Category: Domestic Violence

The AI platform creating a safe space for DV victims to get help

Help is at hand for people who may be victim to domestic violence with a few simple clicks, thanks to a new artificially intelligent chatbot named Deevi.

Users are able to converse with Deevi anonymously by providing information to the chatbot through their mobile device or computer. . . .

The chatbot does have some limitations however. For example, once a particular line of inquiry is pursued, the AI app will not engage conversationally by answering questions in the same way that a real person on the other end of a tele-helpline might.

https://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/newlaw/21657-the-ai-platform-creating-a-safe-space-for-dv-victims-to-get-help?

Migrant women forced to stay in abusive relationships, refuges warn

According to Anna Kerr, co-chair of the Women and Girl’s Rights Subcommittee of the Australian Lawyers for Human Rights advocacy group, “women’s refuges are frequently unable or unwilling to accept women who do not have a visa status that qualifies them for Centrelink payments”.

A 2016 survey conducted by the Coalition for Women’s Refuges found only 61 per cent reported being always able to take women without residency, with one in five reporting they had no ability to take women in such circumstances.

Julie Stewart, a member of the coalition, has been working in the domestic violence sector for more than 30 years. As CEO of Manly-Warringah Women’s Resource Centre, a service where she has worked since 2011 and which is listed as a specialist homelessness service on the FACS website, she says general homelessness shelters are often “inappropriate” for women fleeing abusive situations.

Stewart has observed a clear difference between the services her centre was able to offer before and after the 2014 reforms, which saw the shelter’s annual funding decrease by $500,000.

In Stewart’s experience, whether migrant women end up receiving any support varies greatly depending on the type of visa they hold, and whether they have children born in Australia.

“We believe that a woman who has arrived in Australia on a spousal visa, mostly on the promise of a better life, and has subsequently been abused, beaten, deprived, kept as a slave, exploited, discarded should be supported by the Commonwealth government who enabled their entry into Australia in the first instance.”

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/news-and-views/news-features/citizenship-changes-may-force-migrant-women-to-stay-in-abusive-relationships-refuges-warn-20170712-gx9i47.html

‘Submit to your husbands’: Women told to endure domestic violence in the name of God

When we speak of domestic violence, and the cultural factors that foment it, one crucial element missing from the discussion has been religion.

While it is generally agreed that inequality between the sexes can foster and cultivate environments where men seek to control or abuse women, in Australia there has been very little public debate about how this might impact people in male-led congregations and religious communities, especially those where women are told to be silent and submit to male authority. . . .

Is it true — as one Anglican bishop has claimed — that there are striking similarities to the church’s failure to protect children from abuse, and that this next generation’s reckoning will be about the failure in their ranks to protect women from domestic violence? . . .

This is a particularly sensitive point in the Sydney Anglican Church, which is known for its robust advocacy of male headship. . . .

Those who uphold “egalitarian” views of marriage in this diocese report being sidelined, overlooked for jobs and ostracised.

Some told ABC News they could not publicly state that they believed in equal relationships between men and women, for they would lose their jobs.

And as domestic violence advocate Barbara Roberts points out, in conservative churches women are often taught that desire to overthrow male authority is a sign of sin — thereby making feminism innately wrong.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-18/domestic-violence-church-submit-to-husbands/8652028

Men who abuse women ‘use the same tactics as pedophiles and I’ve never met one who wanted to change’, says author of How He Gets in her Head

“The male intimate abuser actually follows exactly the same tactics as the pedophile. The initial thing is that they would select the same type of target… the people who were being abused were always kind people, the type of people who would put others before themselves. It’s done in a way which gets her to take responsibility and take the blame when things go wrong between them.”

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/men-who-abuse-women-use-the-same-tactics-as-pedophiles-and-ive-never-met-one-who-wanted-to-change-says-author-of-how-he-gets-in-her-head-35681098.html

Domestic violence services are reluctant to refer perpetrators to men’s behaviour change programs because it is not clear what they do, researchers have found. Research leader Dr Peter Lucas said the team had originally set out to examine the outcomes of men’s programs but found there was not any documentation to study.
(ed: and there are anecdotal reports that the biggest concern is that these programs result in perpetrators becoming more sophisticated with their abuse.)

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-26/dv-workers-reluctant-to-refer-offenders-to-program-research/7359678

Domestic violence half-yearly update: The numbers we need to know

The most dangerous place in Australia for a woman to be is at home with her partner on a Saturday night.

