Violence Against Women in the News in the UK
This week has seen a flurry of news around domestic abuse. In case you’ve missed some here is a quick summary.
UPDATE: Breaking News
Nicole Jacobs, former CEO of Standing Together has just been announced as the first Commissioner for Domestic Abuse in England and Wales. The role champions survivors of domestic abuse and makes recommendations to the government on improving the prevention and response to domestic abuse in all areas. This should be a force for change through the government. This is positive news that Restored welcomes.
Domestic violence killings Raise to a 5 year high
The horrifying reality is that women in the UK are killed as a result of domestic violence. It is awful to see that this statistic, the women behind the stats, is rising. This is why at Restored we work to raise awareness of the devastating consequences of domestic abuse and that in any response safety is always the first priority.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-49459674
Rape Convictions Drop
Earlier this week a CPS report on rape convictions showed that 58,000 rapes were reported to the police yet only 1,925 led to a conviction (3.3%), a fall of 27% from the previous year. Rape has devastating consequences for the survivor that can be lifelong. It is imperative that enough resources are provided throughout the criminal justice system to enable investigations, evidence gathering as well as support for the traumatised survivor. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-49669760
Women made homeless due to domestic abuse
From Jan-March this year 6,000 people were made homeless due to domestic abuse according to official statistics. That’s one in every eight known homeless people. The financial side of domestic abuse and the loss of a house and home is a very present and real fear for women who leave an abuser. The fear of homelessness can keep a woman in a relationship longer than it is safe to do so. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-49661575
We love the work that Hope into Action is doing, in conjunction with churches, to provide homes for those without one
Domestic Abuse Bill
With the prorogation of parliament the domestic abuse bill was likely to be dropped as it wasn’t included in the carry over legislation. It was good to hear this week that the Prime Minister has decided to reintroduce the bill. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49676653
We are pleased that this has happened. We wrote to the Prime Minister, along with others, to ensure that this vital bill was not dropped. Thank you to each one of you that wrote to your MP to ask for faith to be included in the response. We really appreciate it. There is still time to write to your MP. See here for a template letter /resources/info/152/
Survivors Handbook
Restored has a Female Christian Survivor’s Network. If you would like to join please email info@restoredrelationships.org
We also have a Survivor’s Handbook which is free to survivors of domestic abuse. We ask for a £10 donation from others so that we can continue to provide it free to survivors. Info on ordering here /survivorshandbook/
We need you
We continue to do raise awareness, train, produce resources and advocate for change. We believe violence against women is a solvable issue, we can end it. We need your support, however, to do this. We are a small team operating on 2.7 FTE. Please consider donating to Restored on a regular basis. You can do this direct to our bank account or via www.give.net/Restored or via Virgin Money Giving. Our Bank Account details are on the bottom of this page /survivorshandbook/
Every pound counts to us. Thank you for considering a donation, we really appreciate it.