Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro bans transgender women from female prisons in nation-first move | Sky News Australia

All entries on Feminist Legal Clinic’s News Digest Blog are extracts from news articles and other publications, with the source available at the link at the bottom. The content is not generated by Feminist Legal Clinic and does not necessarily reflect our views.

Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has declared a ban on transgender women being housed in the territory’s female prisons.

Men who have transitioned to being a women will no longer be placed in women’s prisons in the Territory, the NT Chief Minister told The Australian.

Ms Finocchiaro – the first government leader to make such a declaration – said the NT would no longer be following the policy used in other jurisdictions that houses inmates based on gender identity.

“There should be no men in women’s prisons, full stop,” Ms Fino­cchiaro said.

Men who have transitioned to being a women will no longer be placed in women’s prisons in the Territory, the NT Chief Minister told The Australian.

Ms Finocchiaro – the first government leader to make such a declaration – said the NT would no longer be following the policy used in other jurisdictions that houses inmates based on gender identity.

“There should be no men in women’s prisons, full stop,” Ms Fino­cchiaro said.

“If you’re born a bloke, you go into a men’s prison. At the end of the day, this is really about women’s safety. It’s about women’s dignity,” she told the masthead.

[Ed: Hooray! Why has it taken so long for common sense to prevail?]

Source: Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro bans transgender women from female prisons in nation-first move | Sky News Australia

DV & The Hague Abduction Convention: Safeguarding Survivors – YouTube | FiLiA

16 Year-Old Returns to Mom! After 11 Years of Judicial Alienation | Women’s Coalition

All entries on Feminist Legal Clinic’s News Digest Blog are extracts from news articles and other publications, with the source available at the link at the bottom. The content is not generated by Feminist Legal Clinic and does not necessarily reflect our views

In an especially horrible Custody Crisis case, a mother was violently beaten by her husband to the point where she needed surgery. She left him—but then the inevitable occurred.

A California judge, infamous for switching custody to abusive and molester fathers, gave him sole custody. This allowed him to disappear with her children and alienate them from her.

Alica did not hear anything from him or her kids for ten years.

But seven years after that, Alica somehow found out he had filed for custody in Solano County, California. Judge Cynda Riggins-Unger was the custody-stripping villain.

Despite Alica not appearing before her, no valid proof of service, and no evidence corroborating the father’s claims that Alica was a druggie living on the street, unfit to parent, Judge Unger granted him sole custody.

Judge Unger is so infamous for giving kids to abusive and molester fathers that protests against her were common and a recall petition was launched that got MSM coverage. Even lawyers were telling moms she’s biased against women and if you are in her court “you’re screwed”. Some of the mothers’ stories are here.

Source: 16 Year-Old Returns to Mom! After 11 Years of Judicial Alienation

Victorian schools, Allan government enable secret gender transition without parental consent or medical oversight | The Australian

All entries on Feminist Legal Clinic’s News Digest Blog are extracts from news articles and other publications, with the source available at the link at the bottom. The content is not generated by Feminist Legal Clinic and does not necessarily reflect our views

Victorian schools are making life-altering decisions about children’s gender identities in secret, sparking outrage from parents and medical and legal experts.

The Victorian government cannot say how many children in the state’s schools have been enabled to socially transition their gender without their parents’ knowledge or consent.

State Education Department documents show it is departmental policy for teachers and other school staff to use the concept of “mature minor” consent to enable children to socially transition in instances where their parents are deemed unsupportive.

The situation has sparked vehement criticism from distressed parents and eminent medical and legal experts, prompting a psychiatric specialist in gender dysphoria to warn there is no scientific consensus that social transition improves mental health and wellbeing outcomes, and clear evidence that it leads many young people toward medical transition, with associated irreversible harms, such as the loss of fertility and sexual function.

Not only are there no guidelines in the departmental policy regarding what constitutes an “unsupportive” parent, there is also no requirement for staff to document or account for this life-altering decision, nor for them to consult medical practitioners.

Teachers are also advised they must not tell parents about a child’s desire to change their gender without the permission of the child.

Source: Subscribe to The Australian | Newspaper home delivery, website, iPad, iPhone & Android apps

Top UN official demands surrogacy ban | The Telegraph

Surrogacy is comparable to prostitution and should be banned, the UN’s most senior expert on violence against women and girls has urged.

Reem Alsalem, a United Nations special rapporteur, submitted a report to the body on Friday calling for an end to the practice, calling it a “system of exploitation and violence”.

“I see a lot of similarities between the system of prostitution and the system of surrogacy,” Ms Alsalem told The Telegraph. “[Surrogacy] is clearly responsible for inflicting large-scale violence, abuse and exploitation on women and children.”

Ms Alsalem argued that there had been a “rush to normalise” surrogacy arrangements in recent years, driven by powerful lobbying groups that have created a false impression of the practice.

“There’s a very embellished view that it’s altruistic, that it’s a sign of love, that you’re doing something amazing because you’re providing an opportunity for others that don’t have the chance to become parents, but there’s very little talk about the dark side of surrogacy,” she said.

