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Weekly round-up* 3 August

The first weekly round-up edition for the month and the news has been dominated with Olympic 2012 headlines; still, a few interesting articles to share, and dont forget to check out what’s on this month and coming up.

A quick update on the NGOs’ Follow-up CEDAW report: the final report was circulated this week for endorsement, and we hope to have your organisations support by 3pm Friday 3 August.  Thank you for your valuable contributions, AWAVA and NATSIWA have really appreciated your feedback and involvement in the process.  A final version of the report will be published on the website once it has been submitted to the CEDAW Committee.

Around the Nation

  • In this media release, UN Women Australia wants businesses to include provisions for employees affected by domestic and family violence
  • In Sydney, Metro have announced plans to provide employees with domestic and family violence leave, which could flow on to other industries
  • The EVAs (Eliminating Violence Against Women Media Awards) Media Awards 2012 were announced this week.  The EVAs are held annually in recognition of journalists’ excellence in reporting on violence against women. The EVAs is a project partnership between AWAVA Advisory Group member Domestic Violence Victoria, and Friend & Supporter, No To Violence Male Family Violence Prevention Association, and CASA Forum, the women™s and men™s peak organisations supporting family violence and sexual assault services in Victoria

Internationally

Resources

New Resources

  • The Indigenous Justice Clearinghouse has released this report Communities working to reduce Indigenous family violence, written by Kyllie Cripps and Megan Davis
  • Want some tips on meeting with MPs?  This handy reference, provided by our sister alliance ERA (Equality Rights Alliance) and Kevin Noakes, (a staffer from the Office of Warren Snowdon MP) may be just the thing you need

Get Involved

Media Peace Awards 2012: Call for Nominations

Journalists and producers whose work promotes awareness of social justice and humanitarian issues are encouraged to nominate now for the 2012 Media Peace Awards. The work must have been published/broadcast in the Australian public media between 3 September 2011 and 31 August 2012. Winners will be announced at the Awards Presentation Dinner, to be held at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne on Friday 26 October to coincide with United Nations Day on 24 October. For entry criteria and nomination forms please click here

Upcoming Events

New!!

  • The 7th Women’s Health Conference, being held in 2013, is now calling for abstracts – submissions close 30 September
  • The Southern Regional Alliance conference is now open for registrations and will be held 20-21 September
  • New dates have been announced for the Red Cross Trafficking Training for Melbourne and Sydney – click here to find out more
  • Internationally: The FREDA Centre for Research on Violence Against Women and Children (School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University), in partnership with the Ending Violence Association of British Columbia (EVA BC), the Canadian Observatory on the Justice System™s Response to Intimate Partner Violence, and the BC Society of Transition Houses, invites you to join the 2012 National Research Day conference,  held November 7-9 in Vancouver

This Month

September

  • Take action on Peace Day 21 September, and become part of the largest gathering of people in the name of Peace and non violence. Watch the youtube clip here
  • Standing firm for change: a journey to justice is a national conference run by the Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention & Legal Service Victoria. The conference will be held on 21-23 November 2012, in Melbourne.  Registration is open until 30 September
  • The Participatory Justice and Victims Conference will be held in Canberra, 17-18 September

Later 

  • The No To Violence conference is in November 2012
  • Law Enforcement and Public Health Conference in Melbourne, November 2012
  • Australian Women’s Coalition is calling young women between 18 – 30 years who live, study or work in Auburn, Bankstown, Liverpool or Coffs Harbour NSW, or in Canberra, ACT to be a part of SHOUT!  A series of three free workshops will run in each location, complemented by an online network of support and skills-sharing and a local network of participants and AWC member organisations. The workshops will culminate in community events on Harmony Day next year, 21 March 2013. Find out more here
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Weekly Round-up* 27 July

Firstly, a big thank-you to everyone who participated in the recent CEDAW online survey hosted by AWAVA and NATSIWA – we had some excellent, informative and well thought-out responses and really appreciate your contributions. For those that requested it, you will have received a draft report for comment by today 27 July.  The report will be circulated next week for endorsement, so please provide your organisation’s logo for inclusion and circulate it to your networks.  We would like these by 3pm on Friday 3 August.  Keep an eye out for the final version, which will be posted on the website around mid-August

Lots happening this week in the news!  Quite a few articles internationally about the rising number of incidents and reports of violence against women in different countries, which you can check out below, and for those that would like a bit of weekend reading, there are a number of new Australian reports released this week for you to delve into.

But firstly, for those that don’t want to read and would rather listen – download this podcast from SBS where UN Women Executive Director, Julie Mackay, discusses domestic violence leave in the workplace

Around the Nation

And Internationally

Upcoming Events

New!!

