00:01There's so many ways to coerce someone. There's tech control, there's literally just emotional
00:06abuse where you make them feel so small to the point where they don't love themselves
00:10anymore and that is what perpetrators want to do. So I really just want to raise awareness
00:14for young women to notice the signs before it's too late.
00:18Violence against women and girls in the UK remains a significant concern, with new research
00:23suggesting that emerging technologies may be introducing new forms of harm into an already
00:29complex issue. The harm caused to victims and society by violence against women and girls
00:34is described as immeasurable. It includes harassment, stalking, rape, sexual assault, murder,
00:43honour-based abuse and coercive control. While men and boys also suffer many of these forms of abuse,
00:49the data indicates they disproportionately affect women.
00:53A lot of the time women are told that the most dangerous place for them is on the streets but
00:58actually for a lot of women, it's inside their home.
01:01A woman is killed by a man every three days in the UK. Violence against women and girls makes up
01:07just
01:07under 20% of all recorded crime in England and Wales. In the year ending March 2023, police recorded
01:15103,135 rape and serious sexual offences. There are calls for policing and wider society
01:24to focus on violence against women and girls in order to eradicate it, with concerns that the
01:30response has been inconsistent. A national focus is now underway to support forces in prioritising
01:37violence against women and girl related crimes. In 2024, police chiefs declared violence against
01:44women and girls a national emergency through a national statement, calling for a whole system
01:49approach across criminal justice partners, government bodies, health and education.
01:54This approach is intended to improve early identification of perpetrators and strengthen
01:59prevention work.
02:01One of my big passions is prevention. I think that ideally we need to start educating children
02:08as young as primary school age about healthy relationships. I'm not necessarily saying we need to
02:14have a detailed sex education when children are in primary school, but we need to start, you know,
02:19planting the seeds of consent and healthy relationships when children are very young.
02:24And because, you know, they're exposed to the digital world nowadays, they're exposed to
02:28those social media as young as, you know, I've heard of kids on social media as young as seven or
02:33eight
02:33years old, which is really scary. But that means that the education kind of needs to follow. So I think
02:37prevention is really important and we need to kind of make sure that that is consistent through all of our
02:43educational sectors. We'll see that through.
02:47A new report suggests the nature of violence itself is changing. It states that violence and abuse
02:53shape shifts adapting over time, including through technology. The report Invisible No More, how AI
03:00chatbots are reshaping violence against women and girls. It argues that AI chatbots are generating new
03:07forms of violence against women and girls. It says platforms are enabling and encouraging gender
03:13based violence through design choices and safety failures. At the moment, Meta, which owns Facebook,
03:20Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, has a five pillar approach in order to keep abuse off their platforms.
03:28According to their website, Meta's global women's safety expert advisors have developed policies and
03:35resources as well as tools to protect women from online abuse. We turn now to political positions.
03:44The Labour Party says its 2024 manifesto pledged to half violence against women and girls in a decade.
03:50This forms part of its wider mission to half serious violent crime and raise confidence in the police
03:56and criminal justice system to its highest levels within a decade. The Liberal Democrats say they will
04:03prioritize prevention and victim support, including funding a national rape crisis helpline with extended
04:10opening hours and reviewing legal aid changes to ensure victims of domestic and other violence
04:15have access to representation. The Green Party has highlighted concerns around online pornography and
04:22misogyny, with Baroness Jenny Jones stating online pornography is a space where those who wish to abuse
04:29women are currently operating with virtual impunity. She then said strengthening controls for online content is
04:36as good a first step as we reiterate that there should be a zero tolerance of coercion, violence or sexual
04:43abuse.
04:44Reform UK links its approach to violence against women and girls to immigration and policing, including pledges to
04:51deport foreign national offenders and increase enforcement around sexual harassment. The Conservative Party says it
04:59focuses on strengthening the criminal justice response, increasing perpetrator accountability and supporting victims
05:06through legislation such as the Domestic Abuse Act, alongside proposals for tougher sentencing for sexual and domestic abuse offences.
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