05 March 2008 - Green MEP for the South East Caroline Lucas will address a mass rally in Trafalgar Square on International Women’s Day (Saturday 8 March) to urge international authorities to crackdown on violence against women.

The Million Women Rise march, which will assemble in Hyde Park at 12 noon and move on to Trafalgar Square for a mass rally, has been organised as a response to the continuing worldwide impact of violence against women. It is expected to be the largest female-only march in UK history.

In the past month alone, the high profile convictions of Levi Bellfield, Steve Wright and Mark Dixie for sexually motivated violence and the brutal murder of women have raised serious questions about the nature and scale of gendered violence in our society.

Dr Lucas said: “I’m honoured to take part in this landmark rally on International Women’s Day.  Gender-based crimes, which take place in times of both peace and war, are crimes against humanity, with devastating consequences for the victims and their families.

“Despite international and national initiatives, there remains a global crisis of gendered violence. Not enough is being done to care for the victims, adequately punish the perpetrators, and to make this sort of violence absolutely unacceptable."

She continued: “Governments must ensure more is done to support the victims of rape and sexual abuse, domestic violence, male intimidation and violent attacks of all kinds. Here at home, our own government must urgently address the funding crisis faced by many specialist support agencies like Rape Crisis centres, which offer enormous support to women when they are most vulnerable.”

This week, in the European Parliament, Dr Lucas has also co-sponsored an appeal for the appointment of a European Envoy on Women’s rights, to ensure that all policies take into account their impact on women, and to challenge member state governments to live up to their Millennium Goal commitments on women and development.

Other speakers at the MWR rally will include representatives from national and campaigning organisations such as Southall Black Sisters, Women’s Aid, Fawcett Society, Women’s Institute, Women and Girls Network, Women’s Environmental Network and the Rape Crisis Federation.

Sabrina Qureshi, Co-ordinator of the Million Women Rise Coalition, said: “Violence against women and children continues to be a global pandemic. Women and children around the world experience domestic violence, rape, sexual abuse, forced marriage, trafficking, so-called “honour” killings, dowry deaths, female foeticide through sex-selective abortion, female infanticide and female genital mutilation.

“In the UK only 5% of rapes reported to the police result in a conviction. Two women a week are killed by their partner or ex-partner. Violence against women violates life, liberty, bodily integrity, freedom of movement and dignity of the person. This March marks the beginning of a concerted and energetic campaign to reverse these trends”.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

Dr Lucas will be speaking at the MWR rally on Saturday 8 March 2008 - 3.30pm in Trafalgar Square, London.

Facts relating to gender violence in the UK

1        167 women are raped everyday and only one in five attacks are reported to the police. (Amnesty International)

2        Up to 1,420 women per year are trafficked into the UK for sexual exploitation. (Home Office)

3        The UK Government announced that 330 child victims of trafficking had been identified over an 18-month period; of these 183 went missing from Social Services care.  (Unicef)

4        One woman in four will experience domestic violence at some point in her life. (Amnesty International)

5        Two women are murdered every week by their partner or ex partner.  (Amnesty International)

6        One incident of domestic violence is reported to the police every minute. (Amnesty International)

7        250 cases of forced marriage are reported each year. (Foreign & Commonwealth Office)

8        One woman a month is murdered through so called “honour” killing. (Metropolitan Police)

9        Over 20,000 girls could be at risk of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the UK. (Forward UK)

10    The majority of women in prison are there for non-violent offences, theft, fraud and drug related crime. (Home Office)  Over half have experienced domestic violence and one in three have experienced sexual abuse. (Fawcett Society)

11    The cost of Domestic Violence to society in monetary terms is 23 billion per year. (Women’s Aid)

What is the “Million Women Rise” Coalition?

The Million Women Rise Coalition is a diverse group of individual women and women representatives from the voluntary and community sectors who are united by our belief that every woman and child has a right to live free from violence, and that ongoing violence devastates not only the lives of individuals directly affected but also the communities of which they are part.

For more information on Million Women Rise 2008, please visit http://www.millionwomenrise.com/ or email your query to info@millionwomenrise.com.