This Month

August

September

  • Take action on Peace Day 21 September, and become part of the largest gathering of people in the name of Peace and non violence. Watch the youtube clip here
  • Standing firm for change: a journey to justice is a national conference run by the Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention & Legal Service Victoria. The conference will be held on 21-23 November 2012, in Melbourne.  Registration is open until 30 September.

Later 

  • The No To Violence conference is in November 2012
  • Law Enforcement and Public Health Conference in Melbourne, November 2012
  • The 7th Womens Health Conference will be held in Sydney in 2013
  • Australian Women’s Coalition is calling young women between 18 – 30 years who live, study or work in Auburn, Bankstown, Liverpool or Coffs Harbour NSW, or in Canberra, ACT to be a part of SHOUT!  A series of three free workshops will run in each location, complemented by an online network of support and skills-sharing and a local network of participants and AWC member organisations. The workshops will culminate in community events on Harmony Day next year, 21 March 2013. Find out more here
Read More

Weekly Round-up* 20 July

A busy week this week, with lots of international news and reports crossing our virtual desks that we want to share with you. But before you settle in to reading, check out the details on the UN Women event below, where you can join an on-line discussion on violence against women with experts across the world (without leaving the comfort of your desks or homes!)  Make sure that you register now if you want to participate, it starts Monday.

Be Involved!

UN Women are hosting an online discussion on ending violence against women and girls from 23 July “ 3 August which will inform preparations for the 57th session of the Commission for the Status of Women (CSW57) in March 2013.  CSW57’s theme is: Eliminating and preventing all forms of violence against women and girls.  This is a great opportunity for you to give your views and contribute your expertise on addressing violence against women, respond to questions and share thoughts on best practice, gaps and challenges.  The key themes of the discussions will feed into two reports by UN Women to inform the UN Secretary-General™s reports for CSW57 and to guide discussions between CSW members, and will feed into an Expert Group Meeting on prevention (Bangkok, 17-20 September 2012) which will also present its outcomes to CSW.

The first week of discussions will focus on primary prevention and the second week on multi-sectoral services and responses to victims/survivors

Click here to find out more and register

In News Around Australia

  • Many of you will have heard Ricky Nixon’s name in the news again over the last week, as he has been arrested on a number of charges relating to assaulting his partner. This op-ed by Susie O’Brien says there is no place in public life for men like Ricky Nixon
  • More funding cuts in Queensland will impact on another frontline service – Breaking the Cycle in Rockhampton
  • And take some time to read this article published in Marie Claire last month on the sterilisation of women and girls with disabilities in Australia

Around the World

New Reports

New Reports  from the UK and Ireland that you may find interesting:

Sexual violence against people with disabilities – This report from Rape Crisis Network Ireland presents research findings suggesting that there are few notable differences between disabled and non-disabled women in relation to prevalence of sexual violence.

Office of the Children™s Commissioner™s Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Gangs and Groups, with a special focus on children in care – The Office of the Children™s Commissioner has produced a briefing on the emerging findings of its inquiry, highlighting that both perpetrators and victims are ethnically diverse and come from all social backgrounds. The inquiry has found that young men and boys, as well as adults, are involved in perpetrating sexual exploitation and that there are some links to adult-based prostitution and brothels.

Upcoming Events

New!!

This Month

August

September

  • Take action on Peace Day 21 September, and become part of the largest gathering of people in the name of Peace and non violence. Watch the youtube clip here
  • Standing firm for change: a journey to justice is a national conference run by the Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention & Legal Service Victoria. The conference will be held on 21-23 November 2012, in Melbourne.  Registration is open until 30 September.

Later 

  •  The No To Violence conference is in November 2012
  • Law Enforcement and Public Health Conference in Melbourne, November 2012
  • The 7th Womens Health Conference will be held in Sydney in 2013
  • Australian Women’s Coalition is calling young women between 18 – 30 years who live, study or work in Auburn, Bankstown, Liverpool or Coffs Harbour NSW, or in Canberra, ACT to be a part of SHOUT!  A series of three free workshops will run in each location, complemented by an online network of support and skills-sharing and a local network of participants and AWC member organisations. The workshops will culminate in community events on Harmony Day next year, 21 March 2013. Find out more here
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Weekly Round-up* 13 July

Another big welcome to all our new subscribers! We’ve had quite a few of you join us over the past few weeks, which is great news (although, it might just be the cold weather in the southern states keeping you all indoors and looking for a great read!)

Quite a few diverse and interesting articles this week – and a few new events for you to check out as well.

