Day 15 - Justice. Welfare. Law.
Our tiny charity, the Centre for Military Justice, was established at the end of 2019, to provide free specialist advice and support to women and men in the armed forces that have suffered harassment, sexual violence, or other abuse. We also provide legal help and support to bereaved military families. We also provide education and outreach services to the armed forces in relation to ethics, human rights and the rule of law. The CMJ was set up by the bereaved father of a young female private, a former Brigadier of the Army, and a human rights lawyer.
In our first 4 years, we have supported and acted for a large number of women who have reported sexual violence or harassment - we have helped them make formal complaints and secure accountability for the wrongs that have been done to them. It has been our privilege to meet and work with such an impressive group of people - women with a tremendous sense of service, drive and commitment. Notwithstanding their own often traumatic experiences, their guiding motivation is always to improve things for other servicewomen and to improve justice and accountability for their people, sometimes at enormous cost to themselves, and little thanks.
The CMJ recognises that it only sees cases when something has gone badly wrong, and we acknowledge that there is a real desire within parts of the senior leadership to reform and change in the armed forces – but we can say with confidence that the experiences of far too many servicewomen remains completely unacceptable, marked by the nastiest and most extreme forms of gender discrimination, and has at its root the enormous problem of male violence against women, including sexual violence. There remains a series of obstacles to reform which must be addressed. The armed forces’ operational capability is dependent upon attracting and retaining servicewomen of high ability. A failure to address the causes of the kind of inequality experienced by servicewomen inevitably leads to high-ability women leaving prematurely, or choosing not to join in the first place. It also creates a situation in which really serious harm can be perpetrated against women with impunity, with career-ending and life-changing effects.
We see these kinds of cases all the time. They can lead to incredibly serious outcomes for units and for individual service women. This month an internal review revealed widespread predatory behaviours towards women in the Red Arrows - reflecting attitudes that we have seen in other parts of the RAF and across the tri-services. More seriously, last month saw the publication of a report into the death of teenager Gnr Jaysley Beck - whose bereaved family we are supporting - that revealed relentless sexual harassment that was ‘almost certainly’ a causal factor in her death.
There are unacceptable points of resistance within the Defence establishment that remain opposed to meaningful change. For every step forward there always seems to be one or two steps back. In recent years, a promise by the Defence Secretary to introduce meaningful independence in the handling of serious workplace harassment grievances was reneged upon within a few months; and the existing, already dysfunctional system for resolving these kinds of complaints was made worse by some very poor reforms that were forced through by MoD against the advice of both the Defence Committee and the Service Complaints Ombudsman for the Armed Forces. And there remains the continued, inexplicable, resistance by unaccountable senior men inside the Defence establishment to the proposal that serious sexual offences should be handled in the civilian, not the military justice system.
Women in the armed forces are being increasingly supported to stand up, tell their stories and make the case for change. Listen to them. These women are taking the fight to the forces of reactionism inside the Defence establishment. Please follow us on social media (@cmjhq) and help share their stories.