AWAVA Secretariat, Author at AWAVA

Weekly Round-Up * 22 December

Welcome to the latest edition of the AWAVA Weekly Round-Up! This will be our last edition for 2014 and we would like to thank you for your support throughout the year. Thank you to everyone who has provided us with thoughtful input, suggestions and feedback through surveys, emails, and by commenting on social media. Thank you to those who have spread the message further by sharing our posts and emails with your friends, family and co-workers. We are thankful for this opportunity to continue learning about violence against women, its impact on women and children throughout Australia and the many innovative and effective initiatives that are being developed to prevent and better respond to this violence. We are also proud to be a part of a feminist movement that continues to speak out against sexism and misogyny and to highlight the links between gender inequality and violence against women. We look forward to continuing this work in 2015!

The AWAVA office will close on 24 December and will re-open on 5 January next year. We look forward to working together with all of you, and with our entire community, to reduce and eliminate violence against women.

Around the Country

Questions continue to be raised about the violent history and bail conditions of Sydney gunman Man Haron Monis. Many writers have considered the lack importance placed on his history of violence against women
Also following the siege in Sydney, the hashtag #illridewithyou has become news around the world withvarying levels of support
Amy Wise has analysed the disconnect between the reality of sexual assault for women and the way it is reported by the media
In Melbourne, two recent deaths have raised fears about violence against women in the Australian Indian community
[TRIGGER WARNING: murder-suicide, car crash]
Police and women’s services warn that violence can often increase around the holidays and urge those who are in danger to have a safety plan in place
Sarah Macdonald writes about the men she’d like to thank in 2014

Around the World

In Timor-Leste, the expulsion of a large number of foreign judges and legal workers may cause many domestic and sexual violence cases to be reheard and force victims to give their testimony over again
In the United States, domestic violence rates in police families are up to 4 times higher than in the general public
In Tunisia, for the first time a woman has carried a case of sexual violence against police officers all the way through the country’s court system
In Spain, researchers have compared different methods of assessing levels of violence experienced by pregnant women
In Fiji, four anti-violence against women projects have been named among UN Women’s Pacific Regional Ending Violence against Women Facility Fund (Pacific Fund) grant recipients
Young scientists around the world face high rates of sexual violence when participating in fieldwork and often have nowhere to turn after having experienced a traumatic event [TRIGGER WARNING: Descriptions of sexual assault, victim blaming]
In Canada, performer Shania Twain has created a video with the Canadian Mounted Police about violence within the home [TRIGGER WARNING: Images of distressed people]
In Papua New Guinea, Bishop Arnold Orowae has condemned violence against women that occurs under the guise of ‘witch hunts’
On December 17, many people around the world engaged in activism for the International Day to End Violence against Sex Workers
In the United States, a small number of Michigan State University graduates have held a separate ‘survivors’ graduation ceremony’ after the university chose columnist George Will as their commencement speaker

Research, Resources and Reports

White Ribbon Australia has published the latest report in their Policy Research Series entitled ‘Women’s Safety is a Men’s Issue: Men’s attitudes to violence against women and what that means for men’ by Dr Kristin Diemer
In the Journal of Family Violence, Cerulli et al have published an article entitled, ‘In Our Voice: Survivors’ Recommendations for Change’
GSDRC have published a research report by Siân Herbert entitled, ‘Links between women’s empowerment (or lack of) and outbreaks of violence conflict’
Dean Peacock and Gary Barker have published ‘Working with Me and Boys to Prevent Gender-based Violence: Principles, Lessons Learned, and Ways Forward’ in the journal Men and Masculinities

Get Involved!

Victim Support Service (VSS) aims to develop a new tagline and would like your input! Fill out the very short survey here

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

Weekly Round-Up * 15 December

Welcome to the latest edition of the AWAVA Weekly Round-Up! This week many of the links we highlight relate to the media – from the media’s role in supporting the prevention of men’s violence against women to activists and organisations use of media to spread messages and education about gender-based violence. Media coverage has a huge impact on the way we view the world. It is vital that this coverage upholds the rights of women and children, recognises the underlying cases of violence against women and challenges harmful community attitudes and practices that help to perpetuate a culture in which violence is accepted and normalised.

