Luke and his brother, Ryan, who are from Lincolnshire, travel across the country and internationally to raise awareness of coercive control following a personal family tragedy.
In 2016, their dad murdered their mother, Claire, and sister, Charlotte, after years of coercive control, before committing suicide.
Since then, the Hart brothers have committed to challenging male violence against women and children by sharing their harrowing story, including starting a charity called CoCo Awareness.
Tackling Violence against Women and Girls is the mission of ‘16 Days of Action’ an international campaign started by the Women’s Global Partnership in 1991.
Luke was the headline speaker as the local campaign, which has been organised by Stirling and Clackmannanshire Councils and a host of third sector organisations, got underway at a conference at the Albert Halls in Stirling.
Crucial for raising awareness
He said: “Events like this are crucial for raising awareness and understanding of domestic abuse.
“We never understood the coercive control our father was perpetrating was so dangerous or that it even had a name, until we saw a poster on coercive control in the police station, just days after our father murdered mum and Charlotte.”
At the event, Luke and representatives from both local authorities and other agencies signed the White Ribbon Pledge to never to commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women in all its forms.
Not just physical
Stuart Oliver, Senior Manager for Economic Development and Communities at Stirling Council, said: “Having Luke come to Stirling to deliver such powerful and moving testimony really drove home the importance of our ‘16 Days of Action’ campaign and tackling domestic abuse against women and children.
“As a partnership, we recognise this is a serious issue and we work closely together to raise awareness and support people affected by gender-based violence.
“Earlier this year, Stirling Council also approved a new policy on Domestic Abuse to ensure we have the correct help and support in place for our employees.
“The work of the Stirling and Clackmannanshire Gender Based Partnerships is vital and the wide-ranging events taking place over the coming weeks will help raise awareness with people on this issue and highlight that domestic abuse is not just physical.”
Coercive control is now an offence
The annual 16-day campaign runs from Monday, 25 November (International Day against Violence against Women) through to 10 December (International Human Rights Day) and also includes World Aids Day on 1 December.
It raises awareness at a local, national and international level about the harms faced by women and children.
While men and people in same-sex relationships can also be victims, ’16 Days’ focuses on male violence against women as statistics show that they are the victims in the vast majority of cases.
A key theme of the local campaign will be highlighting that domestic abuse is not just physical and coercive control is now an offence under the new Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018.
Events and activities will also focus on:
- Making people aware of the new Forth Valley NHS Meadows facility, designed to support those who have experienced sexual abuse or rape
- The importance of protecting and supporting women with learning disabilities
- The student-centred #isthisokay campaign
- The White Ribbon campaign
- Challenging poverty, particularly among women.
Picture details and background info
Pic 01 - Pictured signing the White Ribbon Pledge at the Albert Halls in Stirling are (from left) Lesley Gallagher, Service Manager Regeneration and Inclusive Growth at Stirling Council; Jessica Lindholf, Manager at Stirling and District Women’s Aid; Ali Ryan, Gender-Based Violence Co-ordinator at Stirling Council; Kevin Kelman, Chief Operating Officer (People) & Chief Education Officer at Stirling Council; Graeme Lannigan, Detective Chief Inspector Forth Valley Division; Luke Hart; Davy Thompson, Campaign Director at White Ribbon Scotland; Jill Stevenson, Dean of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion/Director of Student Services, University of Stirling.
* This is a partnership between the local public and third sector to produce, implement and monitor response to preventing and eradicating gender-based violence.
The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) 2018 Act came into force in April 2019, the Act Prior to this Act, there was no specific crime of Domestic Abuse in Scotland and no recognition of its nature and consequences. The previous legislation was unable to address the whole spectrum of abusive behaviours and not effective in holding perpetrators accountable
There were 802 incidents of domestic abuse in Stirling reported to the police in 2017-18 and 191 incidents of sexual crimes.
-
Kevin Kelman Signs White Ribbon Pledge (0) -
Kevin Kelman Signs White Ribbon Pledge (1) -
Signing of White Ribbon Pledge (2) -
Signing the White Ribbon Pledge (3) -
Continuum of Male Violence Seminar, Albert Halls Stirling (4)
