The Committee for Home Affairs is developing a Violence Against Women and Girls strategy for Guernsey and Alderney, to build on a considerable amount of work done on the islands’ 2022-2025 Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Strategy.
The committee has now started a consultation with stakeholders to help shape its priorities.
Deputy Munazza Malik, the political lead on the issue for the committee, used the announcement to address head-on the question of why the strategy singles out women and girls when men and boys can also be victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence.
‘I want to pre-empt questions we will receive about why this strategy is focused on violence against women and girls, when of course men and boys can be the victim of domestic abuse and sexual violence as well,’ she said.
‘Anyone who is the victim of any offence should be heard and treated the same – with fairness and empathy – but in this case the statistics do not lie.’
She said women and girls were disproportionately affected both locally and nationally.
‘Our key objective with this work is to make as much change as possible, where it will make the biggest difference, and as such we want to be looking where the problem is largest – with women and girls being victim to unacceptable, horrendous behaviours.
‘That isn’t to say men won’t be listened to and won’t experience positive change from this work.
‘My hope is that the entire community will benefit.’
Deputy Malik said tackling abuse remained a committee priority and sought to reassure victims that ‘funding and operational focus will remain on this issue’.
The previous strategy, she said, had enabled the committee and the States to make ‘significant headway’ on legislative reform, policing powers and victim protections, ‘but there is still much more to do’.
She said that updating the strategy allowed the committee to refresh its thinking and identify where new efforts could have the most significant impact.
The committee pointed to a series of achievements from recent years, including the establishment of Willow House, the Bailiwick’s sexual assault referral centre, and the introduction of independent sexual violence advocates.
It also highlighted the new domestic abuse law, which it called ‘a major legislative milestone’, to be complemented by the proposed Protection from Harm (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2026, introducing new offences including strangulation, stalking, spiking and female genital mutilation.
The new strategy is expected to focus on improving data collection, strengthening prevention and early intervention through schools and the wider community, and continuing to modernise legislation and justice processes so they are ‘victim-centred and fit for purpose’.
The committee also intends to explore how the principles of the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention – widely regarded as the leading international framework on the issue – could strengthen the local approach.
Islanders with views on what the strategy should address can email the committee, with organisations to be contacted for consultation in due course.
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