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More than 100 music festivals have signed up to a campaign aimed at tackling sexual violence.
After two years of postponements, curtailments and cancellations, hopes are high that the summer of 2022 will be a fun and abundant one for festival-goers. Ahead of that, the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) has updated a charter of best practice that it first launched in 2017.
A total of 103 festivals have committed to the relaunched charter. One of the key promises is that “all allegations of sexual harassment, assault and violence will be taken seriously, acted upon promptly and investigated”.
The Safer Spaces charter has been updated with guidance and input from organisations including Rape Crisis England and Wales.
According to Rape Crisis England and Wales, one in five women have been raped or sexually assaulted as an adult with the highest ever number of rapes recorded in 2021. The scale of the crisis is bigger because five in six women who are raped do not report it to police.
The charter also cites a YouGov poll from 2018 which reported that one in five festival-goers had experienced sexual assault or harassment at a UK festival. The campaign will highlight the five “D’s” of bystander intervention – direct, delegate, distract, document and delay.
ARTICLE APPEARED IN: THE GUARDIAN
