AWAVA Program Manager, Author at AWAVA

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So far AWAVA Program Manager has created 72 blog entries.

8th Australasian Women and Policing Conference, Adelaide

The Australasian Council of Women and Policing would like to invite you to the 8th Australasian Women and Policing Conference which is being held in Adelaide from 25 to 28 August 2013.

The theme of the 2013 conference is: Making it Happen – Making it Last. It will focus on how we can make lasting changes for women in policing, emergency services and the community and will hear from practitioners, researchers, and policy makers. The conference will build on previous Australasian Women and Policing conferences and develop the body of knowledge around how policing and the emergency services are being improved for women.

Women’s organisations working with police to respond to and eliminate violence against women are particularly welcome to participate in the conference. The Council is keen to improve how policing connects with women’s organisations, especially those which provide emergency responses to women and our conferences are a valuable opportunity to do that – in a friendly feminist atmosphere.

The areas of interest for the 2013 conference include:

Networking – best practice and good ideas
Sustainable partnerships – working with local government, women and the community
Peacekeeping – domestic and international
Recruitment and retention – challenges and opportunities
Staying healthy – supporting yourself to support your community
Career transitions – moving up, across or out
Policing as a profession – the contribution of women

Police, emergency services, researchers, advocates, policy makers and practitioners from policing, emergency services, law enforcement, criminal justice and women’s services are encouraged to contribute papers. This conference is not limited to police services, everyone who has an interest in improving the emergency and policing response to women in our communities is welcome. So please feel free to circulate this invitation to your networks.

To register for the conference go to www.acwap.com.au.

There is still time for you to indicate your interest to present a paper at the conference: the call for papers closes on 25 March. So if you are interested in sharing developments, innovation, or research please send your 100 word abstracts and 100 word biography to [email protected] by 25 March 2013. Submissions can be for papers in the concurrent sessions (20-25 minutes each), workshops/panels (90 minutes) or poster papers. The abstract submission form is available on the ACWAP website www.acwap.com.au or [email protected].

Nominations are also open for the 2013 Excellence in Policing Awards. As you would know, the Awards are an opportunity to acknowledge the achievements of the women and men who are making a real difference to policing for women. Nomination forms and more information about the Awards are available from the ACWAP website www.acwap.com.au. A ticket for the Awards Presentation dinner on Tuesday 27 August 2013 in Adelaide is included in the conference registration – additional tickets for friends and family can also be purchased.

Priorities for Women – Violence Against Women Policies

As part of AWAVA’s ‘Priorities for Women’ activities, AWAVA sent letters to all major parties asking them about their policies for addressing violence against women and girls; their views of the challenges; their commitment to the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their funding commitments.

We asked the following four questions (in no more than 500 words per question) and requested meetings with the politicians that hold the violence against women portfolio:

1.What are your party’s major priorities for addressing violence against women and their children?

2. What does your party see as the major challenges in addressing violence against women and their children?

3. Given that ending violence against women and girls requires long-term investment and a sustained approach, will your party continue to commit to the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and Their Children 2010-22?

4. What funding commitment is your party making to address and prevent violence against women and their children?

Here’s what they had to say, unedited:

What is the Priorities for Women Project?

The ‘Priorities for Women‘ project encourages women to vote independently, effectively and in an informed manner; it is a joint National Women’s Alliances project led by Equality Rights Alliance.

Weekly Round-up* – 28 June

It was a tumultuous week in politics. During the last Parliamentary Sitting for the year, turmoil reached new heights with a change in Prime-Minister and a Cabinet reshuffle. As election campaigning begins, AWAVA continues to focus on the policy platforms on violence against women presented by each major political party. As part of AWAVA’s contribution to the ‘Priorities for Women‘ project, a joint National Women’s Alliances project led by Equality Rights Alliance, AWAVA has sent letters to major parties to discuss their policies on gender-based violence; their views of the challenges; their commitment to the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and funding frameworks. The ‘Priorities for Women‘ project encourages women to vote independently, effectively and in an informed manner. Look out for activities relating to its upcoming launch on the ‘In Focus’ section of our website, along with Facebook and Twitter.

