This week AWAVA said a final farewell to our outgoing Program Manager Dr Trishima Mitra-Kahn. Trish will be much missed for all her work in amplifying and harnessing member expertise so that AWAVA continues to deliver best-practice VAW policy advice and advocacy. We wish her the best for her future endeavours!
Our Chairperson, Ms Julie Oberin along with our Executive Committee member Ms Margaret Augerinos (National Committee member WESNET and CEO, Centre for Non Violence ) and Advisory Group member Ms Moo Baulch (Project Manager, Domestic Violence NSW ) were in Canberra to see Trish off.
Around the Country
- A Victorian pilot program, Strengthening Risk Management Demonstration Projects, has received an additional $4.5 million in State Government funding for its work with family violence and human services, police, corrections and the Courts
- WIRE Women’s Information has released a new information booklet for people dealing with financial abuse
- Services continue to urge the Federal Government to maintain their funding through the National Partnership Agreement on Housing (NPAH) beyond the current 2015 cut-off date
- In the Northern Territory, a 24 year old man stands accused of murdering his wife
- In Lismore, a man is charged with assaulting his partner while she held their one-year-old child [TRIGGER WARNING: Description of violence]
- In Queensland, the Courts’ average case load for domestic violence orders is 100 per day, and at least a third of these are simply ignored by the offenders in question
Around the World
- In Ghana, Central Regional Director of the Department of Gender, Ms. Paulina Abayage, has urged the media to take an active role in preventing intimate partner violence
- In Zambia, the US and UK Governments have pledged an additional $10 million to provide health services for survivors of gender-based violence
- In Nigeria, grief and worry continues for the over 200 school girls kidnapped two weeks ago with the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls trending around the world
- Wang Min, China’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, has expressed condemnation of sexual violence against women in armed combat
- In Europe, the ‘Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence’, or ‘Istanbul Convention’, is set to come into force on 1 August this year
- In the United States, a 16-year-old girl has been killed by a classmate after rejecting his invitation to attend a prom [TRIGGER WARNING: Descriptions of violence]
- In South Africa, the trial of Oscar Pistorius continues to draw attention from the general public
- Jessica Valenti has written about the current hesitation on the part of many to use the word ‘rape’ [TRIGGER WARNING: Descriptions of rape and sexual assault]
Get Involved!
- Researchers at the University of Melbourne are seeking women who may have experienced fear of a partner or ex-partner in the past 6 months to participate in giving feedback on a web-based relationship and wellbeing tool they are developing
**Articles published do not necessarily reflect the views of AWAVA and are included as items of interest only