Around the nation

  • The Victorian Department of Human Services have this week released their Indigenous Family Violence Primary Prevention Framework
  • This media release reports on Australia funding $17.7 million to reduce domestic and community violence against women in Afghanistan
  • Volume 1 of the DLA Piper Report: Allegations of sexual and other abuse in Defence has now been released in full – read the media release here
  • The Safe at Home, Safe at Work project has received funding for a further 12 months

Around the world

Get Involved!

The NSW Legislative Council has established a Select Committee on the partial defence of provocation – you can have your say by lodging your submission by 10 August 2012

Upcoming Events

New!!

This Month

  • Last chance to submit your abstracts for the inaugural National Rural Women’s Conference in February 2013 – closing date 4pm today (13 July)
  • Still time to register to attend the Red Cross Human Trafficking sessions in Canberra on Monday 16 and Tuesday 17 July
  • The Equality Rights Alliance will be conducting FREE Federal Budget training in Alice Springs 23 July – click  here to learn more and register now!!
August

September

  • Take action on Peace Day 21 September, and become part of the largest gathering of people in the name of Peace and non violence. Watch the youtube clip here

Later 

  • The No To Violence conference in November 2012
  • Law Enforcement and Public Health Conference in Melbourne, November 2012
  • The 7th Womens Health Conference will be held in Sydney in 2013
  • Australian Women’s Coalition is calling young women between 18 – 30 years who live, study or work in Auburn, Bankstown, Liverpool or Coffs Harbour NSW, or in Canberra, ACT to be a part of SHOUT!  A series of three free workshops will run in each location, complemented by an online network of support and skills-sharing and a local network of participants and AWC member organisations. The workshops will culminate in community events on Harmony Day next year, 21 March 2013. Find out more here

 

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Weekly Round-up* 6 July

Something of a quiet week in the news this week when it comes to reporting on violence against women – so only a brief round-up this week. Remember, if there is something you want to share or promote through the AWAVA website, email us  – we read all your emails and will consider all of your suggestions for inclusion.

Be sure to take some time to check out all the upcoming events in the sector  – there is a lot coming up in the very near future!

Around the Nation

Upcoming Events

This Month

  • National Rural Women’s Conference 2013 call for abstracts closes today, 6 July
  • Launch of NUS Safe Events Respectful Clubs and Societies program, in Canberra 10 July  – find out more
  • The Equality Rights Alliance will be conducting FREE Federal Budget training in Alice Springs 23rd July – click  here to learn more and register now!!
August

September

  • Take action on Peace Day 21 September, and become part of the largest gathering of people in the name of Peace and non violence. Watch the youtube clip here

Later 

  • The No To Violence conference in November 2012
  • Law Enforcement and Public Health Conference in Melbourne, November 2012
  • The 7th Womens Health Conference will be held in Sydney in 2013
  • Australian Women’s Coalition is calling young women between 18 – 30 years who live, study or work in Auburn, Bankstown, Liverpool or Coffs Harbour NSW, or in Canberra, ACT to be a part of SHOUT!  A series of three free workshops will run in each location, complemented by an online network of support and skills-sharing and a local network of participants and AWC member organisations. The workshops will culminate in community events on Harmony Day next year, 21 March 2013. Find out more here
Read More

Weekly Round-up* 29 June

This week, on June 26th, it was the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture – sadly, many of these victims are women fighting for basic human rights. To learn more, read the UN’s Secretary General’s message here.

A quiet week in the news around the country, but it would have been hard for anyone to avoid the Grant Hackett interview and the multitude of news articles published afterwards. AWAVA made this media statement:

“”It’s important to understand that violence against women is not just physical and sexual violence, and it™s not a private matter.  Violence against women includes abusive, intimidating and controlling behaviours, destroying her property, and shifting responsibility for abusive behaviour to her or someone else.  This behaviour is never caused, invited or deserved by the victim.  Men like Grant Hackett who are public figures and role models need to recognise that their behaviour is abusive and must change.  We need to remember that the safety of women and children is paramount and that from a very young age, children begin to form their beliefs and attitudes about how women and men should behave within relationships.””

AWAVA’s spokesperson, Executive  member, Margaret Augerinos, was quoted in the West Australian, emphasising that public figures and role models need to recognise that their behaviour is abusive.

In other news around Australia:

  • For many of those working in the community services sector, this media release from the Treasurer’s Office will bring welcome news
  • AWAVA welcomed the news of the establishment of the statutory office of the National Children’s Commissioner – read more here

And around the world:

Upcoming Events

NEW!!

