Today the Welsh Government launched their Live Fear Free campaign aimed at challenging attitudes towards rape and abuse in the home. They have designed a website that is aimed at taking a stand against the perpetrators of domestic abuse, as well as offering support for victims.
The website also comes with two videos that they are hoping to push across Wales and a launch event today that will see the story of violence in the home told through a display in the Queen’s Arcade shopping centre here in Cardiff. They have erected washing lines, hung with T-shirts displaying images and comments created by survivors of domestic abuse in Wales, telling the real stories on how abuse has affected their lives.
This campaign is part of six year strategy to tackle Violence against Women and domestic abuse. Carl Sargeant AM, Communities Minister has stated ‘he hoped it would spread the message that domestic violence was not acceptable and that they still have a long way to go’
It is great to see the Welsh Government taking such a strong stance against Violence against Women, in fact in times of cuts they are providing the Violence against Women and Domestic Abuse Unit with more funding. Only this morning I met with their head of policy and we are starting to plan how we can work together to tackle the issues raised in the NUS Hidden Marks report from 2010.
Hidden Marks finally gave us the evidence to prove that students are just as badly affected by abuse whilst studying and in fact levels of stalking are much higher amongst students than the national average. It is great to see so many unions passing Zero Tolerance policies but it can not just end with a motion passed at a general meeting, it needs to be implemented so it can truly be affecting change and hopefully saving the lives of women across campuses.
For more information head to the Live Fear Free website at www.livefearfree.org.uk Or for more info on see Hidden Marks and Zero Tolerance