Concluding a 10-day visit to the nation, Particular Rapporteur Reem Alsalem famous {that a} girl is killed by a person each three days within the UK, and one in 4 girls there’ll expertise some type of home violence in her lifetime.
“Entrenched patriarchy at virtually each stage of society, mixed with an increase in misogyny that permeates the bodily and on-line world, is denying hundreds of ladies and ladies throughout the UK the suitable to stay in security, free from concern and violence,” she mentioned in a statement summarizing her preliminary findings and observations.
Management and inspiration
Ms. Alsalem acknowledged the sturdy authorized framework for selling gender equality, together with the Equality Act 2010 and different laws that applies throughout the UK, noting that this framework is complemented by essential laws and insurance policies within the devolved areas, referring to Scotland, Wales and Northern Eire.
She mentioned the UK has been a frontrunner in strengthening its authorized framework to handle present and rising types of violence towards girls and ladies, together with coercive management, digitally facilitated violence and stalking, in addition to enhancing entry to justice.
“Many nations will look to the UK for inspiration, in addition to examples of innovation and good apply on easy methods to make life safer for girls and ladies, and accountability for crimes dedicated towards them,” she added.
Translate coverage into motion
Nevertheless, the Particular Rapporteur famous that plenty of realities undermine the UK’s skill to understand the complete potential of its laws and insurance policies on violence towards girls.
They embody the dilution of the hyperlink between these insurance policies and the UK’s worldwide human rights obligations; a basic important discourse and positioning on human rights, significantly in relation to migrants, asylum seekers and refugees; and the fragmentation of insurance policies on male violence towards girls and ladies throughout devolved and non-devolved areas.
“The UK can do extra to translate its political recognition of the dimensions of violence towards girls and ladies into motion,” she mentioned, earlier than providing a number of suggestions, comparable to bringing collectively all legislative and programmatic strands of intervention on the difficulty, upgrading and formalising accountability for discrimination and violence towards girls and ladies in authorities, and anchoring it in human rights commitments.
Grassroots teams struggling
Ms. Alsalem expressed concern about how grassroots organisations and specialised frontline service suppliers working with girls and ladies are struggling to satisfy the wants of probably the most susceptible, each international and nationwide, who fall by means of the cracks and usually are not coated by statutory service suppliers.
These teams “are struggling to outlive in an more and more difficult context of rising residing prices, a deepening housing disaster and a important lack of funding,” she mentioned.
“The state of affairs of NGOs engaged on gender equality and violence towards girls and ladies has reached a disaster level and is just untenable,” she added, urging the UK authorities to revive predictable and satisfactory funding to frontline organisations.
Ms. Alsalem, the UN Particular Rapporteur on violence towards girls and ladies, was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Impartial specialists who obtain mandates from the Council usually are not UN workers and usually are not paid for his or her work.
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