Govt targets "obscene" violence against women
Govt targets "obscene" violence against women
Also In The News
|
By Darren Estwick. |  |
Wednesday, 25, Nov 2009 12:30
By Richard James.
The government has launched a new strategy aimed at cracking down on the "obscenity" of violence against women and young girls.
The new scheme will see the prevention of violence in relationships included in personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education from 2011.
The Home Office claims the move will result in attitudes which condone and perpetuate violence against women being addressed before they become entrenched in young people.
An awareness-raising marketing campaign to change behaviour will also start in the new year with a high profile drive to tackle violence in teenagers' relationships.
The strategy will set out a range of actions for the police, local authorities and the NHS as well as government departments
The new approach will see more than £13 million of funding to help support victims of sexual and domestic violence.
A national communications strategy designed to address attitudes towards the violence will also be developed, while a new online directory of services for victims of violence against women will be launched along with extra funding for a new 24-hour sexual violence helpline.
Commenting on the new strategy Gordon Brown said: "Violence against women and girls is an obscenity.
"That is why we are taking action to bring perpetrators to justice and protect and support victims, but also to challenge the attitude that attacks on women and girls are in any way acceptable.
"A fair and responsible Britain has no place for violence of any sort."
Other measures included in the government's strategy to crackdown on the violence against women and girls will be the piloting of Domestic Violence Protection Orders which, according to the Home Office, will exclude perpetrators from their homes and allow victims the ability to apply for longer-term protection.
Home secretary Alan Johnson added: "Violence against women and girls ruins lives, breaks up families and has a lasting impact across the generations.
"Much has been done over recent years to increase protection for women and to prosecute their attackers. However, this is a complex problem which demands an even broader response to stop violence from happening in the first place.
"Changing attitudes that tolerate violence against women and girls will take time but is essential if we are to eradicate this blight on women's lives."