Agenda item

The Executive Mayor is invited to endorse the Tackling Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG): Statement of Intent.

RESOLVED: To

To endorse the ‘Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG)’Statement of Intent.

Cabinet considered a report, which outlined the prevalence and levels of Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) in Croydon; the Council’s work to tackle this and the Executive Mayor’s commitment to tackling VAWG.

The report referenced the United Nations Declaration (1993) on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, which defined VAWG as:

“Any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life."

The report affirmed that the term ‘violence against women and girls’ referred to acts of violence and/or abuse that disproportionately affected women and girls.

Whilst the United Nations’ declaration was based on the concept of disproportionate impact, the Council understood the gendered nature of these types of abuse and crimes, and that men and boys could also be victims of these types of abuse and crimes.  Accordingly, it was reported that it was important that men and boys were included in all aspects of the Council’s work on all forms of violence against women and girls (particularly work on prevention and awareness raising).

It was further reported that the Council was committed to ensuring that any victim would receive a sensitive and appropriate response, according to their needs and that the Family Justice Service would continue to support male victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence (DASV) as well as all victims of crime related VAWG regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

The Executive Mayor said that the matter had come about arising from growing community concerns tat surrounded the disappearance of Owami Davies.  He said that, in early August, the Safer Neighbourhoods Chair, the Police Borough Commander and himself had convened a public meeting to update and reassure the community about the steps that were being taken to find Owami and keep women safe in the Borough.  He said that whilst Owami had been found, thankfully safe and well, the community wanted to see more clarity about what the Council was going to do to tackle violence against women and girls within the Borough.

In the spirit of cross-party working, the Executive Mayor said he was pleased to bring this report to Cabinet this evening following a request from Councillor Mollyneaux, which set out the Council’s commitment to tackling violence against women and girls in Croydon.

The Executive Mayor went on to say that the statistics went on to paint a picture which should be of concern to everyone and, since the pandemic, had seen increases in domestic violence cases and other forms of violence against women and girls.  Tackling this, he said, was a long-term priority for the violence reduction network, which included support to victims, supporting the Police through challenge and arresting perpetrators and working closely with all the Council’s partners to work on initiatives to improve safety across the Borough.  He recognised that this was not a problem the Council could tackle alone, and this report tasked the Safer Croydon Partnership to develop a new, high-level, three-year plan to tackle violence against women and girls.

The Plan, he said, would set out a clear, multi-agency, long-term approach to tackling and preventing violence against women and girls and to take this work to the next level by involving more people and partners to reduce violence against women and girls.

The Executive Mayor welcomed to the meeting, Donna Murray Turner (Chair of Croydon Safer Neighbourhood) and invited her to address Cabinet.

Ms Murray Turner said that, as a Borough, Croydon was fortunate in that it had a stand-alone family justice centre, but that people had to be culturally competent in how they applied and delivered services to women and girls across the Borough and to take into consideration diversity and sensitivity.

She said it was important to note that this was a very real statistic for Croydon and it was something that should always remain on Croydon’s agenda in terms of not only keeping women and girls but often the children within those homes and that nurturing environment.  In conclusion, she said that there were online platforms where misogyny and hate could be peddled and that now was the time to show leadership, awareness and tackling it.

The Executive Mayor thanked Ms. Murray Turner for her wise words and said Cabinet would welcome her input moving forward.  He also thanked Members for their contributions and said that everyone recognised that tackling violence against women and girls should be a clear priority for Croydon’s community.  He said that this renewed commitment between the Council, police, voluntary sector and others would help improve the Safer Croydon Partnership’s work to crack down on offenders and improve the safety of women and girls across Croydon.

Accordingly, the Executive Mayor, in Cabinet, RESOLVED that the ‘Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG)’Statement of Intent, be endorsed.