 Felly, mae sydd eau ei wneud i gyd-fawr iawn i'r èu nu ddeithledig ac rwyfoddiadau mewn cyfansfaith mewn iedda i'r heddiw, os yw ein gwybodaeth o hyd yn dilyddio unrhyw gweithio a dim ond i'r edrych yn eich hyrd y bach mae Gwyrtraffedd, gynnig i ddodol ni'n gweithfawr i'r f assertio ddurrethau ond aglientol. Rwy'n fawr i'n arwineb i'ch teimd i ddodol i ddodol ni'n teimd i ddodol ar gyfer ygweithio bawelad confidio ein bod ni i chi'n rwynt mergem mae'n amfertiwr yn rhaid i osud lleidio bron pensiwydau am effeithu o'r dweud,AMD, ynddi'r MAX-ified inny. Theg推rwch ei safi m munoedd meddwl yn y tornau fodw, ocef i g excluded жydnod, oeddi'r roeddodd yn staffwch i chi'n gael i chi i gael i chi. Mae oedd yn ei daol arwyr Clliddon a dwi'n meddwl iawn i ei ddiant arwynt yn rhai gyrfa ymateb â'i ddiwrnodau. Dwi'n mynd i chi ddim yn ddim yn hollot o gael i ddiolio i gael i'r ddiwrnodau o'u dddiwrnodau. Mae ddif undercover ofnol mewn 9-60, cyst�u, Pateria, Mynerva a Maria Teresa Mirabelle, ddau sefydliadau cyntafol o'r cyflaethiaethau ac oedd yn ddifмотр i'r dignodau in the Dominican Republic were clubbed to death and dumped at the bottom of a cliff by Trigello's secret police. The Mirabel sisters became symbols of the feminist resistance and in commemoration of their deaths, 25 November, was declared international day for the elimination of violence against women in Latin America in 1980. That international day was formally recognised by the United Nations in 1999. Today, the 16 days takes place annually to remember those who have been lost to gender-based violence and to commend the bravery and sacrifice of those activists who have striven to end violence against women and girls all over the world. That debate takes place at a time when violence against women and girls is very much in the spotlight. We have all been moved by the stories told through the Me Too movement, which has prompted thousands of women to disclose that they too have been victims of sexual harassment or assault. If Me Too has achieved anything, it is to give women the voice to stand up to everyday sexism, gender-based stereotypes, sexual harassment, glass ceiling and the list, goes on and on. Behavior that was once written off or tacitly ignored is finally being challenged and perpetrators are being held to account. It would be remiss of me not to raise, given its proximity to today's debate, the trial in Cork, which caused controversy in the Irish Parliament, when Ruth Coppenyer, the MP, exhibited her outrage at the proposition that her women's choice of what underwear she is wearing could imply whether she did or did not wish to have sex that evening. Victim blaming is an insidious problem and one in which we must continue to address in our society every day and in every way. In challenging such behaviour, this Government, this Parliament and this society have a responsibility to take action to end violence against women and girls. To achieve success, we really must work together. Our equally safe strategy has a decisive focus on prevention, seeks to strengthen national and local collaboration, working to ensure effective interventions for victims and those at risk, and contains a clear ambition to strengthen the justice response to victims and perpetrators. This time last year, we published a delivery plan to deliver the practical steps that will take us forward towards ending this violence for good. The delivery plan sets out 118 actions and we intend to take them forward until 2021. We have already made progress in taking forward many of those actions, particularly in our approach to ensuring that our children have an understanding of important issues such as consent and healthy relationships. We are expanding the Rape Crisis Scotland sexual violence prevention programme to all 32 local authorities in Scotland and supporting Rape Crisis Scotland and Zero Tolance in their equally safe at-school project to develop a whole-school approach to tackling gender-based violence. Earlier this year, I was thrilled to visit on the many occasions that I visit St John O'Govie High School in my constituency and find students given an assembly on equally safe. Next week, I look forward to visiting Denny High School to see the work that they are doing in embedding equally safe principles throughout their institution. When I was in that school that day, I was reminded by one of the absolutely amazing young women delivered on that project, one of the young activists of the Elizabeth Edwards quote, she stood in the storm and when the wind did not blow her away, she adjusted herself. The voices of our young children are important and our everyday heroes project made sure that we listened to children and young people during the development of our delivery plan. I look forward to meeting some of those exceptional young people at the everyday heroes parliamentary reception next week. Our focus on education extends to our universities and colleges and I want to take this moment to mention Emily Druit. Emily was an ambitious, promising 18-year-old in her first year at university. She took her own life. She was experiencing domestic abuse by her partner. That reminds us that no institution is immune from the scourge of gender-based violence and we are working with universities and colleges to support them in using the learning from our equally safe and further and higher education project at the University of Strathclyde to ensure the safety of students from gendered violence and to embed better understanding of those issues in their curriculum. I wonder whether she would comment on whether or not she thinks that more education is needed around the Government position. That prostitution and pornography are also on the spectrum of violence against women. I agree with Elaine Smith on that point. Just this week, as part of the 16 days, I opened the inside-outside exhibition at the University of West of Scotland, which was last week. It is now in Kilmarnock this week. I urge members to get along to that and see the experiences of the women and the victims involved in that. We will certainly always be looking at the aspects of gender-based violence relating to prostitution. I would be happy to hear more from Elaine Smith. I know that she has campaigned in many years on that. I want to take a pause for a moment to pay tribute to Fiona Druett, Emily's mother, who I believe is sitting in the gallery with us today. Fiona has campaigned along with the national union of students for universities to tackle those issues on campus and provide better support for students. Her contribution to the project has been and continues to be phenomenal. It is humbling to see Fiona, and I believe that her husband has managed to turn such a personal tragedy into a driving force for change. I know that my ministerial colleagues and my officials and probably everybody across the Parliament would like to express the fact that we have been inspired by their personal campaign and continue to be inspired. Raising awareness and embedding understanding of gender-based violence is important, but the bigger challenge is delivering on a societal shift where women no longer occupy a subordinate position to men. We need to make progress, advance in women's equality in a range of spaces—economic, civic, social and cultural—and the work of the First Minister's National Advisory Council on Women and Girls is very important in that regard. I look forward to hearing and seeing their first report early in the next year. However, we also have to act in the hearing now to ensure that those who experience violence and abuse get the help and support that they need. Specialist third sector services play a vital role in providing that support, which is why we are providing three years' funding for organisations to enable them to plan for the future. I put on record my personal tribute to all the organisations that many of us will know who have continued to work and nevertheless persisted in ensuring that we get the right information in order to make the decisions that we need to take here. I wish to make sure that that tribute is paid to those organisations today. Over £12 million from their quality budget has been invested this year to support services and tackle the underlying issue that creates the conditions of violence. Recognising the significant demand that rape crisis centres face for their support services, their very valuable support services, I was pleased last month to announce additional funding of £1.5 million over the next three years to help centres to better meet that demand. There has been a significant amount of activity this year by Government and partners, but I recognise that there remains more to be done and we will continue to keep up this pace. Over the next year, we will run a number of campaigns, including a major national campaign on sexual harassment and sexism, to raise further awareness of the issue and encourage a change in behaviour and attitudes. We will work closely with Zero Tolerance to organise a more in-depth event looking at the role that the media can play in tackling violence against women and girls, because we all know that the media has a very important role to play in shaping wider attitudes in society. We have all seen the deeply unfortunate and sometimes misogynistic coverage of women in our media, but we have also seen some truly excellent coverage where journalists have shone a spotlight on these issues. I will be honoured to be speaking at tomorrow's right to end violence against women awards, which celebrates the best of media reporting. As I stand at the outset, the theme of this year's 16 days is engender-based violence in the world of work. I know that this Parliament has taken steps to tackle sexual harassment in this workplace, and that is very welcome. I am also pleased to inform the chamber that the Scottish Government is running its own internal campaign during the 16 days, which will involve a number of events to help raise awareness and send a clear message that harassment and abuse are never, ever acceptable, a clear reminder that it falls to all of us to take action in this area. To conclude, a lot has been achieved, but there is still so much more to be done, and we cannot rest until violence against women and girls is consigned to history. I want to end with another quote from Emma Watson, the UN Women's Goodwill Ambassador, and she says that, how can we affect change in the world when only half of it is invited or feel welcome to participate in the conversation? I urge all of us to actively participate in this conversation today, today in this chamber, tomorrow and on and on until we have ensured that every woman in Scotland lives free from violence. Thank you very much. I now call on Annie Wells to be followed by Rhoda Grant. Thank you, Presiding Officer. This will be the third year that I have spoken in the annual debate recognising 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. In every year, I am reminded of the grave situations that many women are faced with both domestically and across the globe simply because of their gender. The issue transcends borders and cultures. Today it will unite us in the chamber as we condemn a global issue that has affected women and girls for far too long. For 16 days from 25 November to 10 December, this campaign offers a unique opportunity to reflect on how far we have come and how far we have to go when it comes to eradicating gender-based violence. In looking at the global context, the statistics are extremely alarming. One in three women worldwide experience gender-based violence. In 2012, almost half of all women who were victims of international, intentional homicide worldwide were killed by a partner or family member compared to just 6 per cent of male victims. Across the world, 71 per cent of all human trafficking victims are women and girls. This year, the United Nations Unite campaign focused on the theme, Hear Me Too, the purpose of which is to unite women's rights networks across the world to stand together in solidarity with survivor advocates and human rights defenders. In line with that theme, it is right that I highlight the work that the UK is doing in the global context. Last autumn, the UK Government committed £12 million of funding to the UN Trust Fund to end violence against women. Support is expected to help around 750,000 women and girls over the next three years. Last week, the Department for International Development made the largest single investment ever to end FGM model-wide by 2030. A huge commitment from the UK Government and one that puts violence against women and girls at the heart of international funding. Of course, the UK is not immune to gender-based violence and there is still a persistent problem to tackle at home. The Scottish Government's focus on violence in the workplace reminds us that many women remain subject to sexual harassment and assault in their everyday employment. Following the widespread sharing of sexual harassment stories in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal last year, I think that we are all shocked to learn the extent of the problem. A poll showed that half of British women and a fifth of men have been sexually harassed at work or a place of study and of those, 63 per cent and 79 per cent of victims respectively, kept it to themselves. Most shockingly of all, one in 10 women had been sexually assaulted. Although far too many women and girls are affected by gender-based violence, I believe that events over the past year have instigated a major shifting attitude when it comes to being open and frank in debate. I am pleased to see a national convention taking place and to see the issues being given the attention that it deserves. Even within the political environment alone, the impact of the Me Too movement was huge. As a way of sending out a strong message, we saw a swift response from the Scottish Parliament when the issuing of anonymous surveys to all staff and the setting up of the culture respect workshops. Sexual harassment and bullying intimidation can of course take place in any public or private space, and I want to make sure that the conversation continues. I would be grateful to hear whether Annie Wells thinks it is easier to report now than it was a year ago if she has been subjected to sexual harassment. Secondly, whether she thinks the insecurity of work is a problem, so that the less likely you are to have hours next week means the less likely you are to report because all the power lands in your boss's hands. I thank Kezia Dugdale for that intervention. I think that it is easier to report now. I think that people that I speak to are saying to me that they find easier to report. I think that we do still have huge minds to climb when it comes to the power being in the hands of a boss, but that is something that we all can work on and we all should take forward. We are all employers in this Parliament as well. However, earlier in the year, I, too, met Fiona and Jermaine Druett, the parents of Emily Druett, who sadly took her own life after a campaign of abuse and violence from a boyfriend. I, too, was proud to support the Emily Tess campaign, which called for increased funding for colleges and universities to support students affected by gender-based violence. In schools, I am pleased to see the delivery of the rape crisis sexual violence prevention programme will be expanded to all 32 local authorities to increase the understanding of consent and healthy relationships. Those are positive steps that show momentum is building and things are changing. It does, however, go without saying that we still have a long way to go in other areas. Over 30,000 domestic abuse charges were dealt with by Scottish prosecutors in 2017-18. There were over 2,000 rapes or attempted rapes recorded by Police Scotland last year alone in Scotland, and between 2011 and 2014, nearly 200 women and girls were subject to forced marriages in Scotland between 2011 and 2014. Increased reporting will, of course, have an impact in statistics, but those, nonetheless, are quite shocking statistics. There are a couple of areas that I would like to bring focus to before closing. FGM is still far too prevalent a practice in the UK with around 170,000 women and girls having undergone the procedure in this country. We have seen further action taken south of the border, and, with that in mind, I would like to ask the cabinet secretary when closing for an update on how he is progressing his programme for government commitment to put forward an FGM bill that will propose protection orders for women and girls at risk and statutory reporting guidance for professionals. We have also seen renewed discussions around how victims of rape and sexual assault experience Scotland's justice system, with frequent delays, poor communication and a feeling of disengagement with the process of sightings of that commonly occurring issue. Can the cabinet secretary outline what action has been taken by this Government to reform the system in order to help victims? To finish today, I would again like to show my sincere support for this global campaign. Millions of women and girls find themselves in horrific situations, both here in the UK and across the world, many of which are too difficult to comprehend. That will never be an exist subject to talk about, but it is one that I know we will need to address for many years to come. So many barriers face women, not just violence. 