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Violence against women, girls ‘national emergency in UK: Police chief

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In Britain, a leading police chief warns that violence against women and girls is a “national emergency,” as staggering data shows nearly 3,000 crimes are being recorded every day.

More than 1 million violent crimes against women and girls were recorded by police in the United Kingdom from 2022 to 2023, accounting for one-fifth of all recorded crime, according to a new report commissioned by the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College of Policing.

Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blyth said in a statement on Tuesday that the data was “staggering.”

“Violence against women and girls is a national emergency,” she said. "We need to move forward as a society to make change and no longer accept violence against women and girls as inevitable."

The National Policing Statement for Violence Against Women and Girls found that at least one in every 12 women will be a victim per year – equating to two million women – with the exact number expected to be much higher because of crimes that go unreported.

Child sexual abuse and exploitation offences also increased by 435% between 2013 and 2022, the report estimated – from just over 20,000 to nearly 107,000.

Sophie Francis-Cansfield, head of external affairs at Women’s Aid, described the report’s findings as “alarming.”

She said many survivors do not report their experiences meaning the issue is “much larger than the data shows.”

And Clare Kelly, associate head of policy at the NSPCC — the leading children's charity in the UK— said, “The scale of offending against girls is frightening.”


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