour Party both in Westminster and in City Hall. There are provisions within the announcement to add the most serious offenders to Sexual and Violent Offenders but the threshold for being added to this seems high. A standalone register would enhance the probability of the police identifying patterns in low-level offending; We know that those who commit relatively minor offences may sometimes progress into committing more serious offences and we would want to catch that as early as possible. Lastly, what I would say is that whilst offender management and police response is a crucial steps in responding to domestic abuse, this is ultimately not a problem we can police our way out of. Properly preventing violence against women and girls involves taking a public health approach and tackling the underlying attitudes, such as misogyny, that can lead to such horrendous crimes.”
