White Ribbon Day Campaign Launched at Women's Prison

MEDIA ADVISORY
Canterbury Family Violence Collaboration
Date 7 October 2014

White Ribbon Day Campaign Launched at Christchurch Women’s Prison

On October 13 the Canterbury Family Violence Collaboration along with its partners Canterbury Police, Corrections, Christchurch District Health Board and the Christchurch City Council will launch Canterbury’s White Ribbon Campaign at Christchurch Women’s Prison with a talk from It’s Not Ok champion Vic Tamati.

Vic will share his moving story with prisoners who following the event will have the chance to speak up about experiences of violence in their own life and seek help from psychologists and social workers at the prison.

“Violence is part of the lives of many female offenders” says Wayne McKnight, Christchurch Women’s Prison Manager, “Corrections offers a wide range of targeted programmes aimed at addressing violence and factors like drugs and alcohol abuse which may lead to violence.”
“Vic Tamati speaking at Christchurch Women’s helps reinforce these messages and it is a great opportunity to hear from a man who has made a significant shift in his own life away from violence. We hope that hearing his story will help the women break the cycle of violence in their own lives and make a lasting change for themselves, their children and future generations.”
Family or domestic violence is shamefully common in New Zealand. In 2012, Police investigated 87,622 family violence incidents - this number included 101,293 children linked to these investigations. Police attend a family violence situation every 5 ½ minutes but estimate only 20/25% of incidents are reported.

Unfortunately, Canterbury statistics are no better, with Police on average investigating 19 family violence incidents per day. Additionally, findings of substantiated abuse against children in Canterbury rose significantly after the earthquakes and remain elevated to date. This is consistent with international and national research which suggests that family violence increases after disaster events.

“White Ribbon Day has a special focus on men standing up against violence towards women” says Andy Moscrop-Giblin a Spokesperson for the Canterbury Family Violence Collaboration and New Zealand White Ribbon Ambassador. “In New Zealand one in three women will experience physical or sexual violence from a partner in their lifetime and on average 14 women are killed each year by a member of their family. We know that family violence is largely a gendered issue with 78% of partner homicides in New Zealand comprising of men killing their current or ex female partner and 84% of those arrested for family violence are men.”

The first White Ribbon Campaign was launched by a group of men in Canada after the brutal mass shooting of 14 female students at the University of Montreal in 1991. Local men stood together against this outrage and told their community that they were done with violence towards women. From here White Ribbon eventually grew into an international movement demanding an end to violence towards women. The United Nations now officially recognise 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

“White Ribbon Day is New Zealand’s chance to stand up against violence towards women in our communities. You can get involved by joining the Community March on November 25th, 9:45-11:00am starting from the Christchurch Police Station. White Ribbon also encourages men to take the pledge to never commit, condone, or remain silent about violence towards women at whiteribbon.org.nz/act/the-pledge” - Andy Moscrop-Giblin.

If you need help for family violence or know somebody who does visit areyouok.org.nz or contact any of the following agencies in Christchurch:

• Women’s Refuge Crisis line: 0800 REFUGE or 0800 733 843
• Aviva 0800 28482 669
• Police (03) 363 7400
• Stopping Violence Services 0800478778
• Relationships Aotearoa 0800 735283
• Christchurch Resettlement Services (03) 3350311
• Canterbury Men’s Centre (03) 3659000
• In an emergency phone Police on 111

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