Calls growing for national policy on gender-based violence

Sarah Everard was last seen while walking home from a friend's flat in south London on March 3. Her body was found on Thursday. File picture.

The Citizens' Assembly will meet to discuss gender-based violence today amid growing calls for centralised support services and a minister or agency with overall responsibility for policies to tackle the problem.

Ahead of the meeting, a number of experts have submitted papers and video discussions outlining their thoughts on how to tackle gender-based violence, which has been thrust firmly into the international news agenda with the murder of English woman Sarah Everard.

The Citizens' Assembly will hear that such violence is a "hidden epidemic" and one that requires not just an overhaul of how cases are dealt with, but greater emphasis on awareness, prevention, and supporting those who need help.

One of those to make a submission, Dr Monica O'Connor of the Sexual Exploitation Research Programme at University College Dublin, said when it came to legal impunity in such cases there had been progress, but when it came to what she called cultural impunity, "I think we have a long way to go".

"We still have a cultural impunity, as long as victims remain silent, fearful, experience shame and stigma, victim-blaming, and often collusion with the perpetrators," she said.

Dr O'Connor also said the commercial sex trade was "profoundly harmful" and that the biggest challenge for parents going forward is the online world, including pornography.

Dr Pauline Cullen, associate professor at NUI Maynooth, said there needed to be an integrated courts welfare system and a national rapporteur on sexual violence and gender-based violence who would then report to the Government.

Lorna Fitzpatrick, the president of the Union of Students of Ireland, referred to recent research showing high levels of gender-based violence on college campuses but low levels of reporting to gardaí and other agencies. 

She said colleges should provide mandatory annual reports to the Higher Education Authority and there should be invest programmes at universities, so people who experience violence would be able to report it within the colleges, rather than to external agencies that are already under pressure.

Mary McDermott, CEO of Safe Ireland, said it was time to appoint a minister with special responsibility for the area of gender-based violence, alongside a national strategy and a national prevention plan. 

She also stressed the need for nationally accessible services for anyone who experiences violence and needs support afterwards.

Noeline Blackwell, CEO of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, said there needed to be a national focal point to coordinate all actions to end sexual violence, while Seán Cooke, chief executive officer of the Men's Development Network, recommended a restorative to perpetrators.

Caroline Munyi of Akidwa raised issues regarding the particular vulnerability of migrant women, while Dr Cliona Saidlear of the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland stressed the need for a victim's commissioner, stating that "we ask survivors to become experts overnight in this very complex system", and Sarah Benson, CEO of Women's Aid, supported 10 days of paid statutory leave for workers who experience domestic violence.

The Citizens' Assembly consists of 100 people — a chairperson and 99 citizens — and can vote on issues that come before it.