Chamber and committees

Thank you. I will ask Eilidh Dickson the same question.

What do other panel members think?

During consideration of the bill that became the Female Genital Mutilation (Protection and Guidance) (Scotland) Act 2020, in the previous parliamentary session, the Equalities and Human Rights Committee heard from ethnic minority women who had suffered from FGM about their challenges in accessing healthcare that was suitable for them. Does the member agree that we absolutely have to address that issue?

The Scottish Government motion acknowledges that women’s equality has not yet been achieved and that it remains one of the greatest human rights challenges that we face. Although, fittingly, we take a global perspective today, we should be under no illusion that the root causes of the immense challenges that are faced by women and girls across the world are the same as they are here. The root causes of inequality and violence are the same. There is much work to be done in Scotland. Our previous item of business and the systematic misogyny that was highlighted during it lay that out starkly.

On that note, I will talk briefly on something that I have raised on a number of occasions and often in a half-empty chamber—I will keep doing so nonetheless—which is the frankly irrational position in our law as it relates to prostitution. Pimping websites operate free from criminal sanctions and men who exploit women by paying for sex enjoy impunity, while women who are abused through prostitution face penalties for soliciting. The Scottish Government’s decades-old position is that prostitution is violence, yet our legal system criminalises the victims of that violence—not the websites that are profiting, nor the men who are perpetrating the violence, but the female victims of it. It is illogical and unjust, and we need to move on from that.

No matter where we are in the world, peace and stability are precarious. Safety and security are about more than the absence of violence and war. Women’s experiences of peace and security in peacetime and wartime are deeply interconnected in a world that is marked by male violence and rising militarism. Globally, conflict and violence are on the rise. The accompanying human suffering is horrific, as we are witnessing in Ukraine, Yemen and Gaza. We know that women and children often bear the brunt of that suffering. I will speak about Gaza. In highlighting that, I acknowledge that colleagues have spoken about violence elsewhere. I have no hesitation in condemning violence, wherever it happens and whoever is perpetrating it.

Speaking about the situation in Gaza for women and children, Save the Children’s CEO, Inger Ashing, said that she was

“running out of words to describe the horror unfolding”.

I was struck by an article by Nesrine Malik entitled “In Gaza, there’s a war on women. Will the west really ignore it because ‘they’re not like us’?” She describes how the healthcare system there has been all but obliterated.

The charity Care International UK states that there are no doctors, midwives or nurses to support women during labour. There is no pain medication, anaesthesia or hygiene material when women give birth. Babies are born outside, umbilical cords are cut with whatever sharp object there is to hand and tins are filled with hot water to keep newborns warm. Caesarean sections, which are painful in their aftermath even when there are drugs, are being performed without any anaesthesia by surgeons who do not have water to wash their hands, let alone to sterilise them, and there are no antibiotics for any resulting infections. In some cases, according to the Washington Post, C sections were performed on women post-mortem.

If women and children do manage to prevail in those impossible circumstances, they are faced with displacement and hunger while nursing painful tears, wounds and malnourished babies. Pregnant women will have had to have made a 20-mile journey from the north to the south in Gaza, and they will arrive in circumstances that UNICEF describes as breaching famine thresholds. That is particularly concerning when it comes to the fate of tens of thousands of pregnant and breastfeeding women, the majority of whom can consume only one or two types of food. Mothers cannot access sufficient food or clean water to produce milk for their babies.

It is hard to find words to describe that horror. I am at the point where I am not sure how many more pictures of dead babies, women and children I can look at. I wondered if it might be helpful to share some things that people can do and some actions that they can take if they are feeling helpless. Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom provides some suggestions for immediate action. Those are to write to the UK Government and demand that it uphold its obligation, under common article 1 to the Geneva conventions, to ensure that all parties to conflict follow international law, which should include calling for a ceasefire. You can lobby your Government for concrete actions such as sanctions to be taken against Israel if it does not comply with the United Nations Security Council resolutions. You can demand that your country cut off diplomatic relations with Israel if it does not immediately end its bombardment and siege of Gaza and start abiding by international law. On an individual front, you can also participate in a sanctions campaign. I urge people to find out about boycott, divestment and sanctions, which are legitimate and peaceful methods for tackling rogue apartheid states that have worked in the past and can work again.

[Inaudible.]

I welcome the minister to her role. I previously raised concerns that, even in a safe country such as Scotland, there are vulnerabilities for women who are resettling. How is the Scottish Government ensuring that women are kept safe, particularly when they move between locations?

It is clear that a significant number of women were failed not just by a culture of misogyny in Strathclyde Police but by a misogynistic system that criminalised them rather than the men who exploited them and caused harm. What steps is the Scottish Government taking to ensure that that injustice in our criminal justice system is addressed, so that the burden of criminality never again falls on the victims of male violence?

Does Pauline McNeill share my opinion that the fact that those women could be charged is totally unjust? The law as it stands says that some of those women could still be charged with soliciting.

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking, including through discussion with the United Kingdom Government, to ensure that rail services are safe and accessible for all. (S6O-03166)

Anyone who regularly uses the railway will have witnessed the benefit of having a safety-critical guard on the train. I personally received invaluable assistance recently in supporting a young female passenger who was being harassed by an older male.

I know that the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that public transport is safe and accessible for all and is mindful in particular of the challenges that are faced by women and girls who are travelling alone. Will the cabinet secretary use her influence to implore publicly owned ScotRail to show that it is, too, and to keep the guard on ScotRail services?