Have your say on services for residents affected by gender-based violence in Lambeth (Violence Against Women and Girls)

We want your views on how we can make Lambeth a borough in which residents do not have to be fearful of, or experience gender-based violence. The consultation runs from 2 March to 12 April 2020. Share your views by completing our survey.

We want to know what Lambeth residents, people affected by gender-based violence, and practitioners think are the most important elements needed to provide the best services and support in the borough.

Gender-based violence is "any act....that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to any individual, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life."

This includes:

Domestic abuse

Domestic abuse is any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, 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. The abuse can encompass, but is not limited to: psychological, physical, sexual, financial, and/or emotional abuse.

Sexual violence

Sexual Violence is any unwanted sexual act or activity. There are many different kinds of sexual violence that exist on a continuum including, but not limited to rape, sexual assault, child sexual abuse (CSA) and sexual harassment. Perpetrators range from total strangers to relatives and intimate partners. It can happen anywhere - in the family/household, workplace, public spaces, social settings, during war/conflict situations.

Forced marriage

A forced marriage is a marriage in which one or both spouses do not (or, in the case of some adults with learning or physical disabilities, cannot) consent to the marriage and duress is involved. Duress can include physical, psychological, financial, sexual and emotional pressure.

So-called “honour”-based violence

So-called ‘honour’-based abuse is a collection of practices used to control behaviour within families in order to protect perceived cultural and religious beliefs and/or ‘honour’. It is often linked to family members or acquaintances who mistakenly believe someone has brought shame to their family or community by doing something that is not in keeping with the traditional beliefs of their culture.

Prostitution

The practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment, in which those involved may be forced, coerced or deceived to enter into prostitution and/or to keep them there.

Trafficking for sexual exploitation

Trafficking involves the recruitment, transportation and exploitation of adults and children for the purposes of sexual exploitation across international borders and within countries ('internal trafficking').

Female genital mutilation/cutting

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a procedure where the female genitals are deliberately cut, injured or changed, but where there's no medical reason for this to be done. It is also known as "female circumcision" or "cutting", and by other terms such as sunna, gudniin, halalays, tahur, megrez and khitan, among others.

Stalking/Harassment

Stalking is unwanted, repeated, obsessive and/or controlling behaviours that make someone distressed or scared. There are many ways stalking can be perpetrated and it is most likely to be someone the recipient already knows well such as an ex-partner. The law states that harassment is when a person behaves in a way which is intended to cause distress or alarm. The behaviour must happen on more the one occasion. It can be the same type of behaviour or different types of behaviour on each occasion.

We want to hear from you

Hearing peoples’ views will help us to understand how well we are doing and what we can do to make our services better. If you need help or advice because you are currently experiencing gender-based violence, you can contact the Gaia Centre in Lambeth on 020 7733 8724 or email lambethvawg@refuge.org.uk

The survey can be requested in other languages, please let us know:

Spanish: Si requiere una copia de la encuesta en Español le rogamos envíe un correo electrónico a engagement@lambeth.gov.uk

Portuguese: Se precisar de uma cópia do estudo em português, envie um e-mail para: engagement@lambeth.gov.uk

French: Si vous souhaitez recevoir une copie du sondage en français, veuillez envoyer un courriel à engagement@lambeth.gov.uk

Polish: Jeżeli potrzebują Państwo wersji tej ankiety w języku polskim prosimy o kontakt za pomocą e-maila na adres: engagement@lambeth.gov.uk

Italian: Se è richiesta una copia del sondaggio in italiano, inviare una e-mail a engagement@lambeth.gov.uk

Somali: Haddii aad u baahan tahay in aad nuqulka sahaminta ku hesho luqadda Soomaaliga fadlan iimayl u dir halkan engagement@lambeth.gov.uk

Yoruba: Ti o ba ni lo iwe eda ti iwadi lori oro ile ni ede yoruba jowo koi we si engagement@lambeth.gov.uk

Urdu: اگر آپ کو اُردو میں اس سروے کی ایک نقل درکار ہو تو برائے مہربانی اس پتہ پر ای میل کریں engagement@lambeth.gov.uk

Arabic: اذا كنت تحتاج الحصول على نسخة من هذا الاستبيان باللغة العربية فيرجى منك ارسال رسالة إلكترونية الى: engagement@lambeth.gov.uk

Amharic: የዳሰሳ ጥናቱን ቅጂ ካስፈለጎት በ አማርኛ ቋንቋ እባክዎት በሚቀጥለው ኢመይል አድራሻ ጽፈው ያሳውቁን። engagement@lambeth.gov.uk

We will use the feedback to create our next Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy. A strategy is a way for us to communicate our vision, approach and most importantly, our commitments, to our community. We want to ensure that our future work is accessible to every person affected by VAWG and that we incorporate the expertise of our residents and practitioners from the earliest stages of the strategy’s creation.

See our current Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy. For further information about support available, please see our webpage Safer Lambeth VAWG.

Our next VAWG Strategy will be published on our website later this year and your feedback will form the basis of our future work to tackle gender-based violence.