Afrah Qassim
Community Development Worker
Inclusion Matters Liverpool
&
Chair/Cofounder of Savera
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DRE: (Delivering Race Equalities)
BME: (Black and Minority Ethnic)
MAMER: (Black Minority Ethnic & Refugees)
FGM: ( Female Genital Mutilation)
VAWG: (Violence against women & Girls)
HBV: (Honour Based Violence)
FM: (Forced Marriage)
FMU: (Forced Marriage Unit
LSCB: (Local/Liverpool Safeguarding Board)
DA: ( Domestic Abuse)
CPS: (Crown prosecution Service)
LWH: ( Liverpool Women Hosptial
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Implementation of Delivering Race Equality (DRE)
in Mental Health Care
The DRE is an action plan which provides a
structure for tackling race inequalities in provision
of mental health services for Black and Minority
Ethnic (BME) Communities to:
 Access to mental health services
 Experience of mental health services
 Outcomes from mental health services
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Every year
5,000 women
murdered by
relatives to
protect family
“honour”
Over 30 Million
girls are out of
school
125 million girls
have been
subjected to
FGM
Over 60 million
girls world wide
married before
18
120 million
girls victims of
Sexual violence
Estimated
70.000 women
were victim of
rape and over
330.000 women
victims of a
sexual assault
Ove 1,300 get
reported to
FMU every year
2,823
incidents of
HBV in 2011
Estimated
1.2 million
women were
victim of DA
Over 20.000 girls
under 15 yrs could be
at risk of FGM and
nearly 66.000 women
living with FGM
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The United Nation defined it:
‘Any act of gender-based violence that results in, or
is likely to result in, physical, sexual or
psychological harm or suffering to women,
including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary
deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public
or in private life.’ (The United Nation)
The UK Government defines domestic violence as:
'Any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive
or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those
aged 16 or over who are or have been intimate partners or
family members regardless of gender or sexuality.
This can encompass, but is not limited to, the following types
of abuse:
 psychological
 physical
 sexual
 financial
 emotional
“Too many women in too many
countries speak the same language of
Silence”
(Anasuya Sengupta 1995)
BUT……
Violence/abuse could take a different form within BME families e.g
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Forced Marriage
Honour Based Violence
Female Genital Mutilation
Culture/Religions and Beliefs used to control women
Immigration control e.g (spouse, states)
Preventing from integration e.g Not allowed to learn/work
Financial abuse/control benefit
Being Westernised
Culture & tradition:
 Cculture represents, the values, norms, and
traditions that affect how individuals of a
particular group perceive, think, interact, behave,
and make judgments about their world
FGM
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Religion: a beliefs that individuals practice &
follow
http://www.desertflowerfoundation.org/
Language
 Stereotyping
 Unaware of their right/options
 Fear of accessing services: Due to
1. stigma
2. Brings shame to the family,
3. Don’t want the children to be taken away.
 Not aware of what is out their and how to access
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Concerns/Challenges
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Not certain of how big the problem of FGM in
Liverpool, as there are no accurate monitoring or
evaluation
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Lack of understanding/training of the issue
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Funding
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Still not enough campaign in the North West
Nationally:
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“Girls Summit” UK Government and UNICEF where a pledge made
where
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UK Government has made commitment to tackle FGM across the UK
To support countries with high provenance of FGM
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Fund for community engagement initiatives and marketing campaign
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The NSPCC FGM helpline (24 hours- 0800 028 3550)
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The expectation of services to collect Data of the different type of
FGM
Locally (Liverpool/Merseyside):
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Awareness/Training and educations within
services/communities/professionals/universities/ schools etc.
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Specialist Clinic, Liverpool Women Hospital
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Police, CPS and LWH working together to improve information
sharing
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Local strategy guidance set within LSCB Website, to support
services when dealing with FGM cases.
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Liverpool Local authority is now prioritising FGM as part of their
VAWG strategy
Services Provision:
Savera Liverpool: Dedicated to tackling domestic
abuse within Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and
Refugee (BAMER) Communities and to the
preservation and protection of the mental and
physical health of women from these communities
who are experiencing, or have experienced,
domestic abuse,FM, HBV and FGM
Afrah Qassim (CDW)
Email: a.qassim@nhs.net
Savera
Email: saveraliverpool@hotmailal.co.uk
Website: www.saveraliverpool.co.uk