VIOLENCE AND INEQUALITY

That this House notes the establishment of the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR) due in October; recognises that violence and abuse is a violation of human rights and often both a consequence and perpetuator of inequality; further notes, for example, the higher levels of sexual abuse in women and girls with learning difficulties, the patterns which exist between domestic violence and elder abuse and the high levels of homophobic and racist abuse experienced by lesbians and gay men from ethnic minority communities; further notes that domestic violence in England and Wales alone costs £23 billion a year; and therefore supports the End Violence Against Women Coalition in their call for the CEHR to address the relationship between violence and inequality as a priority when it begins work later this year.