Photos from events can be viewed in our photo gallery.
As part of its programme of activities for the 16 Days of Action Against Violence Against Women, Longford Women’s Link officially launched the evaluation of its STOP Project report in Longford last Tuesday. A large cross-section of the local community attended the event, including solicitors and other representatives of the legal services, Gardai, social workers, the Local Authority, psychologists and counsellors, community groups and the press.
Tess Murphy, CEO of Longford Women’s Link, welcomed everybody, and set the context for the launch by reminding the audience that this year is the 60th anniversary of the International Declaration of Human Rights. She then quoted Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States from 1933-1945, and Chair of the Committee that drafted the Declaration: ‘Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighbourhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.’
One of the key barriers preventing women leaving an abusive situation is the increased risk of poverty. From March to December 2007, Longford Women’s Link implemented a project aimed at developing a model of service that would support women experiencing domestic violence in moving to economic independence and subsequent freedom from abuse. The project was therefore named ‘Steps to Overcoming Poverty’ (STOP). STOP looked at providing needs based, integrated domestic violence service that would expand the Women’s Link domestic violence service past crisis management into follow-on, post crisis support.
Angela Keaveney, Domestic Violence Support Service Co-ordinator at Longford Women’s Link, described how this approach had impacted upon the lives of women who had participated in the project. ‘Even in the short period of time of the project, all the women had moved away from being economically dependant on the perpetrator and therefore trapped within a damaging, abusive relationship.’ She cautioned, however, that there was a grave risk of women staying economically dependant on the State unless on-going support was available. ‘Only such on-going support can ensure that women will eventually be able to become economically independent through achieving employment or self-employment’, she said.
The STOP research detailed the range of skills required in order to be an effective service and to deliver this extended support. Angela stressed that closer working between relevant local agencies was a key element of the effective approach documented in the report, and how important it was for local agencies to have confidence in referring their clients to Longford Women’s Link for its extensive experience and expertise.
Finally, she reminded the audience, that while the STOP report described individual women from many different backgrounds - old, young, migrant, rural and urban – they all had one thing in common, an abuser controlling their life through fear and manipulation.
The event was also intended to ensure that the project learning had a public impact, by helping the community understand the experience of the woman suffering domestic abuse through turning the spotlight on the abuser for a change,. What motivates these men to inflict humiliation, pain and injury on women with whom they have an intimate relationship? How do they do this, and how do they convince so many others, including experienced legal, health and other professionals, that they are not responsible?
Don Hennessey Director of the National Domestic Violence Intervention Agency, who has spent the past twenty years trying to understand the mind of the abuser and hold the perpetrator accountable for his actions, answered some of these questions in his highly informative and challenging presentation. ‘Male offenders,’ he said, ‘hide their intentions under a veneer of love. His sense of entitlement that his needs always have priority and his intention to take what is ‘his’, are covered in this cloak of love. ‘I love you’ when spoken by a male abuser means that I love what you do for me. The same statement when made by a non-abusive male means I want what is best for you.’
Don Hennessey went on to describe how if ever challenged about their abusive behaviour, offenders will always have a long list of explanations as to why such behaviour or abusive incidents occurred. ‘They will inevitably try to blame the women for the abuse.’ The challenge he left the audience with, was ‘we should not be asking if she said ‘no’, we should be asking if she ever said ‘yes’’.
Eimear Fisher, Executive Director of COSC, The National Office for the Prevention of Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence, officially launched the report. She commended the work of Longford Women’s Link, confirming that the STOP research was a reflection of the organisation’s expertise and professionalism. She then described how COSC was currently developing a national strategy based on international research, and that the organisation had already invited the Women’s Link to make inputs into this strategy. .
Tess Murphy, CEO of Longford Women’s Link, described the launch as hugely successfully. ‘What we hoped for the day was that we would get these important messages out to a much wider community, and particularly to those organisations who have to deal with the impact of domestic violence. We have already been asked if we can put on more such events.’
She added, ‘The STOP report not only details the expanded service that needs to be provided in order to really support women in an abusive situation, but also reinforces a core message of Longford Women’s Link campaigning platform: that abusive and violent men must be held accountable. On the 60th anniversary of the International Declaration of Human Rights, it is so important to remember that domestic violence is a crime. Unfortunately, it is the most unpunished crime in the world.’
‘The ability of the offender to avoid sanction and return the relationship to the status quo, is the primary reason why women remain with, and return to, their abusive partner’
