Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

Australian govenment admits ‘fundamental failures’ in Pickett case

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 11:00 PM PDT

Emma Davis
WVoN co-editor

An Australian woman, murdered by her estranged husband, was let down by "fundamental failures" within the authorities, the government has admitted for the first time.

Andrea Pickett was killed in 2009 by Kenneth Pickett after he made a series of threats to her and her family.

Her family campaigned for two years for an inquest into how the system failed to protect Ms Pickett.

The coroner's findings, returned last month, criticised the fact that "there is no organisation or department which has the role of protecting victims of crime in circumstances such as those which Andrea found herself in."

The findings also slammed the police authorities for failing to properly look into Kenneth Pickett's multiple breaches of violence restraining orders.

On a programme aired on the country's ABC network this week, the newly appointed Minister for corrective services in Western Australia, Murray Cowper, said: "I want to reassure the people of Western Australia that the government hasn’t been sitting back idly waiting for a coroner’s report to come down, and clearly state that there have been some fundamental failures on behalf of a number of government departments in respect to this.”

As reported on the ABC News website, Ms Pickett had made several pleas for help to the police and to a division of Western Australia's Department for Child Protection known as Crisis Care, which offers emergency those in danger.

But her requests to be placed in a refuge with her seven youngest children were rejected, as she was told there were not enough beds.

Chief executive of Western Australia's Women’s Council for Domestic and Family Violence Services, Angela Hartwig, said: “That was a failure and it's not good enough to say that there weren’t enough beds in women’s refuges. I think so much more could have been done knowing that there weren’t the beds in refuges. They should have put them up somewhere safe even if it was witness protection or out of the metropolitan area in the interim.”

She told the makers of the programme "We’ve had two new refuges funded in the metropolitan area in about 20 years and so with the population growth, with the increased demand, refuges cannot possibly cope and I think governments have been pretty poor in terms of dealing with this issue.”

It has since been revealed that there were 12 beds available in a refuge a few hours away on the nights leading up to Ms Pickett's murder.

130 Australians are killed every year by their partners or ex-partners, with most of these victims being female.

Mr Cowper responded to the criticism by reassuring viewers that more provisions were being made to cater for those seeking refuge.

He said: “We now have in excess of 200 positions for families in Western Australia. We have around 50 for single people, and if for some other reason that accommodation was to have been filled, we will find alternative, suitable accommodation in the private sector.”

Spanish government anger women with new abortion proposals

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 06:30 AM PDT

Deborah Cowan
WVoN co-editor

Proposals by Conservative Spanish authorities to tighten abortion laws prompted women's groups to take to the streets of Madrid this week.

A protest rally took place in the capital's Tirso de Molina square on Sunday, with hundreds of Spaniards, predominantly women, turning up to protest that new abortion regulations will have a serious impact on the rights of mothers.

The laws which currently govern abortion were put in place in 2010 by a previous, more liberal, government.

Spain's 2010 Abortion Law, 'La Ley de Plazos' allows women to have a termination up to 14 weeks into their pregnancy.  However, they are also able to abort up to 22 weeks if there is a serious health issue for the mother or if the foetus shows a level of serious deformity.

If extreme abnormalities or malformations are discovered, then a woman may have an abortion at any time during her pregnancy, subject to an ethics committee approval.

The law's provisions are in keeping with those in many European countries.

'La Ley de Plazos' was broadly welcomed in Spain as an important measure for the rights of women and mothers.

Previous abortion law had held that a woman could have a termination only in cases of rape, serious deformity or when the mother’s mental or physical health was threatened.

However, Spain's current Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon is in favour of a return to more austere measures, and wants to ban the aborting of a foetus which has shown to have physical deformities.

'I don't understand why we should deprive a foetus of life by allowing abortion for the simple reason that it suffers a handicap or deformity', he said.

He also cited the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), which calls on nations to 'adopt all necessary measures to guarantee the rights of disabled people'.

Additionally, he will ask Parliament to make parental permission mandatory where 16- and 17-year-olds want to end pregnancies.

