06/10/2011 Equality and Non-Discrimination
Strasbourg, 06.10.2011 – A former TV news presenter who was stalked three times in a 15-year career has told Council of Europe parliamentarians of “a devastating crime that, beginning often with small, incremental, steps, utterly destroys lives”.
Alexis Bowater, who now heads a British network for survivors, said stalking – which she defined as “the unwanted intrusion of one person into the life of another, in a manner which causes anxiety, fear and distress” – had affected up to 10 per cent of women at some point in their lives.
Speaking at a hearing during a meeting of the PACE Network of Contact Parliamentarians Committed to Combating Violence against Women, she explained: “Stalking locks the victim in a world of fear and isolation where they think there is no-one out there to help them, to believe them, to stop what is happening to them – and where their life is being controlled by someone else. There is a reason stalking is called psychological rape.”
Stalking could lead to deep psychological trauma and long-term harm to the victim, said Ms Bowater. “It breaks up people’s lives, affects their ability to care for their families and impacts on their work productivity. But it can also lead to serious assault, rape and murder.”
She said it was time to “bring this crime out of the shadows and place it firmly under the spotlight of international scrutiny”. This means national laws against stalking, collaboration in investigations and prosecutions, and information campaigns on the dangers of stalking.
“We have, internationally, already confronted domestic abuse and child abuse – the new task in protecting women is to give the same attention and resources to stalking. Stalking is the new battlefront.”
Johanna Nelles from the Council of Europe also outlined for the committee how stalking is covered in the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.