Welcome to the 103rd edition of The Pixel Project’s VAW e-News Digest!
It has been a year since the kidnapping of the Chibok girls and the #Bringbackourgirls campaign. The Pixel Project remembers these girls and hope for their return.
This week marks International Anti-Street Harassment Week. In New York, ‘no catcall zones’ signs have been put up to deter and raise awareness on street harassment. The Pixel Project and their partner Breakthrough India held a joint tweetchat about Street Harassment in different countries and cultures.
In Canada, community Circles are helping former sex offenders break the cycle of abuse as an exercise in restorative justice. Canadian research shows that the rate of reoffending drops about 85 per cent when high-risk sex offenders have Circles, a finding so dramatic researchers initially thought there had been a mistake with the research. The results were replicated in subsequent studies in Canada, and in studies and anecdotal research of Circles set up in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Every contribution matters. If you have any news you’d like to share about violence against women, please email The Pixel Project at info@thepixelproject.net. If you prefer to receive up-to-the-minute news concerning violence against women, follow us on Twitter . It’s time to stop violence against women together.
Best regards,
The Pixel Project Team
General Violence Against Women
WORLD: Editorial – Dead girls, killer ratings – on depictions of violence against women in popular TV shows like Game of Thrones and True Detective
AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan turns a blind eye to rising violence against women activists
AUSTRALIA: High-profile murder case sparks renewed calls for Australia to confront epidemic of violence against women
CHINA: China frees women’s rights activists
JORDAN: Jordan chairs Security Council session on violence against women
PAKISTAN: Violence against women in Pakistan often met with ‘state inaction’
POLAND: Poland ratifies convention combating violence against women
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Muslim women are treated as if they are in ‘Jahiliyah’
Domestic Violence
AUSTRALIA: Sydney man charged with 102 domestic violence offences
CANADA: ’40 Dogs on a Log’ fundraises for domestic violence victims and their pets
FIJI: Death of Fiji journalist reignites domestic violence discourse
MALAWI: Stiffer penalties fail to deter domestic violence in Malawi
NEW ZEALAND: Stand up against domestic violence – Taupo murder says people need to take a determined stand against domestic abuse
PALESTINE: Japan and UN Women to assist female victims of gender-based violence in Gaza
THAILAND: Bangkok has highest rate of domestic violence in the country
UNITED STATES: Congress considers bill to help domestic violence victims escape with their pets
Rape and Sexual Assault
WORLD: One year after the Chibok kidnappings, the UN identifies 19 countries where sexual abuse is a way of life
AUSTRALIA: Wicked Campers’ ‘disgusting’ slogans promote violence against women, say protesters
CANADA: Air Canada faces new complaint over handling of sex assault
FRANCE: Calais in mourning over rape of 9-year old girl
NEW ZEALAND: Sexual assaults up 44% in Southern district
SYRIA: Girls who escaped ISIS describe systematic rape
UNITED KINGDOM: Community circles help sex offenders break cycle of abuse
UNITED STATES: Columbia University students broadcast ‘Rape Happens Here’ message during prospective student visits
Sex Trafficiking
BRAZIL: Forced prostitution and slavery, an analysis of Brazil’s response
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Busting sex tourists in the Dominican Republic
INDONESIA: Why Southeast Asia struggles to tackle modern-day slavery
MALAYSIA and UGANDA: Malaysia frees Ugandan women in trafficking operation
SPAIN: Seven women rescued in sex trafficking operation
TAIWAN and the UNITED KINGDOM: Writer states that poverty is the main cause of sex trafficking
UGANDA: Teen rescued from human traffickers in Uganda
UNITED STATES: Loretta Lynch again delayed as Senate hashes out sex trafficking bill
Female Genital Mutilation
WORLD: Eliminating female genital mutilation by 2030
ERITREA: FGM victim reveals horror of mother having circumcised her as a baby
GAMBIA: Gamcotrap sensitises district authorities, opinion leaders on FGM
GHANA: 13-year old banished for refusing circumcision (TRIGGER WARNING: Contains disturbing illustration)
INDONESIA: The custom of female circumcision remains good business in Indonesia
KENYA: Narok chief charged with aiding daughter’s FGM freed over lack of evidence
TANZANIA: Society asked to step up fight against FGM, early marriages
UNITED KINGDOM: All-women shows of new plays that deal with female genital mutilation open in National Theatre of Scotland
Forced Marriage and Honour Killing
AUSTRALIA: Project to empower women to tackle forced marriage, dowry abuse
AFGHANISTAN: Afghan woman forced to marry rapist to avoid societal punishment
CAMEROON: Young girls at Cameroon face forced marriage at high rates
INDIA: BJP government ropes in Pandits and Halwais to stop child marriage
MALAWI: Malawi bans child marriages after rights campaign
MOROCCO: Child marriage in Morocco’s rural areas
UNITED KINGDOM: Labour Party politician states ‘ My family blackmailed me into marriage at 15’
UNITED STATES: Thousands of young women in the US forced into marriage
Activism
AFGHANISTAN: Editorial – women’s rights in Afghanistan – are we witnessing a revolution?
AUSTRALIA: Enough is Enough – hundreds call for end to violence against women, tougher sentencing for offenders at Melbourne rally
BRAZIL: Meet the woman mapping out street harassment in Brazil
CANADA: Billboard campaign aims to curb violence against women
NIGERIA: Bring Back Our Girls march marks 1 year since abduction of Nigerian schoolgirls
TURKEY: Turkish fashion show highlights violence against women
UNITED KINGDOM: A dozen lives lost to honour killings are immortalised in dance by the Kali Theatre Company
UNITED STATES: ‘No Catcall Zones’ signs pop up in New York City during anti-harassment week