But feminist protesters say that these changes are a 'step back' for women, and redolent of life in Spain under the dictatorship of General Franco.

Many of the women who turned up to voice their concern chanted 'we give birth, we decide,' and 'not one step backwards'.  One woman painted her body with the slogan 'curas y jueces fuera de mi cuerpo' – judges and priests away from my body.

Feminist organisations are not alone in their dissent – according to left wing publication 'El Pais', the measures are unpopular even among conservative voters, with 81 per cent of Spanish people saying they are against banning abortion where the foetus is found to have physical deformities.

A member of the Feminist Assembly, Justa Montero, who helped organise the protest assembly, said that the measures would impact on women’s rights.

'It seems to us a throwback to the Franco dictatorship and we are not willing to accept under any circumstances measures that will take away our rights.'

Gador Joya, spokesman for the “Right to Life” collective, said that banning terminations in cases of malformation ‘is a step forward for the protection of the right to life.’

However, head of the Spanish association of abortion clinics, Santiago Barambio, who is also one of the authors of  'La Ley de Plazos', suggested that Gallardón is simply acting in accordance with ‘the extreme right and the ultra-Catholics, which are perhaps a minority but are very powerful economically.’

The Popular Party, of which Gallardón is a member, won a landslide victory in the Spanish elections in November.

Their campaign included a pledge to change abortion laws.  It seems they are now trying to make good on that pledge….. or will they listen to their women?

The twilight zone of domestic and sexual violence

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 04:30 AM PDT

Jane Osmond
WVoN co-editor

It is a common perception that during large sporting events incidences of domestic and sexual violence increase. As reported by the BBC, figures from English police forces showed an increase in domestic violence reports during the 2010 World Cup.

To address this in relation to the Olympic games, a temporary centre run by Newham Council and domestic abuse charities, with support by police, will offer legal help and advocacy for a period of two months.

The centre can be found near the Olympic Park in east London at Stratford Advice Arcade, 107-109 The Grove.

When I read about such initiatives, I feel like applauding that there is still a caring and compassionate community beneath Cameron's dog eat dog society, but at the same time, I feel that I have stepped into a twilight zone.

I define a twilight zone as a space between reality and fantasy where the incongruity of how we live snaps into focus.

When it comes to violence against women, this incongruity is writ large.

On the one hand we have the reality with figures on domestic and sexual assault in the UK showing that:

  • One in four women will be a victim of domestic violence in their lifetime.
  • One incident of domestic violence is reported to the police every minute.
  • On average, two women a week are killed by a current or former male partner.

Women’s Aid

  • Around 400,000 women are sexually assaulted and 80,000 women are raped each year.

Rape Crisis (England and Wales)

Then on the other hand we have the fantasy – the complete denial of the reality of a culture that routinely allows and accepts sexual and domestic violence in our society by not taking the violence seriously enough to secure convictions.

Refuge, a UK domestic violence charity, responding to a recent Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) report that showed domestic violence convictions had increased, commented:

“We are concerned that ….. there are an estimated 1.2 million women who experience domestic violence each year in the UK.

“In London alone, there were almost 52,000 domestic violence offences recorded in one year, so the 66,860 successfully prosecuted nationally, barely scratches the surface.”

Further, Refuge states that a huge majority of women do not report domestic abuse due to fear of the consequences from violent partners.

Another reason for non-reporting is the fear of not being taken seriously by the police, particularly when reporting rape.

This is evidenced by the recent case of the London Met Sapphire Unit, which is under investigation after several detectives refused to carry out investigations into reports received by women who had been assaulted. This led to a London black-cab driver remaining free to assault women over a period of several years.

So, despite the reality of the need for a safe space for women during the Olympic Games, reports of domestic violence and sexual assault typically either do not get made, or do not make it beyond the initial report to the police station.

What this shows is that violence against women is seen as so unimportant that even if women find the courage to report an assault, they are then expected to face the consequences of a retaliatory attack by their partner/attacker, or that their case has little chance of resulting in a successful prosecution.