16 days of activism is a great platform and starting point from which to highlight those issues, but I hope to see many more debates throughout the parliamentary year that focus on the issues that blind women and girls. The debate has become an annual occurrence, marking the 16 days of activism against violence against women. I agree with Annie Wells that we need to have many more debates throughout the year to work on the issue and to make sure that we eradicate violence against women. In the debate, we often congratulate ourselves about the work that the Parliament has done from the first committee bill that was piloted by Maureen Macmillan, giving greater protection to victims to the latest bill legislating to make coercive control and offence. Sadly, we also debate what still needs to be done and shows us how we have come a long way, but yet we have a long way to go. Violence against women is not a problem for a woman, it is a problem of a minority of men, and yet they seem able to define our society norms. Sexually motivated crime is rising, and while some of the reporting that we see now is historical, the trend is upwards, and this shows that there is a growing sense of entitlement on the part of some men to the right to have sex without consent. Sadly, many of our young people are getting much of their sex education from the internet, and that leads to that impression. Hard core pornography influences how young people see sexual relationships and leads to a sense of entitlement and sexual violence. To counteract that, we have to ensure that children have access to high quality sex education, which includes education on respect and consent, and I too welcome the extension of the rate crisis prevention programme to all schools. However, that is not just only for our schools but for our parents and indeed for our society as a whole to tackle. We really need to try and make it hard core pornography less accessible, and that in this age of technology it should not be difficult. Search engine companies and internet service providers must introduce protection, but so far they have faced no pressure to act. I would ask the Government to explore how they can bring their influence to bear on these companies to make them act. Secondly, I would like to speak about commercial sexual exploitation, which was touched on by my colleague Elaine Smith. From phone chat lines to prostitution, it has been recognised as violence against women since her very first strategy, yet little has been done to discourage it. Indeed, austerity has driven women into commercial sexual exploitation. Cuts have had a greater impact on women, and universal credit, the two child cap and the rape clause have also meant that women are struggling to feed their families and therefore the choice is stark. Lose your children or sell sex, and that is simply wrong. Philip Alston, as I mentioned by others, the UN rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, described our welfare system as something that could have been compiled by a group of misogynists in a room, and therefore I appealed to the Scottish Government to use their powers to repeal the two child cap and with it the rape clause, because this inequality in our welfare system breeds inequality in our society. But neither can we have an equal society where women are a commodity to be bought and sold because that encourages traffic and slavery. While our law makes it a crime to buy sex from someone who has been trafficked, we are yet to see anyone prosecuted for that. Prostitution damages health and it damages society. Those who are forced to resort to prostitution never leave unscathed. Many women and men in prostitution have been victims of child sex abuse or have been in care. People who have already been badly let down are then being used as commodities rather than supported. It is simply wrong. It must be tackled and we must learn today what the Government is doing to make Scotland a place where buying sex is no longer acceptable. Much of the focus on violence against women has been on domestic abuse and we have some of the best legislation in the world on that, but we need to go further. My case work tells me that abusers will stop at nothing to assert their control. An obvious target is children. We too often read in the newspapers about children being murdered by an abusive partner simply to attack their mother. Few of us can believe that anyone would go to those lengths, but it does happen and far too often. However, more common is the use of access arrangements as a route to coercive control and abuse. Our family courts appear to have little understanding of domestic abuse, forcing abused partners to take part in mediation and granting access to the abusive partner. No abuser should have a right to see their children, yet repeatedly women are forced to send their children to an abusive partner and live in fear of what is going to happen to them while they are there. If they refuse, they are threatened with the loss of their own access and, in some cases, their liberty, and how cruel is that? The abusive partner often changes arrangements to exercise their control and uses access to find out information about their victim, creating conflict and stress for their children. They also find out where their children live and use that to further perpetrate abuse. If a parent is abusive, their parental rights need to be removed until such time as they can prove to their ex-partner or, indeed, to the courts that they are no longer a threat. I know that the Government is looking at that, but we need legislation urgently as children are being damaged now. Children of an abusive relationship are damaged by that relationship. It affects their mental health and their self-esteem. Becoming vehicles for that abuse makes it so much worse and we need to protect them from that abuse and create safe homes for them to grow up in. We hear of the impact that abuse adverse childhood experiences have on children and how that damages their life chance. Domestic abuse is an adverse childhood experience and the state needs to protect children from it. In conclusion, I hope that we reach the day when this debate is all about celebrating the end of violence against women. Until then, we need to use it to raise awareness of concerns and prevail upon the Government to act. John Finnie, six minutes please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I would like to thank the various organisations that have provided briefings for today. I am delighted that all the parties have come behind the Scottish Government motion because I think that this is certainly something that should be consensus on. As others have said, it has become an annual event and there is a danger that we all say the same things and share the same frustrations. Of course, it is not just 16 days, it is every day that is an issue to many people. To try and put some positive news into the scheme of things, I noted yesterday from Twitter that Scotland's prosecutors have begun training in preparation for the new domestic abuse legislation, which is due to come into force next year. That is a very positive step. My colleague Rhodogrant talked about the aspect of psychological abuse and coercive control and behaviour that is included in that. It is very important that there is the specialist training for that. Indeed, it is vital. I noticed that the solicitor general talked about domestic abuse being unacceptable and saying in a quote here that it goes to the heart and fabric of our society. It corrodes the fundamental values of respect and equality between genders. Of course, the big issue is that there is great inequality. It is gender-based violence that we are talking about, and we are talking about very much historic and systemic and inherent inequality. People have touched on the statistics that were also out yesterday from the UN about the number of women. An average of 137 women across the world are killed by a partner or family member every day. That is a shocking statistic. Many of you remember that it is not that long since people considered that domestic violence was something that took place behind those doors in private. Others have alluded to the question of victim blaming. That is another very pernicious thing that was accused of the victims of domestic abuse. Training is vital. In previous debates, I make no apologies for mentioning it again, I will spare them the name this time, but High Court judges are not beyond making inappropriate comments and perpetrating further stereotypes. I would like to see judicial training compulsory rather than just—absolutely. Bob Doris Thank you very much, Ms Finlay. I think that that is a really powerful and important point. I think that, from my constituents' caseload and experience, I would welcome that training being extended to sheriffs who are making quite delicate decisions in relation to child custody hearings and contact and access. John Finnie Thank you. The member makes an extremely valid point. Indeed, a lot of the decisions are not made in criminal context or sometimes made in a civil context, and it is absolutely vital that that power dynamic is understood by those who are making the decisions. The UN yesterday said that violence against women and girls is a mark of shame in our society. The White Ribbon Scotland in retweeting that said, it was a failure of men to recognise the inherent equality and dignity of women and that it is trying to broader issues of power and control in societies. I think that that is very evident. Again, in a positive note, I commend equally safe the Scottish Government report and a lot of the positive things that are in there, launching a major campaign on sexual harassment and sexism early 2019. That is very positive. Some things that are sometimes presented to authorities is fairly innocuous. I would be dealing with a constituent case where someone was being harassed by the social media, and I have to say that initially the response from the police was just one of those things. It has now fortunately been taken very seriously, and it is a matter that has been considered in the sheriff's court. Understanding the different routes that people use to perpetrate their violence is important. I think that the role of the media is another thing that is mentioned in the equally safe strategy. We all have this dilemma whether we are highlighting bad practice—by highlighting it, we are indeed promoting it. I think that we have to highlight the bad practice. Again, the Scottish Government in causeless support for closed the gap, and I thank them for their briefing, is very important. A lot of women may look in their workplace as being a safe environment. The reality is that we know that that is somewhere where they are harassed, and indeed there are statistics that show that three quarters of victims have been targeted at their work. It is important that we provide the wherewithal for people to provide the support. Someone else talked on the implications of the benefit system and the disproportionate impact that that has on women and girls. The Justice Committee is looking at vulnerable witnesses and the Bar House approach whereby people are not continually re-victimised by having their statement taken. We heard today of a victim of vile sexual crime, who was interviewed over 20 occasions. That in itself is a horrendous situation. We are looking at creative ways in which we can extend the existing provisions perhaps to including victims of domestic violence so that a statement is taken by commission. That would be a positive step. I also want to commend the work of Police Scotland, as I have done in previous years, particularly one aspect of work that they have done very closely in collaboration with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. It is not based in the central by off, but it is based in Forfer, where they investigate historic perpetrators, people who have been serial offenders of women. People will know from the coverage of some of the court cases that tremendous work has been done showing that those people have had multiple victims and that heinous crimes have been committed. That is a very positive step. Of course, education is the key, and everyone talks about education, and there is a way to go. There are issues around human trafficking, and there are issues around female genital mutilation. To that extent, I will conclude by commending the fact that we are going to have a campaign running to raise awareness of coercive control and domestic abuse to coincide with the implementation of the act. That is just one positive step of a way to go. Liam McArthur, six minutes, please. