The AWAVA team would like to congratulate Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott and the Coalition on their federal election victory. We look forward to working with the new Government and progressing the important work of preventing and eliminating violence against women and girls. Given the domination of intense election coverage from almost all media outlets over the last two weeks, AWAVA is delighted to present a special Double Edition of the Weekly Round-Up. We’ve condensed our bulletin to help reduce the information flow that we have all no doubt been wading through. Next week, it will be back to business as usual for the Weekly Round-Up!
We would also like to extend our warm and heartfelt congratulations to AWAVA Advisory Group member organisation, Women’s Refuge Movement NSW, who are now Domestic Violence NSW. The launch of their new website marks an important moment for the preventing violence against women sector in NSW and the broader Australian community.
Around the Nation
- Ken Lay, Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police, delivered a searing analysis of the damaging social myths driving victim-blaming and false characterisations of family violence, stating “our culture is heavy with warped and misspent masculinity“
- An editorial in The Age dissected the creeping influence of raunch culture into popular culture and highlighted the vulnerability this creates for young people avidly consuming online content, saying “Media and digital literacy is an essential skill in which our whole community should be involved. Just as drug and sex education programs are having a positive effect on young people’s behaviour, educating our youth about raunch culture is also a priority”
- The Tasmanian government has unveiled a new ten-year plan to reduce violence against women and their children aimed at lowering the prevalence of domestic violence and “making sure all government policies and services and programs apply that gender mainstreaming lens”
- In Victoria, a victim/survivor of domestic violence “has been told she is not allowed to know the area where her paroled attacker is living because of his right to privacy”
Around the World
- In Harlem USA, the violent murder of Islan Nettles, a young transgender woman starting a promising career in fashion, left her local community distraught and provided clear evidence of the life-threatening discrimination endured everyday by those identifying as sex and/or gender diverse
- In the Asia-Pacific Region, the United Nations released findings from a new study exploring why men use violence against women and girls affirming that gender-based violence “is preventable, not inevitable”
- In the UK, the Guardian covered the launch of Paladin, a new organisation created to assist women who met abusive partners through online dating sites. This agency was set-up in response to a rash of serious data breaches caused by the hacking of popular dating platforms
- The Women’s Media Centre is undertaking important work in documenting reports of sexualised violence in Syria to help build an evidence-base for violence against women in conflict
- In the USA, the President’s Working Group on the Intersection of HIV/AIDS, Violence against Women and Girls, and Gender-Related Health Disparities released a new report on these overlapping challenges for the health and well-being of people in the United States
- Human Rights Watch shone a spotlight on the situation in Afghanistan by calling on President Hamid Karzai to “take urgent action to fight child marriage and domestic violence or risk further harm to development and public health in Afghanistan” in this open letter
- UN Women continued to position violence against women and girls as the single most pervasive human rights violation in the world, with “up to seven in ten” women experiencing violence in their lifetime. UN Women intensified their ‘Say No, Unite to End Violence Against Women’ campaign by calling on all governments to commit to adding their voices to this global fight
- In the UK, Writer Jane Martinson argues that “falling domestic violence statistics are a sign of police failure”
Get Involved
- The National Centre of Excellence to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children has issued an open invitation to all those involved and/or interested in domestic, family and sexual violence to send submissions to help steer their National Research Agenda with a closing date of 1 October 2013
- The 2013 National Indigenous Health Conference is designed to bring together both government and non-government agencies working in the field of Indigenous health
- UN Women’s ‘Say No- Unite to End Violence Against Women’ campaign released a quiz to test knowledge of facts on violence against women and “what’s more, every point you score counts towards the Say NO action counter. Let’s show the world we are not silent anymore. Take action now!”
- In Brisbane on 20 September 2013, Law, History & Personal Narratives: An Indigenous Family Violence Perspective will address historical, legal, political and personal issues in relation to family violence faced within Indigenous communities
- Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria is hosting, on 24- 25 September 2013, “Making Children’s Safety and Well-being Matter– a two day workshop that will explore some dilemmas and possibilities for enhancing children`s safety and wellbeing, by focusing on the child within the family context”
- The NSW LGBTIQ Domestic Violence Interagency Working Group is hosting the second national LGBTIQ domestic violence conference “Stronger links for safer communities, because it’s all of our business” on 19-20 September, 2013
**Articles published do not necessarily reflect the views of AWAVA and are included as items of interest only