‘Violence Against Women – Are We Doing Enough?’
Dr Rebecca Johnson – Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
Muna Hassan, Integrate UK
Daphine Workuri, Justice For Domestic Workers
International Public Policy Review (IPPR) hand in hand with One Billion Rising UK (OBRUK) in partnership with the University of College London (UCL), School of Public Policy (SPP) and Policy and Practice Series, joins the fierce struggle against sexual and physical violence against girls and women.
In commemoration of International Women’s Day a panel will be hosted with a diverse range of leaders working on public policy and activism on ending violence against girls and women. The purpose of the panel is to give sharper focus and visibility to the issue of violence against girls and women, and to share what is being done to address this epidemic – what are the policies formulated to address violence against girls and women? Are they effective? What are some of the challenges and achievements? The panelists will share policies, challenges and progress from a national level touching on global solidarity and support.
Dr Rebecca Johnson spent five years as a grassroots activist at the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp in the 1980s before obtaining her PhD in multilateral diplomacy and making a career analysing strategies to promote human security and disarmament. She authored the chapter on Arms Control and Disarmament in the 2013 edition of the Oxford Handbook of Modern Diplomacy and is a featured analyst on disarmament, gender and security issues for openDemocracy. Recent books include Unfinished Business (United Nations, 2009), Trident and International Law: Scotland’s Obligations (Edinburgh 2011) and Decline or Transform: Nuclear disarmament and security beyond the NPT review process.
Muna Hassan is a co-founder and a lead outreach worker for Integrate Bristol a charity that tackles the issues of gender based violence. She was part of the core group that started the work around FGM at the charity, which since has been recognised nationally and internationally. She is also a co-founder of YouthforChange, another youth organisation that tackles the issues of FGM and Child and Early Forced Marriage in 4 countries.
While also working with the charity, Muna is also currently doing her postgraduate studies at King’s College London, and hopes to support survivors of gender based violence.
About Justice for Domestic Workers – Justice 4 Domestic Workers is a campaigning group calling for justice and rights for Britain’s sixteen thousand foreign domestic workers. In April 2012 – the government introduced a “tied visa” regime which prevents domestic workers from changing employers. This has led to greatly increased economic, physical and even sexual abuse happening behind closed doors across the UK.