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I welcome this afternoon's debate and I confirm that there is a strong support for the Hear Me Too campaign. I congratulate all those who are involved in that campaign to end violence against women and girls, and thank them for the briefings that they and others have provided ahead of this debate. There have been, as ever, questions about why I focus on women and girls, not on men and boys. Although it is undoubtedly the case that men and boys are affected by violence, you only need to have a cursory glance at the statistics to see the compelling argument about the gendered nature of violence. Annie Wells set out a number of those statistics worldwide. One in two women were killed by their partners or family in 2012, 10 times as high as the figure for men. Across the EU, 45 to 55 per cent of women have experienced sexual harassment since the age of 15. In Scotland, 79 per cent of domestic abuse incidents reported in 2014-15 had a female victim and a male perpetrator, so those and other figures, provided by a range of organisations, paint the same picture and reinforce the same message. It is also the underlying principle on which the Equally Safe Delivery Plan is based, that women and girls are disproportionately affected by violence that stems from systemic gender inequality. In 12 months on, we now have the first report on that delivery plan. It confirms that progress has been made in a number of areas, but it also confirms that we have a way to go in other areas. As a member of the Justice Committee, John Finnie, I acknowledge what has been achieved through the recent domestic abuse act, recognising at last the effect that coercive and controlling behaviour can have. Abuse every bit is damaging, potentially even more long-lasting than physical violence, recognising to the collateral and sometimes direct impact that abuse has on children in a household or in a relationship. We are now at the Vulnerable Witness Bill, currently under consideration. As John Finnie reminded us, we have heard strong support for the principles again this morning, but we have also heard real concerns that it falls short of what is needed, not just in protecting children and young people who are victims or witnesses in criminal trials, but how that might be extended to other vulnerable witnesses, particularly in the area of domestic abuse. I was struck by the evidence from a survey recently of young people, carried out by Dr Clare Houghton and colleagues at Edinburgh University, which found that young survivors of abuse felt that the justice system needs to be, quote, safer, quicker, less traumatic, and that those providing services need to train to listen, believe and respond appropriately. That echoes the findings of Dr Leslie Thomson QC's review published last year of victim care in the justice system in Scotland. Dr Thomson concluded, quote, that victims often speak of feelings of re-victimisation or secondary victimisation once they enter the criminal justice arena. In the course of the review, a victim of rape described the trial experience as worse than the crime itself. That is deeply troubling view. That cannot be right and shows that, however far we have come, we still have a long way to go in meeting the needs of women and girls and children more generally in our justice system. I want to highlight a final issue in relation to forensic medical services. On the delivery of those services equally safe states, the clear preference was for a multi-agency co-ordinated approach to help to deliver the highest quality of person-centred care treatment and support, delivered as close as possible to the point of need. It goes on. The Scottish Government will consult on proposals to clarify in legislation the responsibility for forensic medical examinations to ensure that access to healthcare, as well as forensic medical examination for victims of rape and sexual assault, is an NHS priority and consistently provided for throughout Scotland. On the back of that report on national standards in December 2017, it was clear that Orkney and Shetland fell well short of that aspiration. Too often victims of rape and sexual assault were required to get on a plane head south for that examination. Unsurprisingly, under those circumstances, evidence shows that women and girls have been reluctant to come forward with allegations. I pay tribute to the work of rape crisis Orkney in particular in highlighting those concerns. I pay tribute also to the former justice secretary for taking those seriously and acting towards and impressing for improvements. I also pay tribute to NHS Scotland for responding positively. Progress is being made. We need to build capacity to make those services sustainable. There is a strong interest locally, and training to secure that will be key. I welcome Humza Yousaf's commitment to me last week to look at ways in which training might be provided locally. If that is not possible, it is support for the costs of travelling accommodation to make sure that that training takes place. I hope that NHS Education Scotland will now step up to the plate. I am also painfully conscious that that will do nothing for children and young people affected by rape or sexual assault in our islands, for whom the experience is every bit, if not more, traumatic. I think that that is an area where I will be happy to work with the Scottish Government to see where improvements can be made. Of course, there is plenty still to do. John Finnie rightly reminded us that this is 16 days of action, but the objectives behind the Hear Me Too campaign should be a year-round commitment from all of us and more besides. In a week, figures showed that 60,000 domestic abuse sentences have taken place in Scotland. Any complacency should be dispelled. It provides the clearest possible call for further collective action towards ending violence against women and girls in Scotland and worldwide. When I move to the open debate and speeches of six minutes, please, Rona Mackay, followed by Margaret Mitchell. Here we are again debating the subject of how to predict women and girls against violence. I long for the day when we do not have to have a debate calling for an end to gender-based violence, but yesterday I saw the shocking facts that we have heard here in the chamber today that highlight precisely the reason why we have to do this. It is because throughout the world, 137 women every day are killed by their partner or family member. That is very hard to process. Violence against women is a fundamental violation of human rights, and it has no place in our society. This year's theme Hear Me Too, 16 days of activism to end violence against women and girls, follows on from the prominent media campaigns such as Me Too, which highlight the scale of sexual harassment in the workplace. However, new research from ACAS shows that only one in four workers in the UK agree that international media coverage has helped to improve their workplace culture, and 60 per cent feel better staff training is needed to reduce sexual harassment at work. As a co-convener of the cross-party group on men's violence against women and children and a member of the sexual harassment working group in Parliament, I know how much focus and work has been done to improve this totally unacceptable situation. As we have heard from the minister, the Scottish Government is investing significant sums to tackle it and has brought forward legislation and violence against women to hold perpetrators to account. The funding has been used to increase court capacity to reduce delays, inconvenience and stress for victims and their families, as well as to widen access to advocacy, support services and legal advice. We must also explore the expansion of programmes that address the underlying causes of perpetrator behaviour, such as the Caledonian programme that works with men convicted of domestic abuse related offences and to help to reduce re-offending. In February this year, the Parliament passed the Domestic Abuse Scotland Act, which created a specific offence of domestic abuse previously dealt with under various existing laws. The legislation covers psychological and emotional abuse, coercive and controlling behaviour, as well as physical attacks. The bill also introduced a statutory domestic abuse aggravator to ensure that courts take domestic abuse into account when sentencing offenders. Crucially, the damage that it causes children is what a grant outlined. It is vital that young survivors of abuse have a voice and the campaign Everyday Heroes, funded by the Government and co-ordinated by Scottish Women's Aid, Barnardo's Edinburgh University and the Scottish Youth Parliament, are enabling them to do that. I am in the early stages of a proposal to launch a member's bill to legislate for stalking protection orders, which was originally launched by my colleague Marie Gougeon. It essentially means that the police could apply directly to the court for an order, rather than the onus being on the victim, who often feel vulnerable and nervous about taking civil action to get a non-harassment order, and possibly at their own expense. The number of recorded offences of stalking has increased from 605 in 2012 to 13 to 1,372 in 2016 to 17 doubled. Stalking can have a severe and long-lasting impact on victims, yet the reporting rate for stalking harassment is low compared to other crimes. Women and girls experience a higher than average level of stalking and harassment. Around 1 in 10, 16 to 24-year-olds had experienced at least one type of stalking and harassment in the past 12 months. That figure increased to over 12 per cent for 16 to 24-year-old women. More than a third who had experienced stalking and harassment in the past 12 months also had experienced partner abuse in the same period. I am pleased that the Scottish Government is tackling the scourge of violence against women and girls head-on. The equally safe strategy was introduced to prevent all forms of violence against women and girls and focuses on increased priority upon primary prevention, stopping violence from happening in the first place. We are also funding the organisation Close the Gap, and I thank them too for their briefing. They have developed an innovative and world-leading employer accreditation programme equally safe at work to pilot with seven local councils from January to December next year. The pilot will support employers to improve their employment practice to address the barriers that women face at work. It will also enable employers to support employees who have experienced gender-based violence, including sexual harassment at work, towards creating an inclusive workplace culture that prevents violence against women. Because violence against women is a workplace issue, evidence shows that three quarters of women who are experiencing domestic abuse are targeted at work, and perpetrators of domestic abuse and stalking often use workplace resources such as phones and emails to threaten, harass or abuse their current or former partner. Gender inequality is at the root of sexual harassment, and we must address toxic male-orientated workplace cultures under valuation of women's work, lack of quality part-time flexible roles along with harmful attitudes and stereotypes before any progress can be made on preventing violence against women in or outside the workplace. A Government-funded programme within Scottish Women's Aid has been running a pilot project for the last two years on how to best assist women having experienced domestic abuse on their journey towards paid employment. The workplace must incorporate the needs of all women, including those who have survived violent relationships and want to rebuild their lives. That so many women and girls are suffering violence and intimidation for men throughout the world is incredibly distressing and shocking. Women and girls must thrive as equal citizens socially, culturally, economically and politically. I want my granddaughters to work in a safe, happy environment and to be treated as equals at every level. We know that violence against women and girls is about the abuse of power perpetrated by cowardly inadequates. It is our duty to take whatever steps are needed to put an end to it. Margaret Mitchell, followed by Bob Doris. Sunday marked the start of the 16 days of activism to end violence against women as part of the Hear Me Too campaign. The background to the initiative dates back to 1979, when the convention and the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women was adopted by the UN General Assembly. Since 1981, women's rights activists have observed 25 November as the day against gender-based violence turned three political activists sisters from the Dominican Republic who were brutally murdered in 1960. In 1991, the white ribbon campaign, which is a global movement of men and boys working to end male violence against women and girls, was formed by a group of pro-feminist men in London, Ontario. That was in response to the call polytechnic massacre of female students in 1989. Wearing a white ribbon is a personal pledge never to commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women. For the last three years, men and everyone else in the Scottish Parliament have been urged to wear the white ribbon to mark 25 November as international day for the eradication of violence against women. On February 7, 2000, the General Assembly adopted a resolution designating 25 November as international day for the elimination of violence against women and invited Governments, international organisations and NGOs to join together and organise activities designed to raise public awareness of the issue annually on that date. Despite that, violence against women and girls remains a pervasive problem worldwide. In global terms, there is still a long way to go to tackle gender based violence, given that 49 countries currently have no laws protecting women from domestic violence. 37 countries worldwide still exempt rape perpetrators from prosecution if they are married to or eventually marry the victim. According to the new data released by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, an average of 137 women across the world are killed by a partner or family member every day. That report states that intimate partner violence continues to take a disproportionately heavy toll on women, with more than half of the 87,000 women killed in 2017, reported as dying at the hands of those closest to them. The national campaign organisation Zero Tolerance states that the oppression exists in various guises and that there are many forms of violence that remain poorly understood. Education is key to prevention and there is still much more to be done in schools to make both boys and girls aware that certain attitudes and behaviour towards women are unacceptable. The NUS Scotland research found that one in five students suffer sexual violence or harassment in their first week at university. 