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Another busy week for AWAVA with lots starting to happen in the lead up to International Women’s Day.

We’re never too busy to pick up on some interesting articles that cross our virtual desks though. This week there has been is plenty happening both in Australia and Internationally…

In Victoria, the State Government have announced they will be making the  Victorian Police the lead agency in combatting illegal brothels – read more about ithere.

Still in Victoria, and the media coverage regarding the recent OPA report into Violence against People with Cognitive Impairments continues.

On the international scene, Mama Muliri speaks about healing, and how this is changing women’s lives, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

January 24th the World YWCA met with the CEDAW committee – click here to learn more about the discussion and recommendations.

And keeping up with what some of the other National Women’s Alliances are up to, check out what the National Rural Women’s Coalition is planning for the Centenary of International Women’s Day

This article reverberated around the DV sector this week with many shocked comments. A common response was “How could the courts get this so wrong!’

Hi Everyone,

This week we’ve had a bit of an international flavour in the material across our virtual desks.

• In the USA, President Obama marked the anniversary of Roe v. Wade on the 22nd of January. You can read about his statement here.
• Australia has named its representatives to the United Nation’s Commission on the Status of Women.  Elaine Butler, Christina Ryan and Jahna Cedar will be off to New York for the session next month. Full story is here.
• We’ve been watching the events unfold in Tunisia and there was an interesting article in the Australian today about the impact on women.

Closer to home:

• According to the Age this morning, a Damning report on abuse is about to be released by the Victorian Office of the Public Advocate which reveals more disturbing reports of violence against people with cognitive impairments.
• DV Victoria, the State DV peak, is seeking suitable applicants for their Practice Development Project Officer position. You can find the job ad here.  Applications close 18^thFebruary CoB.

Until next week.

We’re going to try to do a weekly round-up of things that are coming past us here at the AWAVA secretariat.  So here goes:

Quite a few interesting publications and various other things (for want of a better description) have come across my “virtual desk” this week.

• First up the Australian Institute of Criminology has just released a report about the complex barriers preventing disclosure of violence by Indigenous victims. There is a Media Release and as well as the report.
• ABC Radio’s The World Today program has the Sounds of Summer, a program about Violence Against Women. You can listen here if you missed it.
• A new study from the University of Western Australia confirms what many of us already know, that Women subjected to both physical and sexual violence by their partner are much more likely to experience mental health and/or substance use issues. For more information visit the UWA Website here.
• According to the Sydney Morning Herald the Keneally government is stalling on leave for victims of DV.
• And just in from Spain, Research conducted at the University of Granada warns about the negative effects of the so-called “benevolent sexism”. You can read about it here.

*The opinions expressed in the articles aren’t necessarily the opinions of AWAVA.