Day: June 8, 2018

Women and girls who are subject to vile abuse and harassment online must be offered much better protection, the Prime Minister will say today.

At the G7 in Canada, Theresa May will tell world leaders that they must work with industry to ensure women can use the web without fear of being subjected to online rape threats, harassment, cyberstalking, blackmail, vile comments and more.

Acknowledging that platforms have made serious efforts in using advanced technologies, algorithms and protocols to tackle online terrorist propaganda, she will press the case for that work to now be extended to end abuse targeted specifically at women and girls.

The Prime Minister will note that in the first quarter of this year, Facebook took action against 1.9 million pieces of Daesh and Al-Qaeda content, a nearly twofold increase over the previous quarter – and she will call for a similar upswing in targeted action to tackle online violence against women and girls.

The Prime Minister will encourage companies to do more to quickly identify and take down online content promoting or depicting violence against women and girls, including illegal violent pornography and rape threats on social media platforms.

She will call for internet companies to use their cutting edge technology such as innovative data analytics to identify and remove adverts or websites linked to people trafficking, where sadly women and girls make up the majority of victims trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation.

She will also tell G7 leaders to look at how they can use legislation to deal with the perpetrators of such abuse.

Earlier this year, the UK Government announced plans to introduce new, world-leading laws to tackle the full range of online harms and set clear responsibilities for social media companies to keep UK citizens safe. Potential areas where the Government will legislate include a mandatory social media code of practice, transparency reporting and online advertising. A White Paper will be published later this year setting out details of the legislation to be brought forward.

Speaking at the G7 today, the Prime Minister is expected to say:

We know that technology plays a crucial part in advancing gender equality and empowering women and girls, but these benefits are being undermined by vile forms of online violence, abuse and harassment.

What is illegal offline is illegal online and I am calling on world leaders to take serious action to deal with this, just like we are doing in the UK with our commitment to legislate on online harms such as cyber-stalking and harassment.

Online violence against women and girls should not be separated from offline violence and the technology companies who are making welcome progress in banning and removing extremist content must use the same methods to prioritise tackling this unacceptable and deeply worrying rising trend.

Amnesty International UK published research in March looking at the online abuse of women, which found that:

• one in five women in the UK having suffered online abuse or harassment
• almost half of women said the abuse or harassment they received was sexist or misogynistic, with 27% saying it threatened sexual or physical assault
• 55% saying that they experienced anxiety, stress or panic attacks as a result
• only 23% of Facebook and 19% of Twitter users rated the platforms’ response in addressing online abuse or harassment as adequate, versus 41% and 43% who considered it inadequate

A 2016 Girlguiding survey also found that:

• 49% of girls aged 11-21 say fear of abuse online makes them feel less able to share their views
• 25% of girls ages 11-21 have experienced cyberbullying
• 50% of girls aged 11-21 think that sexism is worse online than offline
• 23% of girls aged 11-21 have had threatening things said about them on social media

And the 2017 Committee on Standards in Public Life report identified the scale of the problem of online abuse against female MPs, noting that no female MP active on Twitter was free from online intimidation.

The Prime Minister’s comments will come at a G7 session specifically discussing empowering and supporting women and girls around the world.

She will also turn her focus to the education of women and girls, telling G7 leaders that it is a devastating waste of potential that 130 million girls around the world aren’t getting the vital education and skills they deserve.

To help, she will announce new UK support to help over 400,000 girls in developing countries with the most urgent need, pledging £187 million of funding to support 427,779 girls in getting 12 years of quality education.

This new UK support will play a transformative role in lifting communities and societies out of poverty in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Nepal, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, enabling girls to continue their education so they can fulfil their potential and play a significant role in their communities, economies and political institutions.

Today’s announcement builds on the announcement made at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in April, where the Prime Minister pledged £212 million to get almost one million girls in developing countries across the Commonwealth learning.

The Prime Minister will say:

I am a passionate advocate of improving education for girls around the world.

It is the right thing to do and it is in the global interest. That’s why the UK is leading the way in changing views, opening up opportunities for girls and bringing parity to the classroom.

The UK, through the work of the University of Glasgow’s Institute for Gravitational Research and the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC) in Edinburgh, will develop the optical benches for the European Space Agency’s LISA mission (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna). These optical benches are at the core of the laser interferometry measurement system, the key technology needed to detect gravitational waves.

The space observatory, planned for launch in the 2030s, will allow scientists to study these mysterious waves, improving our knowledge of the beginning, evolution and structure of the Universe. It will build on the success the LISA Pathfinder mission, which in 2016 successfully demonstrated the technology needed for LISA. It will also build on work already taking place here on Earth where UK researchers, including from STFC and the University of Glasgow, are contributing to the ongoing LIGO project that made the first detection of gravitational waves in 2015.

Chris Lee, Head of Space Science at the UK Space Agency, said:

“The University of Glasgow has a worldwide reputation for gravitational waves research, with the pioneering work of Professor Ron Drever in the 1960s leading to the Nobel Prize-winning detection of the waves in 2015. This new funding ensures this legacy continues with the LISA mission, alongside crucial technology innovation from the UK ATC in Edinburgh. Scotland is yet again at the heart of UK space activity.”

The detection of gravitational waves in 2015 marked the start of a new era in astronomy.  First predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago, these tiny ripples in the fabric of space-time are generated by cataclysmic events like the merger of black holes or neutron stars and offer an entirely new way to study the Universe.

