Tri-Service

"Not Enough Being Done To Combat Sexual Harassment In The Forces"

Brigadier Nicky Moffat, who was once the most senior woman in the Army, says not enough is being done to combat sexual harassment in the Armed Forces.

A survey of 25,000 people, including 800 women in the military, found last year that sexual harassment in the Forces occurs twice as much as in civilian life.

Speaking to Forces TV, Brigadier Moffat, who retired from the Army in 2012 after 27 years of service, argued that the military must do more to ensure bullying and unwanted sexual advances are eliminated.

"The Armed Forces should be really good at this. They should be 'market leaders' in good behaviour," she said.

“We’ve got a chain of command, an excellent cascade system for information, incredibly good leadership and technical training that makes our soldiers amongst the very best in the world, and also a code of values, an honour system that ought to mean that we have everything right.

"So... why is is that we still have an underlying seam of inappropriate behaviour? The Armed Forces are very good at putting in place equality and diversity policies… [but] maybe leaders just need to do a little bit more.”

The Ministry of Defence, meanwhile, responded with the following statement from a spokesperson:

"Rape and sexual assault are abhorrent crimes which have no place in the Armed Forces. We absolutely do not tolerate offences of this kind and every reported incident of rape, sexual assault or harassment is thoroughly investigated. "

"It is important to note that there is no evidence to suggest that rates of sexual offending in the Armed Forces are higher than in the broader population.

"However, we recognise the great courage it takes to come forward and report a sexual offence, which is precisely why we have extensive support in place for those affected, including helplines, training programmes and awareness campaigns.

"In addition, the Army has established a Sexual Offences Prevention Working Group to both reduce incidents of sexual assault and improve support to victims."

Forces TV's James Hirst, meanwhile, spoke to former Conservative Defence Secretary, Liam Fox and asked him for his take on Brigadier Moffat's comments.