4 Mar 2013, 14:30
The Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality Chair David Stanton TD and Vice Chair Anne Ferris TD will tomorrow attend a conference hosted by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) which will focus on parliamentary strategies for tackling violence against women and girls.
The conference will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, 5th March 2013 in the United Nations headquarters in New York.
The meeting will focus on strategies to prevent, protect against and prosecute all forms of violence against women and girls and will aim at identifying priorities for parliaments to support progress.
Deputy Ferris said: “The conference will address how parliamentarians’ motivation and responsibilities create and sustain the political will necessary to address the issue of violence against women. It will also discuss parliamentary strategies for a strong legislative framework and an effective implementation of laws and policies to end violence against women and girls. Part of the conference will also be dedicated to discussing violence against women in the political arena. It will focus on measures that can be put forward to eliminate such acts of violence against women for political reasons, for their link to political activities or for their involvement in politics.
“Violence against women and girls is a huge and widespread problem and it takes many forms. All levels of violence against women should not and cannot be tolerated and the onus is on us all to work together to eradicate this problem from society. It is important for us to learn what we as parliamentarians can do to address this very serious issue and to examine the measures taken by other parliaments to come up with strategies to protect women from violence.”
The Committee Chair and Vice Chair will use the visit as an opportunity to meet with those involved in the community courts and crime prevention systems in New York. On Wednesday, 6th March, and Thursday 7th March, they will visit the courts complex in Brooklyn, the Irish American Bar Association, John Jay College and visit a project on community courts.
Deputy Stanton said: “We are using the opportunity of our visit to meet at first hand people involved in the courts system in New York and to directly see a community court project in operation. New York’s crime rate has been in decline since the 1990s and the city recorded its first violent crime-free day last November. We will be interested to see if use of community courts and changes in policing methods were factors in the declining crime rate. As we review our own penal reform system, it is both timely and opportune to personally view the model used in another jurisdiction and meet those involved in its administration. It is important that we examine the experience from other jurisdictions and consider alternative strategies and potential models for penal reform.”
For further information please contact:
Ciaran Brennan,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Communications Unit,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2
P: +3531 618 3903
M: 086-0496518
F: +3531 618 4551
Committee Membership
Deputies: Niall Collins (FF); Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (FG); Alan Farrell (FG); Anne Ferris (LAB) [Vice-Chairman]; Seán Kenny (LAB); Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (SF); Finian McGrath (IND); John Paul Phelan (FG); David Stanton (FG) [Chairman]
Senators: Ivana Bacik (LAB); Paul Bradford (FG); Martin Conway (FG); Rónán Mullen (IND); Denis O’Donovan (FF); Katherine Zappone (IND)