The Home Office’s new measures to tackle violence against women and girls (VAWG) are a welcome step towards the government’s commitment to halve VAWG in the next decade.
Nahar Choudhury, CEO said “The murders of Raneem Oudeh and her mother Khaola Saleem show that, tragically, opportunities are being missed to get women to safety, and it is vital that other women are not failed like they were. Our thoughts are with Raneem and Khaola’s families, and all those lost to domestic abuse.”
“Introducing domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms is important – an effective response in these emergency scenarios could be life changing. While these new measures are a promising move towards protecting survivors, we need to see more information on how they will be implemented – particularly with regard to recruiting and training staff to effectively deliver support These pilots need to run alongside a wider improved police response when women report violence and abuse so they can have confidence in the justice system.
“It is positive to see a tougher response to perpetrators in the form of the long-awaited domestic abuse protection order, but we need to ensure that the police and probation are equipped to identify when these orders are needed and to ensure that breaches are responded to. We see that current breaches are often not dealt with effectively, so survivors need to see evidence that police will use their powers to hold perpetrators to account.”
The Government also announced plans to treat VAWG as a cross-governmental issue.
“For too long violence and abuse towards women has been treated as a criminal justice issue alone and the continuing high levels of crime show that this is not working. VAWG is a national emergency, and it is imperative that we address it with all the tools available to us as a nation – to prevent and protect people from violence, and to deal with it swiftly and effectively when it happens. In order to do this, we need a societal response to tackling abuse, which means a joint effort from health, councils, police and the wider criminal justice system, the voluntary sector, housing, education and beyond.
“ The new measures also need to sit alongside guaranteed access to safe housing and a significant investment in prevention and education, as ensuring that young people are taught about healthy relationships is key in addressing the root causes of violence. We welcome Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s commitment to prioritise domestic abuse and look forward to seeing this delivered across all government departments so we do not continue to see women’s lives lost to violence.”