Survivors Of aBuse recently attended the National Alliance of Women’s Organisations National Women’s Conference after our Founder and CEO, Chris Tuck, was invited by Mandeep Kaur Sanghera OBE.

Chris attended as a guest.

She went to listen, learn, expand networks and understand how survivor-led recovery work connects with wider conversations around women’s rights, justice and accountability.

She was not speaking on the panel.

But during the Q&A, Chris addressed the room because an important part of the conversation needed to be named.

Women’s rights, VAWG and accountability

A strong message from the conference was that women’s rights are being eroded and must be protected.

Speakers and contributors talked about:

• women’s rights
• CEDAW
• violence against women and girls
• domestic abuse
• rape prosecutions
• justice
• women in prison
• specialist courts
• education
• political will
• civil society pressure
• accountability

There was a clear message that commitments are not enough.

They have to become action.

That matters to Survivors Of aBuse because the same is true for child sexual abuse.

Survivors have spoken.

Evidence has been given.

Recommendations have been made.

Now implementation is needed.

Child sexual abuse is part of VAWG

Child sexual abuse must not be treated as separate from violence against women and girls.

It is deeply connected.

Especially when abuse involves:

• family members
• trusted adults
• grooming
• coercion
• exploitation
• silence
• shame
• disbelief
• lifelong trauma
• power imbalance

Intrafamilial abuse is one of the hardest forms of abuse to see, name and challenge.

As Chris had spoken about in Parliament only days earlier:

It is not that simple when it is somebody close.

The hidden iceberg

One of the key points Chris raised at the conference was the true prevalence of child sexual abuse.

The hidden iceberg.

Many people in the room did not appear to know the scale of the issue.

Many had not heard of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse — IICSA.

Many were not aware of the 20 recommendations.

That matters.

Because many of the changes being discussed at the conference have already been examined through IICSA.

IICSA already gives a route map

During the conference, people were asking what needs to happen next.

For Survivors Of aBuse, IICSA must be part of that answer.

The 20 recommendations speak to many of the same issues:

• prevention
• safeguarding
• national leadership
• data
• professional responsibility
• mandatory reporting
• redress
• support for victims and survivors
• cultural change
• accountability

So the question is not only:

What needs to change?

It is also:

• What has already been recommended?
• Why has implementation been so slow?
• Who is accountable?
• How do we stop starting from scratch?
• How do we make sure survivor testimony leads to action?

Implementation is where accountability begins

Survivors Of aBuse has been campaigning for the implementation of the IICSA recommendations because they provide a clear route map for prevention, safeguarding, survivor support and accountability.

The issue is not simply that we do not know what needs to happen.

The issue is political will, implementation and accountability.

Public inquiry recommendations should not be allowed to sit in reports without action.

Survivor testimony must lead to change.

Why Survivors Of aBuse needs to be in these rooms

Chris went to the conference as an attendee.

She left knowing Survivors Of aBuse needs to be part of more of these conversations.

Because if women’s rights, VAWG, justice and accountability are being discussed, then child sexual abuse and survivor recovery must not be missing.

The conference also created important connections.

Chris met a policewoman linked to the International Policing and Public Protection Research Institute — IPPPRI, where she is a Visiting Senior Fellow.

She also met Molly Ellis, and looks forward to further conversations and potential collaboration.

Thank you to Mandeep Kaur Sanghera OBE for the invitation.

The work cannot keep starting again

Women’s rights are worth defending.

Children are worth protecting.

Survivors are worth believing.

Recovery is worth funding.

Recommendations are worth implementing.

The hidden iceberg of child sexual abuse must be named in VAWG spaces.

IICSA must not be forgotten.

And survivor testimony must lead to action.

You’re Worth Fighting For.