Camilla hails domestic abuse charity as it marks 50 years

The Duchess Of Cornwall Hosts Reception To Mark 50 Years Of Refuge
The Duchess of Cornwall poses with Home Secretary Priti Patel (left) and guests during a reception at Clarence House in London to mark 50 years of Refuge
Getty Images
Robert Jobson25 January 2022

The Duchess of Cornwall has called for domestic abuse campaigners to carry on their vital work, after an explosion in demand for specialist services during the pandemic.

As the charity Refuge commemorates its 50th anniversary, Camilla spoke on Tuesday of her hope in using the milestone to further efforts “towards a world where women and children can live in safety, free from fear”.

Despite huge strides in raising awareness and access to services, two women a week are killed by a current or former partner in England and Wales, while one in four women will be affected by domestic abuse in their lifetime.

Welcoming 70 women from across the worlds of politics, broadcasting and the charity sector to a reception at Clarence House, the Duchess said that while attitudes towards the crime have changed enormously during the last century, so have the perpetrators’ methods.

Campaigners have seen a 118 per cent increase in stalking and coercive control abuse during the last two years, directly from a new wave of technology based offending.

Emma Pickering, tech abuse team lead for Refuge, said: “The ways in which perpetrators are carrying out abuse is ever increasing.

The Duchess Of Cornwall Hosts Reception To Mark 50 Years Of Refuge
Camilla talks with Zara McDermott, who has campaigned with Refuge to bring about a change in laws surrounding revenge porn
Getty Images

“We are seeing more intricate ways of following, stalking and harassing victims - from remote following of Netflix accounts, Tesco Clubcards, internet IP address tracking, the threats are real and it’s not just women who are at risk.

“The risk to children is on the increase.

“From games console tracking to apps that parents might not be familiar with, there are serious and increasing dangers evolving every day.

“Since the pandemic we have seen a 130 per cent increase in tech based abuse, with the emergence of ever more sophisticated devices used to track, follow and record.

“We’ve seen examples of recording and listening devices being concealed in air fresheners, teddy bears and household items, some so small you wouldn’t see them and with battery lives of up to six months.

“All this increases the risk and threat to both women and children.

“We’ve seen victims have their Wi-Fi compromised to remotely lock doors, thereby imprisoning victims in their own homes and trackers on everything from cars to mobile phones.

“The tech companies also bear a responsibility to each and every victim out there and we are working hard to establish relationships with them to ask us for guidance when they are developing new technologies, but it really is a never ending problem we are facing.”

Earlier in the day the Duchess visited the world’s first women’s refuge in Chiswick, which opened in 1971.

The refuge in west London was followed by the first in Edinburgh in 1973 and in 1974, over 40 refuges opened across the UK.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in