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Four Pledges

Violence against women and girls

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Contents

Safer Streets

Introduction

We are working together with Kingston, Richmond and Wandsworth Councils, as well as the Met Police (South West London Safer Street’s Partnership), to tackle violence against women and girls (VAWG).

Our streets should be safe for everyone. We want women and girls in South West London to feel confident and welcome to enjoy the places where they live and work.

In Merton, tackling Violence Against Women and Girls is a key priority area for the Safer Merton Partnership.  Tackling VAWG is so high on our priority list because:

  • 1 in 3 women aged 16 - 59 will experience domestic abuse in her lifetime
  • 2 women a week are killed by a current or former partner in England and Wales alone.
  • Many VAWG crimes are often hidden from view and are under-reported.
  • Many forms of VAWG are characterised by a victim being repeatedly abused, in particular, domestic abuse has the highest rate of repeat victimisation of any other crime.
  • On average victims experience 50 incidents of domestic abuse before getting help.

In the last year, the partnership has focused on a number of different interventions to tackle VAWG:

  • A commitment to bringing the survivors voice into all aspects of our strategic work
  • The Safer Streets comprises a number of exciting initiatives. This includes extensive training to professionals and members of the community across the borough, as well as on the ground interventions to provide access to support to those who are feeling unsafe.
  • Becoming White Ribbon accredited which has enabled the beginning of a culture change – getting people to talk about VAWG and removing the stigma within the community
  • Encouraging men and boys in the local community to become white ribbon ambassadors and allies.
  • Safer Streets initiatives that include engaging men and boys in the faith based community, bystander training as well as developing a bespoke social media campaign.

We take a coordinated community approach which means ending VAWG  is not the responsibility of any one single organisation, we all have a part to play.

We have created this space to be able to keep members of the community updated on our ongoing work and key tools and resources that can support you to #StepUp and support the fight to end violence against women and girls.

To make the White Ribbon Promise White Ribbon UK(link is external)

In an emergency always call 999

Safe Zone

We have been working on our Safer Streets project to improve the safety of women in our night-time economy and this has included setting up a Safe Zone in Wimbledon, outside Wimbledon train station and one in Mitcham Town Centre.

We have been working with Merton Street Pastors who will be running the Safe Zone, as well as working in partnership with Met police and British Transport police, Love Wimbledon and other charities.

The Safe Zone is open for anyone that feels unsafe or needs a little assistance while in the town centre. The safe zone will provide a point to charge a phone, or a safe place to wait for a taxi or ask for help if they feel unsafe.

Wimbledon Safe Zone - First Friday of the month - 10pm - 2am

If you need further information, please contact safer.merton@merton.gov.uk

Bystander intervention guide

Safer Streets Merton Bystander Guide

Safer Streets - Bystander

Violence against women and girls is happening across our city. South West London wants to do something about it nearly half of women asked in South West London said they didn't feel safe on public transport the majority said they felt unsafe after dark. It's not okay, we want our streets to be safe for everyone. We can start by educating ourselves on what violence against women and girls is. It's not just physical. It's any behaviour that threatens, intimidates or violates disadvantages verbal or online talking. Or you might feel uncomfortable or unsafe it can happen on the streets school work or even at home we need to recognize this when we see it and call it out if you feel safe to do so you can step up by calling out disrespectful language or attitudes with colleagues friends or family providing a distraction if you see someone in a difficult situation interrupt ask a question or change the subject so they can move away if you feel you can't step in ask friends or staff to help checking in with the person to make sure they're okay. Part of the violence against women and girls make the white ribbon promise to never use, excuse or remain silent about it.

Let's make our streets safer for women and girls, step up South West London.

Free online training is being provided by Suzy Lamplugh Trust(link is external)

A ten-minute online training course(link is external) that provides techniques to stop street harassment, whilst keeping you safe.

Planning safe journeys

Several free apps exist to download for safe travel and wellness.

Street Safe

You can report anywhere you don’t feel safe via the StreetSafe website(link is external). This might be due to environmental factors like lack of street lighting , vandalism or perhaps you have been verbally abused. Your information can help pinpoint problem areas.

Street Safe is not for reporting crime or incidents. In an emergency, always dial  999, to report an incident visit www.met.police.uk(link is external) or dial 101.  

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