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A NUMBER OF Irish music festivals have signed up to a campaign aimed at tackling sexual violence ahead of Europe’s festival season.
The Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) first launched its charter of best practice in 2017 to tackle sexual violence, harassment and assault at festivals.
The charter was relaunched earlier this month and more than 100 festivals across the UK and Ireland, including Electric Picnic, have signed up. Participating festivals will promote the principle of consent on site and will provide training for staff and volunteers on how to monitor and deal with incidents of sexual assault and harassment.
The AIF said by signing up to the campaign festival organisers are “reiterating their commitment to delivering a safe environment for audiences, performers, and workforce, and to taking a survivor-led approach underpinned by policies, procedures, and training”.
The charter states that all allegations of sexual harassment, assault and violence will be taken seriously, acted upon promptly and investigated.
“This is supplemented by a commitment to clear, robust reporting and disclosure procedures, including how to report incidents onsite and post event,” the AIF said.
A spokesperson for MCD said all festivals organised by MCD are signed up to the charter – this includes Electric Picnic and Longitude. Body & Soul has also signed up to the charter.
“We have in the past worked with the Rape Crisis Centre at Body & Soul, but do feel this is a great initiative that weaves festivals across the UK and Europe with one cohesive message, strategy and resources,” a spokesperson for the festival, which will take place at Ballinlough Castle in Co Westmeath next month, told The Journal.
A full list of the festivals signed up to Safer Spaces can be found here.
Festivals signed up to the charter will include relevant guidance in their policies as well as connections to local services. The campaign will also feature advice for festival-goers on how to be an ‘active bystander’, including the ’5 D’s'; - Direct, Delegate, Distract, Document and Delay.
The AIF said participating festivals will actively promote the principle of consent regarding sexual activity onsite at events, defining consent as “someone engaging in sexual activity if they agree by choice, and they have the freedom and capacity to make that choice” and reiterating that consent can be revoked at any time.
Participating festivals are also committing to assessing their training needs and provide training for staff and volunteers on both how to proactively monitor for and deal with incidents of sexual assault and harassment.
“Festivals are microcosms of society and sexual violence is a problem that persists in our society,” commented AIF membership and operations coordinator Phoebe Rodwell.
“Our understanding and approaches to tackling the issue are evolving all the time. That’s why it’s important that we renew the Safer Spaces campaign in 2022 with up-to-date messaging, resources and practices, to prevent sexual violence and promote a survivor-led approach, helping festival organisers to fulfil their duty of care at events.”
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Aodhan was asked on RTÉ radio if he would welcome such a centre in Clontarf where he lives. In a roundabout way the answer was no and he believes it is for other areas to deal with this.
@Michael McLoughlin:
Car break ins, assaults, drug dealing increase in areas adjacent to injection and methadone centres.
Send all drug users to a remote Island and give them as much drugs as they want.
They’ve opted out of society. We owe them nothing.
@m flynsk: is it not society doesn’t want them?plus your way of thinking and typing belongs in the Stone Age get a book and educate yourself,these people never got up one day and thought ahh hay I’ll be a heroine addict(all drug users) that you say could you explain that part a bit better because it makes you sound an uneducated Fool!
Put it beside your house then. Dublin 8 is already all of Dublin’s drug users dumping ground. Each community should be responsible for their own. We have enough centres, hostels, needle exchanges etc. All within a 10 minute walk of each other.
@Thomas Quinn: Problem is – the majority of people who use drugs are located in inner city areas, or at least frequent there. They are not out in great numbers in Sutton or Dundrum. I’d be happy with smaller sites dotted around the city but that’s probably not economical. It was supposed to be a pilot. DCC should have at least piloted it. If it worked -hooray. If it didn’t, halt it.
@Annie Citric: We have to move from Dublin 8 next year because it is so bad now already. Guardai do not stop or search anyone within a radius of these charity or government hostels/needle exhanges or drug clinics and with so many in the area that means dealers walk around with impunity. 5 guys deal openly opposite the late night centre and carry blades and bat’s intimidating people openly and St Patrick’s Park is filled with the walking dead. I have removed needles close by were my daughter plays. I have a solution for these centres. Prison. Lock them up and give them free heroin in supervision. If they want to get clean provide the support and weaning off service there too along with job support upon release. Enough is enough.
@Annie Citric: Unless you’ve done a census on IV drug users and their home addresses that’s a guess at best. There is a cohort of city centre dwelling addicts but there are a considerable amount who use their free passes on public transport to travel into the city centre each day because that’s where the “treatment” centres and homeless shelters are. Time to move them into the localities where these people actually come from instead of constantly drawing them into The D1/D2/D8 areas. Maybe then ordinary decent taxpaying workers can enjoy the city centre, and maybe the city will get a chance to become a more family friendly place, instead of something resembling a set from the walking dead.
@Annie Citric: The users travel to those places to get their drugs they are fro all over the country and for all backgrounds
@Annie Citric: how would you like to see an injection centre put on the doorstep of your children’s school, having to have the blinds closed because of the sightings they have to see day in and day out. That centre will only attract more dealers and more addicts. They need help to come off drugs not keeping them on it.
The failed labour minister backs another loser.
The city council listened to the local community and said NO.
Drug users bring crime, anti social behaviour and violence and to create a Walking dead zombie farm, where stoned, out of their heads, criminals can bring heroin, that they bought illegally with the proceeds of a criminal act and shoot up at the Tax payers expense. GET A GRIP.. It wouldn’t help on of them become clean.
Hopefully now D1 and D2 get cleaned up and the stoned Zombies destroing the city are removed.
Well done DCC and the Hug a thug brigade can go to hell
@Mark Mccormack: I lived around the corner from one in Brisbane and it was grand. There was never an issue. This has worked in other countries. A pilot scheme is worth a shot.
@Ned Flanders: live not too far from there myself. It does work, it works in Portugal, it works in the Netherlands. Addiction is a side effect of social isolation and a lack of purpose. These centres solve these root causes and the addiction fades in many cases. If we elevate the lowest in society we improve society.
Today’s goverment only approve popular decisions..vote hunting
Merchants Quay ( Franciscan Order) own a massive nursing home (Assisi House) on the Navan Rd beside the Papal Nuncio. Its where they keep there most prolific sex offender Ronald Bennet. That could be used as an injecting centre ? On all the bus routes and near the city centre.
@Jim Lahy: Grafton st is an excellent choice for the centre, Luas and plenty of buses there so addicts can travel hassle free for treatment.
@Niall O’Neill: Except for the people who use those very heavily used services and we have enough addicts of our own thanks all the same
Bit of a shame, that. Pity these poor souls couldn’t be given free drugs to be taken out of their misery and the dealers out of business.
An injecting centre??? Would it not make more sense to get people off drugs than offer them a legal place to take them?? It appears to me that injecting centres are the first step to make drug taking socially acceptable.
@Michael MC Evoy: I don’t think taking heroin is ever going to be accepted by society. It will never ever be gotten rid of either. The only thing that can be done is at least try and reduce the harm caused and save lives.
Why can these facilities not be placed in local existing hospitals throughout the city ? Taking new build units into the community is of course going to cause concern. These are drug addiction units and as such a hospital is the best place for them .
There remains a dire need to address & prevent the shooting up & user debris in public areas.
Surely there is a simpler way by fitting out mobile dispensary units to cater for 4 or 6 per session, so that there is no need to congregate all users to 1 place.
Am not impressed that these users are expected to purchase their own gear, thus continuing the criminal connection & influence. This gear not alone is illegal, but is potentially lethal.
Cannot the seized gear be quality & safety tested for use in such mobile units?
have your say