Events > Empowering Police and Local Agencies to Tackle Violence against Women and ‘Honour’ Based Crime

Event Details

Title:

Empowering Police and Local Agencies to Tackle Violence Against Women and ‘Honour’ Based Crime

Date:

Thursday 21st May 2009

Time:

10:15am – 3:40pm

Venue:

One Whitehall Place, Westminster, London

“Violence against women and girls is unacceptable in any form no matter what the circumstances are. We've already made real progress, with domestic violence incidents more than halving in the past twelve years and great improvements to the way rape victims are supported. But I want to start a national debate on what more we can do to prevent it and challenging attitudes which condone it.”
— Rt. Hon Jacqui Smith MP, Home Secretary, March 2009

“The review will also look at what additional measures may be needed to tackle perpetrators of ‘honour’ based violence, female genital mutilation and forced marriage. Aiming to report back by autumn 2009, the review will consider a range of issues…”
— Together We Can End Violence against Women and Girls Consultation Paper, Home Office, March 2009

Overview

It is now five years since the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act gained royal assent, promising “the biggest overhaul of laws on domestic violence since the 1970s” with “tough new powers for the police and courts to protect victims and prosecute abusers”. More recently, the Government introduced several programmes aimed at strengthening the existing framework for safeguarding vulnerable women, including:

2007 Cross-Government Tackling Violence Action Plan launched

2007-8 Support given to over 100 areas to enable the Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences (MARAC) model to be rolled out

2008 Crown Prosecution Service launches first government department Violence against Women strategy

2008 Launch of ACPO ‘Honour’ based Violence Strategy

Although recent statistics indicate that progress has been made in tackling domestic abuse, significant challenges still remain to safeguard women at risk from harm. Responding to wider public concerns at the general level of violence perpetrated against women and the perceived sexualisation of teenage girls, the Home Office has recently launched a national cross-government public consultation paper “Together We Can End Violence Against Women and Girls”. Despite the progress in tackling domestic violence, prosecution and conviction rates for rape have fallen – many argue that significant steps still need to be taken before the police, local authorities and justice system are able to operate within a robust framework that provides the support and protection victims need and prevents violence against women from occurring in the first place.

This special Public Policy Exchange symposium, hosted by the Centre for Parliamentary Studies offers a timely opportunity for local practitioners, police/probation service, health and other stakeholders to explore how the combination of better use of police powers and stronger multi-agency working can end violence against women and girls in all its form.

The symposium will also consider the steps needed to construct a stronger system for dealing with ‘honour’ based violence which has, until recently, remained a largely ‘underground’ phenomenon. Ministers acknowledge that it is time to step up the fight against ‘honour’ based violence, which is estimated to affect up to 17,000 women in this country every year. As well as focusing on how sensitive cultural barriers can be overcome to encourage more reporting of ‘honour’ abuse, the symposium will tackle issues around better support and protection for victims and consider how a cross-Government action plan would instil public confidence in the criminal justice system to ensure sufficient punishment and deterrence against ‘honour’ based crime.

Programme