Ministers 'Promise' To Make Jersey Safer For Women

A minister has vowed she won't let a report which exposes the level of violence against women and girls in Jersey 'sit on the shelf'.

Assistant Justice and Home Affairs Minister, Deputy Louise Doublet says the findings and recommendations of an independent task force will be taken seriously.

"I promise that this report is not just going to sit on a shelf.  We have already begun work on it, and we will continue to work on as many recommendations as possible to ensure that cultural change in our community is achieved."

A survey by the task force found that 97% of women and girls asked had experienced sexual harassment.  A quarter said they had suffered raped or attempted rape.

The task force has made nearly 80 recommendations and calls for an independent review of the criminal justice system.

Read: "Many Women And Girls Are Fearful For Their Safety"

It wants to make the island a  'world leader' in protecting women and girls.

That's echoed by Deputy Doublet, and she says she's confident that it can be achieved, despite the numbers in the report.

"I do think it's achievable.  

We are a small community and we're a proud community.  I think we hold ourselves to those high standards.

There must be decisive action across our community, not just from government but also from the courts, the States Assembly as a whole, work places, schools and homes.  

Everybody has a role to play in changing the culture."

Home Affairs Minister Deputy Helen Miles praised the bravery and courage of survivors who has shared their 'deeply personal and often painful stories'.

She said she will carefully consider the findings and recommendations, acknowledging that addressing them 'will require potentially radical change to the way systems currently respond to this problem':

"Some of these changes will require dedicated resource and investment and I undertake to source those resources.

“I am committed to creating a safe and supportive environment for all women and girls in Jersey and I shall now take the necessary time to carefully review the recommendations to ensure that future action makes a positive difference to the lives of Islanders."

Jersey Police say they accept the report's recommendations relevant to policing.

"We (SoJP) stand committed to addressing VAWG and continuously improving our ability to further build victim trust and confidence, pursue offenders and make Jersey an even safer place for everyone."

The force says it has already invested heavily in training staff and that its efforts have contributed to ' improvement of reporting, quality of investigations, increase in charging and positive Court outcomes'.

"Jersey has already seen 66% of convictions secured in the first half of this year, with four out of the six cases in court resulting in guilty verdicts."