News
Dec 2003 -
November
was a busy month with some progress in a number of areas we have
been campaigning and briefing on. See the main news pages for
new briefing and other documents. Below is information about a
new Scottish Executive fund for services for women who have been
raped or sexually assaulted; news about the debate in the Scottish
Parliament on the Vulnerable Witnesses ( Scotland
)
Bill and news of a review of the prosecution of sexual offences
in Scotland
.
Also,
don’t forget that the 16 days of Action for the Elimination of
Violence Against Women continue until December 10. A programme
of events in Glasgow
is downloadable from the November news page of this website.
New
£1M Fund
Communities
Minister Margaret Curran has announced a new £1M fund to provide
support services to help women who have been raped, abused, exploited
or assaulted sexually.
She
said during a Parliamentary debate last week on violence against
women:
"We
know only too well that sexual violence against women and children
prevails throughout Scotland
.
Rape and sexual abuse are despicable acts that have devastating
and lasting effects on women's physical and emotional wellbeing.
"This
is why I am announcing a new £1 million fund which aims to tackle
violence against women. This will be targeted at women who have
experienced rape or sexual assault, who are survivors of child
sexual abuse and who are being sexually exploited. It will provide
practical services that offer women counselling, emotional support,
advice and advocacy.”
The
full announcement is at: www.scotland.gov.uk/pages/news/2003/11/SEC348a.aspx
Vulnerable
Witnesses Debate
The
Scottish Parliament debated the Vulnerable Witnesses Bill on November
27 and Rape Crisis Scotland
was pleased that a number of MSPs argued for automatic entitlement
to special measures for vulnerable witnesses in sexual offence
cases. This follows the Justice 2 Committee’s report which suggested
that the Scottish Executive may want to look at amending the Bill
in this way.
The
Bill currently only gives discretionary entitlement to special
measures for complainers in sexual offence cases. This means that
they will potentially only find out whether they can access such
measures a week before the court case. Not knowing one way or
the other, when it can take up to 18 months for a case to come
to trial, adds considerably to the uncertainty, distress and lack
of control women already feel during this process.
The
stage 1 report from the Justice 2 Committee is on the Scottish
Parliament website at www.scottish.parliament.uk/justice2/reports/j2r03-04-02.htm
The
debate is at: www.scottish.parliament.uk/plenary/or-03/sor1119-02.htm
A number of speakers refer specifically to our evidence
and arguments.
Sex
Offences Review
Solicitor
General Elish Angiolini has announced (at the annual conference
of Scottish Women’s Aid in November) that the Crown Office and
Procurator Fiscal Service will be carrying
out a full review and evaluation of the prosecution of rape and
sexual offences.
It
was stated that the review will be confined to matters within
the Lord Advocate's responsibilities as the head of systems of
prosecution in Scotland and that it will include consideration
of how these cases are prosecuted at the moment; discussions with
other prosecution services about how they deal with such cases;
and consultation with third parties in Scotland.
