Welcome to the latest AWAVA Weekly-Round Up. We are delighted to announce that the two keynote speakers at the AWAVA/Our Watch international conference in September 2016 will be Marai Larasi and Rashida Manjoo. Marai Larasi is Executive Director of Imkaan, a UK-based organisation dedicated to addressing violence against Black women and girls. Rashida Majoo was United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women from 2009 to 2015, and is now a Professor in the Department of Public Law at the University of Cape Town. We can’t wait to listen to them both speak about their work and share their stories with us in September. Find out more on our brand new conference website! More great speakers to come. Follow us to stay updated!
Around the Country
- AWAVA’s Program Manager, Merrindahl Andrew, gave evidence on the Family Law Amendment (Financial Agreements and Other Measures) Bill 2015 before the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee on Friday12 February. Watch from 10:34 on the video for AWAVA’s appearance, and you can also hear Women’s Legal Service Queensland’s evidence immediately before AWAVA’s.
- The Australian Human Rights Commission has recently appointed lawyer Kate Jenkins as Australia’s new Sex Discrimination Commissioner. Ms Jenkins has been the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner since 2013 and has two decades of legal experience.
- The Equality Rights Alliance Young Women’s Advisory Group has released findings from the ‘Let’s Talk: Young Women’s Views on Sex Education’ survey. Read the full report here.
- The National Union of Students Women’s Department has released a report showing that nearly three quarters of women-identifying and non-binary students had been sexually harassed or suffered unwanted sexual behaviour while enrolled at their current campus.
- Anastasia Powell has written about the role of technology in both perpetrating and preventing abuse.As she argues in the article, ‘technology is not doing more harm than good; those people who choose to harass, threaten, stalk and abuse are doing the harm’.
- Domestic Violence NSW has released a series of Valentine’s Day Cards to raise awareness about violence against women. All proceeds from the sale of the cards will be used to support the organisation’s programs and services.
- In NSW, the Sydney-based Lebanese Muslim Association has launched the ‘Together We Are Strong’ initiative to address family and domestic violence.
Around the World
- In Ghana, the Ministry for Gender, Children and Social Protection and the United Nations Population Fund have established response centres in three market areas to address gender based violence.
- In the UK, troubling new figures have shown that almost a third of women who have been sexually abused are below the age of 16.
- In Turkey, the police force has established specialised domestic violence bureaus around the country.
Get Involved!
- Equality Rights Alliance (ERA) is looking for a motivated, innovative and independent person to join the ERA team as a part-time Administration Officer. ERA is a national non-government network advocating for women’s equality. Applications close 4 March. Find out more here!
- ANROWS invites applications for funding under the Perpetrator Interventions Research Stream which opened on 1 February 2016 and closes 28 April 2016.
- Join in One Billion Rising, the biggest mass action to end violence against women in human history! Between 14 February and 8 March 2016, at events all over the world, people will express their outrage, strike, dance, and rise in defiance of the injustices women suffer. Find out more here!
- Women’s Legal Centre NSW is hosting a free webinar on domestic violence and immigration. The webinar will be held on 25 February at 11 am. Register here!
- Summer of Respect, an ACT based anti-sexual violence campaign is screening a documentary, The Hunting Ground, which addresses sexual assault on US university campuses. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion, and will be held on 3 March 2016. Register here!
- Domestic Violence Crisis Centre ACT is holding its annual ball on 19 March 2016 in Canberra. Register here!