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Wednesday 22 June No 3 - Briefings
Face up to domestic abuse - and get the right policies
to reduce it
Edinburgh's amendment to Motion 94 is an attempt to
focus in on the reality of tackling domestic abuse, getting the
right policies to reduce it.
The amendment seeks recognition of the position in
Scots' Law and to remove the stigma of hopelessness conveyed by
"victims" to "those experiencing domestic abuse".
Edinburgh has a proud tradition of being at the forefront
of tackling domestic abuse. Zero Tolerance - with the slogan No
Excuse came from the Women's Committee at the end of the 80's and
beginning of the 90's.
Britain's longest running perpetrator project working
with men who abuse was set up in 1990. The staff in that project
(all UNISON activists) have spoken on their work in three different
continents.
The amendment does once again what union members from
Edinburgh did at the end of the 80's - a change in thinking. The
Edinburgh Branch is horrified by all violence in the family, whoever
perpetrates it.
Unfortunately the majority of research has been on
men's violence towards women. In Britain there are 80 projects that
deal with men's violence towards their current or former female
partners. These projects are few and far between and trying their
best to get it right - to keep women and children safe. We know
only anectodal evidence about abuse from women to men.
We need to get policy and procedures correct about
the work we do know about, and that exists, in order for the future
when we have the research in place to work with other family violence
perpetrators. UNISON should be at the forefront of this. In the
case of the 104 women who were murdered by their former or current
partner in 2003, that perpetrator was male.
The British Crime Survey in 2003 shows no women were
murdered by female partners. There are dangerous men out there who
need to be monitored, managed and adequately dealt with. Good practice
and policies will never eradicate those who go out to kill but research
from the US shows us that men who kill their partners specialise
in extreme spousal violence and they are the ones that got away
with it, or the agencies didn't response, or the women were just
too afraid to report it.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members -
stronger together
A message from the Lesbian and Gay Self Organised
Group
This week, Conference will be debating two proposals
from UNISON lesbian and gay conference: motion 42, which calls on
us to work for equality for bisexual and transgender members, and
an amendment to Rule D, to replace the lesbian and gay self-organised
group with a new group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
members.
We agree that bisexual and transgender members should
have the opportunity - if they so wish - to be involved in a self-organised
group working on their issues. No-one will be forced to join the
new group. We agree that this change will strengthen UNISON's work
on sexual orientation and transgender equality.
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