And thanks to our government, the UK is among just a handful of countries that have refused to ratify a key pan-European treaty against gender-based violence called the Istanbul Convention – meaning we don't legally have to follow it.
By ratifying this treaty, countries agree to provide “accessible shelters in sufficient numbers”. The Council of Europe defines this as one shelter space for every 10,000 inhabitants. Using this benchmark, 26% of shelter spaces are lacking across the UK, according to the NGO Women against Violence Europe (WAVE).
A dangerous distraction
Instead, the UK government, under Theresa May, proposed its own legislation, the Domestic Abuse Bill. In 2018, Sisters Uncut crashed the BAFTA red carpet to protest – we called the new bill a 'dangerous distraction' from cuts that had left services crumbling.
Lying on the red carpet with our arms linked, our jumpsuits read “Times Up Theresa” in tribute to the Time’s Up and #Me Too movements, but also to emphasise state responsibility. We demanded to know: what was the government really doing to support survivors of violence?
Theresa May promised increased convictions, which means pumping powers into prisons and policing. Reports from the UK and US show this approach can have the opposite effect, with police ill-equipped to identify the primary aggressor and often arresting survivors, especially those from BAME and working-class backgrounds.
Boris Johnson's government is still failing survivors. Funding for domestic violence services, particularly specialist services for BAME survivors, remains unclear in the bill that returned to parliament last week.
The bill also omits key Istanbul Convention recommendations to support migrant women to leave abusive relationships without fear of losing their residence status. “Reporting to the police should not be more dangerous than staying with the perpetrator,” explains the Step Up Migrant Women campaign. Labour MP Jess Philips says migrant survivors remain “the government's blind spot”.
What's more, the bill doesn't recognise domestic abuse as a gendered crime, while the Istanbul Convention clearly defines “gender” as "socially constructed" and recognises that women are disproportionately affected by gender-based violence.
At openDemocracy, Irene Rosales from the European Women's Lobby, recently told us “we wouldn't be in this situation”, if governments had responded to “the reality of inequality, harassment and violence so many women face on a daily basis”. She's right, and in the UK the infuriating truth is that women have long been left with nowhere to go – and we cannot forget how politicians got us here.
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