- Conference
- 2004 National Women's Conference
- Date
- 15 October 2003
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes the Government’s recent consultation paper on domestic violence entitled Safety and Justice. Conference welcomes the paper as a basis for discussion on improving responses to domestic violence. However, Conference believes that the paper does not go far enough in recognising the financial difficulties experienced by women who are ineligible for legal aid but require injunctions urgently to stop the violence against them.
Conference is concerned to note that the costs of obtaining a non-molestation and/or occupation order with the assistance of a solicitor can reach up to £2,000. Changes in the legal aid system over the years have meant that many more women now fall outside the criteria for legal aid. As legal aid is means-tested, many women are denied access to this service because their abusive partner’s salary is taken into account and they are also in employment.
Conference is also concerned at the worrying trend that is resulting in a steady decrease in the number of law firms prepared to take on legal aid work. This has implications for women who are able to access legal aid but then experience difficulty in locating lawyers prepared to take on legal aid work.
Conference notes that the United Nations Platform for Action adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995 calls on governments to “provide for women who are subjected to violence with access to the mechanisms of justice and, as provided for by national legislation, to just and effective remedies for the harm that they have suffered and inform women of their rights in seeking redress through such mechanisms”.
Conference applauds the work of those organisations that have and continue to provide women with information about their legal rights particularly in the area of violence against them.
Conference calls on the National Women’s Committee to seek the National Executive Council’s support for the following actions:
1)to write to the appropriate government department to express concern about the current position regarding legal aid criteria and urging a review to enable all women to access legal aid when seeking injunctions in cases of domestic violence;
2)to raise the matter with other trade unions through the Trades Union Congress as part of the TUC’s work on domestic violence;
3)to work with and support the efforts of other women’s organisations in the voluntary sector who are campaigning and lobbying for such a change in legal aid to be implemented.