Fortnightly Round-Up

Human Rights Day - 10 December 2021

Human Rights Day is observed every year on 10 December — the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

This year the theme is ‘EQUALITY - Reducing inequalities, advancing human rights’. This includes addressing and finding solutions for deep-rooted forms of discrimination that have affected the most vulnerable people in societies, including women and girls, indigenous peoples, people of African descent, LGBTI people, migrants and people with disabilities, among others.

Equality, inclusion and non-discrimination, in other words - a human rights-based approach to development  - is the best way to reduce inequalities.

Around the Country

• Both the federal government and the Opposition announced - within minutes of each other - commitments to establish a Domestic, Family, and Sexual Violence Commission to oversee the implementation of the second National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children.

• The NSW government’s Affirmative Consent Bill passed the Upper House on 23 November 2021. Under the legislation, the NSW Crimes Act will be changed to specify consent to sexual activity must be communicated by words or actions, not simply assumed.

• Greens Senator Dorinda Cox, a Yamatji-Noongar woman, secured the support of the Senate to establish a parliamentary inquiry which will examine the policing processes used in First Nations murder and missing women and children investigations.

• The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has released their latest edition of guidelines Abuse and violence – Working with our patients in general practice (also known as The White Book) to provide evidence-based strategies for GPs to help patients experiencing family abuse and violence, including not recommending relationship counselling in suspected cases of domestic violence.

• In response to the federal government’s proposed religious discrimination legislation, the Equality Australia led an open letter signed by over 250 unions, medical bodies, businesses, philanthropists, disability, human rights, women’s, and LGBTIQ+ organisations, published in the Age and Sydney Morning Herald calling on the Prime Minister to deliver fair and equal discrimination laws that protect all people in the community equally.

• Frontline workers are reported as saying that the one-off payment of up to $5,000 (under the two-year $145m escaping violence payment trial) is potentially putting women at greater risk.

• The Queensland government has published a Year 6 highlights card providing an overview of what has been achieved to date in Queensland under their domestic and family violence prevention strategy.

Around the world

• The text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls, is now available online.

• The Council of Europe Expert Group on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO) published its General Recommendation No.1 on the digital dimension of violence against women, outlining the problem of both gender-based violence against women committed online and facilitated by technology.

• United States President Joe Biden has made a Statement on the Occasion of International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

• Tens of thousands of protesters have marched through Paris and other French cities to demand more government action to prevent violence against women. Activists are urging President Emmanuel Macron's government to dedicate one billion euros each year to fight violence against women, instead of the 360 million euros spent now, in part to create more shelters. Thousands also took to the streets of Rome in protest at violence against women.

• In the United Kingdom, a report by Sikh Women’s Aid (the UK’s only frontline service for Sikh women) found that 70% of respondents say they had experienced domestic abuse.

• In London, new figures show that domestic abuse now accounts for one in eight crimes reported to the Met Police. Official figures show 94,791 offences were reported in the year to October, nearly 260 a day across the capital, and a 9% increase on the previous year. 

• Also in England, the recently passed Domestic Abuse Act requires councils to publish a strategy to provide housing support for victims and children. Some councils are now drafting plans that include housing for perpetrators along with measures for victims.

• The Zimbabwe government has launched the Love Shouldn’t Hurt campaign in response to a 70 per cent increase in reported gender-based violence under Covid-19 lockdowns.

• In the United States, Congress is considering laws to enable civilian courts and police to confiscate the firearms of service members accused of domestic violence. Conservatives are putting up fierce opposition, because they say it would infringe on troops' Second Amendment right to bear arms.

• The Israeli government announced at its first meeting of the ministerial gender equality cabinet, NIS 155 million in funding to go towards Israel's plan to combat violence against women.

• President Cyril Ramaphosa says if a nation’s character can be judged by how it treats women and children, then South Africa is falling desperately short - reflecting on the latest crime statistics released by the South African Police Service (SAPS) showing an increase in rape, domestic violence and child murder.

• The South African government recently introduced the Domestic Violence Amendment Bill to amend the Domestic Violence Act to include some new and revised definitions of domestic violence and other types of abuse, including coercive control, economic abuse and elder abuse.

• Family violence cases and sexual assaults have reached their highest levels since at least 2018, according to nearly four years of data from the El Paso Police Department in Texas. So far, 2021 has topped the numbers seen during the same period in 2020.

Research and reports

• Change the Record has released the Pathways to Safety report making a strong case for a dedicated First Nations Women’s National Safety Plan written by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.

• Our Watch released the second edition of Change the story, its evidence-based framework to guide a coordinated and effective national approach to preventing violence against women. It goes beyond a focus on individual behaviours to consider the broader social, political, and economic factors that drive violence against women, and the social context of gender inequality in which this violence arises.

• The National Association of Services Against Sexual Violence (NASASV), the key expert peak body in Australia for sexual violence, has a developed the Third Edition of the National Standards of Practice Manual for Services Against Sexual Violence.

• The Centre for Policy Development has released Starting Better: A Guarantee for Young Children and Families. A range of measures are proposed as part of a guarantee, including support for children and parents from within their community, including up to 25 visits from maternal and child health nurses.

