Evidence from New Philanthropy Capital shows that the British public give more money to a single Devon donkey sanctuary than to Women’s Aid, Eaves and and Refuge combined. Yes dear readers that’s more to one group of donkeys than to three major charities working with abused and trafficked women (and the difference is a ratio of about 85p:£1 (i.e. for every pound received by the donkeys, just 85p is received by the women’s charities).
The NPC has calculated the cost of this abuse at £40bn a year. This is made up of £10bn for the cost of lost economic output caused by abuse as well as the police work, court cases and psychological and physical healthcare arising from the abuse. Victims may also place greater demands on housing and benefit budgets if they have to move away, often with children, from a shared home with the abuser. NPC has calculated the emotional cost of abuse of women is £30bn a year, using accepted measures devised by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence for translating emotional cost into financial cost. Sexual violence accounts for £26bn of the cost with domestic violence accounting for £20bn.
From The Guardian
The report also highlights facts like the lack of a national helpline for people who had experienced rape, that 1 in 3 local authorities had no domestic violence refuge and that there has been a decline in the number of rape crisis centres available nationally.
The report goes on to detail that the 200 biggest charities working with abused women or campaigning against abuse received a total of £97 million funding (all sources). This is contrasted with £110 million for the RSPCA and £149 million for the Lifeboats.
Meanwhile the Guardian reports that 400 unaccompanied child asylum seekers are missing from the care system, many of are suspected to have been trafficked into prostitution. Concern about internal trafficking (movement of children within the UK for sexual purposes) is rising. Many of the children came from countries which are sources of people trafficking including China, Afghanistan, Albania and India. A majority of the missing children come from Local Authorities which serve the major entry routes into the UK including Kent (Dover and Folkstone), Newcastle, Suffolk (Felixstowe), Sussex (Gatwick) and Hillingdon (Heathrow). Newcastle, for example, reports 12 missing Somali children and 13 missing Chinese children. Suffolk have “lost” 16 children including six Afghani children. Hillingdon, which deals with around 1,000 unaccompanied asylum seekers, reports 74 missing children whilst West Sussex received 145 children and lost 42 of them.
“As soon as they can they will contact their trafficker,” said Kirsty Hanna, manager of the Gatwick children’s team. “It could be they have memorised the trafficker’s mobile number, or the trafficker may have followed them to the safe house. There have been times when they have jumped out of the window. They are under a lot of pressure, often to pay back their passage. Their families back home could be threatened with torture or murder. We are constantly trying to disrupt the traffickers, but it has to be a losing battle if we can’t stop the problems abroad that causes the trafficking.”
From The Guardian