14 per cent of women's students had experienced serious sexual violence, the majority carried out by fellow students and only 4 per cent reported it to their institution. Here I commend the University of the West of Scotland for its standing safe campaign that was launched in 2016, which highlights and seeks to address the issue of sexual violence on university and higher education campuses. It aims to engage students to reflect on and change the harmful attitudes that can underpin gender violence. Crucially, the campaign also suggests practical measures such as training for safe bystandering intervention in and the provision of a toolkit to ensure that students know how to access support. Clearly, gender-based violence and violence against women can take many forms. In closing, Deputy Presiding Officer, I want to highlight one particular aspect, namely human trafficking. The 2017 BBC Scotland documentary, Humans for Sale, showed the extent of women and girls trafficked as sex slaves and the extent of sham marriages as a way to facilitate the abuse and control over women and girls who have been trafficked. Trafficking is a crime often exerted by organised crime groups and is a crime that regularly crosses borders. Less well understood is the fact that it exists not just interstate but interstate as well. Despite that, in 21 Scotland, it is a horrendous fact that young vulnerable girls are being groomed and then controlled for the purpose of prostitution. As the 2017 documentary revealed, that was particularly evident in the Government Hill area of Glasgow, and recently a group of Government Hill men appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court, facing human trafficking charges. Quite simply, if it can happen there, it can happen anywhere in Scotland. I do not think that I have time. If you wish to take it, I do have some spare time. James Dornan Will the member accept that the police said that there was no evidence of such child prostitution in the Government Hill just over the last couple of weeks? Margaret Mitchell As far as I'm aware, charges are still being pursued, but I'm happy to defer to the member if he knows something different. If today's debate does nothing else, I hope that it raises awareness of this fact and encourages the public to be vigilant and report their concerns about any such possible activity, secure in the knowledge that this information will be taken seriously and acted upon. Bob Doris As you know, from 25 November international day for the elimination of violence against women to 10 December, the human rights day and the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence campaigns are time to galvanise action to end violence against women and girls around the world. That global reach is vital in Scotland's international reputation to developing a range of policies and support for those who have experienced gender-based violence or at risk of it. It is strong and it is positive. However, much, much more needs to be done to ever move towards truly eliminating such violence, always necessitates analysing what actions have worked well, what more needs to be done and always asking what next. I have heard much of that in the debate already this afternoon. However, culture change across our communities is required to make sure that there is ever any prospect of a zero-toil tolerance approach or acceptance of gender-based violence. That needs to happen right across every community in Scotland. Speeches in this chamber show a national resolve on such issues, yes. Legislation and action nationally and delivered locally can be of significant help and assistance to those who have suffered gender-based violence. However, every day in the communities that we all serve, gender-based violence still occurs. Fine words and legislation can show leadership in that national resolve, but it will not change the lived experience for too many women in communities that we all represent. Working on the ground with credibility is required to break a culture and cycle of gender-based violence. Indeed, in the sister debate to the one this afternoon held at around the same time last year, I made similar comments. As you do in debates like this, you commend local organisations who do exceptional jobs or commend the Women's Centre of Glasgow in Mary Hill, who through the classes and support that they offer empower many, many women and families who need help, support and assistance. I mentioned Glasgow-Kelvin College, who became the first accredited college in Scotland for White Ribbon Scotland and recently picked up a green gown award for further work of Dunham communities in relation to tackling gender-based violence. I can't recall if I mentioned—actually, I was looking at the official report just before I started this speech, but I think that it's time to finish it. I don't have mentioned Miss Miss Missies, a social enterprise founded in 2013, to re-empower women and girls through self-development programmes and a wellbeing hub. I visited them and they all do exceptional jobs. However, I'm also conscious that that's about female self-empowerment. In part, of any Me Too or Hear Me Too campaign has to be what men are doing to play their part in society and tackling that culture change, which is why, when I became conscious, I made a similar speech before. Last year, I said this, I said that I will organise, shape and support a number of events in the communities that I represent to which men can speak up in support of ending gender-based violence against women and girls. I have to say, Presiding Officer, that I had no idea what sort of work I was going to do at that point. I said it a little creaky, I better do something. Actually, we all should do something, but I did ultimately work together with the Women's Centre of Glasgow, Glasgow-Kelvin College. The amazing Davy Thomson from White Ribbon Scotland and Association of British Bookmakers in Scotland, and I should pay tribute to Donald Morrison from them, in coming together to bring 15 bookies in my constituency—all the William Hill and Ladd books bookies in my constituency—to appoint a store champion who was trained at Kelvin College under the tutelage of White Ribbon Scotland and supported by the Women's Centre of Glasgow to be champions to get the customers that come into those 15 bookies to sign that White Ribbon Scotland pledge never to commit condone or remain silent about violence against women. I have to say—I don't get any credit other than coming up with an idea and others who will have to make that happen. That's what happens when you're MSPs in this place, but the absolute credit has to go to the store champions who, with sincerity and credibility, passion and enthusiasm, have got 750 men to sign that pledge during a week of action. I know that the minister is involved in a very similar initiative just now and I wish her well in relation to that. Davy Thomson could roll this out across Scotland if there were resources and capacity building available to make that happen. It's not going to change the world, but it's a little small step that we can all do. Of course, that means that I have to set my challenge for what I'm going to do by this time next year. However, what I did want to do this afternoon was to mention the women's support project of Glasgow. My apologies that I haven't actually spoken to them before I mentioned them, but they are a feminist voluntary organisation that works to raise awareness of the extent that causes an effect of male violence against women and for improved services for those affected by violence. The reason that came on my radar in preparation for this debate is because Mary Hall Burrahalls in my constituency is hosting an event on 12 December in relation to the history behind the Glasgow system. A shameful time in our city, which saw the collusion of church, local authorities, police and medical professions to enforce the social repression of women. The Glasgow system was set up in response to the city's going concern about prostitution, sexually transmitted diseases and the so-called moral health of society. However, in effect, young women were locked up for being single mums, for being socialists, for being mill girls, for being actresses, and some of them sold sex for money. However, they had not committed crimes to these young women, they had no recourse to justice, they had no right of appeal. That flawed corrupt system ran until 1958, in my constituency, at Lochburn House, and it only ended when the young women righted to demand better rights for themselves. I mentioned that it is going to tell that story in much more detail than I have got time for this afternoon, Presiding Officer, because they wished to seek views to have a commemoration space with a plaque to remember those women who were incarcerated, not just at Lochburn House but at Loch hospital and at Duke Street Prison. That was only 1958. My commitment going forward from this debate, is not just to champion how men can do more in the year ahead, but to remember brave women, not just in the current me too movement, but historically have done all they can. Claudia Beamish, followed by Sandra White. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am sad and relieved in equal measure to speak in this debate in support of Hear Me 2, 16 days of activism, to end violence against women and girls. This year's campaign, as we have heard, focuses on an end to gender-based violence in the world of work. I am sad, because this is still a major challenge, as we have heard already in this debate. Although relieved seems an odd word to use, I use it because I am relieved that we are collectively working together, far beyond the chamber, to find solutions to gender-based violence. As a new co-convener of the cross-party group Men's Violence Against Women and Children with John Finnie and Rona Mackay, I am very conscious of the responsibility and the opportunities that that brings to help shape the future and to raise awareness of the continued social, economic and political inequality that women face every day. At the last of those CPGs, the education cabinet secretary John Finnie joined us, and we listened to the very wise words of young women speaking of their experiences and solutions. I was very heartened by the cabinet secretary's commitment to work with us in the future and to have a further discussion on those issues. One of the issues that was raised was the absence of policies at board level in some higher and further education institutions, which shows a real need for catch-up. The cabinet secretary's offer of discussion will be taken up. One of the things that I want to highlight today is rural issues for women who experience domestic violence. I hear of challenges of women living in more geographically isolated places. Discussing that with South Lanarkshire women's aid, it is clear that there are some additional challenges that we all need to address together. The pressures of rural living can leave an abusive partner with even more challenges beyond the obvious and painful issues that all face. There are issues of anonymity of living in a small community, lack of support networks and general amenities, along with the logistical challenges of poor transport links and slow, unreliable internet connections, bringing further isolation. This year's focus on the world of work is a pertinent issue for women living in rural areas who are limited by the work that is often available in their communities, particularly if they are on low incomes. They may face difficulties in looking for work with poor internet connections and often do not have access to regular, reliable transport to get them to a job. That all conspires to restrict their ability to establish an independent life. Within my own region, the Healthy Valleys has established the Lanarkshire domestic abuse response project, which provides a whole range of support and complementary therapies to help to improve the wellbeing of domestic abuse survivors. It also helps women to regain control after an abusive relationship, like so many charities do across Scotland. Part of that control has to increase the women's ability to cope independently, both emotionally and financially. I stress that latter word. I would like to identify myself today with Rhoda Grant's comments on the shocking use of children in the context of any domestic violence relationship. I would also like to echo the call from the Chartered Institute of Housing Scotland in its briefing to see detailed outlines in each council's local housing strategy on how they will support those who are leaving a domestic abusive relationship. That is necessary, because those who are affected by domestic abuse and without the right support, of course, may find themselves homeless. The potential loss of one's home is a significant consideration when considering leaving an abusive partner, and the correct strategies have to be in place to support that. With Scottish Labour, we have done something called the pause clause, which is also about women who are leaving abusive relationships having the possibility of support to have their pets looked after or, indeed, to take their pets with them. That might seem like a small thing, but if it is yet one more thing that one has to face and the loss of a pet can be a big challenge. The Dogs Trust has something that is a fostering service for six months, but the ideal would be if women were able to keep their pets with them in a refuge and, indeed, in temporary accommodation. I am personally proud of being part of this Parliament that has introduced legislation that recognises coercive and controlling psychological abuse, as well as physical abuse as a criminal offence. We have to face, though, that, as others have said, the figure that was announced today by the chief statistician for Scotland of 60,000 people—women, sorry—recorded by Police Scotland as being affected by domestic abuse in 2017-18. We have to face the fact that we have so much further to go on gender-based violence, and what we have to do altogether is to try to stop this courage, and part of that is making sure that we have an equal society. Claudia Beamish, I have been a wee bit lax over the first of the open debate speakers and I will let you go on a wee bit too long, so I have to be a bit stricter from now on. Up to six minutes, please. Sandra White, followed by Maurice Corry. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Many years ago, I used to work a long volunteer with Women's Aid in Remfrewshire, and when you were speaking to the women—and it is still the same today—they would say things like, I am worthless, he told me that it was my fault, and I always asked myself, and I did say to them, it is never the women's fault. We have to get that message across. It is never the women's fault, but what I cannot get my head round is why so much violence is perpetrated by men against women and girls of any age. We look at the legislation, what we are debating, the 16 days of activism to end violence against women and girls. That is now 27 years old. I put forward a campaign in 1991 that was started in women's global leadership, and it is 27 years old. Like Claudia Beamish, I am sad to have to talk about that, because it is still on-going 27 years. The figures that John Finnie has quoted, and Rona Mackay, are escalating. I think that the media has something to do with it as well, but there are obviously other things. It says that if you are constantly on the abusive end, you are worthless, and there is something sadly wrong with society that men think that they can still perpetrate violence. That is why it is so important that we debate to highlight the issues, and we debate it in this Parliament. It goes out, and I ask the media to put it out in the newspapers and other forms of media to let people out there throughout the world who are suffering this terrible, terrible violence that we hear in this Parliament and in others care for you and are speaking up for you. We are putting forward legislation to protect you, and it goes further than just this Parliament. It goes, and I know Margaret Mitchell is in the CPA, and we have discussed this when I was a member in the CPA as well. It goes further right into the commonwealth countries, and we can give that message across that we will not tolerate violence against women. I want you to mention that first of all, but I do want to talk to some of the motion in regard to that, and in particular the strategy that is mentioned in the Scottish Government, the equally safe strategy to prevent and eradicate all forms of violence against women and girls. I welcome the first progress report that has been put out from equally safe, and it shows significant activity there, as I have mentioned, and also progress. I know that the minister mentioned the total of 118 action points, but the 118 action points are in under four priority areas, and I think that those are really important, ensuring that the Scottish Society embraces equality in mutual respect, rejects violence, that women and girls thrive as equal citizens, that interventions are early—that is something that I will come on to later on—and maximise the safety of women, children and young people, and that men desist from violence and perpetrators receive a robust and effective response. That is when I have to agree with John Finnie and Bob Doris in regard to the justice system. The justice