The UK Government is obliged to protect, respect and fulfil women’s human rights. As the 2010 general election is coming up and a change of government is possible, all political parties must address violence against women.
On Wednesday 4 November, hundreds people asked their MP to ensure that all women in the UK are given equal access to support and protection from violence – regardless of their immigration status.
It is vital that we keep up this pressure. You can help us do this via email or on Twitter. Act now
The story so far – towards a violence against women strategy
We have been campaigning the government to uphold their obligations towards women’s rights.
- In March, we petitioned MPs about the lack of support services for women – pointing out the huge gaps in services across Britain, illustrated in the Map of Gaps reports.
- In May, the Home Office launched a public consultation to develop a ‘violence against women’ strategy. We fed into this, demanding that the strategy tackles destructive social attitudes around violence against women and that it plans services for minority ethnic women facing violence such as genital mutilation and honour crimes.
- We have campaigned constantly for women with insecure immigration status to be given access to refuges. At the moment, if these women suffer violence they have nowhere to go; this is because of the no recourse to public funds rule. This must be overturned in order to end violence against all women in Britain.
UK political parties have been listening. The Government has committed to developing a ‘Together we can end violence against women and girls’ strategy by 2010, and a proposal for dealing with the problems facing women with no recourse to public funds, who cannot access refuges.
We need to keep up the pressure to ensure they fulfil these promises effectively.
We need you to ask your MP for their support and commitment to help victims of violence against women – giving all women in the UK equal access to support and protection from violence.
If you would prefer to contact your MP via email, check out your MPs contact details on writetothem.com and have a read of our suggested requests for your MP to include in your email.
If you are on Twitter and would rather tweet your MP, find out if your MP is also on Twitter by searching for them on Tweetminster – If they are, follow them (on Twitter). Then tweet your MP the message below, including the link as this will take your MP to a PDF with more detailed requests:
Make sure UK guarantees equal protection for all women in the UK facing violence http://bit.ly/2mLkH4
Spread the word
We want the government to be overwhelmed with requests for all women in the UK to have equal access to services and protection. This means that we need to get the word out – and we really need your help to do this.
Lobby your MP to make sure that all women can access refuges and support services in Britain http://bit.ly/1gQTpJ
on Twitter using the hashtag #masslobby
On Facebook by updating your status, or by writing it on your friends’ walls
On your blog by posting about the lobby so that your fans find out about it. Even better, they might blog about it too, and then their readers might also blog on it and soon we will have an excellent end violence against women strategy that provides for all women, all over Britain.
i have not seen my two youngest children for over two years and am not likely to.
i have been in family proceedings all of that time.
i have been lied about and the social workers knew that they have commited perjury.
i have not been given the right to have a parenting assesment.
my contact and access has firstly been hard due to lack of money and no help from social services
secondly they lied to the courts in order to refuse my contact.
they have encouraged the courts to give a residents order to the man who has been criminally convicted of violence against me.
can any body help me and my children
Donna, I have been a social worker for the past 9 years. My advice is firstly that you request to see all information held on your files and for the social worker allocated to your case to go through it with you. Then you will know what you are up against. Secondly, even if you have to borrow money, you need to attend contacts because it shows that you are committed to seeing your children. If possible, see if new contacts can be arranged and make sure when you are with your children, that you are displaying positive behaviour. this will go in your favour. You should be entitled to a parenting assessment unless the social worker can prove that there is a good reason why you shouldn’t have one. Finally, you could ask for an assessment to prove that your children have been damged by the violence that they saw their dad do to you and also that, even if he is not violent towards them, there is psychological damage. In the short term, you should try to access voluntary orgs such as women’s Groups, parents orgs etc..to get advice, support from others in a similar situation and to build up your strength. Parentline Plus is an org that helps parents with various issues, as is Surestart.
Hi Donna,
Please get in touch with our Supporter Care Team, who should be able to point you to resources and organisations that will be able to help. You can contact them on sct@amnesty.org.uk
Fiona
Amnesty UK
oh… a long time continuing issue.
I am worried about the ongoing of this issue.??
This is an issue handed down from history, and it is hot all the time!
The olny wish is to bless there are less women suffer from this in future!