Our Campaigns

All our campaigns grow out of the daily work we do with survivors. We campaign to improve the response of the criminal justice system to sexual and domestic violence. Justice is our right. Official acknowledgement of the crime, such as winning asylum, compensation or legal redress, is an important step towards healing. Contact us to see how you can get involved.

Compensation

A victim of crime can get compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA). Our campaign for fairer compensation has spelled out the main ways the CICA discriminates against rape victims. Our current focus is to end CICA refusing compensation to victims who have minor criminal convictions. Fill in this MOJ consultation about denying victims compensation if they have an unspent conviction before 5 August. And  SIGN OUR PETITION.

Asylum from Rape

70% of women asylum seekers are survivors of rape and/or domestic violence. We campaign for the rights of asylum seekers to safety and justice, and an end to deportation and destitution. Rape and torture are grounds for asylum and there must be an end to the sexism and racism women face when applying.

Stop taking our children

The most common reason children are removed from their mother by family courts is domestic abuse. She can be blamed for failing to protect a child, even though she was victim of that violence. The rights of fathers to child contact trumps consideration of safety and the child’s wishes. As a member of the Support Not Separation Coalition we campaign to end sexism and racism in family courts.

Police Crime Courts & Sentencing Act

The Act criminalises protests which are ‘noisy’, ‘annoying’, cause ‘obstruction’, ‘trespass’ and ‘nuisance’; Further criminalises Gypsy, Roma & Traveller communities; Brings in new Serious Violent Crime Reduction Orders leading to curfews and more stop and search; Legally obliges public sector workers (healthcare, schools and youth services) to work with police to ‘predict crime’; Lengthens sentences, and moves the automatic release date from half-way through a sentence to two-thirds; Extends whole life sentences to children as young as 10.

False allegations

We’re calling for an end to the arrest and prosecution of women accused of lying about rape. There have been miscarriages of justice where a woman was wrongly accused of lying which we have challenged. We have stopped wrongful arrests. In one case a woman won compensation and the attacker was later prosecuted.

Sexual harassment at work

Violence at work is at last beginning to be tackled. We are campaigning together with the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union (fast food and hospitality workers) to end vulnerability to sexual violence caused by abusive employers and poverty wages/zero-hour contracts, and benefit cuts. These make it much harder for women to speak out and get help.

Domestic Abuse Act

The Domestic Abuse Bill passed and is now an Act. The government claimed it would overhaul the official response to domestic abuse, but we consider it a missed opportunity.  The government refused many of the changes that women's organisations demanded: acknowledge that most victims are women; provide money and resources to women and children to escape; stop violent men abusing victims through family court; extend all protections to immigrants and women with disabilities.