No matter which party becomes the government of the day, the fight to end violence against women and girls continues.

Around the nation

AWAVA Advisory Group Member and Executive Officer of the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre, Chrystina Stanford, spoke out against the under-reporting of sexual violence in the Parliamentary Group on Population and Development’s new short film ‘1 in 3’
In NSW, the long-awaited Domestic and Family Violence Framework was released for public comment, with the Women’s Legal Service New South Wales and the Office of the Attorney-General both issuing media releases
The Victorian ‘Policing Just Outcomes Report’ delivered damning findings on the nature of sexual assault investigations that were covered by the Herald Sun Newspaper
The Sydney Morning Herald critically reflected on Australia’s ranking in the WHO report on violence against women (see last week’s round-up) noting that “the rate of violence against women in Australia is not that much lower than the rates in developing countries and that’s not good enough.”
A St Kilda Football Club fan deconstructed the harmful ‘good bloke’ narrative that devalues the experiences of victim/survivors in response to the allegations against Stephen Milne
The CEO of Project Respect, a non-governmental organisation supporting women in the sex industry, gave a compelling interview with the Australian Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault
Anna Johnson, an Australian delegate to the UN’s 57th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, criticised the lack of preventive education for young people, “we have failed to explain to young people the concepts of consent, sexual assault and domestic violence”

Around the world

Massive protests in the streets of Kolkata shone a spotlight on spiralling levels of violence against women in West Bengal where supporters said “this unending violence against women and the general sense of insecurity…has gripped the state”
For the first time in its 60 year history, the World Bank South East Asia office joined the global movement to end gender-based violence, which is crucial considering a UNFPA report called this region the most ‘gender-insensitive’ in the world.
As the Syrian conflict escalates, women and girls are being increasingly targeted and the Human Rights Watch is overwhelmingly concerned for female detainees
In the UK, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children launched a helpline to protect children from female genital mutilation because “…child victims of female genital mutilation are hidden behind a wall of silence. Like other forms of abuse, if female genital mutilation is not exposed it will continue to thrive and more children will suffer.”
The Government of Canada took bold new steps to end violence against women and girls in the Yukon by funding a 24-month bilingual project engaging men and boys in responses to gender-based violence
A powerful piece in the Huffington Post reversed the conventional conversation about violence against women
Soraya Chemaly hit back at the grossly misinformed comment from Republican Jodie Laubenberg that rape kits are a form of abortion and meant to “clean” women out

Reports

Recently, the UK Commons International Development Committee published a report on violence against women and girls
Complementing the WHO report (published in last week’s round-up), the Lancet Journal published a systematic review of the global prevalence of intimate partner homicide finding that “awareness of violence against women as a health problem (and not just a criminal justice or domestic issue) is still low in many countries…”

Opportunities

UN Women has called for written communications on human rights violations to be submitted to the Commission on the Status of Women by 1 August 2013
The NSW Domestic and Family Violence Framework is open for public comment until 23 July 2013, so please follow the link for more details

**Articles published do not necessarily reflect the views of AWAVA and are included as items of interest only

Weekly Round-up* – 21 June

This week, AWAVA joined the five other Commonwealth-funded National Women’s Alliances at the joint annual forum. Discussions focused on achievements and challenges during the first three years and future plans for the Alliances individually and collectively.

Margaret Augerinos, an Executive Member of our Advisory Group, also represented AWAVA’s CSW57 delegation in a panel discussion chaired by the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick. This formed part of a high-profile event at Parliament House in Canberra for the launch, by the Hon. Malcolm Turnbull MP, of the Parliamentary Group of Population and Development’s “One in Three” campaign.

