As part of the Ministry of Defence’s commitment to crack down on
unacceptable sexual behaviour and sexual offences, a new Zero
Tolerance policy has been announced.
This policy aligns the Royal Navy, RAF, and Army under one
approach to dealing with incidences, that will be implemented
across the UK Armed Forces to enable services to better
support victims and secure justice for them.
Key changes to existing policies include that those found guilty
of sexual offences are to be administratively discharged from
service with no option to serve elsewhere. The policy also
stipulates that sexual relationships between instructors and
trainees are unacceptable and will result in discharge of the
instructor.
Minister for Defence People and Veterans, said:
Sexual offences and sexual relationships between instructors and
trainees have no place in Defence, or wider society, and a zero
tolerance approach will ensure our commitment to providing a
better working environment for our serving personnel is met.
We are sending a clear message that the women and men of the
Armed Forces must uphold our values and standards.
As we set out in our response to the House of Commons Defence
Committee’s Report into “Women in the Armed Forces: From
Recruitment to Civilian Life”, it is a Defence-wide goal to stamp
out sexual offences and ensure that the Armed Forces continues to
be a place where people are proud to work and have faith in their
justice system.
The Zero Tolerance policy is one of a range of measures intended
to tackle unacceptable sexual behaviour in the Armed Forces. It
is intended to improve the career experiences of serving
personnel, providing clearer, tri service direction to those in a
position to prevent and address instances of sexual offence. We
have already taken important steps to ensure that all reported
offences are subject to prompt, thorough, efficient, and
independent investigation. The policy also sends a clear signal
to everyone in the Armed Forces that these offences will not be
tolerated.
Where proven, personnel convicted of a sexual offence will be
discharged from the Armed Forces.
The policy has been produced with input and consultation from a
wide range of stakeholders across Defence and the Service Justice
System and is just one on a number of new policies being
introduced this year to stamp out unacceptable behaviours.
