Tag Archives: domestic violence

Domestic violence in Wales

By Jane Dodds | Wed 25th November 2020 - 9:03 am

November 25th is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Violence in the home has increased during Covid 19; contact during the lockdown period to Wales’ national helpline for women rose by 49% and call time trebled. During the national lockdown period, data from Counting Dead Women – a project that recalls the killing of women by men identified thirty-five murders with another twelve strongly suspected cases between March 23rd and the start of July.

Statistics in 2019 show that one in three women aged 16–59 will experience domestic abuse in her lifetime and that two women …

Caroline Pidgeon writes: When home is a place of danger

By Caroline Pidgeon | Fri 3rd April 2020 - 12:38 pm

Embed from Getty Images

There is a very long list of people who are struggling at the moment due to the impact of coronavirus and measures in place to slow its spread, in addition to the many people who are suffering directly from the virus itself.

That list stretches from self-employed people who are worried about how they will pay their household bills in the weeks ahead through to people sleeping rough every night in our town and city centres. We are now facing a situation where some foodbanks are struggling to cope and many local and national charities are worried about how they can even continue to maintain their core services, due to the severe hit they are now taking in fundraising activity.

Of course almost everyone is now facing new working arrangements and many (myself included) the challenges of home schooling. Facing long queues and shortages at our supermarkets is a new experience for households across the country.

However let’s be honest with ourselves.

While these are worrying times for everyone, there is a chasm between being inconvenienced and facing changes in your daily routine and the real suffering being faced by specific sections of our communities.

And there is one group in particular that should not be overlooked at present, and that is victims of domestic violence.

For many people home can be a place of real danger, rather than a place of safety.

Posted in Op-eds | Leave a comment

#TimesUp – victims of domestic violence need safe places to go!

By Kirsten Johnson | Thu 22nd February 2018 - 12:50 pm

Yesterday’s #TimesUp campaign to stand up against the abuse and harassment of women built on the awareness-raising of #MeToo. Women’s Aid, in joining organisations around the world for #TimesUp, said

“A culture that enables abuse, control and violence is thriving without challenge…..our first response to countless survivors is that she is not alone and she is not to blame. Control, abuse or violence towards an individual is never acceptable. Spotting the patterns and making individuals and agencies accountable for their actions is essential if more people are to come out

…

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged #metoo, istanbul convention, sentencing council and violence against women | 1 Comment

Orange The World – 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence

By Kirsten Johnson | Thu 30th November 2017 - 8:30 am

Last Saturday was the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

Orange The World is the 16-days of activism against gender-based violence led by the U.N. Secretary General’s initiative UNiTE to End Violence against Women. The theme of Orange The World this year is Leave No One Behind – End Violence Against Women and Girls.

This is Day 6 of Orange The World. Women and girls around the world are subject to the most dreadful human rights violations. Female Genital Mutilation; child-marriage; rape; molestation; harassment; domestic violence, death. …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged fgm, gender equality, international day for the elimination of violence against women and sexual violence | 4 Comments

Jo Swinson on support for victims of domestic violence and abuse

By The Voice | Mon 29th May 2017 - 12:04 pm

Embed from Getty Images

Jo Swinson has been responding to the Conservative plans on domestic violence.

Domestic violence and abuse is a horrific stain on our society and still all too often a hidden crime. Everything that can be done must be done to eradicate it once and for all. But let us be clear actions speak louder than words and Conservative cuts to local authorities have meant that funding for domestic abuse services have suffered, with some services having to refuse referrals from victims due to a lack of capacity.

Victims need more than just platitudes and unless the Conservatives are willing to invest the resources needed then nothing will change.

The Liberal Democrats would support victims of domestic violence and abuse and help them secure justice by reviewing the investigation, prosecution, procedures and rules of evidence in cases of sexual and domestic violence and guarantee funding for legal aid in domestic violence cases.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged Jo Swinson | 2 Comments

Do you agree with Kirsty and Tim about banning Delilah?

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 8th February 2016 - 6:00 pm

Kirsty Williams and Tim Farron have wandered into the controversy over the singing of the Tom Jones song Delilah by Welsh rugby fans.

Labour MP Chris Bryant thinks it shouldn’t be sung on account of its account of the murder of its eponymous heroine.

I had never really paid too much attention to the lyrics before but they are certainly pretty chilling. Having said that, if you banned every reference in literature or music to violence, and particularly violence against women, there wouldn’t be much left. You certainly wouldn’t be able to study Othello for your GCSEs or A Level, for example.

