16 Days of Activism: #NoExcuse for Abuse – A Call for Further Action

16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is an annual, global campaign running from the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November until Human Rights Day on 10 December. The theme for 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence 2024 is #NoExcuse. As outlined by UN Women, violence against women and girls remains the most prevalent and pervasive human rights violation in the world – in the UK it is considered a national emergency. UN Women also rightly outline that “violence against women and girls is preventable. There is no excuse.”  

Central to preventing and stopping violence against women and girls is effectively responding to those perpetrating it. However, while there are approximately 400,000 perpetrators of domestic abuse causing high/medium levels of harm across England and Wales, fewer than 1% of perpetrators receive a specialist intervention that might prevent future abusive behaviour. Furthermore, there are significant gaps in the availability of specialist by-and-for service provision to meet the needs of all communities. A full range of effective perpetrator responses available across all areas and designed for all communities is essential to reducing risk, increasing the safety of adult and child victim-survivors, and breaking the cycle of domestic abuse for good by tackling the root cause.  

Following the 2024 UK General Election, the Drive Partnership published a Call for Further Action to the Government to strengthen responses to perpetrators of domestic abuse, including both overarching objectives and detailed departmental recommendations, which has received nearly 100 signatures. For 16 Days of Activism 2024, we are calling for wider support of the Call for Further Action to strengthen responses to perpetrators of domestic abuse – so we can make clear that there is #NoExcuse for abuse. 

A Call for Further Action 2024  

We call on the Government to take further action and strengthen the response to perpetrators of domestic abuse through:  

• Long-term, strategic investment in perpetrator responses and ongoing evaluation.

• A full range of specialist service provision available across all areas – to match the scale of the problem and meet the needs of all communities.

• Consistent and evidence-informed multi-agency responses to high-risk, high-harm perpetrators.

• A cross-government, whole-system response to perpetrators that centres adult and child victim-survivors. 

This 16 Days of Activism and beyond, join us in making clear there is #NoExcuse for abuse, and support our Call for Further Action to strengthen responses to perpetrators:  

• Support the Call for Further Action as a signatory via this form.

• Amplify the Call for Further Action across Twitter and LinkedIn.

• Read the Call for Further Action here.

• Read our accessible version of the Call for Further Action here.

• To request social media assets or further information, please email: info@drivepartnership.org.uk.