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This week, AWAVA brings news from the National Plan Implementation Panel (NPIP) with regards to the National Centre of Excellence. The Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) has announced:

“”Helen Freeland has been appointed as the interim CEO of the National Centre of Excellence. Helen has a long history with the NSW Department of Community Services, and has been working closely with Emeritus Professor Anne Edwards towards getting the NCE up and running””.

In other news Around the Country:

• The Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department has developed a short survey to map awareness-raising initiatives and service provision in the anti-trafficking space, including forced marriage. The survey is available here
• The Australian Government is undertaking a review of the Paid Parental Leave (PPL) scheme as required under the Paid Parental Leave Act 2010. FaHCSIA is encouraging interested individuals and organisations to contribute to the review by making a submission. You can make a submission by answering the questions in the downloadable submission form on the PPL review webpage
• Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick calls for tougher sentences for domestic violence cases
• In Hobart, women will be marching to Parliament House to show solidarity with victims and survivors of rape, in an attempt to end rape culture and vicitim blaming. This is particularly in response to last week’s verdict and comments as delivered by Justice Peter Evans.
• This op-ed by Shantha Rau Barriga, senior advocate at Human Rights Watch, says that we need to protect the rights of women and girls with disablities
• Aayan Hirsi Ali, who will speak at the All About Women Festival (Sydney) this weekend, says women’s safety is the top priority and is at the core of feminism.
• In Sydney, a manager of a brothel has been found guilty of keeping 6 women in sexual servitude

Internationally

• Forced abortions, sterilisations and female infanticide continue in China under the guise of ‘family planning’ and the one child policy.
• In Canada, changes to the “”Welcome to Canada”” brochure for new migrants specifically state Female Genital Mutiliation and Honour-based Violence have no place and will not be tolerated. However, concerns have been raised that this may lead to ultimately unhelpful cultural stereotyping, says critic Jinny Sims.
• In Guatemala, rape victims/survivors start to give evidence against a military regime that systematically raped indigenous women during the Guatemalan civil war.
• Kate Muwoki, Program Officer, Africa Region, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), pleads for action in South Africa to end violence against women, but particularly for Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender women who are often the victims of ‘corrective’ or ‘curative’ rape which Muwoki says is often ignored by law enforcement.
• Read this article from India, which looks at the impact on the family of an 8 year old rape victim/survivor.
• From the UK, this article in the Huffington Post refutes claims that Female Genital Mutiliation is cultural and needs to be addressed as Violence Against Women and Girls
• And still in the UK, an expanded definition of domestic violence will cover more types of abuse and more victims/survivors

Weekend viewing!

Soup du Jour Productions have now released their 4-part series online. Read an excerpt from their media release below, and click here to access the episodes

“”Inspired by Half The Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by the husband-and-wife team Nick Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, ‘ˆ‡’ features a perspective of the opportunities that lie within the empowerment of women, examining the spectrum of attitudes held, and behaviours toward women from differing sexes and cultures.

The narrative laments the various forms of oppression women globally experience, from the cruel and often violent characteristic of some developing regions – including sex trafficking/forced prostitution, gender-based violence and maternal health – to a contemplation of the more implicit behaviours latent in Australian society. Blossoming from this moral challenge, the narrative develops to a consideration of the transforming powers held within the empowerment and education of women.””

*Articles published are not necessarily representative of the views and opinions of AWAVA, and are published as general information only

This week AWAVA has continued to follow media reports on victim-blaming and rape cultures in the aftermath of John Law’s comments and the US Steubenville trial.  As the week draws to a close, it’s a good time to remember that the struggle to end all forms of violence against women and to challenge the everydayness of sexism and misogyny continues, both here and internationally.

Around the nation:

• Responding to John Laws’ comments last week, Kasey Edwards says that Rape Culture needs to be deliberately and systemically dismantled
• In Tasmania, a judge’s comments about a a teenage victim/survivor of sexual assault have been met with disgust and outrage
• In Victoria, concerns have been raised for lack of access for women to late-term abortions, which may particularly affect victims/survivors of family violence and rape
• The Australian Human Rights commission reports that changes to the Fair Work Act to include flexible working arrangements for people experiencing domestic and family violence are welcome additions
• This Herald Sun editorial says no civilised society can accept violence against women (AWAVA would say that NO society, anywhere, ever, should accept violence against women)
• More from the Herald Sun on Ricky Nixon – asking How did he avoid jail?  Read the story of his guilty plea here
• This article, dripping with sarcasm and tongue-in-cheek quotes, looks at community attitudes towards Ricky Nixon and men who use violence against women
• Amy Cordroy looks at  the understanding of consent when drugs and alcohol are involved. To access her original article click here

Internationally:

• More on Steubenville, with this article looking at debunking the myths of rape and rape culture
• Read this article and watch the video clip in response to Steubenville, which has gone viral with over a million views
• This article looks at the historical and cultural context of rape, and calls for a move to a new understanding of consent. In the same vein, this article wants us to go Beyond Consent
• In Cameroon, FGM is denounced as being “a wrong practice“ by Dr Jospeh Tabi Tabi
• FGM is being tackled in Nigeria by working working with tribal elders
• The Gender Institute at the London School of Economics organized a public event to explore the politics of female genital mutilation (FGM) on 18 March.  A guest speaker’s paper estimates that “66,000 women residing in England and Wales had undergone FGM, while 24,000 girls under 25 are at high risk or may have undergone FGM”
• The UK foreign secretary William Hague says that rape as a weapon of war has been taboo, ignored and taken for granted for too long
• In Jamaica, the Information Minister calls for an end to violence against women
• Campaigners  have called for a day of action to support a young Tunisian woman who appeared to post pictures of herself topless as part of a feminist movement in the country, and was subsequently threatened with death by stoning
• A group of Spanish-speaking domestic violence survivors/victims in New York have filed a lawsuit against the NYPD for not providing translators and putting them at risk
• Amanda Marcotte wants us to talk about abuse of women like we can about cats
• Soraya Chemaly says online threats to women aren’t trivial and looks at how they are used to maintain power and control over women
• This report looks at the decline in prostitution, violence and human trafficking since changes to Sweden’s sex-work laws in 1999

Reports and Resources

Policy Reports

• The Australian Institute of Family Studies has released a paper on child abuse and neglect in Australia
• The Australian Institute of Criminology has published a research report on forced and servile marriage in the context of
  of Human Trafficking

Get Involved!!

Campaigns and Petitions

• AWAVA joined 30,000+ signatories to lend support to the joint Getup! and Destroy the Joint petition against victim-blaming; you can still show your support and tell John Laws that his questioning was irresponsible by signing here
• Join the calls demanding Facebook have a dedicated reported function for reporting child sexual abuse

*Articles published are not necessarily representative of the views and opinions of AWAVA, and are published as general information only