• The Economic Justice Australia has released a new report last week on Debt, duress and dob-ins: Centrelink compliance processes and domestic violence, exploring the interaction of social security law and Centrelink debt investigation practices for women experiencing DFV. 

• The journal article ‘Gender-based violence and infectious disease in humanitarian settings: lessons learned from Ebola, Zika, and COVID-19 to inform syndemic policy making’ is available online.

• The World Health Organisation has released its report Responding to violence against women and children during COVID-19: impact on service provision, strategies and actions in the WHO European Region.

• According to new data released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, people with disabilities are disproportionately victims of violent crime and victimisation in the United States.The data also shows the ongoing prevalence of domestic and intimate partner violence against women with disabilities.

• The Equality Institute has released a paper drawing on evidence suggesting that unless we end violence against women and girls (VAWG) globally at least 14 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will not be met. The paper explores the links between each of those 14 SDGs and violence against women.

• The Psychiatric Times has published an article on Shedding Light on the Shadow Brain Pandemic: The Devastating Effects of Gendered Violence-Related Acquired Brain Injury.

• Oxfam have released a briefing paper The Ignored Pandemic: The Dual Crises of Gender-Based Violence and COVID-19.

• UN Women have released Measuring the Shadow Pandemic: Violence Against Women During Covid-19 which compiles and analyses the results of Rapid Gender Assessment surveys on the impact of COVID-19 on violence against women (VAW RGAs) in 13 countries.

• UN Women have also developed a policy brief taking stock of gender equality work with men and proposing new directions for programming and policy on men and boys.

• Research commissioned by the British counter-terrorism police, which looked at 3,045 individuals who had been classified as vulnerable to radicalisation (V2R), found just over a third had a link to a domestic abuse incident, either as an offender, victim, witness or a combination of all three.

• An ACOSS report COVID-19: rental housing and homelessness impacts in Australia shows renters on low and modest incomes are in the grip of a housing pincer, especially in regional Australia, as surging rents and the Commonwealth’s neglect of social and affordable housing creates acute stress.

• An innovative research out of the University of Calgary shows that survivors of domestic violence who participate in an intervention program experience lowered stress levels, providing proof that such programs are successful.

• Men’s Health magazine published an article on Violence Against Women is a Men’s Issue.

Surveys and EOI

• The Australian Institute of Family Studies wants to hear about family relationships, connections, support given and received and how COVID-19 has affected families, through a survey aimed at helping to understand the circumstances and wellbeing of families over time. It is open to anyone over 18 years of age in every type of family. 

• Barnardos Australia is undertaking a study on domestic and family violence and its impact on children, and adults are invited to undertake a short survey to build understanding on what can be done to support children and young people exposed to domestic and family violence. 

• The Women’s Electoral Lobby are asking women to complete a survey to have their say on the issues important to them in the lead up to next year’s federal election.

• Women With Disability Australia's new women's alliance is seeking expressions of interest for their Policy Advisory Group. Apply here.
  
  

Calls for submissions

• The Australian Human Rights Commission is inviting submissions to inform the development of a National Anti-Racism Framework, intended as a central reference to guide actions on anti-racism and equality by government. Submissions are now open and close on 15 December.

• The UNSW Law Journal is currently welcoming submissions for Issue 45(3), due by 4 February 2022. The theme is ‘Law and Economics’ and submissions on a range of topics including modern slavery, and interactions between feminist economics and law on areas such as unpaid domestic labour, maternity leave and workplace discrimination are invited.

Events

• The Adelaide White Ribbon Breakfast Online this year is available for viewing. The focus this year was on programs dealing with perpetrators of Domestic Abuse. (There is about one minute of delay at the start and initially the audio is not good but improves after the introduction.)
• The Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre will host a virtual panel Achieving women’s safety and equality in the workplace on 9 December at 4.30pm to focus on women’s safety and equality in the workplace. The panel will be facilitated by the Centre Director Associate Professor Kate Fitz-Gibbon and will feature the Victorian Public Sector Gender Equality Commissioner Nikki Vincent and Our Watch CEO Patty Kinnersly. Additional panellists to be confirmed.
• Jess Hill appeared on ABC Radio’s Conversations to speak about her books See What You Made Me Do and The Reckoning.

Training and further education

• RMIT’s Graduate Certificate in Domestic and Family Violence provides an exciting opportunity for current and future family violence practitioners, with subjects in gendered violence, responding to family violence, primary prevention of violence against women and specialist case coordination and management. The program is offered online and part-time to support work/life/study balance. Applications can be made online here, or for more information, visit the Program Overview.

• Harmony Alliance has developed a free online course Financial Literacy for Women available in English, Arabic, Dari, Simplified Chinese, Vietnamese, Nepalese, Punjabi, Hazaragi, Thai, Karen and Korean.

Grants

• The Afghan-Australian Community and Settlement Support grant program is now open with applications closing on 23 December 2021. The program provides grants to organisations to facilitate positive settlement outcomes for newly arrived Afghan people.

Get involved

• The Women’s Electoral Lobby is looking for volunteers in Sydney throughout December to help with the UNSEEN Arts Hub, aiming to give voice to women with lived experience of homelessness and raise awareness about women’s homelessness and the fact that it is often hidden.

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

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