Our coalition partner End Violence Against Women have published their annual snapshot report which looks in detail at the current contexts and developments impacting violence against women and girls in the UK; analysing the government’s response through legislation, policy-making and practice.
The report highlights a concerning lack of public trust in politicians and public institutions to tackle violence against women and girls with a YouGov poll finding:
- 50% of the public do not trust (very much or at all) the police to tackle VAWG
- 46% do not trust schools (very much or at all) to tackle sexual offences that occur on the premises
- 68% of the public believe the government should be doing more to tackle violence against women and girls
The annual snapshot shows a further deterioration of the foundations needed to tackle violence against women and girls, and a concerning lack of public trust in politicians and public institutions to tackle violence against women and girls.
The report illustrates politicians’ narrow focus on criminal offences as a solution to violence against women and girls, and little consideration of how they can be effectively enforced by a collapsing justice system that is failing to prosecute rape and domestic abuse, and re-traumatising survivors who seek justice. In addition, the report sets out a lack of ambition in this approach, failing to deliver a clear vision of how to prevent violence against women and girls from happening.
The report highlights key recommendations to government, including:
- Put prevention front and centre in work to tackle violence against women and girls
- Protect our human rights frameworks – the bedrock of tackling violence against women and girls
- Create a safe online world free from violence against women and girls through legislation and other mechanisms
- Ensure access to support for all survivors by sustainably funding the specialist violence against women and girls sector – particularly services run ‘by and for’ Black and minoritised women, deaf and disabled women, and LGBT+ people
- Dismantle ‘hostile environment’ policies, including scrapping the No Recourse to Public Funds condition, introducing a ‘firewall’ to block data-sharing between statutory agencies and Immigration Enforcement, widening access to protection and removing reservations on the Istanbul Convention
- Take a whole-society approach to violence against women and girls by resourcing and reforming public institutions so they are better able to respond to this abuse.
Read the report here.
