On July 29th, three small children were fatally stabbed and eight more were injured at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Seaport, England. All injured and slain children were female between the ages of 6 and 10. The police arrested a 17-year-old on the scene for murder and attempted murder. Knife crime has been on the rise in the United Kingdom in recent years from about 27,500 attacks in April 2014 to about 48,000 attacks in April 2024 according to the British National Office for National Statistics. Despite this data, mass stabbings of a similar magnitude to the July 29th attack are considered rare. C.N.N. has even referred to this incident as, “the worst attack on children in England in decades.”
This incident has garnered national and international attention with many prominent figures condemning the act. The Royal Family including the Prince and Princess of Wales sent their regards to the affected families while condemning violence via X. Taylor Swift also released a statement, writing, “These were just little kids at a dance class. I am at a complete loss for how to ever convey my sympathies to these families.”
This incident in the U.K. is part of a larger global trend in which women are attacked solely based on their gender. It is clear that The Royal Family strongly condemns this type of violence. As such, the British Prime Minister must take tangible actions to prevent similar crimes from persisting and plaguing British society. There must be clear-cut and defined laws that outline the punishment for female-based attacks so that the perpetrators of femicide can be appropriately punished. This will also provide a mechanism of prevention as well so that future incidents of the same magnitude do not persist. This will set a useful precedent for the rest of the world to use as a guide in the global fight against femicide.
The attack on July 29th comes soon after a different attack on women in London earlier in July. During that attack, three women were shot and killed by a crossbow by a disgruntled ex-boyfriend. According to CNN, violence against women and girls has been officially labelled as a national threat in the UK. This distinction has been supported by data from the U.N. Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls which states one woman is killed every three days in the UK. This is part of a greater trend worldwide of femicides – the killing of a woman or girl, in particular by a man and on account of her gender. While the horror of femicide has been glossed over in the past, the current state of the media and culture is no longer tolerant of this type of targeted violence.
This type of violence in the U.K. is rare if it ever occurs. Seaport is a small, coastal town that is typically associated with vacation. Thus, the response has been one of surprise and truly proves that crimes against women have become more far-reaching in recent years and are evidentiary of the increasing rise of femicides. In 2021, the United Nations established the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and Girls which seeks to recognize violence against women as a human rights violation, while ensuring that violence against women was integrated into the U.N. human rights framework and its mechanisms. This is a huge step in calling global attention to femicide and working towards a systematic eradication of this form of crime. The Special Rapporteur should continue its efforts and continue intervening in countries and regions that are considered high-risk or those that are experiencing higher rates of femicide as of late. The Rapporteur should also continue establishing femicide watches and observatories in individual countries to eliminate the issue on a case-by-case basis. These steps must be amplified with more international support from major stakeholders such as the U.S. and the U.K. to garner enough resources to fully eradicate femicide worldwide.
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