Hide this page Cover your tracks
What is the VAWG Strategy?
The priority of the VAWG Strategy is to raise awareness of violence against women and girls. VAWG itself refers to acts of violence or abuse that disproportionality affect women and girls. Among others, these offences include:
Rape and other sexual offences
Sexual harassment is any unwelcome and inappropriate behaviour making someone feel upset, scared, offended or humiliated, or is meant to make them feel this way. This includes sexual remarks or physical advances in a workplace or other professional or social situation.
Crime stoppers defines public sexual harassment as:
Support pages:
Stalking
A stalker will have an obsession with the person they are targeting. Stalking is an offence and should be reported to the Police.
Stalking may include:
To help identify if a behaviour is stalking, ask these questions. Is it…
What is stalking and harassment?
Stalking can be reported to the Police using 999 in an emergency and calling 101 for the national non-emergency telephone line.
You can also report online via the Police’s website.
Reports can always be made in person at the local Police Station
For advice and guidance call the National Stalking Helpline on 0808 802 0300.
Domestic Abuse
Domestic abuse includes any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse. The abuse can be psychological, physical, social, financial, or emotional.
Domestic Homicide
Domestic homicide is where someone has died, or appears to have died, from violence, abuse or neglect by someone they are related to or have been in an intimate personal relationship with or were a member of the same household.
For further information visit our domestic abuse page.
- Honour based abuse (including female genital mutilation, forced marriage, and honour killings)
Honour based abuse is a crime or incident which has, or may have been, committed to protect or defend the honour of the family and / or community.
It is a form of domestic abuse that is often perpetrated by partners, ex-partners, or family members. The concept of ‘honour’ is above the safety and wellbeing of individuals and is used to justify emotional, physical, and financial abuse, disownment, and in some cases murder.
Examples of honour-based abuse are:
To find out more, please visit: Karma Nirvana.
Revenge porn
Intimate Image Abuse, also referred to as ‘Revenge Porn’, is the act of sharing intimate images or videos of someone, either on or offline, without their consent with the intention of causing distress. This is against the law and included in the Criminal Justice and Courts Act (2015).
The perpetrator shares sexually explicit images or videos of another person without their consent, causing distress of harm.
if you’ve experienced image-based sexual abuse it’s important to remember that you’re not to blame – only the offender is responsible for this crime taking place.
Find out more on Image-based sexual abuse.
Upskirting/Voyeurism
Upskirting is where someone takes a picture under a person’s clothing without their permission or knowledge, causing distress and harm.
Upskirting can happen to anyone and anywhere, but most commonly takes pace in crowded public places, e.g. public transport.
These crimes are deeply harmful to victims, survivors, and their loved ones, and have a huge impact on wider society.
Find out more
You can find out more about the tackling violence against women and girls strategy.
The Violence Against Women And Girls (VAWG) mural along Ipswich Waterfront forms part of the Ipswich Safer Streets 4 project. This was funded by a Home Office Neighbourhood Crime Unit grant delivered between August 2022 and March 2023.