system, when our constituents come to me, sometimes there is a real barrier there, and okay when we talk to the justice system, when we phone up procreate of fiscal, etc, etc, yes, they are dealing with the law, but they have got to remember, and they have got to get training, they have got to remember that it may be the law, but they are actually dealing with real people, and they have to understand that. I am glad that they are going through training, but I think that it has to be even bigger than that as well, so I do agree in that respect. One of the other issues that the minister raised as well was the event that I am hosting, the everyday heroes event on Thursday afternoon at lunchtime. I look forward to welcoming the minister to that and I know that Ronan Mackay had mentioned it also. The everyday heroes event celebrates contribution of everyday heroes to equality-safe campaigning. It brings together children and young people from across Scotland and the team behind the project, which has already been mentioned by others. The programme was designed and co-ordinated by Equally Saved Participation Partnership, young adult experts from the University of Edinburgh, and I worked very, very closely with others, Scottish Whom's Aid, Great Crisis and the Scottish Youth Parliament. It was funded by the Government, which I think is absolutely fantastic. The amount of people—I have to thank the people who were involved in it—125 children and young people took part in the sessions, 17 organisations took part and 439 young people took part in the survey. That is quite a huge amount. It went across all 32 local authorities. Some of the issues were services to protect young abuse survivors, tackling gender inequality and social attitudes, which is a huge one as well. It improved the education responses and ensured that participation from the people that has already been mentioned who were directly affected is listened to and looked at. That is a very, very worthwhile event. I welcome everyone to come along with the committee room 1 on Thursday at half-past 1 to quarter-past 2. I look forward to that event and I think that it shows the amount of work that the Scottish Government is doing in participating with the wider community. In conclusion, if the debate alone highlights the very real abuse in all the forms that women and girls subjected to throughout the world, it will be a positive step. I do welcome it. Thank you very much. I call Maurice Corry, followed by James Dornan. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I am very pleased to have this opportunity to speak today in this debate on such a critical issue. Violence against women and girls is inexcusable and should never be condoned. It cannot have a place in our society or any corner of communities worldwide. We know that any women can be the target of violence, regardless of their wealth status in society or the culture that they are immersed in. The weapons of intimidation and manipulation are often the subtle beginnings of emotional and physical abuse. It can take the form of violence such as sexual exploitation, domestic abuse, harassment, female genital mutilation or FGM for short. That abuse can so often result in overwhelming feelings of stigma and shame for women and girls. That cannot be allowed to continue. Over the past year, we have seen an outpouring of cases centering around sexual harassment and violence against women. Those cases have brought to the fore the dizzying extent of the problem and the underlying attitudes that fuel it. I, along with my colleagues, fully welcome the rising visibility of those awareness campaigns. They have kick-started a momentum that we must utilise. Those 16 days of activism against gender-based violence are not just simply to raise awareness, they are here to propel us to action and to necessary change. Prevention here is a cure and a key. In our policies, in our workplaces, in our schools and in our communities as a whole, and preventative measures must be in place to radically alter the imbalance between men and women and the consequences that they have on their safety. Violence against women and girls is not just a problem for war-torn countries or nations where there are human rights violations. In those circumstances, it is often too easy for us to ignore the problem and subconsciously decide that the geographical distance means that we do not have to care as much. Scotland, along with the UK, should assert itself as an active leader in helping these countries where women and girls face particularly extreme forms of violence. If we look at violence against women and girls, it is also a daily occurrence here that happens right on our doorstep. To fully support victims and survivors of sexual abuse, not just in Scotland but worldwide, we need to try harder to make sure that it cannot happen in the first place. So, while there is clearly a worldwide issue with gender-based violence in Scotland, we also see its presence in worrying consequences. Indeed, domestic violence must often occur in victims' homes and is becoming an increasing problem. Forced marriages that take place in Scotland often arrange for teenage young girls is another issue that we cannot afford to ignore. Furthermore, the record of rape crimes that numbered over 2,000 last year and the true scale of FGM instances is thought to be much higher than we realise, as my colleague Annie Wells has highlighted already. We can see that steps taken by the UK Government to tackle FGM head-on with more imposing legislation and greater support for victims, including lifelong anonymity. I hope that the Scottish Government will take those plans into consideration and follow through to see what Scotland can contribute in ending this terrible and degrading form of violence. Workplace harassment acts as a particular barrier to women. What is especially dangerous is that those inequalities can continue due to the fear of losing a job or being wrongly held accountable for the crime. Often reporting harassment claim can be a laborious and also frustrating process. That has a damaging effect on working women and our workplaces must be safe places to work in, free from male-orientated culture that encourages gender inequality and harmful barriers to women. To see those commitments made so far by our Scottish and UK Governments has been encouraging to say the least. Ensuring that there is adequate training for employers and employees will tackle the stereotypes that often exist under the radar in our workplaces. Securing sexual violence prevention programmes will help to inform our understanding of accountability and respect. Encouraging ample support for women and girls will undoubtedly impact their protection and create opportunity within their schools, homes and workplaces. What can we do? We can offer our support to both the Scottish and UK Governments in their efforts to earn violence for women and girls, not just in our own countries but in nations overseas. Furthermore, we must ensure that our police force in Scotland does receive and does receive the appropriate training for dealing with this type of violence. I asked the previous cabinet secretary in a debate previously to implement that, particularly in relation to domestic abuse. Very recently, it has been announced on 23 November that the foreign office has boosted funding to prevent sexual violence and conflict. The extra support will be used to boost the number of expert deployments by the preventing sexual violence and conflict initiative team of experts, supporting efforts in places such as Syria, Burma and Nigeria. The team of experts will support Governments. John Finnie, please. Thank you. I am grateful for the member for taking an intervention. In the spirit of consensus, I let two or three previous comments pass. I wonder if the member would care to reflect that the UK Government's willingness to return women to these countries is indicative of showing support for women generally. Maurice Corry, you are in your last minute. I think that one has to be very careful in prejudging anything here. In each case, it must be looked at individually. Therefore, one cannot make a general statement, Mr Finnie, over to what, how he dealt with. Each had its own particular cases to answer for. To conclude, I hope that we can further our commitment and see the delivery of promises made to actively tackle violence against women and girls, both here and in Scotland and internationally. In particular, in my role as the male champion for women, representing this Parliament's Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, I commend this to the House. Thank you very much. I have called James Dornan. We are followed by Kezia Dugdale. Mr Dornan, please. Quick girls, pop your coat and shoes on and get tucked up in bed in Sysa young mother. But mam, it's not cold. Why do I need to wear shoes in bed? Reply some very weary child. The mother says, prepare to tell another lie to her three young daughters, because it's to get cold during the night as the meat reply. Now, this conversation sounds like a snippet from a Victorian novel, but sadly this is a very real story of a Scottish woman in Glasgow. A woman had to put her daughters to bed in their jackets and shoes, because more often than not, their father would return from the pub ready to beat his downtrodden wife. We would in turn have to grab her beautiful girls in the night and flee from the terror. Now, as a man, I'm often asked why I speak so often in debates about violence against women, and he answers simple because it's men are the problem. This is a problem-facing woman, but it's one that's committed by men. And often when I share my thoughts on gender-based violence, I get a flurry of replies from men who state that women can be abusive too, and I'm not disagreeing with that. It will also be correct to say that violence can occur in same-sex relationships. However, we've already heard the statistics. In 2016-17, for example, of the gender-based crimes recorded 80 per cent were against women. If things are going to improve, they won't be improved by women changing their behaviour, but by men changing theirs. And I'd like to take a moment to remind any man listening to my speech that the following is not acceptable. It's not okay to ever lay your hand on a woman for any reason. There is nothing which permits that, nothing. There's no reason on this earth why we should allow a man to force himself on a woman sexually. What a man is wearing is never an invite to touch her in any way, shape or form. And if you're told no, no means no. Verbally mental abuse is now a crime, and that is one of the great achievements of the Scottish Government. Controlling a woman with her emotions, children or finances is also a crime and will not be tolerated. And when a woman walks out your life, allow her to do so with dignity. Stocking and controlling behaviour will also not be accepted. And once again, this is a crime. I was delighted to hear the minister mention my constituents and people that I like to think have become very close to the druots, Fiona and Jermaine, and the tragic story of their beautiful and much-loved daughter, Emily. They have been the driving force for many of us through this period, and it's been very sad. But it's been a very powerful thing to see how strong they are and how they have determined to make something good from such a horrible tragedy. But there's other stories. Yesterday, I attended the AGM of Waves and Castle, a magnificent group of women who have suffered from the curse of domestic violence. From that meeting came the harrowing story of one of the brave women who have used the services of both waves in the Daisy project. This woman has come forward to share her story anonymously with this chamber and the people of Scotland to assure women never have to go through what she faces. For the sake of anonymity, we'll call her lady. Lady was in care for most of her life, and at age 16 met a man 13 years her senior, as so many in care often do. Lady began a relationship with this man, and was subsequently removed from care by social work. This saw her plunged into the murky world of his alcohol and drug addiction. He started to abuse her physically, mentally and sexually. He would beat her and rape her, and she would be passed around to his friends to be used in a sexual manner. With no money and nowhere to go, Lady remained in this relationship for three years. She started a job in Glasgow and met a man, her boss, who would reward her good work and her employment with drinks. Lady's former partner would often come to her work and threaten her until he was arrested. The relationship started to go downhill when both she and her partner were sacked, as it was seen as an inappropriate relationship by their employers. Her partner took to alcohol, and that's when the beatings began. Not only from himself, but he'd allow his teenage son to beat her too. Lady was able to escape to homeless unit and restart her life, but as he had controlled her money, life and relationships, she felt like and was treated like a non-person. Starting from scratch, she again started a new relationship and had a son who was severely ill. That partner also abused her as her subsequent partner. What struck me was that the father of her son, who was merciless in his abuse and spent time in jail because of it, was, in later years, awarded visitation of his son, which not only deeply traumatised Lady, but had a deeply damaging effect on her child. She insisted that the visitation was just a new way to torture her. He grew tired of that. He grew tired of her son, and the visit stopped leaving her son feeling abandoned. I've got to tell you that, in subsequent relationship, this brave woman has been arrested on a domestic abuse charge, even though she was and witness testified to the fact, the victim. She was told, we have to take you both, that's a law. Now, I'm hoping things have changed to ensure that no officer would ever behave like that again. So, Presiding Officer, in supporting this motion, I support the brave woman who I've said enough is enough. The woman in my story is now working with other survivors and, thanks to the support that she received and her internal strength, she is striving. I asked her if she had a message for the perpetrators in her story and she simply said, I would say to them, thank you, for allowing me to see that I'm better and stronger than you thought I could be. And it's for a woman like this and the many others that I'm grateful for the opportunity to speak in this debate. Thank you. Thank you very much. I'll call Kezia Dugdale to be followed by Claire Adamson, Ms Dugdale please. Thank you Presiding Officer, and can I start by commending James Dornan on what I thought was an excellent speech, raw and honest, difficult to listen to in parts. And I know that it's one of many occasions where he's spoken with real leadership on this issue and I would encourage him to continue to do so. Can I also thank all the organisations who've provided briefings for today for the tireless work that they do week in, week out, fighting for gender equality, knowing that that's the route to the eradication of violence against women and girls. And as has been said, we know the theme of this year's occasion is women in the workplace with a particular focus on sexual harassment. And to be honest, I find that utterly depressing. We fought so hard for so long to improve women's access to employment, through access to education and skills, to childcare, to financial independence, maternity and paternity leave, equal pay and so on. Women's