Around the Country

Indigenous women from around the world met in Cairns recently for the Global Indigenous Domestic Violence conference
The All About Women festival has announced video game commentator Anita Sarkeesian on their line up for International Women’s Day next year, along with Tara Moss, Germaine Greer, Clementine Ford and more
Professor Rosalind Croucher has been reappointed to lead the Australian Law Reform Commission until December 2015
Former Governor-General Quentin Bryce has spoken about her experience hearing the stories of victims and survivors in her work as head of the Queensland Domestic Violence Taskforce
Writer Kim Lock has spoken about the need to speak positively about abortion
Rates of imprisonment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been called a ‘national emergency’
In the ACT, high rental prices and reduced funding for services has left a growing number of women and children fleeing family violence homeless
The Lebanese Muslim Association have released two videos as part of a campaign to challenge attitudes that lead to domestic violence
[TRIGGER WARNING: depictions of violence in video]
Clementine Ford has written about the need for change in the language used by members of the community and by the media when talking about violence against women [TRIGGER WARNING: Descriptions of violence, victim blaming]

Around the World

Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web, has described the lack of action on violence experienced by women online as “one of the tragedies of humanity”
In the UK, a challenge has been heard before the High Court to rules restricting access to legal aid for victims and survivors of violence
In Nigeria, the Nigeria Union of Railway Workers have called for the inclusion of a standard setting item on violence against women and men at work places in the agenda of the International Labour Conference (ILC) in 2016
In China, activists and commentators have highlighted the need for attitudinal change alongside new domestic violence laws
In Afghanistan, Najiba Ahmadi is working to educate women about their rights and how to navigate the country’s laws if they experience violence [TRIGGER WARNING: threats of violence against children]
The World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Global Women’s Institute at George Washington University have recommended that international financial institutions take a role in addressing violence against women
In Liberia, health workers, family members and members of the community have been told they must not dehumanise or discriminate against HIV/Aids patients and victims and survivors of gender-based violence
In the United States, Megan Carpentier has spoken about her own experience of sexual assault and law enforcement in the state of Virginia [TRIGGER WARNING: Description of sexual assault, violence, victim-blaming, police misconduct]
In South Africa, there are calls for fathers to take a more hands-on role in caring for their children and breaking down the gender roles that can contribute to violence
A number of uses of sexual assault in high profile television shows has drawn commentary on the ethics of using sexual violence as a plot device

Research, Resources and Reports

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has released a new report, Specialist homelessness services: 2013-14
A dissertation entitled, ‘Examining Access Barriers to Emergency Domestic Violence Shelter Services for Transgender Identified Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence in New York State’ by Carla M Smith is now available online
The latest issue of Parity (Volume 27 Issue 9) is now available online
The journal, Trauma, Violence & Abuse, has published a study entitled ‘Problem Gambling and Intimate Partner Violence: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis’ and an article entitled, ‘Intimate Partner Violence and the Rural–Urban–Suburban Divide: Myth or Reality? A Critical Review of the Literature’
VicHealth has released the findings from its 2013 survey of Victorians’ attitudes to race and cultural diversity
1800RESPECT have released a set of resources for frontline workers to find out how resilient they are by taking the resilience assessment. They can then sign up to the 10 week e-health resilient program and watch a video on stress, trauma and work: how to look after yourself

Get Involved!

