P-04-540- stop sexism in domestic abuse – Correspondence from the Petitioner to the Clerking Team, 05.02.15
Dear Steve,
It occurred to me that the original request from the Committee to Welsh Women's Aid (WWA) almost a year ago has not been dealt with by WWA at all.
On the 30th April 2014 the Committee requested of WWA " ... your views on statistics provided by the petitioner ..." and " ...We would also be grateful for any other views you may have on the petition". Unfortunately the Supporting Information, containing the references and full documentation to the petition was not, in fact, attached as indicated in the Committee's letter and WWA only received and responded to the Title of the Petition and not the substance (see copy email - text in blue below). Subsequent events only served to create further confusion as set out in copy correspondence.
I only have a record of two items of correspondence from WWA:
1 A letter dated 19th June 2014 "Our response was based on the ... [Title of the petition] ... as this was the entirety of what we received". (per WWA letter dated 19th June and received 9th July 2014)
2 A letter undated in October 2014 that responded only to a letter from Healing Men.
Neither of these letters addresses the Committee's initial request to have a resonse from WWA concerning the substantive and substantiated case made in the Supporting Information to the petition and this request by the Committee remains unanswered by WWA to the best of my knowledge.
A complete copy of the petition and all the Supporting Information was sent to WWA on the 1st August 2014 and confirmation received that no further information or clarification was required was eventually received on the 31st October 2014.
WWA has had the full details supporting the petition since 1st August 2014 and has confirmed no further information is needed. I respectfully suggest that a detailed and considered response to the evidence presented in the Supporting Information to the petition would be helpful to the Committee in carefully considering the above petition especially when this has been specifically asked for by representatives of the Assembly and asked of the premier and overwhelmingly dominant agency dealing with domestic abuse and violence in Wales and where substantial issues of concern for the ongoing safety of current and future generations boys and girls in Wales have been raised.
A synopsis of relevant correspondence follows.
Kind regards,
Tony Stott
HealingMen
###########################################################
Sent:Friday, October 31, 2014 2:07 PM
Dear Mr Stott,
Thank you for your email. We have submitted a reply through the Petitions Committee and do not require any further information at this time.
Regards,
On behalf of Tina Reece
Sent: 30 October 2014 17:21
Dear
Ms Owens,
Please let me know if Welsh Women's Aid (WWA) requires any any further information, explanation or clarification in order for WWA to respond to the content of Healing Men's petition as detailed below.
Regards,
Tony Stott, Healing Men
Sent:Friday, August 01, 2014 2:59 PM
Subject: Re: Petitiuon P-04-540m- stop sexism in domestic abuse.
Dear Ms Owens,
Thank you very much for your prompt response to my 2nd request and for the clarification as below. ….. ……For the sake of clarity I attach a complete set of documents covering Healing Men's petition, including the supporting information from which the statistics you have quoted below were extracted and which are referenced within the supporting information.
I would very much welcome any views or comments that Welsh Women's Aid may wish to make. Please let me know as soon as possible if I can provide any further information or clarification.
Yours sincerely,
Tony Stott, Healing Men
Sent:Friday, August 01, 2014 10:03 AM
Dear Mr. Stott,
Our apologies, this was sent a few weeks ago but your email address was misspelt. Please see Gill’s response below.
Best wishes,
Emma Harris
PA to the Chief Executive
Dear Mr Stott,
Thank you for your email below dated 11th of July.
In response to your initial query I can assure you that as Director of Operations for WWA I was indeed aware of the request for information from the Petitions Committee which was addressed to our Public Affairs Manager, and the final response submitted.
In regard to your request for clarification on the figures provided to us by the Committee for comment, they were as follows:
“We call upon the National Assembly for Wales to urge the Welsh Government to stop Domestic Abuse (DA) by treating it as a gender inclusive and human phenomenon in which many men and women share both suffering and responsibility. Practical NOT Politics. The current proposal blames men, and only men, for all violence and puts a radical gender based prejudice before the real needs of women, men and children and where 97% of men do NOT fit this profile. Fear of repercussions and lack of publicity in Wales have prevented open and vocal dissent. This Petition invites an alternative approach that recognises that 86% of DA is the responsibility of both women and men. It also offers greater protection to children and removes the discrimination that arises solely from radical gendered prejudice against those people in same sex female relationships.”
Our response was based on the above as this was the entirety of what we received.
Yours Sincerely,
Gill Owens
15.02.2015
Dear Mr George,
Ms Erin Pizzey was one of the very first signatories to support our Petition in March 2013 and would very much like to take this opportunity to bring her support for this petition to the attention of the Minister, Mr Leighton Andrews AM.
Ms Pizzey has sent the following letter by email and we would very much appreciate if the Committee would kindly agree to forward this directly to the Minister together with the latest letter from Healing Men to solicit the Minister's views and comments. Ms Pizzey's email address is shown above.
Thank you very much indeed for your kind consideration in this matter.
Yours sincerely,
Tony Stott
Healing Men
Mr Leighton Andrews AM
Minister for Public Services
February 2015
Dear Mr Andrews,
My name is Erin Pizzey and I founded the first women’s refuge in Chiswick, London in 1971. I now have the campaign www.whiteribbon.org. The campaign invites everyone to contribute to the now universal truth: Domestic violence is not and never has been a gender issue.
A cynical financially driven war by radical feminists has mislead governments and the general public into believing that men have been the perpetrators of all violence. For over forty years men have been demonised and pushed out of family life, often separated from their boys and girls, and many men have killed themselves so bereft that they saw no other way out.
For me it is recognising that violence in the family is a generational issue. Children born to dysfunctional families, marinated in violence and sexual abuse will often grow up to repeat these patterns. I have always advocated that all victims of domestic violence need a therapeutic approach in order to find their way out of violence.
I signed a Welsh petition urging the Welsh Government to take a more inclusive and humane approach in dealing with domestic violence. I urge the Welsh Government in the very strongest possible terms to feel for the human suffering and put the needs of the people and the boys and girls of Wales above personal fear, corrupt radicalised ideology and misleading misinformation and adopt the principles of the petition as its policy and in forming new legislation.
I pledge to join with everyone who cares about this issue to continue to publish the truth.
Yours,
Erin Pizzey