July

  • The Association of Women Educators conference being held 3-5 July 2012 – for details and registration click here
  • National Rural Women’s Conference 2013 has a call for abstracts closing 6 July
  • Launch of the AWAVA-endorsed NUS Safe Events Respectful Clubs and Societies program, in Canberra 10 July  – find out more
  • The Equality Rights Alliance will be conducting FREE Federal Budget training in Alice Springs 23rd July – click  here to learn more and register now!!
August

September

  • Take action on Peace Day 21 September, and become part of the largest gathering of people in the name of Peace and non violence. Watch the youtube clip here

Later 

  • The No To Violence conference in November 2012
  • The 7th Womens Health Conference will be held in Sydney in 2013
  • Australian Women’s Coalition is calling young women between 18 – 30 years who live, study or work in Auburn, Bankstown, Liverpool or Coffs Harbour NSW, or in Canberra, ACT to be a part of SHOUT!  A series of three free workshops will run in each location, complemented by an online network of support and skills-sharing and a local network of participants and AWC member organisations. The workshops will culminate in community events on Harmony Day next year, 21 March 2013. Find out more here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Weekly Round-up* 22 June

Many of you will remember a few weeks ago AWAVA asking you to sign an on-line petition to strip a man of a bravery medal awarded after the Black Saturday fires – a man who was convicted of severely assaulting his partner and currently serving time in prison. This week, we are happy to share with everyone that the petition was presented with over 18000 signatures, and the award has been revoked – to read more, click here

AWAVA joined several of its Advisory Group member organisations in writing to the Attorney General advocating for the inclusion of domestic violence as a ground of discrimination in the consolidated Commonwealth Anti-Discrimination Laws.

In other news around Australia:

  • Defence Minister, Stephen Smith, has released the Executive Summary of Volume 1 of  the DLA Piper report into allegations of sexual abuse in the Defence Force
  • Geelong Football Club has been quick to taken action as one of their players is accused of assaulting a woman – read more here
  • Minister for the Status of Women, Julie Collins MP, has announced new support for women who have been affected by Family Violence on provisional partner visas
  • A new report says that Australia is leading the region in combatting human trafficking but there is still more to be done.  The UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking report from the Mission to Australia is now available

Internationally:

  • A new study in the USA showed that adult lesbian and same-sex attracted women are much more likely to report childhood and adult sexual abuse than women who identify as heterosexual
  • In Iraq, laws criminalising domestic violence and female genital mutiliation have done little to change attitudes, and prevention and education are needed for real change, according to this article by Amelie Herenstein
  • At the Rio +20 UN Women Leaders Forum, in her opening remarks Michelle Bachelet says “”we need to turn words in to action…  Action so that violence against women and girls is turned into new attitudes that promote zero tolerance for these crimes and zero impunity””

Our Thanks

A big thankyou to everyone that took time out of their busy lives to complete the CEDAW survey. We have had some excellent, thought-out and thought-provoking responses which will inform the NGO CEDAW report that we will complete and circulate for comment next month. Keep and eye out on our website for updates!

Upcoming Events

NEW!!

  • Launch of NUS Safe Events Respectful Clubs and Societies program, in Canberra 10 July  – find out more
  • National Rural Women’s Conference 2013 has a call for abstracts closing 6 July

Still Time to Register

This Month

  • WIRE Women™s Information is offering free workshops to women who have experienced financial control in a family violence situation in Preston and Stawell on 27 June.  Please note these workshops are unsuitable for women currently in crisis situations

July

  • The Association of Women Educators conference being held 3-5 July 2012 – for details and registration click here
  • The Equality Rights Alliance will be conducting FREE Federal Budget training in Alice Springs 23rd July – click  here to learn more and register now!!
August

Later 

  • Take action on Peace Day 21 September, and become part of the largest gathering of people in the name of Peace and non violence. Watch the youtube clip here
  • The No To Violence conference in November 2012
  • The 7th Womens Health Conference will be held in Sydney in 2013
  • Australian Women’s Coalition is calling young women between 18 – 30 years who live, study or work in Auburn, Bankstown, Liverpool or Coffs Harbour NSW, or in Canberra, ACT to be a part of SHOUT!  A series of three free workshops will run in each location, complemented by an online network of support and skills-sharing and a local network of participants and AWC member organisations. The workshops will culminate in community events on Harmony Day next year, 21 March 2013. Find out more here

 

 

 

Read More

Advocating for Inclusion of DV as Ground of Discrimination

AWAVA joined several of our Advisory Group member organisations in writing to the Attorney-General on 21 June in support of including domestic violence as a ground of discrimination in the consolidated Commonwealth Anti-Discrimination Laws.

