Welcome to the latest edition of the AWAVA Weekly Round-Up. This week we have highlighted a number of ways to get involved in the effort to prevent and eliminate violence against women. From attending conferences, trainings, and events, to filling out surveys, there are a huge variety of ways that you can support the movement to address gender-based violence. But the key idea that all of these opportunities share is that it is the responsibility of every individual to take action to make our communities safe for all women and girls.
Around the Country
- The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse may have to begin turning victims away from September this year if their deadline and funding are not extended
- In Victoria, the No More Deaths campaign has been launched to encourage political parties to effectively address family violence
- Labor Leader Bill Shorten has issued a statement to the media about an allegation of sexual assault made against him
- Workers who are sexually harassed by customers are highly unlikely to report the incident to their managers [TRIGGER WARNING: Descriptions of harassment]
- A pilot program is being rolled out to identify ways that vets can identify animals being abused by their owners and to measure the connections between animal abuse and domestic violence
- In Victoria, new laws will allow offenders who breach family violence intervention orders to be named publicly without a court order, as well as allow police to issue family violence safety notices during business hours
- New figures have shown that children who experience domestic violence are significantly more likely to have issues with the law into adulthood
- In NSW, a man has been arrested for a number of sexual assaults of girls in the late 1980s and early 1990s following new DNA analysis [TRIGGER WARNING: Descriptions of sexual violence against children, kidnapping]
Around the World
- In Papua New Guinea, gender-based violence is making international headlines
- Rebecca Watson speaks about perceptions of false accusations of rape in the skeptic community and the general principle that ‘extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence’
- In Canada, the Government is being urged to address violence against Aboriginal women and girls
- In the United States, a risk assessment system is being trialled to identify those domestic violence perpetrators most likely to seriously injure or kill women
- In the Amazon, social inequality, including high levels of violence against women, is making environmental conservation efforts ineffective
- In the United States, new research is showing that financial education is a key service for survivors of domestic violence [TRIGGER WARNING: Descriptions of violence, financial abuse]
- In India, a pilot program is providing women with internet terminals to report assault and harassment to the police without having to attend a police station
Research, Resources and Reports
- AWAVA’s sister alliance, economic Security 4 Women, has launched a new online tool, Know Your Value, to assist women when negotiating pay and employment conditions
- In the United States, the National Network to End Domestic Violence has developed a toolkit to providedomestic violence and HIV/AIDS service providers with information and resources to enhance services for persons exposed to HIV/AIDS and domestic violence
- The Australian Institute of Family Studies has released a new report: Groups and communities at risk of domestic and family violence
- The International Women’s Media Foundation has released a new report: Violence and Harassment Against Women in the News Media: A Global Picture
Get Involved!
- AWAVA’s sister alliance, the National Rural Women’s Coalition, is calling for expressions of interest from suitably qualified and experienced persons for the role of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Director
- Registration is now open for the DVNSW Conference 2014
- Registration is now open for the Is Prison Obsolete? Conference hosted by Sisters Inside
- The 8th National Homelessness Australia Conference will be held on the Gold Coast in three weeks.Register now to avoid late registration fees
- JERA International will be hosting a delegation of Egyptian business women and community leaders who are in Australia to investigate and build broad economic engagement of women in the Egyptian economy. A Conversation Luncheon will be held with the group in Canberra on Wednesday 27 August. For more information about the event and to RSVP email Judith or Carole at JERA International
- The Foundation to Prevent Violence Against Women and their Children is calling for submissions from suitable organisations in Victoria to build the capacity of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities to prevent violence against women and their children. This primary prevention project is funded by the Victorian Government, through the Department of Human Services. An information session will be held on Monday 1 September
- WESNET will be presenting a two day Technology Safety Training session in Canberra on 16-17 October
- Advocacy for Inclusion will be hosting a workshop in Canberra entitled Women with disabilities and violence: Inclusion and Awareness Training on 2 October
- The Hague Conference on Private International Law is currently exploring the development of a new international treaty on the cross-border recognition and enforcement on protection orders, addressing domestic violence and other violence against women. The permanent bureau of the Hague Conference is seeking input from NGOs and other experts who have knowledge in this area through a short online survey
**Articles published do not necessarily reflect the view of AWAVA and are included as items of interest only.