This petition was submitted during the 2019 to 2024 Parliament
Rejected petition Make public sexual harassment a criminal offence.
Rejected on
Make public sexual harassment illegal with penalties that reflect the mental and physical harm that it does. I was first harassed when I was 6 and I live in fear it will happen again, and it has, multiple times since. It is exhausting constantly being on guard, but it shouldn’t have to be like that.
The government has put millions of pounds into helping those with mental health issues (brilliant) but fails to stop more women from developing such issues. Harassment has happened to me, it has happened to nearly 80% of women (UN Women UK) and will continue to happen until public sexual harassment is made illegal. Social change will only come when the law protects us, so we need legal change now. This problem is far worse for women of colour, and they need protection all the more from the gov.
Why was this petition rejected?
There’s already a petition about this issue. We cannot accept a new petition when we already have one about a very similar issue.
You are more likely to get action on this issue if you sign and share a single petition.
You may wish to sign this petition calling for the same action: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/578940
Sexual harassment could already involve certain offences. If you have been the victim of a crime you should contact the police here: https://www.police.uk/contact/
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.