Diane wins her campaign for rape crisis provision in Hackney

22 Nov 2010
Diane Abbott MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington and Shadow Minister for Public Health has welcomed the announcement that Hackney will provide a hub for vulnerable women after Mayor of London Boris Johnson, fulfilled his pledge to open three new Rape Crisis Centres in the Capital.
 
The Nia project in Hackney, N1 will be one of two hubs to provide face to face services to support women and men who have been the victim of rape or sexual abuse in Hackney as part of a bigger Rape Crisis service across East London.

Diane, who has long campaigned to see rape crisis centre provision in the borough, welcomed the decision but says the Nia project still faces uncertainty over the continuation of its funding for other projects also aimed at supporting vulnerable men and women, including the Emma Project, London’s only refuge for women with substance misuse problems.
 
Diane wrote to the Treasury last month concerning the proposed cuts to London Councils, who currently support the scheme but could be forced to cut funding to several projects as part of a reorganisation.
 
Diane put pressure on Mayor of London, Boris Johnson in March this year to fulfil his promise of providing four Rape Crisis centres in London by the end of the year and encouraged him to consider opening a centre in Hackney, because the borough had one of the high level of reported gang rape cases on young women in London.
 
Diane said:
 
“I am pleased that Boris has kept his promise and has opened a crisis service here in Hackney.
 
It is a great thing that vulnerable men and women in Hackney will have a specialised service to turn to, especially as our borough suffers from a high level of gang rape involving young women.
 
However, the Nia project still faces uncertainty about whether it will be able to keep its other projects going.
 
I hope that London Councils will continue to support this project and with help from the London Borough of Hackney enable the Nia project to continue to carry out all of its services, especially considering the centre has now received recognition from Boris and will be a hub for vulnerable men and women in East London.”
 
 
Ends
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