Transcript From the Outset: Why violence should be a priority for the

From the Outset: Why violence should
be a priority for the Commission for
Equality and Human Rights
Miranda Horvath & Liz Kelly
Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit
London Metropolitan University
Why this paper?
• End Violence Against Women (EVAW) submission to the
Equalities Review, December 2006.
• Raised question of whether violence should be a priority
for the CEHR
• A cross-cutting and intersectional issue
– bodily integrity, safety, human dignity and security
– Affects individuals, social groups and communities and the
state
• Insufficient attention to within current equalities work, limited
legacy
• Most expertise and knowledge currently in fields of gender
based violence and child abuse, where violence is understood as
a cause and a consequence of inequality
Process
• Literature review
• Questionnaires and interviews across the
equality strands
• Two drafts for comment
• Final document is a beginning of a ongoing
dialogue – with CEHR and within equalities field
– hate crime
Key findings: victimisation
• Young men (16-24) are most at risk of random violence
from each other in the public sphere
• Girls and young women are more likely to experience
sexual violence
• Over two thirds of LGB ethnic minority men and women
experience homophobic abuse, with even more reporting racist
abuse
• Levels of sexual abuse are higher for children and adults –
especially females - with learning difficulties, but if they report
they are least likely to see their case result in a charge and/or
conviction
• Victimisation follows the contours of disadvantage and exclusion:
belonging to a group that is discriminated against increases the
likelihood of experiencing violence/abuse
Key findings: perpetration
• Sex offenders are often not the ‘specialists’
that terms like ‘rapist’, ‘paedophile’, ‘voyeur’
would suggest – they offend across crime types and
victim groups
– Ian Huntley
• We know far less about whether those who commit
physical and sexual violence in the private sphere are
also implicated in more public forms of violence – such
as racist and homophobic abuse
• Perpetrators of violence are more likely to select
someone over whom they have a privileged position
Key findings: policy and provision
• Violence is not mainstreamed in
equalities thinking or mechanisms
• Silo thinking and provision – experiences
which cannot be addressed
• Human rights offers a powerful framework
• Violence provides a route to address the the
three pillars of the CEHR - equality, human
rights, good relations - in the round
Core recommendations 1
• (Re)defining equality and garnering consensus
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–
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Personal safety, bodily integrity and human dignity
Human rights as the framework
Levelling up of good relations duty, linked to violence
Consultation to be broadened – variations within
constituencies and intersectional positions
• Transparency on progress
– Required data fields for research, evaluation and official data
– Intersectional analysis
– Promote coherence across policy layers
Core recommendations 2
• Targeted action on persistent inequalities
– Medium and longer term prevention targets
– Connecting health, justice and education
• Accountability for delivering equality
– Enhance understand of how violence sustains inequalities
and disproportionalities of harm
– Equality proofed PSAs
– Public procurement and commissioning should ensure
access to support, redress and justice for victims of violence
– Recognition and support for specialist – single stand – and
intersectional service provision
– Equitable geographic access
Thanks
• To everyone who responded to the
questionnaire, was interviewed, gave comments
• To Holly Dustin, EVAW Campaign manager and
Miranda Horvath
• To EOC and Roddick Foundation for financial
support
AND
• To CEHR for openness to the argument