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Around the Country

• A Senate committee report on violence, abuse and neglect against people with disability was released on 25 November, recommending among other things a Royal Commission and for each State and Territory to develop Disability Justice Plans.
• Moo Baulch and Jess Cadwallader have written that we need to prioritise women with disability in domestic violence discussions.
• The 1800RESPECT hotline and the New South Wales Women’s Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service have reported significant increases in calls for support after the ABC Hitting Home documentary aired on 24 and 25 November, underlining the need for increased funding.
• In an article in The Conversation, University of Queensland scholar Silke Meyer has pointed out thatnot all women seeking help are able to get responses as good as those shown in the Hitting Home documentary.
• Fair Agenda has gathered over 37,145 signatures from people who endorse the call for all Australian governments to commit the money needed to fully fund programs which prevent domestic violence and provide protection and support for victims/survivors.
• Migrant advocates are calling on the federal government not to forget family violence victims from non-English speaking communities, pointing to a major lack of trained interpreters and cases where interpreters fail to remain impartial in translating for victims, sometimes advising them to reconcile with their abusers rather than seek further support.
• The family law jurisdiction of the Federal Circuit Court is struggling under a growing workload, including a surge of domestic violence reporting, with delayed appointments of new judges and inadequate resources undermining court capacity.
• Panellists on Q&A unanimously (re)busted the myth that one in three domestic violence victims are male, with NSW Assistant Police Commissioner Michael Fuller pointing out that even where men do present as victims of domestic violence assaults, more than half of offenders in these cases are also male.
• Michael Salter, Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Western Sydney, has argued that stopping violence against women means rethinking masculinity and validating non-violence as an active accomplishment.
• Annie Blatchford has proposed 10 ways to put Malcolm Turnbull’s “cultural shift” for ending violence against women into gear.

Around the World

• In the USA, a number of sororities have withdrawn support for the proposed Safe Campus Act and Fair Campus Act, which would require victims/survivors of sexual assault on campus to report the assault to police before they could access help from their colleges.
• The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has reported on Pacific Women working to end violence against women and girls in the Marshall Islands.
• In Tunisia, where Meriem Ben Mohamed was charged with “indecency” after she spoke out against rape by two police officers in 2012, Amnesty International has found that survivors of sexual and gender-based violence were still being shamed and held responsible for the abuse they had suffered.
• Thousands of people are supporting a Twitter campaign to name and shame men who abuse women online, using the hashtag #endviolenceagainstwomen, in support of Australian writer Clementine Ford who published some of the violent threats and abuse she has received.

Research, Resources and Reports

• The Institute of Development Studies (UK) has released a policy briefing, Building Alliances to Address Sexual and Gender-based Violence, which explores the often uneasy relationship between ‘traditional’ women’s rights movements and organisations working on engaging men and boys. The authors recommend staying accountable to the goal of transformative change, moving away from the ‘men as protector’ narrative, and taking seriously the concerns of drains on resources for women’s rights.
• Does viewing violent television as a child increase aggression toward women later in life? Probably, but it is a hard question to definitively answer, as explained in a recent review of the available research.
• [Reposting] 1800RESPECT has launched an online toolkit for frontline workers to help them better recognise the signs of sexual assault and domestic and family violence and empower them to respond well.

Get Involved!

• AWAVA, in conjunction with Our Watch and supported by WESNET, invite you to attend an international conference on violence against women. The conference will be held from 19 to 22 September 2016. More information here!
• As we prepare for the natural disaster season, 1800RESPECT urges us to consider the fact that domestic and family violence increases during and after disasters. A webinar on 16 December will explain more about this issue and how to respond. Register here!
• The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence continues until 10 December. This year you are urged to Orange the World to show your support!
• Women’s Legal Services Australia invites female victims/ survivors of domestic/ family violence who have been involved in family law court proceedings about children’s matters and would like to share about their experiences to please answer the short survey (open until 31 December).
• The 21^st Nursing Network on Violence Against Women International Conference 2016 will be held from 26-28 October 2016. More information here!

* Due to staff leave, the Round-Up will be produced fortnightly instead of weekly from 9 November until the normal weekly pattern resumes on 21 December.