News/Blog
SWRC and JustRight Scotland meet with Victims and Community Safety Minister
Staff members at JustRight Scotland and the Scottish Women’s Rights Centre welcomed Siobhian Brown, Minister for Victims and Community Safety, on Wednesday 19th July.
What we talked about
The Minister visited our centre to talk about the legal and advocacy work of our team, including our day-to-day service offerings for women facing gender-based violence in Scotland, trends we are seeing in our work, and our impact year-on-year in helping to achieve Scotland’s Equally Safe Strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls.
The Scottish Women’s Rights Centre (SWRC) is a collaboration between Rape Crisis Scotland, JustRight Scotland and the University of Strathclyde Law Clinic that provides free legal information, advice, representation and advocacy support to self-identifying women in Scotland affected by violence and abuse.
During her visit, the Minister met with Emma Hutton, CEO of JustRight Scotland; Katy Mathieson, Director of Justice Services at Rape Crisis Scotland; Kate Laverty, Director at the University of Strathclyde Law Clinic; Carolann Vallely, Advocacy Worker at the SWRC; and Lyndsay Fleming, our Senior Associate Solicitor, who introduced her to our summer intern Sasha.
Sasha, our SWRC summer intern and student from the University of Strathclyde Law Clinic, shared her experience as intern at the SWRC and what she has learned so far by collaborating with our legal team and with the other centres.
Meeting our clients
Our team explored our trauma-informed, victim-centred approach and introduced the Minister to two of our service users: Jan, who talked about the support she received from the team at the SWRC, and prominent campaigner and former client Miss M who has been campaigning for the end of Scotland’s ‘not proven' verdict. Miss M shared the experience of survivors who were delivered those two words – 'not proven' – and who have felt that they've been let down, like their experience was diminished, that they were not believed and, fundamentally, that they were left without any protection.
Miss M has been campaigning for this change in the legal system for over four years to ensure a safer, fairer and more equitable experience of the criminal justice system for those who report sexual crimes. The Scottish Government has recently proposed legislation to abolish the not proven verdict, following a public consultation.
Following her visit, Minister for Victims and Community Safety, Siobhian Brown, said:
"Violence against women is totally unacceptable and I appreciated the opportunity to learn more about the vital service that JustRight and the Scottish Women's Rights Centre are providing to women who have experienced violence and abuse.
"I'm passionate about improving the experiences of women in accessing justice and hearing directly from the experience of survivors and their families to consider further improvements that can be made."
Emma Hutton, JustRight Scotland’s CEO, said: “We were delighted to welcome the Minister today to highlight the impact of our work and the difference we make for the communities we support, of which we are immensely proud.
“Over the last 2 years we have supported over 500 women through our helpline and recently we have launched a new helpline operated by a network of Pro-Bono Solicitors by offering pro-bono advice and support, we help break down any barriers that survivors may face when trying to access justice and support.”
We would like to thank the Minister for her much-valued support in joining us to highlight the excellent work that the team at the SWRC are delivering across our communities in Scotland.
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