The murder of Sarah Everard has placed the UK's public institutions under intense scrutiny and raised questions as to why prosecutions against sexual abusers remain at an all-time low. This has, in turn, highlighted the threats faced by women and girls from ethnic minority backgrounds, who are often silenced due to the cultural sensitivities surrounding their experiences.
The authorities have taken immediate steps to address serious concerns over the safety of women in public places. Following a Criminal Justice Taskforce meeting, chaired by the Prime Minister, the Government doubled the Safer Streets fund, which provides neighbourhood measures such as better lighting and CCTV. However, the fact remains that much of the sexual violence against women is committed by partners, relatives and people known to the victim, often within their own homes.
Three policing bodies are investigating how they deal with these complex cases, especially when victims are from BAME backgrounds. The move follows a super-complaint logged by the minority women's charity, the Halo project. Areas of concern included an excessive focus on 'community impact' and ignoring the potential for family reprisals against abuse victims.
Failure to consider honour-based violence was of particular concern. 'The ramifications of not considering honour really can be devastating,' according to Yasmin Khan, director of Halo. 'Victims are discouraged to disclose sexual abuse to officers because it brings shame and dishonour to the family and sometimes whole communities.'
The former North West chief crown prosecutor Nazir Afzal, who helped convict grooming gangs in Rochdale, is a super-complaint contributor. In a statement to the BBC, she said: 'When victims from the minority community come forward, unfortunately, there's a tendency amongst some police forces and officers to be hypersensitive about what the community might think, which they wouldn't do for any other victim.'
Scottish lawyer and criminal justice expert Safeena Rashid told Al Jazeera that 'unconscious biases may be at play when abuse cases within relationships go to court.’ ‘There may be societal perceptions of what a relationship is meant to look like, or moral judgements involved that are not meant to form part of cases, but might inevitably creep in.' As important as public spaces are, we must remember that so much of the violence women face goes on behind closed doors.