BAMSNI Update and Seminar Invite

Regular readers may recall my post of February 2022 relating to BAMSNI (Boys And Men Strategy for Northern Ireland). This refers specifically to the issue of domestic abuse. The background to that last post was that Northern Ireland is the only one of the four UK nations that does not currently have a specific Violence Against Women and Girls strategy. Instead, Northern Ireland have so far pursued a gender neutral approach, supported in this stance by  Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 which imposes a public sector duty to promote equality of opportunity between men and women.

That last post warned of the pressure being placed on the Executive to adopt a specific VAWG strategy, a move that – on its own – would put men and boys out in the cold, as usual. The post made readers aware of the campaign that was underway to address that risk by pressing for a parallel strategy for the protection of men and boys from domestic abuse.

This post is to make readers aware of developments in that campaign – and to offer an invitation to a forthcoming seminar at which the campaign’s progress and approach will be presented.

A short brief that summarises key messages from the campaign can be found here.

The full report that the campaign has just published can be found here.

The focus of this campaign output so far is to identify the gaps in support and human rights protections in relation to male victims of domestic abuse.

The campaign report makes a number of detailed recommendations to address the identified gaps. The bottom line is that the campaign calls for a parallel strategy to address the issue of male victimisation – parallel, that is, with the strategy for women and girls, preparation of which is in progress within the Executive (or would be if there were currently an Executive). The campaign report concludes thus,  

The NI Equality Commission have called on the Executive to adopt ‘gender specific’ approaches to tackle the causes of violence experienced by women and men (my emphasis). VAWG strategies in other regions have been shown to contribute to the marginalisation and invisibilisation of male victims and there remains considerable confusion in relation to how The Executive’s ‘gender specific’ and ‘gender neutral’ strategies will align.

During the 2022 Call For Views on the development of the two aligned strategies, numerous advocates for male victims urged the NI Executive to develop a male specific strategy or comparable action to mitigate against adverse impacts.

We believe that positive action is necessary because male victims also face unique and sex specific challenges such as: fear of not being believed; losing their children; stigma if their perpetrator is female; victim blaming if their perpetrator is male; and discrimination from some domestic abuse service providers.

We also believe that a male victims strategy is required because aspects of the Department of Justice / Health’s ‘gender neutral’ approach can be shown to be gender neutral in name only. This means that male victims have to navigate: A heavily sex segregated service infrastructure; significant gaps in service; exclusion from funding streams; suspicion, stereotyping and forms of sex discrimination that have been illegal in the entire UK since 1976.”

The seminar will be held online on Thursday 27th April at 6pm to 8pm (BST). You can book to attend, free, at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tackling-domestic-abuse-the-northern-ireland-model-tickets-564926318827. There will be a Q&A in the second half.

Whilst this campaign is focussed on Northern Ireland, the hope is that it will provide impetus to similar parallel strategies in the GB nations.

The insupportable nature of the UK Government’s position on intimate violence against men and boys came to a head last year with their publication of a policy statement titled Supporting Male Victims of Crimes Considered Violence Against Women and Girls, a title which invited – and received – ridicule. I blogged on it, as did many others, including We Are Survivors. The Government’s current position is collapsing under the weight of its own absurdity. It’s time to devise parallel strategies for men and boys across the UK as a whole.

4 thoughts on “BAMSNI Update and Seminar Invite

  1. Groan

    Such an important campaign. Though it will be a hard slog against fierce opposition. Perhaps the different context in NI, where “equality” has a sharper focus fueled by years of war and terrorism, will have space for a more realistic approach. It is also one of the parts of the UK where the “Gender pay gap” has been in women’s favour! In the rest of the UK the VAWG strategies are vital to the feminist project. With all government departments engaged in “VAWG” activity and funding, often in things that are really nothing to do with violence at all. Women in STEM, equivalent pay, University research funding, and the like all linked to VAWG on the grounds that men uniformly oppress women and this is, however unlikely, at the root of “violence” against females. With of course ever wider interpretations of “violence” to fuel this golden link back to the few (in the context of 66 millions) actual crimes of violence.
    This work you are doing is vital for those men in need in NI.

    Reply
  2. Family Coalition

    Just as ‘LGBTQ+ $%^&*’ — or whatever it is today — can only be seen as an anachronism given support for bisexuality AND the 57 varieties of gender can only be oxymorinic. Any alleged support for domestic abuse victims is also oxymorinic given “Dominic Raab faces legal action after refusing inquiry into abuse of thousands of boys in detention centres” https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/dominic-raab-abuse-detention-centres-b2316025.html

    Men will be treated differently from women, and ‘Others’ will be treated differently from both men and women, it’s an attack on humanity and family through gangs and counter gangs methods previously created through theism in N. I.

    It keeps us busy whilst they push Pederasty …

    “Moreover, sexual conduct involving persons below the domestically prescribed minimum age of consent to sex may be consensual in fact, if not in law. In this context, the enforcement of criminal law should reflect the rights and capacity of persons under 18 years of age to make decisions about engaging in consensual sexual conduct and their right to be heard in matters concerning them. Pursuant to their evolving capacities and progressive autonomy, persons under 18 years of age should participate in decisions affecting them, with due regard to their age, maturity and best interests, and with specific attention to non-discrimination guarantees.”

    FROM THE 8 MARCH PRINCIPLES FOR A HUMAN RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH TO CRIMINAL LAW PROSCRIBING CONDUCT ASSOCIATED WITH SEX, REPRODUCTION, DRUG USE, HIV, HOMELESSNESS AND POVERTY – PRINCIPLE 16 – CONSENSUAL SEXUAL CONDUCT
    https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/featurestories/2023/march/20230308_new-legal-principles-decriminalization

    Is this promoting sex between adults and children?

    If it read “sexual conduct EXCLUSIVELY involving persons below the domestically prescribed minimum age of consent to sex” then it would read as only sex between underage persons, say two 15 year olds.

    However it is ambiguous enough to leave the door open — as with a judge in France — to say ok for child with adult as under age child ‘consents’.

    It’s not just the government’s position which is collapsing, it’s everything…

    +++
    Orthopedic surgeon sounds off on COVID vaccine after developing career-ending condition: I’ve been ‘abandoned’
    +++
    FSU faker shows academic fraud crisis is real, big and ongoing
    +++
    BOMBSHELL! Jamie Dimon Is Part Of Jeffrey Epstein’s Web Of Corruption!

    Where do you want to start?

    Note to Zoomers: Let THEIR system collapse and be ready to build SOCIETY 2.0.

    Reply
    1. Family Coalition

      It get’s worse, and the Deep State global demons are attacking humanity from all angles, and people don’t even know it. Now, the U.N. is pushing “pedophilia as a human right” and wants to decriminalize sex with children. Newman says, “‘Queer Theory’ was born almost 40 years ago, and the point was always to try to legalize any kind of perverted sex. It’s horrible enough that these people want to have sex with children, and it is so monstrous, but their agenda is even bigger than that. The reason we see this incredible perversion is it is being used as a battering ram to take down family, to take down society and to take down traditional moral order. It is quite literally wickedness from the pit of hell. The rape of children is just one horrific symptom of that, but this is part of a much bigger agenda.”

      https://usawatchdog.com/un-global-takeover-plan-wickedness-from-pit-of-hell-alex-newman/

      Reply
      1. Greg Allan

        “Newman says, “‘Queer Theory’ was born almost 40 years ago, and the point was always to try to legalize any kind of perverted sex.”

        More like the seventies during which there were concerted efforts to legitimise incest and paedophilia.

        Reply

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