Welcome to Hendon Greens

Welcome to the blog of the Barnet Green Party's Hendon group. Andrew Newby was Green Party candidate in Hendon constituency in the 2010 general election.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Is Dismore serious about tackling violence?

Well done to Hendon MP Andrew Dismore for urging people to support the White Ribbon Campaign, a movement for men working to reduce violence by men towards women. But is he just talking the talk or is he planning genuine policy initiatives?

The Labour government which Mr Dismore supports has sadly failed to take the problem seriously during more than 12 years in office.

In a statement last week (12th January) Green Party leader Caroline Lucas said: "The government needs to address the funding crisis faced by many specialist support agencies like Rape Crisis centres, which offer enormous support to women when they are most vulnerable.”

"In the UK, the statistics speak for themselves; the British Crime Survey suggests that there are more than 300,000 rapes and serious sexual assaults each year. The conviction rate in rape cases is around 6.5 percent, the lowest in Europe, according to a recent survey," she said.

Lucas, who is already an MP for South East England and is forecast to win the Brighton Pavilion seat in this year's UK general election, praised the Spanish government for giving a commitment to tackling violence against women across the European Union as it begins its six-months rotating presidency of the EU.

“The Spanish government should be applauded for recognising that urgent coordinated action is required at the EU level to tackle the crisis of gendered violence. Not enough is being done to address the causes, care for the victims, adequately punish the perpetrators – and make violence against women absolutely unacceptable," Lucas said.

Can Mr Dismore promise voters in Hendon that Labour's election manifesto this year will include pledges of greater action to reduce violence against women?

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