participation in the labour market has increased as a consequence, although granted, they're still more likely to work part-time and get a lower wage than their male counterparts. And now that they are a major part of the country's workforce, they have to contend with misogyny and harassment and even assault in their workplace. Me Too transcends workplaces across the globe, from Hollywood to Hollywood. Nowhere was immune, including our own place of work. Presiding Officer, I don't think that it's been a particularly proud year for us here as employers. Whilst we took the lead and conducted a brave survey of all staff, the results were stark. Those officials in the Parliament and indeed the Presiding Officer himself deserve credit for the leadership that they demonstrated and continue to show. However, our response to Me Too comes in two parts, promoting a culture of respect and creating a safe reporting environment. I'm very proud of the work that the Parliament is doing to create a culture of respect. However, there is a distance to go on creating a safe reporting environment. If we were truly honest with ourselves, I suspect, we'd admit, that a woman who's been sexually harassed in this place would be less likely to come forward now than she was a year ago. In fairness, I think that she might be more likely to do so anonymously, but given policies here and the world over, require victims to share their identity for a fulsome procedure to kick in. I think that fewer women would do that now, fully knowing the consequences and the experiences of others. The personal and professional risks are still far too high for women. It's better to stay quiet and keep your head down, as women have done for decades, as women have done for centuries. In one high-profile example here in the Parliament, Presiding Officer, both the victim and the perpetrator spent a period of time away from the building during the investigation. One is back at work, the other has left for alternative employment. Of course, it's the woman who is no longer here. That, for me, represents a failure of the procedures. When a victim feels that they can no longer work in a building with several hundred employees for fear of seeing someone in a lift or finding themselves alone with them in a corridor, then we still have a long way to go, despite the heroic efforts of the officials involved, who I know want nothing more than a safe and inclusive environment for all staff. I actually don't think we'll make proper progress with workplace harassment until someone, somewhere, develops an anonymous reporting mechanism that incorporates the appropriate safeguards. I'd like to see a model where women can anonymously report incidents and perpetrators, knowing that they will only be contacted again if, say, four or five other women report similar behaviour by the same man. A procedure would then allow them to pursue it collectively and formally on a class action basis. Strength in numbers, like the Callisto model being pioneered on university campuses across the United States. It's bold and controversial that what we currently do, in my view, continues to let women down more often than not. If we're failing women here in the national Parliament of Scotland, what's it like in normal workplaces across the country? Because we are kidding ourselves if we consider this a normal workplace. There are women across Scotland just now having to live with their bosses banter to make sure they can get a fair share of shifts next week, expecting a squeeze at the Christmas party because that's just what happens. Being ordered to wear a short skirt in their barge of because that's what the customer is like, do it or be marked down as difficult. Spending an hour's wage on a taxi home because there are no buses and it's not considered safe to walk home in their own town. I wish we weren't having this debate. I wish the theme of this year's 16 days of action was sexual and reproductive health so that we could talk about how that's holding women back across the globe. From the HIV epidemic in Africa to the lack of abortion rights for women in Northern Ireland to the trouble poor women here in Scotland have accessing reliable contraception. There's a lot to talk about. The challenges of women everywhere to exercise choice and power over their own bodies. Yet still we're left talking about the actions of some men because they just can't help themselves. I'd like to see the Scottish Government use some of its social advertising budget on a national campaign against sexual harassment. But I want it to be bold and instead of portraying powerful men exercising power over supposedly weak women, I want to see a focus on the weaknesses of men who act this way and the weak men that stand by them. A real focus on men as bystanders who know their mate's actions are not okay but don't want to be the ones to speak up and speak out. Something they demand of women without a hint of irony. I put this idea to the last Cabinet Secretary and I hope she'll consider it today. In conclusion, there can be no end to violence without full gender equality, which is why the pursuit of that is and must remain central to all of our work. Thank you. I call for Adamson, who is called by Alison Harris. Miss Adamson, please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Like many of the speakers this afternoon, I too are very sad that we're having to discuss this issue in the Parliament. And following on from so many powerful speeches, very different and raising in different areas, it's difficult to find what I can possibly add to that. I put my education hat on as convener of the Education and Skills Committee and decided I would look at some of the issues around our colleges and universities. And so I didn't know the Druett family were going to be here today, but I would also like to commend them on their tenacity and their humanity, which has driven them. It's a testament of their love for Emily that they have worked so tirelessly to improve the situation for students in our colleges and campuses in Scotland. I can't help but feel if the general population shared that humanity, then we may well not be having to discuss such issues in the future and I hope for that day. I'd like to thank NUS Scotland for providing the briefing that they have for today. And I was contrasting when I read their briefing, I thought I would have a little look at what was happening elsewhere in the world and the area that I chose probably because I was listening to another issue about racial discrimination colleges in the US on the radio last night to look at the situation in the United States. The research that they have is quite harrowing one in four female students reporting unwanted sexual behaviour during their studies, one in five experienced sexual harassment during their first week of term. And the research showed that 14 per cent of women students had experienced sexual violence in the US. One in five women are reporting it. Most women experience it in the very early stages of the university and they report 15 per cent. The US also has evidence to show that the LBGTI community is more adversely affected by that. And also that they suspect that one in five offences is under-reported in the context of colleges and universities. So the NHS have been working and they are looking for clear codes of conducts and a zero-toller approach to this area. And they are also asking for training for staff in dealing with and recognising such behaviours. Through the scab planning, the partnership work that they have had with the Scottish Government has been noted and the equally safe and higher education tools kit which has been funded by the Scottish Government was released in 2018. And has it provided a framework for universities to work in partnership to evaluate, improve their policies and practices and eradicating to work towards eradicating gender-based violence. And the Government have announced a further £396 million in funding to create a tool kit sorry, £396 million in funding to create a tool kit for further education to support the implementation of equally safe tool kits. And I think I was reflecting actually when I was thinking about Emily Early-Ron about my own experiences at university and thankfully not having lived in the same climate as Emily not having you know lived in the area of multimedia of mobile phones even or Twitter and Facebook and the social media aspects of that. It was a different time and to remember in 1988 Tracy Chapman releasing her debut album with a very pertinent song called behind the wall it was a desperate and hopeless story of a very jaded neighbour who hears domestic violence but and the quote from that is I won't do no good to call the police always come late if they come at all and I think it was very challenging at the time because it was not something that people expected from a song to expect the fact that she's a political folk activist but also that it really challenged all sorts of behaviour the attitude of the police the attitude of neighbours the attitude of society about keeping things behind closed doors and it was very moving at the time and I was thinking about whether that was 30 years ago for me whether things had actually moved on and I think to a certain extent they have I think the equally safe strategy has done a lot to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls and it's the violent abuse of behaviour directed at women and girls just because of their gender it's predominantly carried out by men and often stems from systemic deep-rooted women's inequality as mentioned by Kezia Dugdale on which it includes domestic abuse rape sexual assault and commercial exploitation and we have to consider that sometimes I don't think that society does recognise all these all these areas and we've talked there's a lot talked about financial abuse coercive control human trafficking all those things have been mentioned and Mortis Corry just slightly touched on the use of rape as a weapon and I know Kezia Dugdale has visited Srebrenica and has seen that and also considering the Holodomor another example where starvation was used as a weapon and it was a violence against the women and children in the Ukraine so I think we have to recognise all these areas and work together and keep working together it's not enough to hear what's going on in the next room we have to take so although it's a harsh hearing me too it's we have to hear and take the action thank you very much for calling Alison Harris to follow by Angela Constance and Ms Constance to be the last speaker in the open debate Ms Harris thank you Deputy Presiding Officer today we've heard members speak about the 16 days campaign which takes place between the international day for the elimination of violence against women on the 25th of November and the human rights day on the 10th of December all in the spirit of reducing and eliminating violence against women and girls Over the past 20 years the campaign has been responsible for over 5,000 projects in 187 countries each one has contributed to supporting millions of survivors of gender-based violence in places all over the world the motion title refers to the UN's hear me to campaign but I'm going to focus on the 16 days campaign referred to in the body of the motion each year the 16 days of activism campaign focuses on a particular theme recently this has been an ending gender-based violence in education from pupils to parents to teachers this year the theme is focused on the workplace gender-based violence in the world of work can take several forms including the action or threat of physical or verbal violence psychological or financial bullying and sexual harassment or sexist comments it is considered gender-based if it is directed against someone because of their gender or if it disproportionately affects a particular gender the international labour rights forum has said that gender-based violence creates a significant hurdle for women to realise their collective bargaining power and ability to have a voice and seek equal treatment and it can cause several mental effects too meaning victims may not want to come to work and they may not have the confidence to push forward in their careers in some parts of the world serious and physical gender-based violence happens in the workplace all too frequently sorry with the government-making industries in several Asian countries witnessing employers hiring thugs to intimidate or conduct violence against women who join a union or speak up about their working conditions here in Scotland we thankfully do not face this intensity of gender-based violence however the other forms can be very damaging and these have been rightly put under the spotlight over the last couple of years I think it's fair to say that most common forms of gender-based violence in the workplace here are verbal abuse sexist remarks and sexual harassment sexual harassment can happen in all kinds of workplaces and at any level and has been shown in the high profile cases in the last couple of years from Hollywood to Holyrood as Kezia Dugdale previously said in her speech it is usually experienced by women and perpetrated by men but it can also be the other way round and may involve people of the same gender it can be difficult to know what to do about it especially if your job or prospects are being threatened you may worry that you will not be taken seriously or that speaking out has negative consequences steps have been taken here in the Scottish Parliament and throughout the UK to address the culture that has allowed these incidents to occur from zero tolerance policies to creating safe and secure channels for victims to come forward recently domestic abuse has been considered by campaigners as an aspect of workplace gender based violence because of the effects the abuse can run into the work and affect the victim's ability to perform their job and interact with colleagues in the US in 2017 around 97% of employed domestic violence victims experienced problems at work because of their abuse at home in the Scottish Parliament this year we passed the Domestic Abuse Act which contained measures to create a new offence that treats behaviour that causes psychological or emotional damage such as coercive and controlling behaviour as a punishable offence this is a step forward for criminalising and reducing gender based violence however we should always be thinking about what more we could do many argue that the bystander culture has played a significant role in allowing many workplace incidents to happen and this in many ways comes down to people's attitudes if we can intervene at the earliest stage of someone's development and provide them with a well rounded education then it can have positive effects on their attitudes to people later in life when they are actually entering into the world of work in responding to a Scottish Government consultation recently the national day nurseries association said this early identification and intervention is essential to eliminating violence and its negative consequences in women and children's lives it is vital that services that come into daily contact with women and children and young people are able to identify those at risk and offer an appropriate safe and consistent response and I think will I actually agree with this childcare providers and teachers are in a unique position to influence each child at a critical stage of their development they can identify if things aren't right at home they can help children understand what's wrong or on topics such as gender stereotypes and violence this can develop children's