In a post-Brexit Britain, international conventions and the obligations they create become more important than ever before.
They provide for us an important external perspective and the necessary scrutiny to shine a light on the unintended or ill-thought-through consequences of government decisions.
The silence from ministers on their plans to secure equalities legislation after Brexit is deafening. It is further evidence to me that we cannot rely on the government’s goodwill when it comes to assuring women’s equality and rights. We must look to international conventions to do that instead.
On the last sitting Friday before Christmas, Labour will work with Scottish National party colleagues to force the government to live up to one key international convention.
The Council of Europe convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence – also known as the Istanbul convention – is a historic international treaty that sets legally binding standards for preventing and tackling domestic abuse.
The Labour government started negotiations on the convention in 2008. Although it was signed by the then coalition government in June 2012, the current government is still yet to ratify the treaty. Fundamentally, this prevents the United Kingdom from implementing the provisions – and without ratification, the treaty is simply a piece of paper.
If implemented, the convention would provide a step change in the way violence against women and girls is considered, tackled and prevented.
The definition of violence in the convention is broad and recognises that violence against women is structural discrimination, specifically committed against women because they are women – and a violation of human rights.
It is the first international treaty to make violence and abuse against women and girls illegal and sets legally binding standards for preventing and tackling it.
Crucially amongst many important provisions, the Convention gives all survivors of domestic abuse the right to access the specialist services which they need to live in safety and rebuild their lives. It is explicit in stating that this provision, as with all the provisions, must be applied without discrimination to race, disability, migrant and refugee status.
Currently, I do not believe that this government can claim to be meeting these provisions within the bill. During Theresa May’s tenure as home secretary, women’s services saw their funding shrink rapidly; between 2010 and 2012, a third of local authority funding to domestic and sexual violence services was cut. The result of this is devastating for women fleeing violence. According to Women’s Aid, on an average day in September 2015, 92 women and 75 children were turned away from a refuge because there was not enough space. It is harrowing to consider where they spent that night.
The consequences are worse still for women from black and minority ethnic, migrant and refugee backgrounds. There are more than 34 dedicated specialist BME violence against women and girls services in the UK, able to take into account the specific and complex needs of their service users. Specialist refuges are safe havens often run by survivors of domestic violence who understand the dynamics of abuse in the different communities they work in. Yet 67 per cent of Imkann’s members (an umbrella group for BME organisations) have reported uncertainty about their sustainability in the current climate.
All of this is taking place against the backdrop of a rapid increase in violence against women, perpetrated by a partner or acquaintance.
Despite a co-ordinated and consistent effort from Labour members of parliament to push the government to ratify the convention, the government is dragging its feet. I could speculate that this is because the convention establishes a specific monitoring mechanism whereby a group of independent experts on violence against women and girls are able to scrutinise the implementation of the convention.
We need urgent action to tackle and prevent violence against women and girls and this convention forces the government to act. The consequences of the government continuing to delay ratification are simply not acceptable. Labour will not stand by while more women and children have their lives decimated by violence and abuse.
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Sarah Champion is shadow minister for women and equalities. She tweets at @SarahChampionMP
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