Workers around Australia who have direct contact with women and children who are experiencing or have experienced domestic violence are invited to complete a survey on technology-facilitated abuse! The survey has been released by Women’s Legal Services NSW, the Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria and WESNET to guide their creation of resources
Our sister alliance, economic Security4Women (eS4W) is searching for women from STEM and non-traditional occupations and industries to be highly visible role models on a stand-alone website to be launched in 2015!
InTouch, Multicultural Centre against Family Violence, are advertising a position for an Indian/South Asian family violence case worker for a pilot Family Violence project entitled Harmony that will be implemented next year
Early bird registration to the Inaugural Asia-Pacific Conference on Gendered Violence and Violationscloses December 19
The Australasian Council of Women and Policing (ACWAP) is calling for papers for the 9th Women and Policing Conference being held at Luna Park Sydney from 31 August to 3 September 2015. The theme of the 2015 Conference is: Making History: Shaping the Future. Submissions close 31 January 2015

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

Survey into Technology-facilitated Abuse Now Open

Women’s Legal Services NSW, the Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria, and WESNET have collaborated to release a survey about workers’ perspectives on technology-facilitated abuse. The survey is funded under the ACCAN Grants Scheme and is open to any worker in Australia who has direct contact with women and children who are experiencing or have experienced domestic violence. It aims to collect evidence about how technology is being used by perpetrators of domestic violence as a tool of abuse. The findings will be used to help shape policies and practices to keep women safe.

Women’s Legal Services NSW, the Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria and WESNET are organisations dedicated to providing practical support to the domestic violence sector. Your responses to this survey will ensure that the resources they create will be informed directly by your experiences supporting women and children.

To complete the survey or to learn more, visit: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/smartsafesurvey?c=0f8e7f06c9

16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence: Day 16

“The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence is an international campaign originating from the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute coordinated by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership in 1991. Participants chose the dates November 25- International Day Against Violence Against Women- and December 10- International Human Rights Day- in order to symbolically link violence against women and human rights and to emphasize that such violence is a violation of human rights. This 16-day period also highlights other significant dates including November 29, International Women Human Rights Defenders Day, December 1, World AIDS Day, and December 6, which marks the Anniversary of the Montreal Massacre. The 16 Days Campaign has been used as an organizing strategy by individuals and groups around the world to call for the elimination of all forms of violence against women by:

– raising awareness about gender-based violence as a human rights issue at the local, national, regional and international levels
– strengthening local work around violence against women
– establishing a clear link between local and international work to end violence against women
– providing a forum in which organizers can develop and share new and effective strategies
– demonstrating the solidarity of women around the world organizing against violence against women
– creating tools to pressure governments to implement promises made to eliminate violence against women”

For more information, visit: http://16dayscwgl.rutgers.edu/about/campaign-profile

International Human Rights Day

“On December 10th, people and states the world over celebrate the 1948 adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). On this landmark date in contemporary history, the nations of the world joined together to try to bury, once and for all, the specter of genocide raised by the Second World War. The UDHR was one of the first major achievements of the United Nations and provided the basic philosophy for many legally-binding international instruments to follow. Resolution 217A (III) by the General Assembly proclaims the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms…”

Organizations and individuals use Human Rights Day as an opportunity to both commemorate the signing of this historic document and to promote the principles that it embodies. Human Rights Day, according to former High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, is “an occasion to demonstrate that the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were not theoretical or abstract.”

To obtain a copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, please visit the UN website at: http://www.ohchr.org/”

For more information, visit: http://16dayscwgl.rutgers.edu/about/key-dates

16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence: Day 15

For more information, visit: http://16dayscwgl.rutgers.edu/about/campaign-profile

Weekly Round-Up * 8 December

Welcome to the latest edition of the AWAVA Weekly Round-Up. This week, many of the links we’re sharing relate to actions being taken to help prevent and eliminate violence against women. Across the country and across the globe, activists are working and building on the achievements of those who came before them to address gender based violence. Every action, however small, helps to counter the attitudes and culture that permit men’s violence against women to continue.

