Barrister appointed to lead working group on offence of misogynistic harassment in Scots law

Baroness Helena Kennedy QC

The working group was requested by women’s organisations include Engender and Scottish Women’s Aid.

Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “The working group will be chaired by Baroness Helena Kennedy. She has extensive experience and knowledge in relation to women and will provide a strong perspective on this area.

“I’ve had an initial discussion with Baroness Kennedy and she is hugely enthusiastic and I’ll be discussing further with her the remit and membership of the group, but I’m delighted to have someone of her stature and integrity to undertake this work.”

Baroness Kennedy, who is qualified in English law, said: “It is important that we address misogyny and the hate crime specifically directed at women. Scotland led the way on creating serious responses to domestic violence with its zero tolerance position and this could be another area for pioneering reform.”

SNP MSP Annabelle Ewing said the appointment of the English barrister was a “coup”. She also asked Mr Yousaf why sex had not been included in the Hate Crime Bill.

He said: “I can certainly understand the concerns of a number of stakeholders about the omission of a statutory aggravator in relation to sex. But there are those who believe there are risks [such as Engender and Scottish Women’s Aid] that it could be misused by domestic abuse perpetrators and the evidential basis on it is weak.

“Ultimately having listened to those stakeholders, the largest, most established stakeholders when it comes to women’s rights in Scotland, they were pretty unanimous in their view that it could potentially do more harm than good.

“I could have just removed it from the bill and not created an order making power, but I was keen that this issue be revisited in greater detail, and undoubtedly this will be part of the work the misogynistic harassment working group will do, and at a future date that aggravator can be added to the bill.”