VAW campaign asks for COSC to be halted

national | gender and sexuality | opinion/analysis Thursday May 17, 2007 09:52 by C Murray

Dept of Justice...

This is just a short Opinon and analysis, because details are sketchy and
the Irish Times has the story. COSC was set up rather rapidly by the Dept of
Justice in the run-up to the General election.

It involved a reply to the burgeoning problem of violence against women
and was set up under the aegis of 'Equality'- there seems to be a problem
with the issue , as last night a press release from combined Violence
against women campaigns including Amnesty, The Rape Crisis Network,
the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and other concerned Non-Governmental
Organisations asked for it's remit to be published and for it's work to be
stopped.

The problems therefore seem extensive and as soon as links to the statements are available
they will go up in comments.

With reference to two or three pieces on the issue of neglect in relation to the
Justice Department :-

1. The Missing Person's Helpline is gone, people have recourse to independent non-financed
sites and the Garda helpline. The families of missing women have been holding vigils
to lobby for information on their loved ones. CFSD also covered the issue in relation to
the Litter Ban and getting information and numbers to the general public as soon as
possible.

2. Only after an agigtation campaign were two forensic nurses financed by the Department
of Health to the Rape Crisis centres in Sligo, where two victims had to be brought to the
Rotunda sexual assault unit from the north-West for treatment and evidence gathering.
The Rotunda unit was taking rape victims while already stretched and the lack of
expert staff in Sligo meant that the sexual assault unit had been closed at weekends.

3. Womens aid have consistently stated that there is a lack of hostel places and
beds in the country and one unit in Sligo is still incomplete. Amnesty had press-released
on the issue of funding to centres dealing with domestic abuse situations in their
'Stop Violence against Women Campaign'

4. The Legislation which has been introduced by the Department of Justice
in June 2006, did not take cognizance of the rights of young girls age 12-17
in relation to the issues of privacy and bodily integrity and created too, problems
by allowing a child victim of rape (pre-consent group) to be examined for
evidentiary reasons.

5. Whilst addressing the issue, in theory , of separate accomodations for rape
victims in the courts, the proposed Phoneix Park Criminal Court Complex is not
solely designed for this purpose and cannot answer to the problems of a lack
of infrastructural and forensic support for the victim or the family of the victim.

6. The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006 also allows for the Criminalisation
of pre-consent boys for unlawful carnal knowledge, it fails to make a distinction
between sexual activity and rape. There is no re-visit to the Statute in two years
(The Sunset Clause) nor is there a distinction between repeat offence in paedophilia
as opposed to experimentation, (the Romeo and Juliet Clause). the Ombudsman
for children requested excision of the non-constitutional section 5.
A review of the Statute led to the 2007 amendment- and the proposed referendum
on protection (section5) would have changed that section in the original Bill.

Thus, The rapid reaction by the Department of Justice to the issue of neglect
in relation to violence and incorrect infrastructure in dealing with
these issues showed a failure in dialogue with expert
groups, had led to the years of neglect of the issue of protection and care
to the formation of COSC in the shadow of the General election Campaign.

COSC is now being questioned in its remit and role by those expert groups that
have allied to draw attention to the issue of State Abdication of Care of the individual
in our society.