attitudes and have a positive effect on how they treat other people when they are older so it's crucial that the best support is available to children at this early stage in closing I welcome this year 16 days of activism campaign to reduce gender-based violence in the workplace I back the steps being taken across the UK in challenging the climate in which we live and work to ensure that these kind of instances are not allowed to happen and will not be tolerated any more thank you thank you very much I call Angela Constance the last speaker in the open debate then we obviously move to closing speeches Ms Constance please thank you Presiding Officer While aspects of this debate are often depressing as highlighted by Kezia Dugdale it is nonetheless always a privilege to participate in what has become an annual debate in this Parliament the debate on the global 16 days of activism to end gender-based violence but ending violence against women and girls at home and abroad is not just a campaign for Christmas it's a systematic and sustained effort all year round given as the minister highlighted that no institution environment or space is immune and that's why Scotland's equally safe strategy our ambition and our equally safe delivery plan what we do is so important because equally safe is important because of its breadth and depth rightly recognising that to end gender-based violence you need to tackle the root causes of the imbalance of power between men and women and the wider impact of inequality across our society where only half the population are invited or included and we must always recognise that rape sexual assault murder and all forms of domestic violence are ultimately driven by beliefs they are not driven by emotions men don't lose control or snap or become provoked the root cause is insidious accepted misogyny the sexist remarks and the objectification of women and to challenge behaviours we need always to challenge beliefs and I was very encouraged when the cabinet secretary for justice said rather eloquently in my view that we must guard against a pervasive misogyny which unchecked impacts on the wider health wellbeing and safety of our communities breeding a culture where this type of harm is tolerated sometimes even condoned as a result is allowed to continue and I very much look forward to the cabinet secretary for justice his deliberations and how we reform our criminal law how that can be strengthened to combat misogyny particularly as he takes forward the work that we'll do in this Parliament on hate crime I will have heard throughout this afternoon how misogyny can seep into public policy and even our own Parliament and it was a pivotal moment a watershed moment when this Parliament passed the Domestic Abuse Scotland Act creating specific offence of domestic abuse that covered psychological and emotional treatment and coercive and controlling behaviour as well as physical attacks because in my view as a former prison based social worker this was absolutely crucial because having an accurate picture of the nature of any crime having the nature of the offence and conviction recorded accurately is absolutely crucial to both challenging and changing the behaviour of perpetrators and as a feminist I'm absolutely committed to the rehabilitation of offenders who are largely male and therefore it is good to see the expansion of the Caledonian programme as detailed in the quality minister's progress report and it's actually never left me the work that I did with men some of whom were very dangerous some of whom were very disturbed be that the work around parole reports or risk assessments that ultimately limited the freedoms and choices that these men could take with regards to their own future but what also never leaves me is that some of the most disturbed and dangerous men that I worked with had experiences or indeed had childhoods that would make you weep now that is never an excuse individuals will always be responsible for the behaviour and choices in my job as a prison based social worker was often to get offenders to be able to accept and understand that to accept that their history was not their destiny but it does bring into sharp focus the need for the work that is now being done on adverse childhood experiences given the equally safe places an increased priority upon prevention stopping the violence from occurring in the first place and I want to pay tribute to rape crisis and their sexual violence reduction programme that's taken place in schools for the work that they're doing to increase the understanding of consent and healthy relationships and I also like others very much look forward to meeting our everyday heroes project again this Thursday afternoon to conclude Presiding Officer in my view one of the biggest gains of this Parliament is the consensus that's been built up over the years around the analysis the strategy and the action that we need to take to end violence against women and girls in all its forms that doesn't mean that we have or will agree on everything it doesn't mean we should ever for a moment be complacent and we need to diligently shed a light on the good, bad and indifferent but it does make for strong foundations to continue our work together our work to end violence against women and girls and to make Scotland a safer place for everyone thank you thank you very much and I'll call Loda Grant Cruz for Labour Miss Grant please thank you Presiding Officer this has been a really interesting debate I think everyone agreed that more must be done to combat violence against women putting in place I think a growing list of actions that we must take to address it and I think central to the debate was equality equality in power equality in access to finance and equality in esteem and if we don't have those we will never eradicate violence against women so we need to continually work on things that put that right A lot of the debate was about sexual harassment The Me Too campaign was mentioned by many people and that was not surprising I think Kezia Dugdale gave voice to I think what we all felt about the anonymous survey that was carried out in this Parliament I think we all really expected better from this workplace we should be leading and shouldn't be allowing the kinds of behaviour highlighted in that survey to occur and I was one of the people I should declare an interest on the sexual harassment working group and those were some of the issues we were trying to address as part of that working group and Kezia talked about anonymous reporting that would trigger investigation eventually if there was a course of conduct or behaviour that was being highlighted by an individual and sometimes the responses to that questionnaire would suggest that there were some individuals that were constantly perpetrating and abusing their power and I think we need to deal with that Annie Wells talked about the culture of respect workshops and how we need to change the culture in this Parliament and indeed the bystander culture to encourage people to come forward and tackle this abuse where they see it happening It is an imbalance in power and a male culture that causes a lot of this Maurice Corry pointed out but not always we wouldn't see that this Parliament had a male culture and yet it goes on under the reader and we're not picking it up and sexual harassment in the workplace equates to sexual exploitation because it's a trade of sex for career progression or maybe on the other end of the spectrum for work at all when your boss has control over your zero hours contract you are in a very difficult position if that person wants to abuse that power because you may not be able to work so violence against women is the power imbalance and it makes work and money tools for harassment and exploitation Alison Haddison indeed Kezia Dugdale mentioned the fear of reporting and the impact that that would have on the individual reporting but the perpetrators play on that they know that people have that fear and therefore will not report and we I think have to do something about that to make sure that fear no longer exists and we protect those that are reporting that harassment a number of people talked about the justice system John Finnie, Sandra White Angela Constance and others I think we need to pay credit to Police Scotland if the instigation of Police Scotland did one thing it was actually to change the police's attitude to domestic abuse since its inception they have taken action to deal with domestic abuse and there are still pockets within the police service that require improvement but I think they have put the checks and balances in place that make it much more easy to report domestic abuse and I think this is then we're seeing the benefits of that in that we're having more reporting the judicial system as well has improved but they have a lot further to go and we need to look at our laws to see if we can make further improvements to help people through that system the making of statements the court process and the like things like forensic examinations that Liam McArthur talked about it was unacceptable that people from Orkney and Shetland had to go off island sometimes in the clothes they were wearing when they were attacked in fact most of the time in the clothes they were wearing when they were attacked to have those forensic examinations and we need to make sure that wherever you live in Scotland you have the same access to justice as anywhere else and Claudia Beamish talked about those additional issues for women in rural areas not just the access to justice but also the access to escape routes to transport to finance and I think it was quite moving also to listen to Angela Constance talk about her experience as a prison social worker talking about some of the people that are perpetrating that abuse and how we address that behaviour using things like the Caledonian project I think that's really important but we have to address that behaviour much earlier on we have to ingrain in our children our young boys our young girls that this is unacceptable and also in the media and I welcome the work that is being done through the media to stop the imbalance in their reporting it's often very sexist reporting of what happens in our society Violence against women I think that we all agree is actually a problem of men's violence against women that's why our cross-party group is called men's violence against women and children and it's good to hear of men taking forward this making it their duty and their understanding that they need to change this idea that men find it acceptable that they should abuse women People talked about the many organisations that do this White Ribbon Scottish Women's Aid Great Crisis Zero Tolerance Women Support Project we're all mentioned I join in congratulating them and indeed the individuals the people that's about the women that spoke to James Dornan and indeed Fiona and Germaine Druett who work despite their own problems and issues to try and stop this happening to other people we need to make progress against violence against women because there's much to do we need to build a society that supports and values women and treats them equally and as I close I would just make a plea to the Scottish Government to use all their powers to protect women from the excesses of the UK welfare state that ingrains that inequality Thank you and can I remind all members to have their mobile phones silent I don't want to hear jingles Don't start pointing at people it doesn't become you you could be guilty next time Mr Lyle I call on Liam Kerpleys to close the Conservatives Thank you, Presiding Officer I greatly appreciate the opportunity to close today's debate for the Scottish Conservatives on the one hand because it is right that we visibly and unitedly welcome the global 16 days of activism against gender-based violence was this year's theme to end gender-based violence in the world of work it is imperative that we publicly commend the many activists and organisations both in Scotland and across the world that are providing front-line support for survivors and raising awareness but also because this has been an extremely moving and powerful debate with strong contributions from members right across the chamber many highlighting as Rhoda Grant opened by saying that whilst we are right to reflect on how far we've come we must be absolutely aware of how far we have still to go when it comes to eradicating gender-based violence and Maurice Corry gave us a pithy summary of what this is about when he said violence against women and girls is inexcusable and should never be condoned it cannot have a place in our society nor any community worldwide Presiding Officer isn't it shocking that it should be necessary to actually have a specific day of activism to end violence against women and girls but as we have heard sadly it is because we've heard throughout this debate some absolutely shocking statistics which bear repeating 60,000 incidents of domestic violence in Scotland 137 women killed by their partner or family member every day 71 per cent of all human trafficking victims are women and girls and 37 countries worldwide still exempt rate perpetrators from prosecution if they are married to or eventually marry the victim Various members raised the horror of female genital mutilation Maurice Corry cited research which suggests that as many as 170,000 girls in the UK have undergone female genital mutilation I was reading something earlier Julie Bindell thinks however it is much higher As you and women have said at least 200 million women and girls alive today have undergone this mutilation and the majority of girls were cut before they were even five Now in 2015 the UK government introduced in England and Wales and Northern Ireland female genital mutilation protection orders a mandatory reporting duty lifelong anonymity and a criminal offence of failing to protect your own daughter and just on Friday the 23rd of November there the UK announced it would make the largest single investment ever to end FGM worldwide by 2030 an extra 50 million pounds and we must see action on this now from the Scottish government as well the SNP's programme for government 2018-19 rightly committed to bringing forward a female genital mutilation bill so perhaps the cabinet secretary will update the chamber on this in closing and the chamber was clear that there is still a persistent problem with domestic abuse James Dornan spoke particularly powerfully and compellingly Much of what he said was very difficult but it was absolutely right that it is hard Statistics today show domestic violence is on the rise for the second year in a row Last year the police dealt with over 163 domestic violence calls each day but only 44 per cent of those resulted in a crime or offence being recorded and again to pick up a point that James Dornan made 82 per cent of incidents had a female victim and a male accused Now Rona Mackay was absolutely right to highlight efforts that this Parliament has made including the domestic violence act and I was pleased to hear Sandra White reference the Solicitor General for Scotland to Alison Dirol who spoke who spoke just this morning on how lawyers and judges need to be given specialist training on how to implement and use the new laws on domestic abuse but as we've heard there is so much more to be done On which note John Finnie flagged a link between victim blaming and domestic abuse and I just want to put this to Parliament that unlike in England where it was reformed about a decade ago we still have a defence of provocation in Scotland such that if a man murders his