Flagship Project: Violence Against Women - Stop It Now

We all work on a multitude of projects. Every year our clubs work on new Programme Action topics but sometimes this work can be random or uncoordinated. Every four years we have a new Programme Focus, and the emphasis changes again.

We on the UKPAC felt that we wanted to engage with a specific area of Programme Action work and continue with it for the foreseeable future.

The Committee agreed that it should be on the theme of violence against women; this would incorporate many areas, such as trafficking, domestic violence, FGM etc. As we do not feel that this subject will ever go away, it is intended that we will continue to work on this project on a permanent basis. We say “continue”, as many clubs are, or have been, already working on aspects of this for years. It is just that the UKPAC will now have an umbrella project, under which all this work will fall.

All your own work!

Let's be clear - we will not be taking any credit for club or Regional work that has been or will be done! The plan is to bring disparate themes of Programme Action together so that we all work for the same goal; bringing it under one roof as it were. To echo Past Federation President, Janet Garnons-Williams' theme for her year, Together We are Strong.

The UKPAC has direct access to government ministers and other influential people, and has representatives on a number of outside organisations; to be able to speak with one national voice on matters concerning violence against women is far more effective than many single voices.

We need your help

We wish to gather together all the work that is being done throughout the country on various aspects of violence against women and to that end we would like every club that has done work in the past two years, that would fit into this category, to ensure that its Regional Programme Action Committee chairman has the relevant information. The advent of the new international programme database now makes this aspect far easier.

And on that subject, we really would like your help; from now on, when you are submitting your Programme work either on-line straight on to the database (and if you're unsure of how to go about this, view this link) or still submitting forms, it would help your Regional Programme Action Committee chairmen immensely if you could include somewhere in the title of your project the letters: VAW-SIN. That way, when searches are made for work on this topic, we can identify it far more quickly and the risk of missing a piece of sterling work will be removed.

This page will be dedicated to the work that is being done around the country on the subject, in the hope that a coordinated effort will produce results. Armed with the information we will lobby and draw media attention to the problems of violence that women face in the UK. And we intend producing literature and offering help and guidance for clubs and Regions.

For example, FGM (which, regrettably, happens all too often in this country, not just 'abroad') has been illegal in the UK for a decade but, incredibly, not one single prosecution has been made to date. Why? The practice certainly goes on here. This is an area in which we could lobby and question the government on its record. SI Tenby received a much deserved Good Practice Award from the Federation at the conference in Harrogate in November 2007 for the splendid work they have done, and continue to do in this field.

And there are clubs, right across the country, that have been doing sterling work - often in isolation - on trafficking or domestic violence. Pulling all these threads together will give us far more muscle.

Working with outside organisations

Representing the membership of the British Isles as it does, the UKPAC is in a strong position to work in concert with outside organisations to increase the impact of our campaigns.

Please see the sub pages below for information, broken down into the various aspects of violence against women in the UK.

The UNIFEM appeal below we have placed on the front page of this section of the website as it is so important that as many people as possible add their names. And don't forget, it doesn't have to be just women; your husbands, partners, sons etc can also sign up!

UNIFEM

Update: UNIFEM's Say NO to Violence Against Women Campaign has now been extended until 25 November 2008. So far over 230,000 people have signed the petition, which far exceeds the challenge grant by the UN Foundation of $100,000 to the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women for the first 100,000 signatures. UN Goodwill Ambassador, Nicole Kidman, has written a personal message on the campaign.

Say NO to Violence Against Women

If you haven't already, please click on the blue campaign logo here on the right and add your name - it takes only seconds!

Violence against women is often ignored and rarely punished. Women and girls suffer disproportionately from violence - both in peace and in war, at the hands of the state, the community and the family.