The Duchess of Cambridge spent time with Women’s Forum who has been focusing on “leaving no one behind”.
The Duchess first attended a roundtable with Cressida Dick, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Elizabeth Filkin, Chair of the Employers Initiative on Domestic Abuse and Suzanne Jacob, CEO of SafeLives.
Representatives from eight of the Commonwealth nations were also in attendance as well as two domestic abuse survivors. All speaking on the topic of “an improved response to abuse of employers”.
Abuse awareness is an issue the Duchess has focused much of her time on since 2009. Since this time she has travelled the Commonwealth, meeting with those affected by sexual violence and domestic abuse.
From the roundtable, the Duchess of Cornwall joined in at the main forum which the Duchess gave some closing remarks.
Speaking to the crowd after running over on a success roundtable, the duchess said “Domestic abuse remains a hidden problem” and how the “silence is corrosive: it leaves women, children- and men- carrying the burden of shame.”
As an active campaigner against domestic abuse the duchess noted that she has spoken to those who have suvived the abuse and to those with family and friends that have been killed, adding: “Their silence was broken, but only after a tragedy. I hope we can talk about what is happening behind closed doors across the world.”
Continuing she said: “I hope that these brave people have the courage to speak out-to be, in the words of one of those women, ‘victors, not victims.'”
The Duchess of Cornwall finished by asking the Women’s Forum to “bring this problem out into the open”.
“I very much hope that all of you will find a chance to make significant connections today and find new ways to bring this problem outi nto the open- so that together we can make sure that the voices of those who are livinf with abuse today, wherever they live, are not silenced, but clearly heard.”