Around the country

St Vincent de Paul’s CEO Sleepout for Homelessness on Thursday 20 June was a timely reminder of gendered nature of homelessness, especially the intersection between women who are homeless/sleeping rough and their experience of domestic and family violence
Clementine Ford delivered a powerful analysis on the short-sighted destructiveness of victim-blaming in this response to the sentencing of Jill Meagher’s killer

Around the world

Minister Collins this week led the Australian delegation to Bangladesh for the 10th Commonwealth Women’s Affairs Ministers Meeting, and highlighted that Australia has a strong role to play internationally in preventing gender-based violence and advancing gender equality
The World Health Organisation (WHO) released a new report on partner and non-partner violence finding that gendered violence is a “global health problem of epidemic proportions”
Read up on AWAVA Chairperson Julie Oberin’s speech at the UK & Ireland’s Feminist and Women’s Studies Biennial Conference on Feminist Advocacy and Policy Work here
Italy became the 25th member state of the Council of Europe to ratify a convention adressing violence against women
At a joint conference consolidating the positions of the World Bank and OxFam International on violence against women, the CEO of Oxfam India said “achieving the Millenium Development Goals is not possible if we overlook violence against women…we do not address this like poverty, although the same number of women, a billion, are suffering from violence around the world.”
Criticism of the culture of bystander complicity surrounding violence against women continues with this piece written in response to the Nigella Lawson incident

Reports

See the full report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) referred to above – “Responding to intimate partner violence and sexual violence against women”

**Articles published do not necessarily reflect the views of AWAVA and are included as items of interest only

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day National Conference

The ARAS Elder Abuse conference Building a National Approach to Prevent Abuse of Older Australians is being held on 17-18 June in Adelaide. It has two full days of great speakers and presenters. This could be the beginning of a national approach to elder abuse in Australia.

If you are running an event in your community to raise awareness of elder abuse for WEAAD then you may be eligible to a 20% discount on your registration fee.

For more information, please see the website: www.sa.agedrights.asn.au or email: [email protected]

Broadening Restorative Perspectives International Conference

Broadening Restorative Perspectives International Conference, Melbourne, MCG, 17-19 June

Fairer rules, processes and outcomes are changing the way people experience justice. But how well are these programs known and understood? How can stories be shared across sectors and across disciplines and what will turn good practice into common practice? Join the debate, exploring frontiers of justice and helping theory and practices evolve. Hear from the Hon Mary Woolridge MP, Mr Bernie Geary AM and Lauren Abramson PhD among many others.

For further information or to register for this event, please go to website and register, early bird discount ends 31 March.

e: [email protected]
w: www.eventism.com.au

SafetyNet Training

WESNET are running a two-day training to the DV/SA sector in WA on Monday 10 and Tuesday 11 June 2013. The training is being hosted by the Women’s Council WA with funding and sponsorship from LotteryWest, Keep Kids Safe and the WA Department for Child Protection.

This training focuses on the positive and negative impacts of technology on survivors of domestic and family violence, stalking, sexual violence, dating violence and abuse. Technology Safety Training educates service providers in the domestic and family violence sector to:

• understand HOW technologies work

• identify HOW abusers are misusing technology

• assess HOW technology use impacts women and girls experiencing violence

• discuss HOW technology can be used to help women and girls experiencing violence

• support women and girls with privacy and SAFETY PLANNING around technology and EVIDENCE COLLECTION

The training is suitable for refuges and outreach workers supporting victims and/or survivors of violence and abuse. If you are in WA and would like to attend please click here for more info.

Places are strictly limited and filling fast so it’s best to book soon, register online at www.wesnet.org.au

Weekly Round-up* – 15 June

The news this week in Australia has been dominated by examples of sexist behaviour and attitudes – a strong reminder that there is a way to go to address gender inequality and, ultimately, the prevention of violence against women, which is both a cause and consequence of gender and social inequalities.

(more…)

Weekly Round-Up* – 7 June

US rapper, Tyler-the-Creator has been in Australia this week giving concerts; his song lyrics promote violence against women, so should we really be giving him a platform to do this? We can’t excuse songs about rape, genital mutilation, raping corpses and burying bodies, as ‘entertainment’ or ‘free speech’. A resolution in the Philippines was filed this week aimed at celebrities and entertainment personalities “observing the utmost sensitivity to victims of violence against women during their public performances, given their position of influence.” Violence Against Women is preventable if we challenge and change attitudes that condone it – that means not giving a rapper who promotes violence against women an audience.

