AWAVA’s Chair, Julie Oberin, attended the inaugural National Rural Women’s Conference in Canberra to showcase Stopping Violence Against Women Before It Happens: A Practical Toolkit for Communities, developed in partnership with NRWC and CQU’s CDFVR. The National Women’s Alliances also launched Priorities for Women 2013, a joint project encouraging women to enrol to vote and to vote as women.
In other news around the country
- Excellent news! The Senate Committee has recommended that domestic violence is included as a protected attribute in the Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill 2012 (recommendation 3). The Committee added:
“”…this is an area where the Commonwealth must lead the way….The committee considers that this action, together with a further amendment to the Draft Bill, will assist victims of domestic violence to increasingly participate in the workforce and broader community…””
- Read more on the announcements on flexible work and domestic violence
- Minister Julie Collins says that domestic and family violence ‘is above politics‘
- Victoria launches the Go4Zero campaign for eliminating violence against violence against women, a partnership between Victoria Police, the Victorian Coalition Government and the community
- Victoria have also announced grants to address Koori Family Violence
- Again in Victoria, research from the Australian Institute of Criminology has revealed Victorians are 4 times more likely to have been killed as a result of domestic violence or by an acquaintance than under other circumstances, read more in: 80% of killers are known to their victim
- Queensland announces its contribution to the National Centre of Excellence
- The ABC reports that around the globe women and girls are being most affected by the economic crisis, with an increase in sexual abuse and forced prostitution
- From last week, read Minister Collins’ remarks on V-day and comments on the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children
Internationally
- Globally preparations for the 57th Session of the Commission for the Status of Women are ramping up, listen to this podcast on how effective global high-level meetings can be at tackling violence against women or if grassroots community work holds the key
- Advocates in India say more needs to be done to end violence against women whilst women are being held in police or military custody
- Watch this youtube clip from Jackson Katz on Violence and Silence
- Laura Bates asks Does Facebook have a problem with women?
- There are calls in the UK to keep the identity of alleged rapists hidden
- Still in the UK, and prosecutions are set to begin for parents who send their children overseas for female genital mutiliation/cutting
- Iceland discusses tactics to ban access to violent pornography on the internet, and the UK says it will follow their lead
- Many of you will remember the graphic we shared a few weeks ago showing the numbers of rapes and the legal outcomes (prosecution, conviction) – click here to access the UK version
Resources and Reports
New Reports:
- The ADFVC have released Preventing the Abuse of Older People by their Family Members
- Partners for Prevention (International) have published Preventing Violence Against Women: from Community Activism to Government Policy
Upcoming Events
February
- 27 Febuary: Getting Safe Against the Odds – Family violence and women with a disability – Training for workers who are currently working in the family violence sector to gain a better understanding of the context and experiences of women with disabilities who experience violence
March
- Register for AMaRWA’s Stand Up! Eliminating All Forms of Violence Against CALD Women national conference on 28-30 April, early bird registration closes on 1 March: http://www.amarwaconference.org
- For those of you based in Canberra, if you haven’t already make sure you take the opportunity to see The Women Who Made Canberra – an exhibition celebrating women in Canberra’s history, closing 17 March
- 21 March: Australian Women’s Coalition is calling young women between 18 – 30 years who live, study or work in Auburn, Bankstown, Liverpool or Coffs Harbour NSW, or in Canberra, ACT to be a part of SHOUT! A series of three free workshops will run in each location, complemented by an online network of support and skills-sharing and a local network of participants and AWC member organisations. The workshops will culminate in community events on Harmony Day next year, Find out more here
April
- Stand-Up! Eliminating All Forms of Violence Against CALD Women national conference, 28-30 April, Canberra
- 11-12 April: Child Aware Approaches Conference, Melbourne
- 16 April:Due to overwhelming demand WIRE in Victoria present another session of Understanding Financial Abuse in the context of Family Violence
Later
- 13-15 May The White Ribbon International Conference, Sydney
- 25-28 August 8th Australasian Council of Women and Policing conference will be held in Adelaide . Call for papers is currently open
Internationally:
- 4-15 March 2013: 57th Session of the Commission for the Status of Women (CSW57), New York, priority theme: Eliminating and prevention all forms of violence against women and girls
*Articles published are not necessarily representative of the views and opinions of AWAVA, and are published as general information only