Louise Nousratpour
Friday September 14, 2007
The Morning Star
THE TUC Congress called for a coherent national strategy across government departments to tackle violence against women on Thursday.
Congress condemned the government for avoiding its UN obligation to develop a national policy at a time when two women a week are being murdered by a past or present partner.
Britain has also become the destination for trafficked women, who often suffer sexual and other violence and forced into prostitution.
Delegates celebrated the trade union movement's recent successes through workplace policies that address violence against women, but they stressed that more was needed.
Finance union Accord delegate Tom Harrison argued that further action could be taken through workplace bargaining as well as by mobilising international solidarity to tackle trafficking.
PCS delegate Rachel Edwards demanded improvement on the "woefully inadequate" funding resources for government equality offices.
She condemned planned job cuts in public services and so-called back-office staff, who she said were the very people responsible for developing strategies to address the problem.
Congress noted that a coalition launched last year between the TUC, Amnesty International UK and End Violence Against Women had raised awareness about so-called honour killings.
An estimated 13 women a year are slain in Britain for refusing arranged marriages, having relations outside wedlock or even for being raped.
The latest case involved Kurdish woman Banaz Mahmod, whose mutilated body was found in a suitcase buried in a garden in Birmingham last year.
Her father and uncle were convicted of murder in June after vigorous campaigning by the Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation and Amnesty.
Musicians Union delegate Barbara White condemned the "patriarchal" act, adding: "Violence in the name of culture must not be tolerated. Murder in the name of honour must be punished."
According to Home Office figures, domestic violence accounts for 16 per cent of all violent crime in England and Wales and has more repeat victims than any other crime.
On average, there will be 35 assaults before a victim calls the police.
It claims the lives of two women a week and 30 men a year and will affect one in four women and one in six men in their lifetime.
No comments:
Post a Comment