REPORTS of women being sexually harassed further highlight the importance of the work being done by a taskforce to tackle gender-based violence, according to the Constable of St Martin.
Karen Shenton-Stone, who successfully called for a piece of rapid research on sexual and domestic violence and harassment in Jersey during the last government’s term of office, said she believed that women being touched inappropriately on a night out was a problem in Jersey.
Her comments came after 45-year-old Lloyd William Evans was convicted of sexually touching a teenage girl in a St Helier bar.
The Magistrate’s Court heard last week that Evans had approached his victim on the dance floor at Chambers in Mulcaster Street, and that she had recoiled after being grabbed in the genital area before Evans’s hand then moved up to her chest.
Mrs Shenton-Stone lodged a successful amendment to last year’s Government Plan to set aside £200,000 to create a taskforce to help tackle such issues.
She said: ‘Incidents like this only stress further the importance of creating a new taskforce, which can help to deliver education around consent and prevent these types of things from happening.
‘It is shocking and totally unacceptable. People are entitled to their own personal space and it is a problem in our society. This absolutely must be included as part of the taskforce.’
Mrs Shenton-Stone said it was crucial that the government works with partners, such as sexual assault support charity Jersey Action Against Rape, to better understand the needs and problems faced by victims of gender-based violence.
Home Affairs Minister Helen Miles said the taskforce would target these types of crimes and behaviours.
She explained that recommendations on how to tackle gender-based violence and improve women’s safety were due to be presented to the government in the spring.
The taskforce is made up of a number of organisations and charities involved in the fight to prevent violence against women. It includes the States police, Jersey Women’s Refuge, Liberate, Jersey Action Against Rape, the Probation Service and the Domestic Abuse Forum.
‘As one of my key objectives for delivery as minister, a taskforce to explore and gather evidence around gender-based violence will launch at the end of this month,’ she said.
‘The taskforce will issue a call for evidence to find out more about gender-based violence in Jersey, to inform and best shape the Island’s strategy to target these types of crimes and behaviours in future.
‘I look forward to the findings and subsequent recommendations for government.’
According to the European Institute for Gender Equality, gender-based violence is a phenomenon deeply rooted in gender inequality, and continues to be one of the most notable human-rights violations.
‘Gender-based violence is violence directed against a person because of their gender. Both women and men experience it but the majority of victims are women and girls,’ the EIGE’s website says.
