Women’s Aid responds to the MOJ’s announcement about new ‘restriction zones’

Isabelle Younane, head of external affairs at Women’s Aid, comments:  

“Perpetrators of domestic abuse must be held to account for their abominable crimes, and the recent announcement by the Ministry of Justice is a positive step in the right direction. However, yet again we are seeing a significant focus on tackling the small minority of VAWG perpetrators who hold a criminal conviction. In the upcoming VAWG strategy, we need to see commitments across Government departments – not just Home Office and MoJ – that reflect the needs of both adult and child survivors. We need to see a parallel level of commitment to – and investment in – the specialist services across the country who are keeping women and children safe everyday, often on a shoestring budget. And we need to see new measures that focus preventing domestic abuse from happening in the first place, including through healthy relationship education in schools and other youth settings, to build a society where violence against women and girls is no longer tolerated.”