It does seem strange to have a song that’s basically about a man hunting down and murdering a woman as a rugby anthem, especially when it’s sung with such ceremony by choirs and Tom Jones himself. I’d love to know how that happened. I’m told that it’s been used since at least the early 1970s.

Kirsty and Tim took a more pragmatic approach to the issue than Chris Bryant. Kirsty said, according to Wales Online that a ban wasn’t realistic, but that more could and should be done to tackle the correlation between domestic violence and certain sports:

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged delilah, kirsty williams, rugby and tim farron | 42 Comments

Brian Paddick on Homelessness, Domestic Violence and Social Exclusion: “We need a change of attitude in society and across the political spectrum”

By The Voice | Mon 10th November 2014 - 9:15 am

Brian Paddick — former Deputy Assistant Commissioner in London’s Metropolitan Police Service, twice Lib Dem candidate for Mayor of London and now a Lib Dem peer — spoke in this week’s House of Lords debate, ‘Women: Homelessness, Domestic Violence and Social Exclusion’. Here’s what he said…

Lord Paddick (LD): … As the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Leicester has already said, the issues of homelessness, domestic violence and social exclusion of women are linked. In particular, it is male violence against women that lies behind many of these problems. For example, as my noble friend Lady Tyler of Enfield said, the homeless charity, St Mungo’s, reports that half of its female clients have experienced domestic violence compared with only 5% of its male clients. Research already referred to by the noble Earl, Lord Listowel, shows that between 50% and 80% of women in prison have experienced domestic or sexual violence. Two-thirds of domestic violence survivors say that their problematic substance misuse began following domestic violence. The evidence is compelling, not only that women are disproportionately victims of domestic violence and abuse, almost always but not exclusively perpetrated by men, but that violence and abuse lies behind much of the homelessness and social exclusion faced by women.

Posted in Parliament | Also tagged brian paddick, homelessness, house of lords, sexual violence and women | 1 Comment

Olly Grender on Homelessness, Domestic Violence and Social Exclusion: “Housing supply lies at the heart of the solution of some of these complex issues”

By The Voice | Sat 8th November 2014 - 3:15 pm

Olly Grender — former director of communications for housing charity Shelter, now a Lib Dem peer — spoke in this week’s House of Lords debate, ‘Women: Homelessness, Domestic Violence and Social Exclusion’. Here’s what she said…

Baroness Grender (LD): My Lords, I, too, thank the noble Baroness, Lady King of Bow, for initiating this debate. I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Rebuck, and the noble Lord, Lord Farmer, on their moving and inspirational speeches. We look forward to many more. I also take this opportunity to congratulate my noble friend Lady Garden of Frognal on her return to the government Benches. It will not surprise her to hear me, as a woman on these Benches, say the more the merrier—more please.

The noble Baroness, Lady King, has managed to take three complex areas of social policy and combine them in one impressive debate. They are complex in part because the reasons behind the homelessness of women are sometimes hard to detect and far too often hidden away. They are complex indeed, but at the heart of this debate is a very simple truth, which is that there is a terrible cost when a woman has no home, no escape from violence and no apparent way back from social exclusion, as was so movingly described by the noble Baroness, Lady Newlove. It is likely that the cost is not just to her but to the children she may have with her, and to us as a nation as they grow up.

Posted in Parliament | Also tagged homelessness, house of lords, olly grender, sexual violence and women | 3 Comments

Reports of domestic violence rise, but convictions drop

By NewsHound | Tue 11th March 2014 - 1:36 pm

The Guardian reveals that the proportion of domestic violence cases that are being referred by the police to prosecutors has dropped from 12.1% in 2009/2010 to 10.5% in 2012/2013, even though the number of cases reported to the police had risen.

According to the House of Commons Library, more than 838,000 reports of domestic violence were made to police forces across England and Wales in 2012/2013, but only 6.3% resulted in a conviction, compared to 7.1% in 2009/2010.

Posted in News | Also tagged crime and norman baker | 3 Comments

Opinion: Remember, remember the 25th of November

By Elizabeth Adams | Mon 25th November 2013 - 11:26 am

Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and is also White Ribbon Day.

It has been just over 2 months since we passed my motion at conference that called for further and stronger measures to tackle domestic violence. This set out our commitment to standing up for victims and making tackling domestic abuse a priority for Liberal Democrats for beyond 2015.

Today is a day to recognise the huge fight we still have ahead of us in stamping out, what is an abuse of human rights. Many local organisations will be carrying out days of activism and …

Posted in Op-eds | Leave a comment

Julian Huppert writes: Preventing and tackling sexual violence

By Julian Huppert | Tue 10th September 2013 - 4:38 pm

Nearly one third of women and nearly one fifth of men say they have experienced domestic abuse since the age of 16. Yet it remains an under-reported, misunderstood and incredibly damaging crime.