Around the country

Read this Human Rights Defender article ‘Rising up’ to end violence against women – how far have we come in twenty years? by Women’s Legal Service NSW, which highlights the “primary challenge for our community is to hold our government accountable for its international commitments to a society free of violence so that this becomes a lived reality for women.”
This article in the Courier Mail gives more details about the US hip-hop singer, Tyler-The-Creator and the granting of his visa by the Federal Government
This Age opinion piece questions why efforts to reduce family violence aren’t the funding priority (including Family Violence Death Reviews) when it accounts for 84% of the rise in recorded assaults in Victoria
$3 million will be spent on services in WA and across The Kimberley to cater particularly for victims of domestic violence, to provide educational resources, culturally appropriate counselling and to support and increase community awareness
Listen to Ludo McFerran speak about Safe at Home, Safe at Work

Around the world

Lakshmi Puri, Acting Head of UN Women and Assistant Secretary-General says that ending violence against women and girls must be a priority in the post-2015 development agenda
Read Soraya Chemaly’s response to the assertion that the Facebook campaign challenges freedom of speech and is feminists censoring the Internet: Facebook “with more than a billion users, is an influential force. It is both a mirror and a microcosm of a global culture. As such, it is no more or less sexist or misogynistic than any other company or aspect of media. However, by creating a review process it became an arbiter of norms and provided a way to challenge those that encourage and perpetuate gross and easily demonstrable prejudices against girls and women.”
Women, Action and The Media have issued guidelines for reporting content on Facebook that glorifies, promotes or makes light of gendered violence:
- First, report it to Facebook using their standard reporting guidelines
- If the content has been reported and Facebook has declined to remove it, email WAM, and they will take further action. Please include any information you have about when and how you reported the content, and what response(s) you’ve received from Facebook
In the Philippines, a resolution has been filed directed at media and entertainment personalities: one way “society can change its anti-women views and attitude toward rape victims is to hold media and entertainment celebrities/personalities to the highest standards of responsibility”
Experts and technologists will come together in Kathmandu on 16 June, 2013 to address the challenges of violence against women by finding innovative technological solutions to issues surrounding prevention, response and awareness at the Violence Against Women Hackathon

Contribute to the August edition of Parity Magazine!

The August edition of Parity is dedicated to Preventing Homelessness.

Section 1: Conceptualising Homelessness Prevention
Section 2: Homelessness Prevention Policies and Strategies
Section 3: Preventing Homelessness in Practice
Section 4: Overseas Models and Experience

Deadline: All contributions need to be submitted by Friday 9 August 2013. Submissions: All contributions should be submitted as Word attachments to an email addressed to [email protected]

Word limits: Contributions can be up to 1,600 words (double page spread) in Parity. Single page articles can be up to 800 words . Contributions of a greater length should be discussed with the Parity Editor.

If you have any questions at all about contributing to this edition please contact the Parity Editor by email [email protected] or ring 03 8415 6200.

Resources and Reports

Read the latest Report of the Special Rapporteur, Professor Rashida Manjoo, on violence against women, its causes and consequences
The Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse latest fast facts on Domestic Violence and Mental Health is out
Women’s Health, Goulburn North have developed downloadable resources raising awareness of financial abuse as a form of family violence. Six postcards were developed as part of the Keeping Your Boat Afloat project each detailing a young women’s experience of financial abuse. Helplines available are listed on the back of the cards. The postcards were developed in consultation with young women.
Ethnic Communities’ Council of Victoria’s Women Surviving Violence Cultural Competence in Critical Services highlights that, while there is no evidence that family violence is more endemic, or profound, in CALD communities, when it does occur, the Australian justice and protection services are not adequately accounting for the additional complexity that can be embedded within CALD women’s experiences of violence. These service gaps have led to lower rates of reporting and disadvantage in access.
A report published by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner in England: A Rapid Evidence Assessment on the Effects that Access and Exposure to Pornography has on Children and Young People found:
“…compelling evidence that too many boys believe that they have an absolute entitlement to sex at any time, in any place, in any way and with whomever they wish. Equally worryingly, we heard that too often girls feel they have no alternative but to submit to boys’ demands, regardless of their own wishes.”
NUS Scotland Women’s Campaign have teamed up with White Ribbon Scotland, to create a series of postcards for women’s officers, women’s groups, equality committees and volunteers to use as conversation starters for feminist campaigns on campuses.

