Campaign Archives

Background

The first Zero Tolerance campaign was launched in Edinburgh in November 1992 by Edinburgh District Council’s Women’s Committee. This was the first crime prevention campaign in Britain to tackle the issue of male violence against women and children.

The campaign was prompted by a local survey by Edinburgh Council which showed that violence against women was a priority issue for women in Edinburgh. This led to a local research study in three Edinburgh schools with young people aged 12 - 16 years old. The research looked at young people’s knowledge and attitudes to violence against women and found that:

• Boys, some as young as 12 years old, found violence against women more acceptable than the girls.
• Both boys and girls found violence more acceptable if the perpetrator was married to the victim.
• The majority of young people interviewed expressed some likelihood of using violence in their future relationships.

Following the results of the research, Edinburgh District Council took the decision to run a high profile campaign in the city of Edinburgh to raise public awareness of the issue of violence against women and children.

Given the challenging nature of the campaign's messages, it was important to secure a wide support base for the campaign prior to the launch. This was given priority and, by the time the campaign was launched, support was forthcoming from a range of agencies including all the political parties represented on the Council, the churches, the police authority and the local newspaper. Consultation with relevant organisations and particularly the front-line organisations such as Women's Aid, Rape Crisis and Incest Survivors was also essential.

It is clear that public education on its own is not enough to tackle male violence and the campaigns promote a three pronged approach to highlight the key areas for any strategy which aims to combat violence against women and children - the 3 Ps :

• PREVENTION Active prevention of crimes against women and children.
• PROVISION Adequate provision of a range of quality support services for women and children.
• PROTECTION Appropriate legal protection for women and children experiencing male violence

The 3 Ps approach is highlighted and reinforced in all Zero Tolerance work. Based in Edinburgh, Scotland, the Trust is now the national point of contact for Zero Tolerance campaigns and initiatives. We continue to work in partnership with organisations to develop and implement innovative awareness-raising campaigns,practice and resources. With a primary focus on prevention, the Trust is continuing its ground-breaking work to inform policy and practice to ensure that wider inequalities are addressed in strategies to prevent male violence. The Respect initiative which targets young people works towards this goal by aiming to prevent violence before it happens.