Last year alone in the UK around 1.2 million women and 800,000 men suffered domestic abuse and over 400,000 women were sexually assaulted.

But, the sad fact is this number is probably wrong, the true figure is thought to be far worse. Victims still fear coming forward while there is also a significant lack of understanding over what counts as domestic violence, especially amongst young people. It is frankly terrifying that some young men and women still believe violence in a relationship is normal. This must change.

Posted in News | Also tagged autumn conference 2013 and sexual violence | 3 Comments

Willie Rennie to Bill Walker: Do the right thing and resign

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 5th September 2013 - 9:56 am

Willie Rennie has written to Bill Walker, the MSP for Dunfermline who was convicted of 23 instances of assault against 3 ex wives and a stepdaughter over a 28 year period to ask him to resign his seat in the Scottish Parliament. Here’s his letter in full:

Dear Bill,

I am sure that you will be aware of the demands for your resignation from the Scottish Parliament from both members of the public and Members of the Scottish Parliament.

I was disappointed to read news reports that you are not planning to leave Parliament.

You

…

Posted in News | Also tagged bill walker, hannah bettsworth, jim hume and willie rennie | 1 Comment

Lunchtime debate: Should we ban domestic violence offenders from drinking alcohol?

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 6th February 2013 - 12:57 pm

The Chief Constable of the new Scottish single police force has suggested that men who are convicted of domestic violence while drunk should be banned from drinking alcohol.

I wondered what Lib Dem Voice readers thought of this proposal. In England, Drinking Banning Orders have been around for 7 years but the guidance on their use suggests that they may not be appropriate if an individual is subject to domestic violence proceedings.

I’d be interested to see if anyone has any knowledge of how these orders work in practice, and whether they are effective in reducing offending. Are they too illiberal, …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged drinking banning orders, lunchtime debate and stephen house | 7 Comments

Opinion: Sex education must be reformed to combat sexual abuse

By Anne Smith | Tue 16th October 2012 - 9:55 am

This post carries a trigger warning for domestic abuse, sexual assault and rape.

The author’s name has been changed to protect her identity.

The allegations of Jimmy Savile’s serial sexual abuse of young girls have been met with universal outrage. It has helped many more women to speak up about their own horrific stories. Rape and sexual harassment happens to women daily across the country, the majority of whom never speak up.

I was raped by a friend from university earlier this year. He never apologised and I suffered abuse from his friends worse than the incident itself. They routinely mimicked my screams …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged jimmy savile, pornography, rape, sex education and sexual abuse | 25 Comments

Op-eds

How should we regulate in-Vitro Gametogenesis? (Samuel Jackson)
Tom Arms’ World Review (Tom Arms)
Observation of an Expat: Florida – The Submersible State (Tom Arms)
We need election debates for a Parliamentary Democracy (Samuel Jackson)
Turning Britain yellow: Defining our political space (John Hills)

Advert

Tweets from @libdemvoice/team

Developing our LGBT+ policy for the future

ALDC’s by-election report 3 October 2024

Not all politicians are the same

ALDC’s By-Election report – 20 September 2024

Tag Archives: domestic violence

Domestic violence in Wales

Caroline Pidgeon writes: When home is a place of danger

#TimesUp – victims of domestic violence need safe places to go!

Orange The World – 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence

Jo Swinson on support for victims of domestic violence and abuse

Do you agree with Kirsty and Tim about banning Delilah?

Brian Paddick on Homelessness, Domestic Violence and Social Exclusion: “We need a change of attitude in society and across the political spectrum”

Olly Grender on Homelessness, Domestic Violence and Social Exclusion: “Housing supply lies at the heart of the solution of some of these complex issues”

Reports of domestic violence rise, but convictions drop

Opinion: Remember, remember the 25th of November

Julian Huppert writes: Preventing and tackling sexual violence

Willie Rennie to Bill Walker: Do the right thing and resign

Lunchtime debate: Should we ban domestic violence offenders from drinking alcohol?

Opinion: Sex education must be reformed to combat sexual abuse

Most Read

Op-eds

Recent Comments

Developing our LGBT+ policy for the future

ALDC’s by-election report 3 October 2024

Not all politicians are the same

ALDC’s By-Election report – 20 September 2024

Tag Archives: domestic violence

Subscribe

Most Read

Search

Op-eds

Recent Comments