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	Aboriginal women''s lives really do matter by Antoinette Braybrook Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention & Legal Services Australia   Aboriginal women are at the epicentre of the national family violence crisis. This reality sadly doesn''t cut through into the national conversation. The violence perpetrated against Aboriginal women is routinely ignored and our communities silence stifles the kind of urgent action that is required.   To protect women we need urgent investment in the services for the safety of Aboriginal women - including Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention Legal Services (FVPLS), women''s refugees and housing, counselling and health services.   Instead, like so many frontline services, FVPLSs are not funded to support all the women relying on our service for their safety. This year''s budget includes just a fraction of the funding needed for family violence services across the board - and is expected to leave thousands of Aboriginal women without access to this vital service.   Violence against Aboriginal women and their children is at epidemic levels. If you are an Aboriginal women you are 34 times more likely to be hospitalised and 10 times more likely to be killed by someone who purports to love you.   It is important to note that the Aboriginal women we work with are hurt by men from many different cultures and backgrounds. Talking about violence against our women is not about pointing the finger at Aboriginal men. This is about addressing men''s violence against women and the system that is failing the women it should be working hardest to support.   By 2021-22 violence against Aboriginal women is estimated to cost the nation an extraordinary $2.2 billion a year. Its moral cost - which sees lives lost and communities destroyed - is unquantifiable.   Despite these disproportionate statistics, violence against Aboriginal women rarely makes the nation''s media. Two recent cases have also broken this silence and highlighted the failure of the justice system to protect vulnerable women.   Take the case of Ms Dhu, a victim of violence, who at 22 died whilst in police custody for unpaid fines. Or that of Andrea Pickett, who at 39 died at the hands of her husband in front of her young children after police failed to uphold restraining orders.   Sadly, unlike the reporting, these deaths are not isolated. What does it say that these injustices rarely penetrate the national psyche? Can it really be that Aboriginal women''s lives don''t matter?   My organisation responds to this crisis by providing essential services for safety of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander victims/survivors of family violence. Our wrap around legal and support services would not reach those most in need, or at risk of violence, without our early intervention prevention programs to break the vicious cycle of violence.   Women who come to us do so after being subjected to abuse and violence for many years. Our specialist, culturally safe services ensures women can access the support they need knowing they will not be judged, knowing that we will fight hard for them and their kids in a system that has a history of forced child removal and systematically failing our community. They know that we will use their experiences, without compromising their confidentiality, to call for systemic change.   To address this national crisis we need strong national leadership and huge political will. So far political rhetoric has not been matched with funding commitments needed. And we need to set targets to reduce violence against our women.   To end the unacceptable impact of violence against Aboriginal women, we need all parties to back up words with investment in services for safety. This includes investment in Family violence programmes, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services and community legal centres.   As a nation we must draw a line in the sand. We must start listening to the voices of Aboriginal women and take strong action to ensure the lives lost and destroyed are not confined to a mere statistical footnote - out of sight, out of mind.   All Aboriginal women deserve better because Aboriginal women''s lives really do matter.   * Antoinette Braybrook is a Kuku Yalanji woman, the convenor of the National Family Violence Prevention Legal Services Forum and CEO of the Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention & Legal Services Victoria.   http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/nov/22/antoinette-braybrook-i-just-dont-give-up http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2016/nov/22/lets-honour-the-invisible-work-of-aboriginal-women-tackling-domestic-violence http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/nov/17/indigenous-advocates-destructive-culture-of-silence-fuels-domestic-violence Visit the related web page
	Turning the tide of sexual violence against women and girls by UN Women, Global Voices, agencies   April 2017   One third of Indonesian women suffer abuse. (Thomson Reuters Foundation/UNFPA)   One third of Indonesian women have faced physical or sexual violence, according to new government data, prompting calls by a United Nations agency for urgent action to protect women.   The government''s first national survey on violence against women showed 33 percent of women aged between 15 and 64 - around 26 million people - said they have faced abuse in their lives.   Cases of violence are most common among women who have received higher education and those who live in urban area, according to the survey released in late March.   "The survey findings are sobering. It shows that violence against women occurs around us," Annette Robertson, head of the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) in Indonesia told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.   The issue of violence against women hit the headlines in Indonesia last year after a schoolgirl was gang-raped and murdered, sparking public uproar and leading to the introduction of tougher punishments for sex offenders.   "Violence against women is a human rights violation and rooted in gender inequality. It deprives women and girls of the chance to enjoy a dignified life and present and future opportunities to live up to their full potential," Robertson said.   The government''s survey has been welcomed by women''s rights campaigners as a way to tackle and address the root causes of violence against women in Indonesia, the world''s fourth-most populous nation with 250 million people.   Women''s groups in the country have long said a lack of comprehensive data hampered education and prevention of violence, making it harder to reflect the prevalence of the crime.   The government is due to release further findings and analysis of the survey in June.   Indonesia was ranked 88th out of 144 countries in the World Economic Forum''s 2016 Gender Gap Index after scoring poorly on economic participation, education and political empowerment.   While Indonesia''s economy has grown over the past decade, critics say old-fashioned social attitudes persist and women are often subject to scrutiny about their behaviour.   The UNFPA, which has helped the government carry out the survey, urged action from authorities and communities, saying failure to act could cost the country, including through productivity losses.   Robertson cited a previous study in Vietnam which showed women survivors of violence earned 35 percent less than women who are not abused.   "Silence and non-action are not an option. The stakes are high," she said.   Globally, one in three women experience physical or sexual violence, according to the U.N. Women agency. http://tmsnrt.rs/2o7jWlC   http://www.unfpa.org/gender-based-violence   May, 2016   Rape and murder of Indonesian girl fires reform calls. (AFP)   Indonesian activists have called for the Government to urgently strengthen laws against sexual violence after the brutal gang rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl sparked outrage.   The teenager was on her way home from school in a small village on the main western island of Sumatra when she was allegedly set upon by a drunk gang of men and boys.   Her battered body was found three days later in woods, tied up and naked, according to local media reports. There were allegedly 14 perpetrators, and 12 have so far been arrested.   The crime took place in early April but anger has only grown in recent days as reports of the incident spread on social media.   President Joko Widodo added his voice to the chorus of condemnation, tweeting: "We all mourn for this tragic loss.. Girls and children need to be protected from violence."   Sexual violence against women is rampant in Indonesia, with 35 cases reported every day, according to the national commission.   Calls to enact bill to strengthen laws   Masruchah, a member of government-backed rights group the National Commission on Violence Against Women, called for MPs to enact a bill to strengthen laws against sexual violence that has been before Parliament for some time.   "This is very urgent," said Masruchah, who like many Indonesians only goes by one name. "It is clear this cannot be tolerated."   A statement from a coalition of NGOs also called on Parliament to fast-track the Elimination of Sexual Violence bill, which gives better protection to rape victims and also makes a host of other acts criminal offences.   Rape is currently illegal in Indonesia but under legislation related broadly to abuse, and carries a maximum jail sentence of 14 years.   Activists hope that with a more specific law against sexual violence it will be easier to convict sex offenders and sentences will be longer. The law is still in the draft stage and details are being worked out   A petition calling for the law to be enacted has been signed by more than 30,000 people in the past 24 hours.   http://globalvoices.org/2016/05/13/indonesians-light-candles-and-seek-justice-for-murdered-teenage-rape-victim/ http://globalvoices.org/2016/06/02/islamic-councils-endorsement-of-light-domestic-violence-doesnt-go-over-well-with-pakistani-women/   June 2016   A Horrific Gang Rape in Brazil instigates Global Call to Action, by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Women Executive Director.   The drugging, abduction and violent gang rape of a 16-year-old girl in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil calls us all to turn the tide of sexual violence against women and girls in Brazil and in every country in the world. Her silence was broken by the men who boastfully posted their images of the rape, deepening her abuse by showing her body to the world, in the confident expectation of approval by their peers and impunity from punishment. This is Brazil’s moment to shake that confidence to its core and reassert the rule of law and its respect for human rights. This is the time for zero tolerance for violence against women and girls.   The men’s casual expectation of zero retribution reflects the impunity known by most rapists across the world. Their confidence illustrates a climate of normalized abuse, a culture of daily violence against women and girls, and a stark failure of justice. It is estimated that only 35 per cent of rape cases in Brazil are reported. Even so, the Brazilian police record a case of rape every 11 minutes, every day.   The Brazilian teenager did not get medical attention until after her attack was made public. Fear, shame or hopelessness contribute to the gross under-reporting of sexual violence. Far too few women and girls are getting the help they need—and to which they are entitled—to support healing and protect them from unwanted pregnancy as well as from HIV or other sexually transmitted infections.   One simple fact illustrates this: alongside the horrifically high rates of sexual violence experienced daily by women and girls in Brazil and throughout the region, 56 per cent of pregnancies in Latin America and the Caribbean are unplanned or unintended. Women and girls need access to the full range of reproductive health services and rights at all times.   Attention to the critical lack of access to these services in Brazil and elsewhere has sharpened even further in the light of the unprecedented spread of the Zika virus. The risks are highest for the most vulnerable, who are unable to protect themselves adequately against infection, nor against unwanted pregnancy—especially in the context of rape.   There has never been a more urgent time for action against sexual violence and for women and girls to be able to confidentially and easily access the health services they need. Both legal and medical structures need to be mobilized to deal with the cases that already exist and strong action taken to build comprehensive services for survivors.   This one case throws into stark relief the daily discrimination and intimidation experienced by women and girls, not just in Latin America, but all over the world. Violence against women and girls deeply damages our societies, our economies, our politics and our long-term global potential.   It constrains lives, limits options, and violates human rights. In all its forms, from physical brutality against women human rights defenders like Berta Cáceres, who was murdered in western Honduras in March, to the character assassination of female political figures, it plays out daily in visible and invisible ways, and diminishes us all. It is both why increased representation of women in leadership positions is so important, and why it is so difficult to achieve.   The intensity of protest in Brazil trending through social networks reflects the deep anger against the unrecognized or undeclared abuses that have suppressed or extinguished so many women’s lives. For so many years the struggle of women’s movements, only now governments share their vision of a world without violence by 2030. The young girl in the news commented: “It does not hurt the uterus, but the soul because there are cruel people who are getting away with it.”   Zero tolerance needs the full weight of the laws already in place to track down, prosecute and punish perpetrators. From the highest levels of government, through the police, lawyers and the courts, all need to act with renewed responsibility and accountability for what is happening to women and girls and understand its real cost and consequences.   Most important of all, this is a situation for every man and boy to consider, and to decide to take a stand to change and positively evolve the ‘machismo’ culture. This must not wait another day.   http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women http://www.ipsnews.net/2016/06/combating-rape-requires-cultural-change-in-brazil/ http://www.ipsnews.net/topics/rape/ http://globalvoices.org/2016/05/06/violence-against-women-in-mexico-has-become-dangerously-normalised-one-lawyer-says/ http://globalvoices.org/-/topics/women-gender/ Visit the related web page
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