Select a region
A charity focused on helping the survivors of rape will next year be launching a campaign to raise awareness of the fact that someone cannot consent to sex if they are incapable due to the effect of alcohol.
Founded in 2015, Jersey Action Against Rape is an independent and confidential service helping people to recover from the trauma of sexual violence.
JAAR works locally to prevent the incidence of rape and sexual assault in Jersey by raising awareness, dispelling the myths surrounding rape and promoting progressive thinking towards survivors of rape and sexual assault.
The charity also offers a dedicated helpline, website and on-site counselling, with access to qualified and specially trained counsellors and psychotherapists.
Express spoke to JAAR regarding their hopes and wishes for the next year, focusing particularly on their 2021 Consent Campaign...
"With so much uncertainty surrounding 2021 and the island's charities ability to hold large fundraising events, JAAR felt it was vitally important to focus on our awareness work and bring clarity surrounding the area of consent in 2021.
"Though it is JAAR’s policy not to comment on any individual cases that come to Court, we felt that recent comments made in the Royal Court during a rape trial by a defence lawyer, who stated, 'consent given whilst drunk is still consent,' needed to be addressed.
Pictured: The Consent Campaign is being launched in response to comments made in a case in Jersey's Royal Court.
The Sexual Offences Law stipulates someone cannot consent if they are incapable because of the effect of alcohol; therefore, comments such as these, made by a person in the legal profession, suggest that there may well be a disconnect between the law and a wider understanding of 'what consent is'.
Therefore, JAAR will be launching its 2021 Consent Campaign to dispel the myths of consent and bring clarity found in law to an individual’s understanding.
Our aim is to engage primarily with teenagers and young adults and address their current understanding of consent and use their creativity, through their artwork and communications using all the core social media platforms to deliver a clear message to their peers.
Pictured: JAAR intend to appeal to teenagers and young people to address issues of consent through art and creativity.
To do this, JAAR is looking for sponsorship involvement to assist us with hosting these events and to financially assist us with any promotional material, posters, stickers and banners to appear around the island. We would also like the sponsors to have an active involvement by giving interviews to the media to illustrate why they are backing this important campaign.
With this Campaign it is JAAR’s aims to make our Island’s population more informed and to get people talking freely about consent and we hope that this will ultimately lead to a reduction in the number of sexual assaults and rapes that occur in Jersey."
More information about JAAR's work can be found on their website.
