Violence against women is ‘a national emergency’ says Policing Minister
POLICING Minister Sarah Jones has described the scale of violence against women and girls as “a national emergency”.
Asked about GB News’ interview last night with Abbie, a teenager who was sexually assaulted by an Iranian asylum seeker, she said: “I didn’t see that piece, but I can only imagine how hard it must have been for her to talk about what sounds like an absolutely horrific experience.
“Of course, that person needs to feel the full force of the law, whether that’s in prison here or whether that’s deportation.
“I think people want to be reassured that people will go to prison, that they will face justice, and whether that means prison here or being deported. I think clearly we do not want violent criminals from other countries to be here and we are increasing the deportation of foreign national offenders.
“Our strategy today is about making sure all of those perpetrators face the full force of the law, and we support victims like Abbie, who also need support and protection and wrap around care.”
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On why the publication of the government’s strategy on violence against women has been delayed, she said: “This is a national emergency, and the public are right to push for this change, but this will be the largest change in our approach to violence against women and girls ever.
“We will use the full force of the state, whether that is to prevent boys and young men perpetrating violence in the first place, whether it’s managing perpetrators and making sure they’re brought to justice, or whether it’s supporting victims, this will be a major intervention in our ambition to halve violence against women and girls In the next ten years.
“We wanted to get it right, and we make no apology for that. What we’re announcing today is that the NHS, for the first time, is really stepping into this space because victims of domestic abuse and violence often might come to the GP for another issue, and actually making sure our GPs can understand, can see the signs, can talk through in an appropriate way, and then signpost people to good support is really important.
“That’s one part of the announcement. The other is that we’re going to support child victims of sexual abuse through a series of what are called ‘child houses’, where, instead of making children go to multiple places to tell their story and get the services they need, there’ll be one place where they can come, they can tell their story one time, and then all of the therapeutic services and support will be wrapped around those children.”
She added: “I think you’re right to say it’s been sort of hidden and almost accepted as something we can’t change. We need to bring these problems to the fore, which is what we are aiming to do, whether that’s interventions in schools, whether that’s through the police system, whether that’s through the support system for victims.
“We need to tell these stories, the quantity, the numbers here, one in eight women last year were victims. I mean, that is a huge scale of problem that we just should not accept, and we do not…and we are determined to bear down on it with the full force of the state.”