Around the Country

Former Governor General and head of Queensland’s Domestic Violence Taskforce Quentin Bryce has said that men’s inaction is responsible for continued unacceptable rates of domestic violence
The Federal Government has announced new measures to address human trafficking, slavery and forced marriage
WESNET has partnered with Telstra to provide safe smart phones to women impacted by domestic violence
Newly-elected Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is in the process of selecting a person to head the state’s royal commission into family violence
Researchers from the University of Melbourne are advocating for responses to violence against women to be integrated into the medical, nursing and public health sectors around the world
In Victoria, justices of the Court of Appeal have called for tougher sentences for vengeful former partners, saying domestic violence in Victoria has become an epidemic
[TRIGGER WARNING: Descriptions of violence, gun violence]
Target and Kmart have both removed the video game GTA V from their shelves following pressure from people concerned about the game’s depictions of violence against women
NSW Police assistant commissioner Mark Murdoch has named educating young men about respectful relationships as a key focus in preventing violence against women, pointing to violent pornography as a significant obstacle
In the ACT, Attorney-General Simon Corbell has announced that almost $100,000 in proceeds from crime will be used to fund community organisations that campaign for the elimination of violence against women in Canberra
The ‘No Gender December’ campaign has been an opportunity for researchers and activists to underline the connection between strict gender roles and violence against women
Writer, comedian, and well known activist for women with disabilities, Stella Young has passed awayaged 32
In New South Wales, new data has revealed that rates of domestic violence have remained stable, with close to 30,000 assaults during the 12 months up to September

Around the World

In China, a draft has been released of the country’s first anti-domestic violence law [TRIGGER WARNING: Descriptions of violence, financial abuse]
Malaysia’s Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has called on young people to educate themselves and take action on violence against women [TRIGGER WARNING: Description of violence]
In Ireland, a seminar organised by the Irish Consortium on Gender Based Violence (ICGBV) has heard from high profile activists, including Tom Meagher and former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, that gender equality is vital to addressing violence against women
As Egypt marked International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, activists reflected on the many types of gender based violence experienced by women in the country [TRIGGER WARNING: Descriptions of violence, female genital cutting, violence against children]
The Pan American Health Organisations has pointed to Colombia as the worst country in Latin America or the Caribbean for violence against women
In the United States, former Chief Airforce Prosecutor Col. Don Christensen has resigned citingretaliation for his efforts in prosecuting military sexual assault cases
European Parliament has heard that immediate and significant action needs to be taken to reduce the number of women experiencing violence and being killed around Europe
Performer Lady Gaga has spoken about her experience of being sexually assaulted as a 19 year old

Research, Resources and Reports

The Journal of Technology in Human Services has published a study entitled, ‘Intimate Partner Violence: Modifying an Internet-Based Safety Decision Aid to a New Zealand Context’
The University of New South Wales’ Gendered Violence Research Network has made their Good Practice Review: FSV and the Workplace Strategies Project – Papua New Guinea available for free download online
The World Bank Group, the Global Women’s Institute at George Washington University, and the Inter-American Development Bank have published a new resource guide on violence against women and girls and accompanying website aimed at providing basic information on VAWG, and guidance on how to integrate VAWG prevention and the provision of quality services to violence survivors
1800 RESPECT continue to release resources for workers around the sector, including best practice resources for risk assessment

Get Involved!

Our sister alliance, Equality Rights Alliance, is leading an advisory group of organisations interested in gender equality to prepare a section on gender equality for the Universal Periodic Review into Human Rights (UPR) NGO report. They need YOUR help to identify which issues should be prioritised in the report. You can do this by taking their UPR Gender Consultation survey

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

16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence: Day 14

For more information, visit: http://16dayscwgl.rutgers.edu/about/campaign-profile

16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence: Day 13

For more information, visit: http://16dayscwgl.rutgers.edu/about/campaign-profile

16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence: Day 12

For more information, visit: http://16dayscwgl.rutgers.edu/about/campaign-profile

This site is being archived soon. Visit wesnet.org.au for more information.

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