A very happy new year to our dear readers! AWAVA hopes that 2014 has started well and joyously for you all. Our weekly round up is now back after a hiatus over the seasonal holidays and we are looking forward to continuing to bring to you the latest Australian and global information on policy, advocacy, research, and events on the prevention and elimination of violence against women and their children.
Around the Country
- The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has marked the first anniversary of its establishment with the release of more detailed information about its work in the past 12 months.
- The rate of sexual assault in Forbes and Parkes Local Government Areas in NSW has been increasing dramatically in the last 12 months up to double the national average.
- Former AFL player Luke Ablett asks, ‘what are we, in our social groups in our communities, and as a society, doing that makes some men violent?’
- A woman asylum seeker has reported being sexually assaulted in the Christmas Island detention centre, leading to an investigation by Australian police.
- Charlie Pickering calls for Australia to prioritise the problem of men’s violence against women.
- [Trigger Warning: descriptions of violence] In the Tweed, media, police, and victim’s advocates are working together to raise awareness of domestic violence in the region.
Around the World
- [Trigger Warning: violent language] Two people have pleaded guilty to sending threatening tweets to Caroline Criado-Perez in the UK.
- [Trigger warning: descriptions of sexual violence] The amount of ‘corrective rape’ occurring in South Africa has been increasing dramatically. Clare Carter has worked to document and share the stories of victims and survivors.
- In Israel, 11 men (most of whom are members of Israel’s Border Police) have been arrested for the assault of a transgender woman.
- In the US, a group of women are fighting to make ‘revenge porn’ against the law.
- Researchers in the UK have found that intimate partner violence is associated with an increased risk of termination of pregnancy. The researchers suggest that “health professionals counselling women who request termination could also use the opportunity to ask about domestic violence“.
Get Involved
- The Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) is undertaking research to examine the impact of legislative amendments to the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) introduced by the Family Law Legislation Amendment (Family Violence and Other Measures) Act 2011 (Cth). The Evaluation of the 2012 Family Violence Amendments has been commissioned and funded by the Attorney General’s Department. It builds on the findings of the Survey of Recently Separated Parents 2012, the Longitudinal Study of Separated Families, and the 2009 AIFS Evaluation of the 2006 Family Law Reforms.
- A new PhD project at the Judith Lumley Centre, Latrobe University, is looking at the effects of alcohol on relationships. The study is exploring women’s perspectives about the influence of a male partner’s drinking on their relationship.
Erratum:
AWAVA would like to clarify an item which appeared in the 20 December, 2013 edition of the Weekly Round-Up.
The Lookout, which was newly launched in 2013, is a joint project developed by the Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria (DVRCV) and Domestic Violence Victoria (DV Vic). DVRCV is the lead agency for this exciting project.
**Articles published do not necessarily reflect the views of AWAVA and are included as items of interest only