**Articles published do not necessarily reflect the views of AWAVA and are included as items of interest only

Weekly Round-up* – 2 June

The power of collective lobbying and advocacy last week made two great impacts – pressuring Facebook to review its policies and training to include gender-based hate speech in their moderating of online material; and, in Australia, much-needed amendments were made to NSW’s compensation to victims of violence against women.

In other news…a busy week around the country!

AWAVA added our support to the Facebook campaign, see SBS News item: Facebook cracks down on sexism. Adding support to the Open Letter to Facebook campaign to include violence against women in the ‘hate speech’ definition, Clementine Ford writes Hey Facebook, rape is not a punch line
This The Conversation article Sexual abuse, celebrity and ‘grooming’ the community highlights “Our social and institutional responses to sexual abuse are realigning to acknowledge the power dynamics of abuse and victimisation”
This piece argues for the Government to abolish defensive homicide as it legitimises lethal male violence and has allowed for manipulation, victim-blaming and misuse of the justice system
The Age reports on one of Australia’s biggest businesses, NAB offering domestic violence leave for employees
The Attorney General has introduced legislation to protect vulnerable witnesses and victims in Commonwealth criminal proceedings; vulnerability can include the nature of the offence, or relate to a particular characteristic, such as age, cultural background, or a disability. The protections will apply automatically to victims of forced marriage
The Victims Rights and Support Bill 2013 (NSW) was passed in the NSW Upper House, see Women’s Legal Services NSW’s article in The Drum and Sydney Morning Herald article ”Outrage over plans to cap abuse claims”. An amendment was made to remove the 10 year-time limit for victims of child sexual abuse so there are no time limits for such victims in applying for some limited forms of financial assistance and a recognition payment, see CLCNSW’s media release
Also in NSW, the NSW Government have published the national response to the Family Violence – A National Legal Response report by the Australian and NSW Law Reform Commissions
From Victoria:
- The Eliminating Violence Against Women Media Awards, EVAs 2013 Finalists have been announced, the winners will be announced on Friday 19 July
- Victoria Police have recorded about 12 more domestic assaults every day this year than in 2011-12, despite this, there are plans to axe the unit investigating family violence deaths at Vic Coroners Court
ABC News reports on Ruby Gaea’s new resource: Tiwi Islanders star in animated short films to raise awareness about sexting, cyberbullying and child abuse

Around the world

In response to the global Facebook campaign, Soraya Chemaly writes, Facebook rejects rape culture. Can you? The US peak organisation for domestic violence, National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNDEV), supports Facebook’s efforts to take a stand against violence against women
Seven governments adopted a statement on violence against women and girls at the 66th World Health Assembly, declaring violence against women and girls “a major global public health, gender equality and human rights challenge, touching every country and every part of society”
Read here about a UN study launched this week, “Breaking the Silence on Violence against Indigenous Girls, Adolescents and Young Women: A call to action based an overview of existing evidence from Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America,” which highlights that Indigenous girls are at heightened risk of violence due to the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination they face
In the UK another campaign is taking off to pressure supermarkets to stop selling Lads’ Mags on the grounds that it may breach sexual discrimination legislation and constitute harassment to employees
Italy is likely to become the 5th country to ratify the Council of Europe’s Convention on Violence Against Women
From earlier this month, this article highlight the abuse of young girls with disabilities in institutions in India

Resources

Ruby Gaea launched the long awaited Bikkies project this week with project partners Bima Wear and the NT Police Child Abuse Taskforce. A series of animations provide educational messages on child and sexual abuse issues to remote Aboriginal Communities throughout the Northern Territory
- Episode 1 Letting the CAT out of the bag
- Episode 2 You’re not the only one, Indie providing information about the risks of “sexting”
Read Anti-Slavery Australia’s Forced Marriage in Australia, an up-to-date review
Last month, the Minister for the Status of Women, Julie Collins, launched “Girls Gotta Know”, a free mobile web-based app providing young Tasmanian women with quick access to legal info on a range of topics. Click here to access the site

**Articles published here do not necessarily reflect the views of AWAVA and are included as items of interest only

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About AWAVA Program Manager