7. Debate: The Equality and Human Rights Commission Annual Review 2016-2017

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:59 pm on 12 December 2017.

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Photo of Neil McEvoy Neil McEvoy Plaid Cymru 5:59, 12 December 2017

Some really good words across the Chamber. I did smile at the UKIP Member's reference to 'so-called human rights'. Well, human rights are human rights. And I disagree with the phrase 'minority rights'; I would, preferably, say 'rights for all'. Everybody needs to be respected and everybody should have a right, because, when everybody is respected, that brings harmony to our society.

The legislation that is the subject of the amendments is the Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015. Well, a very obvious question from me is: what about men? What about boys? And what about a bit of equality? The legislation says that violence against women and girls means gender-based violence, domestic abuse and sexual violence where the victim is female. Well, one in three victims are male, they're men, and 10 per cent—only 10 per cent—of men will report domestic abuse.

I deal with a lot of casework with lots of fathers coming into the surgery who are victims of domestic abuse, and it's very difficult in south Wales to get men recognised as such, and it's taken my intervention in a number of cases to get those people classified as victims. There's nowhere in this city, or region in fact, to send those people for non-judgemental support—nowhere. Men are assessed because they're classified as perpetrators because we are male, and no other reason. The commission has issued a legal opinion stating that this is discrimination, and I would ask the Government if they're going to move on that.

The Cabinet Secretary said two weeks ago that two women per week are victims of murder through domestic violence. In fact, the figure of two a week includes men, and the breakdown is 29 males and 79 females for 2015-16. You also said that we need to get our priorities right. Now, are those 29 people not a priority? Of course, it's a UK figure. Are men and boys not a priority? They should be, so I would ask you if you want to include them in your list of priorities, as you've said.

I'm here elected to represent everybody. It doesn't matter what your gender is, whether you're male, female or no gender or transgender. I'm here to represent you, and we all are, and we should all speak out against discrimination. Domestic violence affects everyone, can affect everyone—all classes, all occupations, and it's something that needs to be recognised. 

I do want to touch on what Mohammad Asghar said about Islamophobia—some great words there. And I think it was John Griffiths who mentioned black people, people of colour. I would ask all Assembly Members to walk around this Assembly and see whether you can find many persons of colour who don't work in security or don't wok in cleansing. There are not many people at all. That's something this Assembly needs to address, and I hope the Government will come forward with proposals to do that. If you look at the walk-to-work area around this Assembly—Butetown, Riverside, Grangetown—it's the most diverse area in Wales, and you will not see that reflected in the people employed here behind the scenes in this Assembly, unless you're talking about cleansing and security. So, I think that's something that really needs to be worked on and there's an effort to be made.

I just go back to my original point, really, because it really is high time—high time—that it is recognised that men can be victims of domestic violence as well. Some of us know that all too well. Diolch yn fawr.