We have to ask ourselves why this is?  Just what is it about our male-dominated culture that downplays violence against women in this way? And what do we need to do to change it?

Meanwhile, our support is with those women who find the need to visit a domestic abuse shelter during the Games.

Kenyan human rights activist sworn in as judge

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 03:00 AM PDT

Helen Thompson
WVoN co-editor

Monica Mbaru, a Kenyan lawyer and human rights activist, is now also a judge in the Kenyan court system.

President Mwai Kibaki and chief justice Willy Mutunga swore in Mbaru at the State House in Nairobi on July 13 as one of 12 new judges in the Industrial Court, which rules on employment cases.

Under Kenya's new constitution, the Industrial Court is granted the same status as the High Court.

Mbaru has been a vehement advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and sex workers in Africa.

She has worked with organisations such as the Centre for Legal Empowerment (Kituo cha Sheria), the Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation (Hivos), the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, and the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK).

Speaking in May 2009 at the African Commission on Human Rights, Mbaru challenged all African nations to protect the human rights of all Africans, including LGBT Africans.

Citing violations of the human rights of gay Africans in countries such as Burundi, South Africa, Senegal, Nigeria and Kenya, Mbaru called for an end to violence and intimidation against LGBT people, for police to take decisive action against perpetrators of rapes, violence and murders of LGBT people, and for the courts to fairly adjudicate such cases.

In March 2012, Mbaru, a regular columnist for LGBT magazine Identity Kenya, wrote in support of sex workers, arguing that: “Every person is entitled to basic human rights, and all sex workers are entitled to the same rights as anyone else.”

She continued with a rationale for decriminalising sex work by saying:

“Decriminalisation allows for access to human rights protections, the ability to achieve labour protections; it creates a more open relationship between police and sex workers, thus making it easier to expose trafficking, the involvement of children and the abuse of sex workers; and it enables delivery of public health interventions, including HIV prevention and treatment.”

The National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission describe Mbaru's appointment as “historic”.

“It is a beacon of hope for any law student and lawyer working with LGBT persons, for it informs that our highest legal office – the judiciary – respects and values diversity,” said spokesperson Eric Gitari.

“If the judiciary and the president of this country can appoint an LGBT activist as a judge, then any LGBT Kenyan who had doubt on their ability to serve their country must feel validated.

“We are on course where merit and qualifications are being used to appoint judicial officers without regard to sexual orientation, gender identity or past work in that field. It is inspiring.”

New AIDS prevention method for women announced

Posted: 31 Jul 2012 01:30 AM PDT

Rebecca Rogers
WVoN co-editor

Research has begun in Africa to assess whether a new kind of vaginal ring may help protect women from the AIDS virus.

Many believe that enabling women to protect themselves from sexually-transmitted diseases when a partner refuses to wear a condom is crucial to tackling the AIDS epidemic. Figures suggest that women make up half of the 34.2 million people worldwide living with HIV – 60% of those affected in Africa are women.

Developing ‘microbodies’ has so far proved difficult. Partial protection was found when using an experimental anti-AIDS vaginal gel, but this relied on women remembering to use it every time they have sex.

The new preventative treatment being tested is a vaginal ring that only needs to be inserted once a month. It slowly releases an anti-AIDS drug called dapivirine into the surrounding tissue. Unlike some vaginal rings already available in the US, this particular ring is focused solely on HIV protection and does not contain birth control.

Dr Carl Dieffenbach of the US National Institutes of Health announced the new research last week at the International AIDS Conference, saying that it marks an attempt at “the next generation of women-focused prevention tools”.

Serra Sippel of the Centre for Health and Gender Equity said that women were often overlooked in HIV prevention efforts. “Women are the blind spot in the conversation,” she said.

Early studies suggest that the ring could work. It will now take larger studies to confirm whether it is effective enough. The goal is to see if using the ring will lower women’s risk of HIV infection by at least 60%.