Afrah Qassim Community Development Worker Inclusion Matters Liverpool & Chair/Cofounder of Savera

 DRE: (Delivering Race Equalities)  BME: (Black and Minority Ethnic)  MAMER: (Black Minority Ethnic & Refugees)  FGM: ( Female Genital Mutilation)  VAWG: (Violence against women & Girls)  HBV: (Honour Based Violence)  FM: (Forced Marriage)  FMU: (Forced Marriage Unit  LSCB: (Local/Liverpool Safeguarding Board)  DA: ( Domestic Abuse)  CPS: (Crown prosecution Service)  LWH: ( Liverpool Women Hosptial

 Implementation of Delivering Race Equality (DRE) in Mental Health Care  The DRE is an action plan which provides a structure for tackling race inequalities in provision of mental health services for Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Communities to:  Access to mental health services  Experience of mental health services  Outcomes from mental health services

Over 60 million girls world wide married before million girls victims of Sexual violence 125 million girls have been subjected to FGM Every year 5,000 women murdered by relatives to protect family “honour” Over 30 Million girls are out of school

Estimated 1.2 million women were victim of DA Over girls under 15 yrs could be at risk of FGM and nearly women living with FGM Estimated women were victim of rape and over women victims of a sexual assault Ove 1,300 get reported to FMU every year 2,823 incidents of HBV in 2011

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The United Nation defined it: ‘ Any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.’ (The United Nation)

The UK Government defines domestic violence as: 'Any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. This can encompass, but is not limited to, the following types of abuse:  psychological  physical  sexual  financial  emotional

“Too many women in too many countries speak the same language of Silence” (Anasuya Sengupta 1995)

BUT…… Violence/abuse could take a different form within BME families e.g  Forced Marriage  Honour Based Violence  Female Genital Mutilation  Culture/Religions and Beliefs used to control women  Immigration control e.g (spouse, states)  Preventing from integration e.g Not allowed to learn/work  Financial abuse/control benefit  Being Westernised

Culture & tradition:  C culture represents, the values, norms, and traditions that affect how individuals of a particular group perceive, think, interact, behave, and make judgments about their world  Religion: a beliefs that individuals practice & follow FGM

 Language  Stereotyping  Unaware of their right/options  Fear of accessing services: Due to 1. stigma 2. Brings shame to the family, 3. Don’t want the children to be taken away.  Not aware of what is out their and how to access

Concerns/Challenges  Not certain of how big the problem of FGM in Liverpool, as there are no accurate monitoring or evaluation  Lack of understanding/training of the issue  Funding  Still not enough campaign in the North West

Nationally:  “Girls Summit” UK Government and UNICEF where a pledge made where UK Government has made commitment to tackle FGM across the UK To support countries with high provenance of FGM  Fund for community engagement initiatives and marketing campaign  The NSPCC FGM helpline (24 hours )  The expectation of services to collect Data of the different type of FGM

Locally (Liverpool/Merseyside):  Awareness/Training and educations within services/communities/professionals/universities/ schools etc.  Specialist Clinic, Liverpool Women Hospital  Police, CPS and LWH working together to improve information sharing  Local strategy guidance set within LSCB Website, to support services when dealing with FGM cases.  Liverpool Local authority is now prioritising FGM as part of their VAWG strategy

Services Provision: Savera Liverpool: Dedicated to tackling domestic abuse within Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and Refugee (BAMER) Communities and to the preservation and protection of the mental and physical health of women from these communities who are experiencing, or have experienced, domestic abuse,FM, HBV and FGM

Afrah Qassim (CDW) Savera Website: