Swiss taken to task over domestic violence    03:17pm 24/11/2005   Click to read article        Post   Sweden: Child abuse scam    02:54pm 24/11/2005   http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1838815,00.html        Post   South Africa: Pupils join national protest against women, child abuse    01:29pm 24/11/2005   http://www.dispatch.co.za/2005/11/22/Easterncape/achild.html FOR OUR SISTERS: Superintendent Michelle Matroos helps Clarendon Grade 6 pupil Aspile Lucwaba, 12, to add her signature to the call for action against abuse. Picture: ALAN EASON By DENVER DONIAN GRADE 6 learners at Clarendon Primary School in East London yesterday added their signatures to a call for action against the abuse of women and children. The learners signed postcards that will be plastered on a wall of solidarity in Johannesburg as part of the 16 Days of Activism which starts on Friday. "For each card signed and put onto the wall of solidarity, R1 will be donated by private companies,* said provincial police spokesperson Superintendent Michelle Matroos. The money will be distributed to non-governmental organisations that help abused women and children. Learner Senkosi Ziqu, 12, said abuse against women and children must be stopped. Her sentiments were echoed by classmate Kayleigh Lotz, also 12. "I am so against this type of crime. It hurts people and destroys them in so many different ways,* she said. Class teacher Anneen Schombee said the learners were enthusiastic about signing the postcards. "They are happy to see that action is being taken to make people aware of the crime.* School principal Anne Henn said bringing awareness about abuse against women and children was a case of "forewarned is forearmed.*        Post   Australia: Sex abuse investigator commits suicide.    01:19pm 24/11/2005   http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17354988-2,00.html        Post   Ireland: Schoolgirl escapes abduction bid    09:30pm 17/11/2005   http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=162871376&p=y6z87zx8z North: Schoolgirl escapes abduction bid 17/11/2005 - 13:31:16 The attempted abduction of a 12-year-old girl in Co Down is today being investigated by police. The child was walking along the Newcastle Road in Castlewellan when she was grabbed by a man. A Police Service spokeswoman said during the incident, on Wednesday afternoon, the man approached the girl and grabbed her by the arm and tried to pull her towards him. The girl struggled with the assailant, managed to break free and run off, she added. The man has been described as being approximately 6ft tall, with short black hair. He was wearing dark jeans, brown boots and a black hooded top with a front pocket. Anyone who was in the area at around 4.30pm and witnessed the attempted abduction, or who saw a man meeting the description in the area, is asked to contact the PSNI in Newcastle.        Post   South Africa: Municipal police mooted for domestic violence    09:23pm 17/11/2005   http://www.dispatch.co.za/2005/11/14/Easterncape/cpol.html Municipal police mooted for domestic violence By ALISON STENT WOMEN in danger from violent spouses may soon be able to call on municipal police for help as well as the South African Police Service. In terms of the Domestic Violence Act of 1998, members of the SAPS are required by law to rush to the aid of anyone who complains of domestic violence at the hands of someone they live with, or have lived with. This includes children, housemates and people in gay relationships. However, there have been complaints from women and women's shelters across the nation that police do not come to their aid quickly enough or even do not come at all. Now the National Police Commissioner, Jackie Selebi, has proposed that these powers and responsibilities be extended to municipal law-enforcement agencies as well. The proposal invites comment from all interested parties, with a deadline of January6, in two months' time. But Melonie Gobel, of Living Waters wasn't impressed. "I'd rather see the government investing more in the existing police service. "The Act is not properly implemented because police just don't have the resources."        Post   Philippines demands custody of US marines accused of rape    09:11pm 17/11/2005   http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-11/17/content_3795606.htm Philippines demands custody of US marines accused of rape www.chinaview.cn 2005-11-17 19:29:34 MANILA, Nov. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- The Philippines has formally demanded custody of the six US marines accused of raping a 22-year-old Filipino woman at the Subic Bay former US navy base early this month. Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis told a congressional committee on US-Philippine Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) that a verbal note was transmitted to the US Embassy in Manila on Wednesday demanding custody of the six suspects. But he refused to reveal the details of the request, saying that it involves "national security implications" and that US embassy officials suggested the Philippine side not to reveal it to the public. "If I divulge that might affect their decision. They suggested that we keep it under wraps," he said. He pointed out that the alleged rape was an "extraordinary case" wherein the Philippines can demand custody. The VFA was signed in 1998 by the Philippine and US government allowing US troops to visit the Philippines on a regular basis. US embassy has confirmed receiving the request from the Philippine authorities, but said the suspects will remain under custody of the embassy for the time being. "The embassy has to consult with Washington regarding this request. At the moment the US marines will remain US custody," said embassy spokesman Matthew Lussenhop. A prosecutor in Olongapo city in Subic Bay has subpoenaed the suspects to his office on Nov. 23 in preliminary investigation on the complaint filed by the alleged victim. The alleged victim said she was raped in a moving van on Nov. 1 by the six suspects at the Subic Bay some 90 kilometers northwest of Manila. The marines had just participated in a joint military exercise with Filipino troops at the Subic Bay last month. They are reportedly being kept under custody of the US embassy in Manila. Enditem        Post   Sudan: Women decry impunity for rape in Darfur    09:05pm 17/11/2005   http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/MCD741968.htm        Post   Zimbabwe: Act to Stop Child Sexual Abuse    08:17pm 17/11/2005   http://allafrica.com/stories/200511170723.html Act to Stop Child Sexual Abuse The Herald (Harare) EDITORIAL November 17, 2005 Posted to the web November 17, 2005 Harare GIRL child sexual abuse is now a growing problem in this country, which has to be nipped in the bud before it gets out of control. Our society is generally disgusted by the abuse of children but disgust not backed by action will not solve the problem. We have to go beyond just condemning the abuse by taking measures to rid our society of the evil practice. Yesterday we carried a shocking report of two Marondera teenage girls who were stripped and raped before being robbed of their luggage and $600 000 in cash by three robbers near Graniteside in Harare. The girls, aged 14 and 15, had come to Harare with the intention of visiting an uncle who stays in Mbare, but failed to locate his house. Fate caught up with them when they were waiting for transport to return to Marondera. Nonetheless, our society constitutes some psychologically unstable people who care less about the defenceless people such as children. Society has become child unfriendly as a large proportion of young girls and boys are sexually abused on a daily basis. Anyone under the age of 16 is considered sexually immature in Zimbabwe. That is why it is a crime - statutory rape - to have sex with someone below that age. The law says they cannot possibly agree to have sex. Having sex with a 14 or 15-year-old is bad enough but sleeping with an eight-year-old, half the age of consent, is abhorrent. Only a sick human being can find anything attractive on the girl child. Statistics show that on average six girls, most of them from child-headed families, report rape daily in Zimbabwe. This translates to about 6 000 girls who report rape annually. There is no doubt that about three times the number does not report rape due to lack of courage, counselling and quality health service delivery. However, such figures should prick the nation's conscience and galvanise every decent person who has some knowledge, no matter how little, of rape or child sexual abuse taking place anywhere, no matter where or by whom, to do something about it. The spate of terrible assaults of little girls and teenagers has to stop. It should also not matter, for the purposes of sentencing, whether a rapist is HIV positive or not. The point is that he could be, and indeed has at least a reasonable probability of being infected. Thus we call for sentences on those convicted to be determined in light of the high risk of infecting the victim. Interviews in the past of jailed rapists have shown that few understand the seriousness of their crime. Most could not comprehend that they had done anything wrong and asked why they could not just compensate their victims or victims' families. Thus when sentencing these offenders, the courts must take into account that such people are completely removed from society to protect others. Heavier sentences are thus justified not just on the grounds that the girl child has been harmed in the assault, although that would be enough. Courts must also look into the high risk of HIV infection, the need to deter others and the need to protect society. In the meantime, members of the public should help the police track down the three robbers who raped the Marondera teenage girls. The law should take its course, the growing incidence of rape and girl child sexual abuse has to be dealt with hard. The future of our children will continue to be ruined if we do not act to stop child sexual abuse.        Post   England: Silence and secrecy at school where child sex abuse went on for decades    07:57pm 17/11/2005   http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,16518,1645556,00.html        Post   Norway: Denial of communication borders on child abuse    07:47pm 17/11/2005   http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1158710.ece        Post   South Africa: Rape victims make their voice heard    07:39pm 17/11/2005   Click to read articles        Post   South Africa: Child abuse is increasing, say doctors    07:31pm 17/11/2005   Click to read article        Post   Pakistan: Nine teachers accused of child abuse acquitted    07:15pm 17/11/2005   http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2005%5C11%5C18%5Cstory_18-11-2005_pg7_53 Nine teachers accused of child abuse acquitted PESHAWAR: A local court on Thursday acquitted nine government school teachers involved in a child abuse scandal. The defence counsel said that the teachers had been wrongly implicated in the case and the case’s first information report (FIR) had been lodged against them without any evidences. The counsel said that section 377 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which deals with sodomy, had already been deleted from the FIR on the directives of the Peshawar High Court. The counsel requested the court to issue acquittal orders for the accused as there was no concrete evidence against them. The additional district and sessions judge accepted the acquittal application of the accused teachers and issued acquittal orders for the accused due to lack of evidence. The Government Higher Secondary School, City No III, teachers Hussain Shah, Gul Nawaz, Himayatullah, Abdul Qayyum, Muhammed Humayun, Abdul Baseer, Abdur Rasheed (deceased), Mubarik Ahmad and Shah Nawaz were found guilty in a judicial inquiry conducted on the directives of Akram Khan Durrani, the NWFP chief minister, after a local newspaper published a story claiming to have unearthed a child abuse scandal in the school on September 12, 2003. The inquiry found all nine accused directly or indirectly involved in sexual abuse and recommended lodging FIRs against them. staff report        Post   Pakistan: IOM warns against human trafficking in quake areas    10:00pm 16/11/2005   Click for article source IOM warns against human trafficking in quake areas * Says economic reasons forcing people to sell their children * Interior Ministry asks FIA to send anti-trafficking units to affected areas By Irfan Ghauri ISLAMABAD: The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has warned the government that people in the quake-hit areas are in a situation where they have no options but to sell their children, especially girls, to make both ends meet in the North West Frontier Province and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. IOM representatives who met Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah this week warned that the extreme financial pressure on the majority of the affected families is a potential scenario for human trafficking. A copy of the meeting’s minutes available with Daily Times says that the IOM representatives said the survivors faced severe financial problems which were increasing every day because of the slow pace of relief and rehabilitation work. They said the financial constraints of the already destitute families could lead them to selling their children and girls for monetary benefit. “The situation is ripe for large scale human trafficking from these areas,” an IOM representative was quoted as saying. The IOM asked the government to take immediate steps to stall the situation. Meanwhile, Daily Times has learnt that the Interior Ministry has directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to dispatch anti-trafficking units to quake-hit areas to prevent kidnapping and trafficking of women and children. Sources said the ministry had also decided to ask the governments of the NWFP and AJK to set up telephone help lines at the district headquarters in the quake-hit areas to register complaints against human trafficking. The interior secretary also directed the National Database and Registration Authority to change the verification process for computerised national identity card applications. Earlier, NADRA’s central verification system scrutinised the applications but the ministry has now directed the authority to verify the applications through a special ‘vigilance department’.        Post   Help for trafficking victims going unused    09:56pm 16/11/2005   http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3464189        Post   Australia: Boy escapes attempted abduction    09:52pm 16/11/2005   http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17274465-1702,00.html Boy escapes attempted abduction From: AAP November 17, 2005 A 10-YEAR-OLD boy has told police he escaped an attempted abduction on Brisbane's northside. The boy said he had been riding his bicycle in the suburb of Albany Creek around 5.20pm (AEST) yesterday when a dark blue Commodore car pulled up beside him and a male passenger got out. He rode off but the man gave chase and tried to grab him but missed. Police said the boy rode into the Albany Creek Shopping Village and saw the car driving east along Albany Creek Road, do a U-turn at traffic lights and head west. The male passenger in the car was described as around 20 years old, of caucasian appearance with dark hair, slim build and about 170cm tall. It's believed he was wearing blue jeans and had black sunglasses propped on his head.        Post   Jamaica: Domestic violence a major concern as St. Elizabeth murder toll climbs    09:46pm 16/11/2005   Click to read article        Post   Editorial: Stemming domestic violence.    09:39pm 16/11/2005   Click for article source Stemming Domestic Violence November 15, 2005 Congress could be on the verge of renewing the landmark Violence Against Women Act of 1994, which helped focus attention on a silent - and too often fatal - epidemic that cuts across racial, class and economic lines. The House and Senate recently gave overwhelming approval to bills providing $3.9 billion over five years to support police, courts, shelters and others who work with victims. Connecticut received $1.6 million this year. Some of the money will support the addition of special prosecutors to focus on domestic violence cases. The funds also will pay for demonstration projects in Southington, Berlin, Danbury, Norwich and Manchester, where advocates will work with police to ensure that victims are protected. Victims and their families have a strong ally in Chief State's Attorney Christopher L. Morano, who has beefed up his office's resources to deal with the issue, noting that newspapers regularly carry stories about injuries and deaths linked to domestic violence. Last year, at least 20 women and several children were killed in Connecticut by men who shot, stabbed, strangled or struck them. Countless others ended up in emergency rooms. In nearly every case the fatal violence followed a pattern of abuse. At a recent news conference, Superior Court Judge Michael A. Mack said, "The logical progression of domestic violence is death." He knows. Earlier this year, Judge Mack's stepdaughter and her two young children were fatally shot by his stepdaughter's husband, who then killed himself. That bloody conclusion followed an all-too-common sequence in which the husband tossed his wife through a window, threw her down a flight of stairs and repeatedly beat her. Each time she fled, but soon returned, believing wrongly that she could change him. The Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence supports a network of shelters and promotes the timely dual message that victims must be empowered to seek help and that friends should encourage them to do so. As Judge Mack noted, domestic violence is never a minor matter. Extending the VAWA will provide the resources to protect women, prosecute abusers, expand shelters, train police and educate the public. A House-Senate conference committee should quickly resolve the small differences in the two bills and get this legislation to President Bush's desk.        Post   South Africa: Guns and gender violence - a lethal combination    09:31pm 16/11/2005   http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/d164b3f7b6d6238b83016003f301449b.htm SOUTH AFRICA: Guns and gender violence - a lethal combination 16 Nov 2005 18:36:41 GMT Source: IRIN JOHANNESBURG, 16 November (IRIN) - Victoria [not her real name] thought she had the law on her side when she left her abusive partner and successfully applied for a protection order against him. According to provisions set out in South Africa's 1998 Domestic Violence Act and reinforced by recently enacted firearms legislation, the order gave the police powers to confiscate the gun that had repeatedly been used to terrorise her. She also had the full support of People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA), a Johannesburg-based NGO that provides legal assistance, shelter and advice to women suffering abuse at the hands of violent partners. POWA's legal advisor even accompanied Victoria on the day in September when she had to face her former partner in court to apply for maintenance support for her four children. After leaving the courthouse, she walked her daughter to the shelter where she was staying. Her former partner followed them for about two kilometers before fatally shooting them both, using the same weapon the police had earlier confiscated. Just how and why he was able to obtain the gun is still under investigation, but for Carrie Shelver, POWA's public awareness manager, the case highlights the limitations of even the best intentioned laws. "Legislation can only go so far," she said. "It's really about changing mindsets and changing the institutions that create those mindsets." The 16 days that fall between 25 November (International Day of No Violence Against Women) and 10 December (International Human Rights Day) have been set aside by the United Nations as a period of awareness raising on the issue of violence against women. In South Africa the campaign has been seized upon by government and the media as an opportunity to put domestic violence in the spotlight. But NGOs like POWA, which work towards the eradication of violence against women year round, have their doubts about the long-term impact of such campaigns. "We do support it, but what happens on day 17?" asked Shelver. Guns And Violence In South Africa the presence of 3.7 million legally registered guns and an unknown - but by some estimates even larger - pool of illegal firearms has added a lethal dimension to many cases of domestic violence. According to the Medical Research Council (MRC), a woman is shot dead by her current or former partner every six hours, and such cases rose by 78 percent between 1990 and 1999. Naeema Abrahams has researched the role of guns in domestic violence for the MRC's Gender and Health Research Unit. Looking at all the female victims of homicide in South Africa in 1999, Abrahams and her team found that one in three were killed with a gun; of those, half were shot by their intimate partner, and 71 percent in their own homes. The study also found that in 20 percent of cases, the women were shot with a legally owned weapon. "The men often get a legal gun to protect themselves against crime, but it becomes a weapon used against their partners," Abrahams explained. The study showed that women whose partners worked in the security industry were particularly at risk. "It's availability," Abrahams noted. "You have a fight, and it's so easy to just pull out a gun. It's different from being stabbed or hit with a fist because women can't protect themselves." The Domestic Violence Act was intended to give women greater protection but Shelver reports that so far, its impact has fallen short of expectations. "Women are increasingly quite disillusioned. They say, 'how is this piece of paper going to stop a bullet from hitting me?'" Recent research into implementation of the Act, conducted by the South African Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR), found that police rarely took the step of confiscating weapons from alleged abusers. Tiny Moloko, POWA's clinical manager, supported the finding. "Quite a few women say they've applied for protection orders but that the guns haven't been confiscated," she noted. Stricter controls surrounding gun ownership have come into effect in the last couple of years and exclude anyone with prior convictions of domestic abuse from obtaining a licence. The problem, says groups like POWA, is that in many cases women do not report abuse to the police or are intimidated into withdrawing charges, so that a history of violent behaviour often goes undetected. Lisa Vetten, programme manager for gender violence at CSVR, said there was evidence of a history of abuse in 20 percent of cases where women were killed by their partners, but that women only laid charges in three percent of cases. "A lot of women are actively encouraged by the police not to pursue charges," Vetten said. "I think not all of them [the police] take domestic violence as seriously as they should." In many cases, she added, women might not know they had the right to have a gun removed and the police failed to notify them or to proactively confiscate weapons from abusers. Groups like POWA and Gun-Free South Africa, an anti-gun lobby group, are working to educate women about their legal rights, and provide skills development to police, court officials and health workers who come into contact with women experiencing domestic violence. Meanwhile, grisly stories about men killing their partners or even their entire families before killing themselves continue to be splashed across the pages of South African newspapers on an almost weekly basis. Vetten confirmed that cases of intimate femicide-suicide in South Africa have increased and that the proliferation of guns was probably a major contributing factor. But both Vetten and Shelver disputed the commonly held notion that the prevalence of gun violence and intimate femicide in South Africa was simply the legacy of the country's apartheid years. "Violence against women is a global phenomenon," said Shelver. "Lower levels of such violence exist in countries with better laws to protect women." Getting Through To Men According to Moloko, the reasons men gave for shooting their partners were often mundane, but the underlying motivations were the desire to assert power or control. Such motives might have more to do with male socialisation than South Africa's violent history. The Men as Partners (MAP) Programme, an initiative started by the international NGO, EngenderHealth, and run by a network of affiliates throughout the country, works to challenge male assumptions about gender and encourages men to take a stand against domestic violence. EngenderHealth's programme manager for South Africa, Dean Peacock, suggested that in a society where men have lost both income and jobs, they might use gun ownership and violence against women as ways to regain their sense of power. After going through a series of workshops, male participants often began to question their definitions of masculinity, including the equation of manhood with violence towards women. "I grew up in an environment where beating ladies was the order of the day, and it just made you think it was normal," said MAP workshop facilitator Li Buthelezi. "If I was pissed [drunk] I would just lift my hand and 'klap' [slap] her a couple times - it was just me showing my manhood. After MAP you start seeing women differently; you see them as equals." Abrahams believed that given the proper allocation of resources and training, the Domestic Violence Act, combined with new laws governing gun ownership, could have an impact on levels of gun violence against women. The key, said Abrahams, lay in the level of commitment to implementation by government and police. In Shelver's view, it was effective implementation that was still lacking. "In practice, there are a lot of problems around implementation. The problem is not getting gun removal into the protection order, but in getting police to implement it," she said. "In some cases guns are removed and then handed back."        Post

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