The most dangerous place for a man to be is out in public in the company of other men.

Men are seven times more likely to be assaulted by another man than by a woman. They are also five times as likely to be assaulted by a male stranger than by an intimate partner.

Women are almost twice as likely to be assaulted by an intimate partner or family member than by a stranger.

To forestall the inevitable whataboutery dance performed by men of the internet in response to any article about violence against women and children, let’s have a look at what’s happening to men.

Men’s violence against themselves and each other is far greater than the violence they commit against women and children.

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/news-and-views/domestic-violence-halfyearly-update-the-numbers-we-need-to-know-20170704-gx4dsv.html

UK judges change court rules on child contact for violent fathers

Senior judges are taking steps to end the presumption that a father must have contact with a child where there is evidence of domestic abuse that would put the child or mother at risk.

The reforms are to be introduced in the family courts after campaigning by the charity Women’s Aid, which identified that 19 children have been killed in the last 10 years by their violent fathers after being given contact with them by judges.

The changes include a demand from one of the most senior family court judges for all the judiciary to have further training on domestic violence and to act to ensure women and children are protected.

He also said judges needed to be more alert to perpetrators of domestic violence using the courts as a way to continue their abuse. “Family court judges should be sure that they understand the new offence of coercion [controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship],” he said.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jan/20/uk-judges-change-court-rules-on-child-contact-for-violent-fathers-domestic-abuse?CMP=share_btn_tw

Calls for Family Violence Victims to Access Super

HESTA, along with others in the community sector, is urging the federal government to change superannuation rules, proposing that victims and survivors of family violence be able to access up to $10,000 of their super under compassionate grounds.

“Finances are too often a barrier for women trying to leave a violent relationship and, unfortunately, financial support for survivors of family violence is grossly inadequate,” Blakey said.

“While early access to super is currently possible to stop the bank selling your home, pay for a dependant’s funeral or get medical treatment under compassionate grounds, this is denied in instances of family violence.

“We think it’s entirely appropriate that super regulations extend compassion to victims and survivors of family violence to empower women with the financial means to escape abusive relationships.”

(ed: But shouldn’t it be his super that is depleted in these circumstances?)

https://probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2017/06/calls-family-violence-victims-access-super/?

ALHR one of 88 organisations urging government to further protect victims of domestic violence renting in NSW

In an initiative led by Women’s Legal Service NSW, ALHR along with 87 other organisations has signed an open letter to Minister Kean and Minister Goward, urging the NSW Government to expand the evidence victims of domestic violence will be able to rely on to end their tenancy immediately without penalty.

https://alhr.org.au/alhr-one-88-organisations-urging-government-protect-victims-domestic-violence-renting-nsw/
[category: Aust, domestic violence]

Australian-first family law firm launched

A Canberra lawyer has founded what she describes as Australia’s first online family law firm, dedicated to formalising separating couples’ agreements in a way that is simple, fast and affordable.

Ms Mullins said the idea around Separate Together came after she discovered that 70 per cent of litigated family law matters were resolved before trial with couples reaching an agreement.

She thought there had to be a better way to separate without “unnecessary court intervention” and “expensive lawyers”.

https://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/sme-law/21304-australian-first-family-law-firm-launched?utm_source=Lawyers%20Weekly&utm_campaign=16_06_17&utm_medium=email&utm_content=1

Addressing financial domestic violence

Economic abuse (also known as financial abuse) is a pattern of behaviour where the abuser ‘maintain[s] power and control over their partners’ economic resources’. This action reduces the victim’s capacity to support themselves and they are forced to depend on the perpetrator financially.

Despite the progress made during the women’s human rights movement in the 1990s (including the 1993 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women), financial domestic violence has not received the attention it deserves.

There has been success for victims of domestic violence more generally who have brought cases before the CEDAW Committee under the Option Protocol. In A.T. v Hungary, the first domestic violence case before the committee, the committee clearly stated that failure to protect women from domestic violence is a form of discrimination and human rights violati

Thus, this case defined the state’s due diligence obligation to end domestic violence under international law. Although A.T. concerned violent physical abuse, and based its analysis on General Recommendation 19, on violence against women, there is no reason in principle why this due diligence obligation should not apply to FDV.

https://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/biglaw/21235-addressing-financial-domestic-violence?