Dr Ewan Fitzsimons, who was part of the team at the University of Glasgow which developed the LISA Pathfinder optical bench and is now leading the LISA team at STFC’s UK ATC, said:

“It’s a very interesting time right now – the amazing science that LIGO has enabled is showing us the potential of gravitational wave astronomy to revolutionise our understanding of the Universe. In addition, the success of the LISA Pathfinder mission, and now the commencement of work on LISA with UK participation has been excellent news.

“This UK Space Agency investment will ensure that UK scientists are centrally involved in developing and utilising one of the most exciting and significant astronomy projects of the next few decades.”

Dr Harry Ward, who leads the University of Glasgow’s LISA team, said:

“The funding announced today sets the Glasgow and UK ATC teams firmly on the road to playing a leading role in a mission that promises to provide dramatically new insights into the nature and evolution of the Universe.

“After working very hard for over 15 years to bring LISA Pathfinder to such a successful conclusion, we are very happy indeed to be so strongly supported to take the crucial next step towards LISA. This commitment from the UK Space Agency will ensure that UK technology will lie at the heart of the most revolutionary astronomy mission of the next 20 years.”

Gravitational waves can be studied from space, away from ground-based ‘noise’ and measured over vast distances. LISA will be able to observe new sources invisible to the ground based gravitational wave observatories like LIGO. The LISA mission will study these gravitational waves using three spacecraft flying in a triangular configuration, separated from each other by a distance of 2.5 million km. At the heart of each spacecraft will be an interferometer.

These interferometers fire laser beams between each satellite, using them to measure tiny fluctuations in the distance between the spacecraft, which arises when a gravitational wave passes by.  Although the waves are generated by massive, violent events, they are miniscule and the interferometers must measure these tiny squeezes and stretches of the light beams to a few trillionths of a metre.

To support this the optical components of the interferometer must be arranged on an innovative optical bench that is thermally and mechanically isolated from any other effects apart from gravitational waves.

The team at the University of Glasgow designed and built the optical bench for LISA Pathfinder with funding from the UK Space Agency and STFC, supported in the early development phase by STFC’s RAL Space.  The LISA Pathfinder mission, which launched in 2015 and ended in 2017, successfully showed that two test masses at the heart of the spacecraft could be put into a state of virtual free fall in space, under the influence of gravity alone and unperturbed by other external forces, with a precision more than five times better than originally required. The Glasgow team will build on this world-leading experience to develop the optical benches for LISA.

LISA Pathfinder only used one optical bench, which the Glasgow team built by hand, while LISA will be more complex and on a larger scale, requiring up to 12 benches. STFC’s UK Astronomy Technology Centre will partner with the University of Glasgow to develop the robotic ultra-precision technology required and lead the overall design and build of the LISA optical benches. This technology will be developed specifically for LISA, but the work of the UK ATC facility in this area is expected to be of considerable interest to UK optics and photonics companies once the robotic technology is proved.

The first optical bench is due to be delivered to ESA around 2030.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove has today set out plans to create more than 40 new Marine Conservation Zones across the country – safeguarding almost 12,000 square kilometres of marine habitats and marking the most significant expansion of the UK’s ‘Blue Belt’ of protected areas to date.

The proposed protections – announced on World Oceans Day – will cover an area almost eight times the size of Greater London.

The new sites will reach right the way across England’s coastline – from the South West to Berwick on the Scottish border, with two sites in Northern Irish offshore waters.

No new activities deemed damaging – such as dredging, or significant coastal or offshore development – will be allowed to take place in these areas. Existing harmful activities will be minimised or stopped to allow important habitats to be restored over time.

Rare or threatened marine habitats and species which will be protected include the short snouted seahorse, stalked jellyfish and peacock’s tail seaweed.

At the same time, the Prime Minister will be making a call for urgent global action to protect the world’s oceans from plastics and other harmful waste.

Speaking at the G7 summit in Canada, she will implore other world leaders to follow the UK lead in working with business, industry and Non-Governmental Organisations to find innovative and effective solutions to this issue.

She will say that without joined-up, global action, we cannot effectively tackle this shared environmental challenge.

The Prime Minister is expected to say:

Marine plastics pollution is one of the greatest environmental challenges facing the world today.

The UK government is a world leader on this issue, with our 25 Year Environment Plan setting out a clear ambition to eliminate avoidable plastic waste to protect our rivers and seas.

There is an urgent need for greater global action and co-ordination on marine plastics pollution, including working with business, industry and Non-Governmental Organisations to find innovative and effective solutions.

This is a global problem, requiring global solutions.

The Environment Secretary has today announced a total of 41 new Marine Conservation Zones.

Some 50 zones have already been designated around England as part of the UK’s ambitious Blue Belt programme, including the first tranche of 27 zones designated in 2013, followed by the second tranche of 23 sites in 2016.

This third and final tranche will be designated within 12 months of the consultation, which will last for a period of six weeks. It will cover approximately 11,700 square km, bringing the total area of protection to over 32,000 square km.

Marine Conservation Zones are just one type of the many Marine Protected Areas in place around the UK to conserve rare, threatened and nationally important habitats and species for future generations. Marine Protected Areas currently cover a total of 209,000 square km.

If approved, the new tranche will take the total figure to around 220, 000 square km – meaning two fifths of the UK coast would be protected.

Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, said:

The UK is surrounded by some of the richest and most diverse sea life in the world. We must protect these precious habitats for future generations.

Today marks an important step towards completing our Blue Belt. We are creating safe havens for our cherished wildlife and putting the UK at the forefront of marine protection.