Dear Victoria Atkins MP,
We are urging the Government to ratify the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence; and we urge you to ensure that this happens within the year.
On 8 June 2020, it will be eight years since the UK signed the Istanbul Convention. Much progress has been made in that time, especially to guarantee that the UK is more compliant with the Convention. We thank you for your role in securing key reforms, including the current Domestic Abuse Bill. However, eight years on, we remain anxious to see ratification at last.
The 2019 Report on Progress towards ratifying the Istanbul Convention, alongside additional ministerial statements, indicate that the final hurdles to ratification should be cleared when the Domestic Abuse and Family Proceedings Bill in Northern Ireland, and the Domestic Abuse Bill in Westminster are passed. These would extend extra-territorial jurisdiction (ETJ) over certain crimes, including rape and so-called ‘honour’ based killings, and bring legislation in Northern Ireland in line with the rest of the UK. We welcome these crucial developments but urge you to ensure that the Domestic Abuse Bill delivers protection for all women, regardless of their migrant, refugee or immigration status, as per Article 4(3) of the Convention.[1] We are particularly concerned about the lack of access to financial and housing support for migrant survivors who do not have secure immigration status.
Assuming the success of these Bills, we would like to ask you to publish the timetable for ratification as required in the Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Ratification of Convention) Act 2017, and to commit to ratifying the Convention within the year. While we appreciate the additional pressures that the COVID-19 pandemic puts on legislation, we are particularly concerned by the impact of lockdown measures on women and children experiencing domestic abuse and survivors of sexual violence and abuse at this time. The comprehensive protections for survivors offered by the Convention are more important than ever. This Government can be the one to ratify this essential and comprehensive roadmap to ending violence against women – and it can do so this year.
We look forward to a reply that provides both a commitment to ratification within the year and a clear timetable for this process.
If we can be of any help, or should you like to discuss this further, we would be happy to meet with you.
Yours faithfully,
Boosey, K. Dingle and N. Wharton, Co-directors – IC Change
Ann-Marie Wilson, Executive Director – 28 Too Many
Anthea Sully, Chief Executive Officer – White Ribbon UK
Baljit Banga, Director – Imkaan
Bev Jullien, Chief Executive Officer – Mothers’ Union
Claire Barnett, Executive Director – UN Women UK
Caroline Pinder, Chair, Board of Trustees – Oxford Against Cutting
Dr C Quinn, Chief Executive Officer – Rape Crisis England & Wales
Diana Nammi, Executive Director – IKWRO
Eleanor Lisney, Co-ordinator – Sisters of Frida
Emma Ritch, Executive Director – Engender
Estelle du Boulay, Director – Rights of Women
Faeeza Vaid MBE, Executive Director and Nazmin Akthar, Co-Chair – Muslim Women’s Network UK
Fiona Dwyer, Chief Executive Officer – Solace Women’s Aid
Harriet Wistrich, Director – Centre for Women’s Justice
Human Rights Watch
Jackie Jones, Former Member – European Parliament
Jo Todd, Chief Executive Officer – RESPECT
Juliet Colman, Director – SecurityWomen
Lisa Gormley, Policy Fellow – Centre for Women, Peace and Security, London School of Economics and Political Science
Liz Dominey, Chair – UK Programme Action Committee, Soroptimist International Great Britain, and Ireland
Dr Marsha Scott, Chief Executive Officer – Scottish Women’s Aid
Melissa Green, General Secretary – The Women’s Institute
Naana Otoo-Oyortey, Executive Director – FORWARD
Nicki Norman, Acting Chief Executive Officer – Women’s Aid Federation of England
Dr Nicola Sharp-Jeffs, Chief Executive Officer – Surviving Economic Abuse
Pragna Patel, Director – Southall Black Sisters
Sandra Horley CBE, Chief Executive Officer – Refuge
Sarah Green, Director – Ending violence against women coalition
Sara Kirkpatrick, Chief Executive Officer – Welsh Women’s Aid
Sarah Mason, Chief Executive Officer – Women’s Aid Federation Northern Ireland
Suzanne Jacob, Chief Executive Officer – Safe Lives
Wales Assembly of Women
[1] We are working with Southall Black Sisters to produce a briefing on migrant women and the Istanbul Convention. In the meantime, see southallblacksisters.org.uk for more detailed information.