wife for her infidelity he can plead that defence and assuming the reaction was sufficiently proximate the crime will be reduced to culpable homicide Now whilst that is not gendered in law I would suggest respectfully it is frequently a gendered issue and a number of commentators are suggesting that this area needs to be looked at for reform and again if the cabinet secretary were able to give his views in closing I would appreciate it Now many members offered some solutions and indeed Morris Corry was clear that he said 16 days of activism against gender-based violence are not just simply to raise awareness but rather to propel us to action and to necessary change many speakers suggested that prevention is key in our policies in our workplaces in our schools and our communities This is fundamental Margaret Mitchell referred to the submissions from Zero Tolerance whose view that education is key to prevention to make both girls and boys aware that certain attitudes and behaviour towards women are unacceptable Presiding Officer I have only six minutes isn't that correct Thank you Well in conclusion then Presiding Officer I am pleased to join Parliament to welcome the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence The motion is right to flag that we must stand together with the many activists and organisations both in Scotland and across the world to raise awareness to challenge underlying attitudes and inequalities that perpetuate violence against women and girls and above all to send a clear message that violence against women and girls is never acceptable It is not it never has been and it must never be We all have a responsibility to challenge harassment and abuse and we will do all we can to build a Scotland where everyone can live equally safely Thank you Thank you very much Mr Kerner Call of Hums, a use of to close to the Government Cabinet Secretary please, eight minutes Thank you Presiding Officer I think today's debate has been incredibly powerful I think the contributions have been incredibly insightful and I really want to thank all of those who contributed towards the debate who give me a lot to think about and the Government a lot to think about but also the very consensual way in which members across the chamber are uniting in order to tackle this really important issue of tackling violence Against women can also thank the many individuals who have shared their life story or the life story of a loved one in order to highlight the pervasiveness of violence against women in our society and pay particular tributes that I know there in the gallery to Fiona and Germaine Drey who have told the story of their daughter Emily anybody who has read just some of the snippets of some of the text messages that Emily received will be haunted I think and again a stark reminder of how pervasive this is in our society The 16 days of activism is an opportunity to champion progress already made celebrate the accomplishments of those who work tirelessly day in and day out but also the 16 days of activism is a moment or a period for us to recommit ourselves to tackling this issue It was only months ago that this chamber voted unanimously to pass the Domestic Abuse Scotland Act 2018 I suspect for many of us that were in the chamber at the time that it will be a debate and a stage 3 debate in a vote that will stay in our minds for a long long long time I remember how emotional that was I remember my producer as the cabinet secretary for justice how emotional it was for him but particularly I think all of us will remember the reaction of the women in the gallery certainly I think it was a really historic moment in our history of devolution but of course this act this act as we know will strengthen the law in relation to domestic abuse by making coercive and controlling behaviour a criminal offence and a reflection of the reality of domestic abuse and on that reality of domestic abuse I know some members have touched upon some of the statistics today that have come out and released as official statistics worth saying that of course we know women are by far the victims of domestic abuse four out of five but also worth mentioning one of the statistics that came out today that 88% of those incidents took place took place in the home in the home or dwelling where that should be a place of sanctuary for the rest of us it is a place of sanctuary for most of us but for these women that suffered this domestic abuse it was a place of hell it was a place where they suffered the most unimaginable violence and abuse I want to make sure that we all send a very clear message regardless of what our government portfolios are regardless of what what our interests are in this Parliament that we all work together send a very clear message that domestic abuse will simply not be tolerated and we will deal with it under the law the law is one part of this important tools that we have in our toolkit to fight domestic abuse and violence against women education is another part and I will come to that as well in terms of the act a couple of members asked progress on on the domestic abuse act and the enforcement of that act and the commencement of that act it will be fully commenced by spring next year the reason for that as many members know of course is to allow the police to be trained others to be trained in relation to the new provisions within the act and also hopefully to give us time to prepare an awareness and public awareness campaign as well which will do in coordination with the many good organisations that lead on this issue however domestic abuse is only one form of violence against women in this whole spectrum of behaviours the theme of this year's campaign is end gender based violence in the world of work I thought some of the contributions were extraordinarily powerful at Kezia Dugdale's in particular extraordinarily powerful around the world of work and the challenges that we have to face up to in this Parliament but of course anybody listening or watching the challenges that they have to that they have to face in their place of work it's simply not something that we should sit back that we should condone and that we should just accept as that is the way it has to be it simply does not have to be that way at all harassment is not a specific it's not a problem specific to any one institution it's a responsibility of all society as individuals to take action but on that I want to pay tribute to a really excellent speech that I thought by James Dornan in particular then this point that as men we have to face up to the fact that we are the problem not all of us by any stretch of the imagination nobody's suggesting that but certainly men and their behaviour toxic masculinity as part of it we are the problem but also equally we can help to be part of the solution and that is what 16 days of activism tries to reinforce and I think tries to reinforce very well and I would say to any any any man who doubts how difficult it is I think to be a woman in this society in our society in 2018 just talk to your talk to your sisters as I have done talk to your wife or your partner talk to your daughters talk to your mothers talk to any woman that is in your life and just ask them has it you know some of the challenges the sexism the misogyny the harassment that they've had to to deal with and I promise you it won't be a short conversation I'm afraid it will be a long conversation some things that us men probably were never aware I was never aware of the fact that when I talked to my sister that she every time she walks down the street and it's dark she holds her keys she holds her keys and I said that to a couple of my colleagues and all of them said yep we all do that we all do that and that's the kind of society that we live in and we should be as men we should be utterly ashamed of the fact that through our again toxic masculinity through our actions that women feel the need that they they feel the need to take such actions they don't feel they don't feel safe in their own home and in their own society I'm very conscious of time Presiding Officer I'm really keen to try to address some of the issues and answer some of the questions that many members raised with me in the chamber a couple of members and the Conservatives Annie Wells and Liam Kerr in particular asked for an update in relation to female genital mutilation I won't go into everything that we've done but in terms of the actual potential legislative framework we have a consultation that opened in the 4th of October the consultation closes on the 4th of January I'm sure that they and others will of course respond to that consultation once that consultation is closed of course we'll come back to update the Parliament on taking that forward we are very committed to taking forward legislation on that front and further action very much on that front In terms of one or two other questions that were raised in the chamber John Finnie I can confirm that as part of equally safe delivery plan very much we work with key justice partners to provide training to sheriffs to others right throughout the justice system professionals that work through the justice system so that trauma informed responses are embedded throughout but what I'd like to say to John Finnie and others is that I've met enough victims of sexual offences harassment at rape to understand that from the moment that a terrible incident takes place right the way through from the police investigation to the court trial if it ever gets to court of course of the court trial the potential imprisonment of an offender and then the release of that offender there's undoubtedly gaps in that and the victims task force which I announced will look specifically at sexual offences and specifically at rape as part of the work that it does can I thank Lee MacArthur for acknowledging the work that my predecessor had done on forensic medical examinations the work that we're committed to do I will come back to him in relation to specific questions around Orkney but I think we've got a long way to do but I commend a long way to go but I commend the work of Dr Catherine Calderwood in this regard and the task force and the work that she is taking forward a couple of one or two members I can't remember specifically who asked about protective orders or emergency banning orders as well and in our programme for government we did say we would consult on this at the end of the year and we are hurtling towards the end of the year but the plan is still to get that consultation out before Christmas in terms of one or two other issues that Angela Constance asked about the government's plans in relation to misogyny I'm sure she's seen our consultation on hate crime that there is a section there asking for the views of people and organisations on that specifically I will listen to what people have to say on how to tackle misogyny it may well be that actually we look at tackling it out with the hate crime framework that may be more sensible to do so but I'll reserve judgment on that I'm due to meet and gender and a number of other organisations actually very shortly to discuss this issue with them but I keep a very very open mind to all of that as well I just want to also touch upon the point raised by Kezia Dugdale around a public awareness campaign she gave a lot of food for thought for me and the government to reflect on we are planning to do a public awareness campaign in spring 2019 so I'll perhaps come back to her to hear her thoughts in a little bit more detail perhaps there's a way of engaging the good cost party group and asking them their thoughts in advance of spring 2019 to help us to inform what that public awareness campaign as well as consultation with the regular stakeholders rape crisis Scotland Scottish women's aid engender zero tolerance and many many more I'm sure as well Liam Kerr asked around the issue of provocation as a mitigation I have to say this one he came to my attention extraordinary extremely recently I was astounded what I heard much like he was as well I don't have an answer for him other than I'm going back to look at it and of course I'll keep him updated I think it is an issue that is worthy of examination in terms of legal reform it's been a really excellent debate Presiding Officer I'm aware that I'm at the very end of my time we'll continue to do what we can not just in these 16 days but of course throughout our time in government to make sure that the violence against women is a thing of the past and we will work collaboratively with those across the chamber to achieve that end thank you thank you very much and that concludes our debate on hear me too we move on to the next item of business which is a statement from Edward Mountain convener of the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee making an announcement on the committee's inquiry into salmon farming in Scotland thank you Presiding Officer and I'd like to refer members to my register of interest but I speak today as the convener of the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee and I'd like to announce the publication today of our report into salmon farming in Scotland this in-depth inquiry was launched earlier this year we took evidence from a wide range of stakeholders research bodies environmental organisations regulatory bodies as well as from the industry itself the salmon farming industry offers significant economic and social value to Scotland providing jobs and investment in rural areas and there is a desire within the industry to grow however if this is to happen it is essential that the serious challenges it faces such as the control of sea lice lowering fish mortality rates and reducing the sector's impact on the environment are addressed as a priority our report Presiding Officer contains 65 recommendations how this should be achieved the committee's strong view is that the status quo in terms of regulation and enforcement is not acceptable we believe we need to raise the bar in Scotland all compliance policy must be robust and enforceable with appropriate penalties for those operators who don't believe the standard the committee is clear that no expansion should be permitted at sites where high mortality or significant levels of sea lice are addressed to the satisfaction of regulators in terms of the environmental impact the committee noted SEPA's recent research and concluded that medicine from Scottish salmon farms is significantly impacting local marine environments the committee therefore is in no doubt that effective regulation of medicine used by farm salmon industry is also a key requirement the committee makes several recommendations on the sighting of salmon farms which need to be read and considered with all the other recommendations in this holistic report we do hope the report will be welcomed by the industry and initial indications are that it is being so and other stakeholders as a helpful and constructive document Presiding Officer we look forward to receiving the Scottish Government's response to our recommendations and a full debate on the report in the chamber in the new year thank you thank you very much and we turn now to decision time and there is only one question to be put today the question is that motion 14904 in the name of Christina McKelvie on hear me to 16 days of activism to end violence against women and girls be agreed are we all agreed we are agreed and that concludes decision time we'll move now to members business in the name of Edward Mountain on the investigation into bullying claims at NHS Highland we'll just take a few moments for members and the minister in fact to changes