Welcome to this week’s edition of the Weekly Round-Up. This week, discussion of violence against women, and what actions we can take to prevent and eliminate it, has continued on an international scale. These conversations are centred on horrific patterns of violence and suffering the world over. However, we also feature this week some powerful words and ideas from strong and dedicated women such Razan Zaitouneh, Najwa Fituri, Asma Al-Ghoul and others. Their work is pivotal is moving towards preventing and eliminating violence against women for good.
Around the Country
- ACON has produced a new campaign called ‘Another Closet’ to assist LGBTIQ people experiencing domestic violence
- Potential changes to homelessness and housing services in New South Wales continue to draw concern
- University of Melbourne’s department of general practice are launching a pilot of a new app designed to help women who may be experiencing violence assess their level of safety
- Kirsty Wardle, a survivor of domestic violence and advocate for women experiencing violence, has spoken about the inadequacy of the sentence given to the man who abused her
- Libraries in the ACT are currently working to upgrade their infrastructure in response to the sexual assault of a 3-year-old girl inside a library branch
Around the World
- Angelina Jolie has spoken about the importance of holding persecutors of violence against women responsible for their actions
- In Nigeria, 20 women have been kidnapped by men suspected to be members of Boko Haram – the same group responsible for the abduction of over 200 school girls in April this year
- In Fiji, the Fiji Womens Crisis Centre are training police in human rights, including gender relations and preventing violence against women
- A new documentary has been released which examines intersectional realities of women and self-defence
- In the US, estimates show that domestic violence costs that nation $8.3 billion every year
- In India, male politicians continue to draw strong criticism over their public statements dismissing violence against women while women holding political office call for more substantive action to address violence
- In Rwanda, new ‘one-stop-shop’ centres are being opened in refugee camps to help address gender based violence
- In the UK, police have begun using new orders excluding people suspected of committing domestic or family violence from re-entering their homes if they are considered a risk to their partner or children
- In Egypt, video of a young woman being sexually assaulted in a crowd of protesters has drawn a large amount of public concern and debate
Research and Reports
- Submissions remain open for funding from the newly established Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety to conduct research into stemming rates of violence against women
**Articles published do not necessarily reflect the view of AWAVA and are included as items of interest only.