Welcome to the 111th edition of The Pixel Project’s VAW e-News Digest!
The 11th of October marked International Day of the Girl Child. In this edition we highlight significant efforts to highlight various issues related to the welfare of girls, including a school for child brides in India, the effect of female genital cutting on pregnancy, and how menstruation taboos restrict the lives of girls in Nepal.
There has been a surge of violence in Central America, causing women and girls to seek refuge by crossing into the United States. NPR ran an investigative feature on the increasing violence against girls in El Salvador.
Following the refugees from conflict zones in Syria create headlines are stories of sexual violence. Following concerns that refugees from Syria are perpetrators of sexual violence, Denmark plans to introduce sex education for refugees. At the same time, women and girls fleeing conflict zones become extremely vulnerable to sexual assault and violence.
Every contribution matters. If you have any news you’d like to share about violence against women, please email The Pixel Project at info@thepixelproject.net. If you prefer to receive up-to-the-minute news concerning violence against women, follow us on Twitter .
It’s time to stop violence against women. Together.
Best regards,
The Pixel Project Team
General Violence Against Women
- CENTRAL AMERICA: Surge of violence against women in Central America and Mexico
- ARGENTINA: How Twitter activism made violence against women a campaign issue in Argentina
- CANADA: High profile sex harassment cases causing ‘sea change’
- EL SALVADOR: The surreal reason girls are disappearing in El Salvador
- FIJI: Call for allocation to fight violence against women
- MALI: Women in Mali demand equal role in peace accords
- NEPAL: A girl gets her period and is banished to the shed
- NIGERIA: A Chibok girl recalls her escape from Boko Haram
- UNITED KINGDOM: How women leaders shaped policy for women
- UNITED STATES: Buzzfeed withdrawing from SXSW after cancellation of gamer harassment panels
Domestic Violence
- AUSTRALIA: Female cops to tackle Northern Territory domestic violence
- BANGLADESH: Empowering women turns the table on domestic violence
- CANADA: Alberta economic woes drive up to 40% increase in domestic violence calls
- CHINA: Breaking the silence: China’s domestic violence law edging closer
- INDIA: India, domestic violence, and child mortality rates
- KYRGYZSTAN: End barriers to help domestic violence victims
- PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Oxfam says drought is fostering domestic violence
- SOUTH AFRICA: School game addresses domestic violence
- TURKEY: Cultural shift is aiding domestic violence victims
- UNITED STATES: The United States observes Domestic Violence Awareness Month
Rape and Sexual Assault
- WORLD: Aid agencies accused of hiding scale of sexual assault on employees
- WORLD: UNHCR concerned at reports of sexual violence against refugee women and children
- EUROPE: Women refugees fleeing through Europe are told rape is not a real issue
- AUSTRALIA: Sexual violence in intimate relationships still underreported and stigmatised
- CANADA: Ontario strengthening laws to stop sexual violence and harassment
- DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: How military mass rape was buried in Congo
- DENMARK: Denmark moots sex education for refugees to curb high rate of rape
- LEBANON: Call to free woman alleging rape by soldiers
- SENEGAL: Sexual slavery accounts at Hissene Habre
- UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: UAE imprisoning rape victims under laws related to extramarital relations – investigation
- UNITED STATES: Speaking up for survivors: campus sexual violence activist to headline women’s studies conference
Sex Trafficking
- WORLD: Opinion – why is a pimp helping to shape Amnesty’s sex trade policy?
- EUROPE: EU refugee crisis heightens sex trafficking concerns, officials warn
- CHINA (HONG KONG): New ways to help Hong Kong’s human trafficking victims
- GREECE: Sex trafficking of women and girls up to 20,000 in Greece
- IRELAND: Sex crime bill could make Ireland ‘most difficult place in Europe’ to carry out trafficking
- NIGERIA: Nigeria struggles against human trafficking
- SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa prime destination for human trafficking
- THAILAND: Thai cop who implicated military in trafficking fears for life
- UNITED STATES: Los Angeles will no longer arrest children forced into sex trafficking
- VIETNAM: Human trafficking on the rise in Vietnam, says police
Female Genital Mutilation
- WORLD: For victims of female genital cutting, pregnancy brings tough questions
- AUSTRALIA: Female genital mutilation – the cruellest cut
- GAMBIA: Youth groups trained on female circumcision advocacy skills
- INDIA: ‘I was circumcised when I was a girl of 7’
- INDONESIA: Cutting the clitoris – Indonesia continues practice to prevent women from having sex
- IRELAND and the UNITED KINGDOM: Young girls being taken from the UK to Ireland for female genital mutilation
- KENYA: Kenyan woman who was locked indoors for six weeks during ‘cutting season’ to escape FGM is campaigning to end it
- SENEGAL: How Senegalese rapper, Sister Fa, is fighting against female genital mutilation
- UGANDA: Case study shows that the law alone will not eradicate FGM by 2030
- UNITED KINGDOM: FGM – reporting for cases becomes mandatory
Forced Marriage and Honour Killing
- AFGHANISTAN and UNITED STATES: Afghan teen’s powerful rap video helped her escape forced marriage
- CAMBODIA: Lasting scars of forced marriage under the Khmer Rouge
- CHINA and VIETNAM: Vietnamese woman escapes a 4-year forced marriage to Chinese national
- EGYPT: Father jailed in honour killing after daughter refused arranged marriage
- ETHIOPIA: Ethiopian film portrays girls’ abduction for forced marriage
- INDIA: At a school for child brides, why good grades are a big deal
- LEBANON: Forced child marriage on the rise in the region
- PAKISTAN: Taking a stand by sitting down – ending child marriage in Pakistan
- UNITED KINGDOM: Documentary lifts lid on forced marriage and honour crime in Greater Manchester
- VIETNAM: Thanh Hoa to fight against child marriage
Activism
- WORLD: 11 October is International Day of the Girl Child
- WORLD: UNiTE to End Violence Against Women campaign marks Orange Day for October by ensuring access to services for survivors of violence against women and girls
- WORLD: ‘It’s Not a Compliment’ virtual reality game lets you feel what it’s like to be street harassed
- AUSTRALIA: New campaign to challenge young people’s attitudes to violence against women
- CANADA: Cats Glare Back rally protests street harassment and sexualized violence
- EGYPT: Comic strip targets sexual harassment on Cairo’s Metro
- FRANCE: Comic strips are changing the conversation on street harassment
- NEPAL: Mobile app to counter violence against women
- SUDAN: Workshop held in Bor against gender-based violence
- THAILAND: Nine films on violence to be screened at the Bangkok International Film Festival on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls
- UNITED STATES: Safe Routes to School National Partnership to take stand on street harassment