“Humans do not have a human right to have children. This argument that you have a right to form a family, and therefore you have a right to rent out a womb and then remove a child from their mother, it’s just insane how this has been allowed to happen.”

The global surrogacy market is booming. It was valued at $14.4bn in 2023 and is expected to rise to $96.6bn by 2033. However, as little as 10 per cent of the profits go to mothers who bear the physical and emotional risks of surrogacy, the report found, while intermediaries line their pockets. First-time surrogates typically earn around $50,000 (£37,000), according to Circle Surrogacy.

Mothers also often experience “immense psychological suffering that they didn’t anticipate,” she said, recalling speaking to women about “how dehumanised they felt, how invisible their own needs and well-being became, and how trapped they felt also in this surrogacy arrangement”.

At the same time, she said, surrogates are sometimes referred to as “ovens” and “gestational carriers”. “Mothers are presented as vessels that don’t matter, giving birth to children who are also commodified,” she said.

Ms Alsalem insists the only viable solution is an international ban on so-called “reproductive tourism”, where couples enlist surrogates from foreign countries with lax rules and where poverty is sometimes a key driver.

The report outlines examples of women in Cambodia reportedly being detained and forced to give birth in handcuffs, and of around 100 women in Georgia kept in confinement and having their eggs forcibly removed.

[C]ountries such as Australia, France and Spain have recently discussed relaxing their surrogacy laws, Ms Alsalem said, prompting concern about the practice being fast-tracked without proper consultation.

Source: Top UN official demands surrogacy ban

Historic: UN Special Rapporteur calls for global abolition of surrogacy

At the UN, Reem Alsalem, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, calls for the universal abolition of surrogacy: a historic turning point for women’s and children’s rights. 

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Ms. Reem Alsalem, today delivered an unprecedented call from the podium of the General Assembly for the universal abolition of surrogacy.

• “Women used as surrogates are subjected to physical, psychological, and economic violence. Their dignity and fundamental rights are violated,” she declared.

• “Children born through surrogacy are separated at birth from the only mother they have ever known. To be born through surrogacy is to begin life with rupture and loss.”

• “No society can progress by normalizing the sale of women’s bodies. This is not love, it is violence.”

• Ms. Alsalem emphasized that, “like prostitution, surrogacy exploits women for being women,” and advised States:

• “We must criminalize those who buy and profit: never the women themselves.”

• “The goal must be clear: to abolish surrogacy in all its forms.”

Source: Historic: UN Special Rapporteur calls for global abolition of surrogacy

SPECIAL REPORT: ‘Fair Game’ takes you inside the radical trans push into women’s sports – YouTube (from 14 March 2025)

215 NGOs from 40 countries support Reem Alsalem’s report on surrogacy

Today, October 10, 2025, Ms. Reem Alsalem, UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, officially presents her report on surrogacy to the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly (80th session).

The report, titled “The different manifestations of violence against women and girls in the context of surrogacy” (A/80/158), recommends the eradication of surrogacy in all its forms and at all levels, including through the adoption of a legally binding international instrument that would prohibit the practice globally.

In a joint statement, 215 NGOs from 40 countries, representing wide geographical and ideological diversity, express their support for the Special Rapporteur and urge all States:

• to fully and unequivocally support the report presented today.

• to implement the report’s recommendations, including by creating an expert study group or an intergovernmental working group tasked with examining the human rights implications of surrogacy and identifying pathways toward a coordinated international response.

See the Joint Statement and the list of 215 NGOs HERE

« The Casablanca Declaration is honored to be present in New York for this historic moment. Thanks to Mrs. Alsalem’s report, the international community now has a solid foundation to reflect collectively on the protection of women and children in the context of surrogacy. »- Olivia Maurel, Spokesperson of the Casablanca Declaration

« We hope that a working group of States can be established to study the report’s recommendations in depth and foster a constructive dialogue among all stakeholders. » – Bernard Garcia, Executive Director of the Casablanca Declaration

Source: 215 NGOs from 40 countries support Reem Alsalem’s report on surrogacy

The Untold Stories Of Kiwi ‘Detransitioners’ – Meet Zara – YouTube

Queensland establishes state’s first sexual violence peak body, with hopes it will bring victim-survivors’ voices to ‘hallways of power’ – ABC News

All entries on Feminist Legal Clinic’s News Digest Blog are extracts from news articles and other publications, with the source available at the link at the bottom. The content is not generated by Feminist Legal Clinic and does not necessarily reflect our views.

Advocates are hopeful the establishment of Queensland’s first peak body for sexual violence will encourage more victim-survivors to come forward “over time”.

On Thursday, the state government announced it would set up the service, which is only the second of its kind in the country, similar to one in Victoria.

The peak body is intended to represent the collective interests of the sexual violence support sector.

It comes amid data showing reported sexual assaults hit a 32-year high in Queensland in 2024, up 11 per cent on the previous year.

Establishing a peak body was a recommendation of the former Labor government’s Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce, an independent taskforce which was set up in 2021 and released two reports in 2022.

Source: Queensland establishes state’s first sexual violence peak body, with hopes it will bring victim-survivors’ voices to ‘hallways of power’ – ABC News