Friday, March 29, 2024

White Ribbon Accreditation Awarded to Torbay Council

Ending violence towards women both at home and in the wider community should be a goal for everyone.

During the World Cup it is thought that domestic violence towards women increases by 26% when England played and increased even further by 38% when England lost.

Of course, domestic violence is a concern that isn’t just confined to the football or sport.

It is thought that across the UK in 2018 26% of women and 15% of men aged between 16 to 59 had experienced some form of domestic violence since the age of 16.

White Ribbon Campaign Aims to end Violence towards Women

To put that into numbers that is the equivalent to 4.3 million female and 2.4 million male victims.

Domestic violence can affect anyone, whether you’re male and female.

Torbay Council has been awarded the White Ribbon Accreditation to end violence against men and women.

White Ribbon Campaign

The White Ribbon campaign is a male led campaign, originating in 1991 in Canada.

Across the world over 60 countries including the UK have committed to end such acts of aggression.

By obtaining the White Ribbon Accreditation this year, Torbay Council has become part of a national campaign.

The campaign includes arranging local events to promote the campaign and to encourage men and boys from all walks of life to make a stand against violence towards women and girls.

Torbay Council hope that businesses across the Bay Area will aim to obtain their own accreditation.

Gordon Oliver, Elected Mayor said:

I am pleased that as a council we have gained this accreditation, and are part of a national campaign to end male violence against women. We are the first organisation in the South West to receive this accreditation, which shows we are committed to tackling this issue head on. An action plan is in place and we will build on what we have already done, including raise awareness in our local community and taking a stand together against this type of violence

Local Ambassadors Spread Campaign Message

White Ribbon Accreditation for Torbay Council

Across the Bay 5 local ambassadors have put themselves forward to help start the campaign locally.

It is hoped that other men will want to get proactively involved.

The ambassadors include:

  • Brian Guntrip, a community Police Sergeant
  • Juan Hernandez, Contract Manager at TOR2
  • Kevin Dixon, Healthwatch
  • Rev Roger Carlton
  • Jason Preece, Torbay Council, Domestic Abuse & Sexual Violence Coordinator
  • Jim Parker, Associate Editor of the Herald Express
  • David Parsons, Torbay Council, Community Safety.

The campaign, does not just focus on women, it also acknowledges that men are also subject to violence in many different forms.

Such violence is equally unacceptable.

However, it is thought that women are often disproportionately subjected to certain forms of violence simply because of their gender.

Recruiting all year round

The UK Campaign is recruiting all year round.  To find out how you can get involved in the White Ribbon campaign head to the official website at www.whiteribboncampaign.co.uk.

If you have been affected by domestic abuse and/or sexual violence, irrespective of your age, gender, sexual orientation or when it happened.  Support is available both locally and nationally.

More information and for a directory services checkout the official Torbay dedicated website, Are You Ok?

Boost News Desk
Boost News Deskhttps://www.roberthaylor.co.uk
Robert Haylor has 14 years of web development experience, starting out as a web developer whilst still in his university dorm room at Birmingham City University. With a background and a strong interest in website design & development he is skilled in a variety of programming languages including PHP, MySQL, CSS3 and HTML5. As Managing Director of Boost Digital Media, he regularly jumps on to client projects on a daily basis as well as ensuring the company strategy is being implemented and is delivering results.