12 March 2008 - Dr Caroline Lucas MEP has added her name to a petition today calling on the Government to provide proper funding for Rape Crisis centres.

The New Statesman petition is part of a campaign to achieve better support services for the victims of rape and sexual violence, at a time when the few Rape Crisis centres left in the UK are threatened with closure due to a severe lack of financial support.

This petition, along with a campaign by the Fawcett Society, seeks to raise the profile of Early Day Motion 765, which demands justice for rape victims and improved criminal justice practices to ensure higher conviction rates in rape cases. If enough MPs express their support for the EDM, it will put increased pressure on the Government to take action.

Dr Lucas, who gave an impassioned speech on violence against women at the Million Women Rise rally in Trafalgar Square last week, said:

"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."

“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.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

For more information on the New Statesman campaign, please click here.

Facts on rape

- The British Crime Survey suggests there are more than 300,000 rapes and serious sexual assaults each year.-

- The current conviction rate in rape cases is only 5.7 per cent with fewer than 20 per cent of rapes reported to the police leading to a prosecution

- The vast majority of women in the UK do not have access to a rape crisis centre

- Up to half of the remaining centres are at risk of closing due to a lack of funding