Statement from Andrea Simon:
This week I begin my new role as Victims' Commissioner for London. It is a privilege to champion the diverse voices of victims in London, holding agencies to account, and working with policy makers to improve the response victims and survivors receive as they seek support or navigate a criminal justice system in profound crisis.
I take office at a moment of significant and necessary change across the justice system. Sir Brian Leveson's reforms to criminal courts are making their way through Parliament in the Courts and Tribunals Bill, substantial changes to national policing have been announced, and the Victims’ Code is undergoing a revision. These reforms must deliver for victims, and I will use this role to ensure the experiences of victims and survivors’ are firmly at the forefront of practice and policy development.
This is also a time of reckoning in society more widely for violence against women and girls. Recent developments, including the release of the Epstein files and the striking parallels with the UK case of Mohamed Al-Fayed, remind us that victims are too often not believed and are left to fight tirelessly for the justice and accountability denied to them. Both cases sharply illustrate how far we still need to come to hold power to account, respond to the testimony of victims, and deliver justice for them.
I am committed to ensuring equitable access to justice for all victims and dismantling the structural barriers that continue to prevent many victims from accessing safety and support, particularly those from more marginalised communities and those victims unfairly discriminated against or even unjustly criminalised. All victims must be able to disclose the harm they have suffered with confidence that their rights will be upheld, they will be treated with dignity, and justice will be served without agonising delay.
I have been encouraged by measures brought forth in the Courts and Tribunals Bill that signal a commitment to ending the re-traumatisation of victims in courts, particularly those that seek to restrict the use of victims’ sexual history and so-called “bad character” evidence in rape cases, alongside the repeal of the presumption of parental involvement. These measures illustrate how important it is to listen to survivor campaigners, and specialist victims sector organisations. I am also pleased to see amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill which take steps to address the rapidly evolving threat of technology-facilitated abuse of women and girls. However, I am clear that online offences will proliferate, and tech platforms will continue to enable and amplify harms unless all measures are consistently enforced.
There remains much to be done in order to improve the responses to victims and to grow confidence in seeking support and justice. I will work to drive the high standards and equitable treatment I believe all victims deserve.