Gavin: We must do more to end violence against women
Gavin Newlands, MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, has led a debate at Westminster and called on more action to be taken to tackle and eliminate violence against women.
During a debate on the positive role that men can play in ending violence against women, Gavin called on the UK Government to ratify the Istanbul Convention – which affirms that the Government will implement a series of comprehensive and co-ordinated polices that involve the UK Government, local authorities and charities working in this area.
This debate took place in the same week as there has been an outcry in Scotland following comments made by pro-rapist blogger, RooshV.
Gavin Newlands, MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, said:
“The comments made by pro-rapist Roosh V highlights the long journey that we’ve still got to travel to end the violence that women face on a daily basis.
“Police Scotland spend 20% of their operational time dealing with instances of domestic violence and two women every week will lose their lives due to domestic abuse.
“As a society we have made a lot of progress on this issue but still too many women are living in violent relationships.
“As well as being tough on those male perpetrators, we also have to adopt a preventative approach to stop these violent acts from occurring in the first place.
“The best way in which we can defeat violence against women is by working together and having a coordinated approach that intervenes early to prevent these violent acts from ever occurring.
“This includes working with organisations like The White Ribbon Campaign who stress that men have a key role to play in preventing violence against women.
“The UK Government can formulate all the work that it is currently doing by ratifying the Istanbul Convention. This will ensure that we introduce a series of preventative measures in tackling and eradicating domestic violence from our society, and in doing so send a clear message that any form of violence against women will not be tolerated."
