Lived Experience Advocacy Forum

LEAF (Lived Experience Advocacy Forum) was established by Victim Support earlier this year as a result of Welsh Government’s funding to Victim Support to run the Wales Hate Support Centre. It recognises the importance of learning from peoples’ lived experience to help shape & develop the national Hate Crime service.

LEAF consists of a core voluntary group supplemented by a wider community of volunteers, also with lived experience, who help inform the discussion and allow us to capture as wide an input of experience & opinion as possible.

sharing, learning and growth of both the Support Centre & members of the group

The core group has already identified key issues which they feel need exploring further based on their collective experiences of being targeted and subjected to Hate Crime. They however decided that priority should be given to exploring barriers to reporting Hate Crime as this seems fundamental to trying to improve services & outcomes.

The Centre for Hate Studies at University of Leicester was awarded a grant from the Equality and Human Rights Commission to lead a project that tackles homophobic, transphobic and biphobic hate crime in Leicester and Leicestershire. Whilst this piece of work was directly aimed at addressing the problem of under reporting

As an organisation Victim Support is really keen for the voice of those who have been impacted to be heard first & foremost. The core aim of the Forum is to help shape the development of the Wales Hate Support Centre by providing a steer through lived experience of hate and its impact, and support the development, knowledge amongst LGBT victims of hate crime within Leicestershire our findings around barriers within Wales across all protected characteristics showed a very similar pattern https://le.ac.uk/hatestudies/research/identifying-barriersand-solutions-to-under-reporting

Mae dioddefwyr a gefnogir gan

Ganolfan Cymorth Casineb Cymru yn cyfeirio at y rhwystrau hyn yn rheolaidd, ond roedd y Fforwm o’r farn ei bod hi’n bwysig tynnu sylw at y materion allweddol fel y gall gwasanaethau perthnasol gydnabod a mynd i’r afael â’r rhain wrth symud ymlaen.

Yn gynnar iawn yn y drafodaeth, roedd hi’n amlwg bod rhwystrau sylweddol yn bresennol nid yn unig yn syth ar ôl achos ond hefyd am sbel wedi hynny, wrth i ddioddefwyr ei chael hi’n anodd adfer a chael cymorth priodol.

Gan fod sawl asiantaeth wahanol bosib yn cefnogi dioddefwyr, gan gynnwys yr heddlu, asiantau tai a chynghorau yn ogystal â sefydliadau arbenigol annibynnol eraill fel Cymorth i Ddioddefwyr, teimlwyd ei bod yr un mor bwysig i’r rhwystrau hyn gael eu nodi ond hefyd y dylid cyfeirio at adegau allweddol yn yr ymchwiliad/proses gymorth lle maen nhw amlycaf.

Nodwyd rhwystrau yn ystod yr adegau allweddol hyn:

Cyn cyflwyno adroddiad cychwynnol h.y. mae achos wedi digwydd – pa rwystrau all stopio’r dioddefwr rhag adrodd i’r asiantaeth berthnasol a gofyn i gychwyn ymchwiliad?

Yn ystod ymchwiliad h.y. mae adroddiad cychwynnol wedi’i gyflwyno – pa rwystrau all y dioddefwr eu hwynebu a all ei atal rhag parhau i geisio gwneud iawn am yr hyn a ddigwyddodd?

Ar ôl yr ymchwiliad h.y. mae’r ymchwiliad wedi’i gwblhau gan yr asiantaeth berthnasol – beth yw canfyddiad y dioddefwr a sut bydd hyn yn trosi i deimlad o ddatrysiad neu hyder yn y broses?

These barriers are regularly referenced by victims who are being supported by the Wales Hate Support Centre but the Forum felt that it was important to highlight key issues so that these, moving forward, can be better acknowledged & addressed by relevant services.

Very early on in discussion it was apparent that there are significant barriers in place not only immediately following an incident but also in the aftermath, when victims are struggling to recover & receive appropriate support.

As there are potentially many different agencies supporting victims, including police, housing agencies and councils as well as other independent specialist organisations such as Victim Support it was similarly felt important that these barriers should not only be identified but also that reference be made to key moments within an investigation/support where they are felt to be most prevalent.

Barriers were identified during these key times:

Before an initial report is made i.e. an incident has occurred – what barriers will potentially stop the victim from reporting to the relevant agency & requesting an investigation commence?

During an investigation i.e. an initial report has been made –what barriers will the victim potentially face which may preclude them from continuing to pursue reparation?

After the investigation i.e. the investigation has been completed by the relevant agency – what is the perception of the victim & how will this translate to a feeling of resolution or confidence in the process?