8 maart: With the awareness generated by #metoo, there is an increased demand for support services as more people are emboldened to name what happened to them.❣️Rape Crisis Centres❣️offer much-needed support to people who have been assaulted across England and Wales (@rapecrisisew), but demand way outstrips supply.❗️This time last year, there were 6,355 survivors on Rape Crisis waiting lists and these can be as long as 14 months.‼️ This means that if a survivor calls to look for support they may be turned away...
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⌛️💷 Successive UK governments have failed to fund life-saving services. There are just 44 Rape Crisis Centres in England and Wales. 🎯 But the Istanbul Convention (which our Government will soon ratify) sets out a minimum provision of support for victims of rape which would require that there be 150 Rape Crisis Centres in England and Wales. 🚨 It’s simply unacceptable that a country like mine falls so far short of the minimum standards set across Europe.
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📋❤️✍🏻 So on #IWD2019, I encourage you to sign Fern’s petition 👆🏻LINK IN BIO👆🏻and demand that Theresa May guarantees sustained 💰 funding for rape crisis support services, 💌 so the survivors of sexual violence can access the support they need. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
🔗📋✍🏻 tinyurl.com/FernsPetition
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💪🏻👩🏼 These are the words of 25-year-old Fern Champion, who was raped in 2016 and has launched a petition 💌 asking the Prime Minister to ensure that specialist rape counselling support is always available for everyone who seeks it:
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🤲🏻 💔 “By not adequately funding support services this Government is telling survivors that their recovery does not matter and by extension that they do not matter. When you have been raped, the vital, life-saving counselling should just be there when you need it.” 🙌🏻❤️👏🏻
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☎️ RAPE CRISIS NATIONAL HELPLINE: 0808 802 9999 (rapecrisis.org.uk)