In January 2012, AWAVA formally endorsed and supported the Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse (ADFVC) submission to the Attorney-General’s Department.

AWAVA firmly agrees with providing an express protection for victims of domestic violence.  The fact that women endure discrimination in the workplace, or in securing accommodation or services, as a consequence of experiencing, or having experienced domestic violence is unacceptable.

Read AWAVA’s letter

Read AWAVA’s endorsement of, and ADFVC’s submission, back in January 2012

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Launch of NUS Safe Events Respectful Clubs and Societies (SERCS)

AWAVA is supporting and endorsing the Safe Events Respectful Clubs and Societies (SERCS) program that has been developed by one of our Advisory Group member organisations, the National Union of Students (NUS), by NUS Women’s Officer, Noni Sproule, in partnership with South Eastern Centre Against Sexual Assault (SECASA)

SERCS is a resource and training that has been put together to assist clubs and societies and student organisations to run events which are inclusive and safe for all people.  It has been created in recognition of the important role that student organisations play in the creation of culture and community within universities.

The project is being launched by Senator Clare Moore and is supported and endorsed by two of the commonwealth-funded National Women’s Alliances, AWAVA and the Equality Rights Alliance.

Launch Details:

Date:     10 July 2012

Time:    6pm

Where:  Parliament House, Canberra

RSVP:    email: [email protected] by 2 July

Click here for invite

 

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Weekly Round-up* 15 June

Friday, June 15th, was World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) – an issue that is becoming more wide-spread in Australia as our population ages, and which particularly affects older women. You can learn more about what elder abuse is here (which includes links to the WHO fact sheets on elder abuse) – and if you have a few minutes, watch this clip that was filmed in Melbourne at last years WEAAD event.

In other news around Australia:

Internationally:

  • A new report shows that with policies that promote gender equality and safeguards against violence and exploitation, Canada is ranked top of the G20 countries to be a woman, with India ranked last. Read the full article here
  • Sparked by the same report, read more about life for women and girls in India in this article
  • In the UK, family members of a woman who kidnapped her in an attempt to force her to marry have been convicted. This article in the Telegraph, debates the effectiveness of making Forced Marriage a crime, with fears that it may pevent vulnerable women from seeking help
  • International attention has been on a Bulgarian fashion magazine that recently published a ‘beauty spread’ with  models being depicted as strangled, mutilated and attacked – read this opinion piece by ex-model Jenna Sauers.

]

Have Your Say

What do you think are the priority actions on VAW and for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Women?

We want to know your views on Australia™s performance on, and what Australia™s priorities need to be on these two areas to feed into the NGOs’ report for CEDAW.  Tell us your views by accessing the survey here before 20 June 2012.  Just a few days left!

Read more here

Position Vacant

  • A fixed-term Parental Leave position as Prevention of Violence Against Women Project Coordinator has become available, with the Mt Alexander Shire in Victoria. Please note, applications close 22 June. For more information call Glenn Menner, Manager Community Development on (03) 5471 1818 or see job description here

Resources

New Resource!!

The Central Queensland Family Law Pathway Network has released this guide to online Family Law system resources

Upcoming Events and Training

NEW!!

  • The Equality Rights Alliance will be conducting FREE Federal Budget training in Alice Springs – click  here to learn more and register now!!

Still Time to Register

This Month

  • Sowing the Seeds of Change forum to raise awareness of the effects of family violence on women with disabilities organized by women with disabilities, on 19 June  in Victoria
  • WIRE Women™s Information is offering free workshops to women who have experienced financial control in a family violence situation in June.  Please note these workshops are unsuitable for women currently in crisis situations
  • Michael Flood will assess debates over men’s and women’s experiences of domestic violence at a free seminar He Hits, She Hits in QLD on 22 June  – this talk will also be available via video-link to a number of sites around Australia. Click here for more information and to register

July

  • The Association of Women Educators conference being held 3-5 July 2012 – for details and registration click here
August

Later 

  • Take action on Peace Day 21 September, and become part of the largest gathering of people in the name of Peace and non violence. Watch the youtube clip here
  • The No To Violence conference in November 2012
  • The 7th Womens Health Conference will be held in Sydney in 2013
  • Australian Women’s Coalition is calling young women between 18 – 30 years who live, study or work in Auburn, Bankstown, Liverpool or Coffs Harbour NSW, or in Canberra, ACT to be a part of SHOUT!  A series of three free workshops will run in each location, complemented by an online network of support and skills-sharing and a local network of participants and AWC member organisations. The workshops will culminate in community events on Harmony Day next year, 21 March 2013. Find out more here
Read More
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