State government apologises for data system breach as victim says it left her ‘completely defeated, broken, scared and worried’
The addresses of domestic violence victims have been shared with offenders by Queensland police, including a “vulnerable woman” who was then allegedly told to relocate by officers.
The state government apologised on Thursday after it emerged a woman felt “completely defeated” when her personal information was exposed by the serious data breach.
Continue reading...Damning report shows victims can wait up to four years for trials, and half of investigators are not fully qualified
Specialist investigators who are supposed to hunt down rapists are being diverted to police football matches and festivals, with victims waiting up to four years for their alleged attackers to come to trial, a report from the official police inspectorate has found.
In some cases big delays mean victims are dropping out of supporting prosecutions, risking attackers getting away with it.
Continue reading...The rape-murder of a trainee doctor in a Kolkata hospital has caused outrage across India. Here, her father recalls her urge to help others and their struggle to support her studies
The father of the trainee doctor murdered during a rest break at a Kolkata hospital has spoken of his daughter’s love of medicine and the way her family had worked to support her vocation.
“We are a poor family and we raised her with a lot of hardship. She worked extremely hard to become a doctor. All she did was study, study, study,” he told the Guardian by telephone.
Continue reading...Non-essential medical services paralysed as more than a million doctors expected to join 24-hour protest amid rising anger at violence against women
Hospitals and clinics across India have begun turning away patients except for emergency cases as medical professionals started a 24-hour shutdown in protest against the rape and murder of a doctor in the eastern city of Kolkata.
More than 1 million doctors were expected to join Saturday’s strike, paralysing medical services across the world’s most populous nation. Hospitals said faculty staff from medical colleges had been pressed into service for emergency cases.
Continue reading...All hospital services except for emergency care to be shut down on Saturday amid outrage over Kolkata attack
All hospital services in India except for emergency care will shut down on Saturday as doctors escalate their protest over the rape and murder of a colleague by calling for a nationwide strike.
A strike that doctors started on Monday was more limited, affecting only government hospitals and elective surgeries. The one on Saturday, called by the Indian Medical Association, will cause massive disruption for 24 hours. All outpatient services and treatment in government and private hospitals will be cancelled.
Continue reading...Palaszczuk, who retired from politics in December after almost nine years as QLD premier, will serve a three-year term as a non-executive director. Follow today’s news headlines live
‘We have to have a constant reminder’
The committee also called for a culturally appropriate and nationally significant recognition and remembrance of murdered and disappeared First Nations women and children. Dorinda Cox said this would be “significant” if the government accepted the recommendation:
It would … have some permanent features to remind us the role that history has played for missing and murdered or disappeared women and children and First Nations women and children in this country, because there’s a story there that needs to be told, and we have to have a constant reminder.
Like we do … with the Australian war memorial of the safety that we have as a country, but also that this part of our history – this is now ingrained in and sketched into. And if we want to continue to work on this and continue to maintain safety for women and children and the most vulnerable, which is First Nations – as we know, we’re in an emergency for all women, but First Nations women and children are at the front of that – we have to have some permanent features, otherwise we become invisible.
What we hear too often is that this is a state and territory problem. States are responsible for their police forces, in particular … We have to centre our approaches and our outcomes in [addressing these issues] and we have to look at the culture of the organisations, such as police.
There’s lots of reporting on the media in relation to the attitudes of police across Australia, and that has to get better, but we have to have a measure against that – we can’t just put in the attorney general [to] have a chat to the police ministers, and nothing changes … Because if we don’t look at this in a way of wanting change, nothing ever changes.
Continue reading...Armed gangs control much of Caribbean country’s capital with reports of 40 rape victims a day in areas, UN reports
The UN has called for the deployment of international security forces in Haiti to be accelerated after a report that at least 1,379 people were killed or wounded in gang warfare and 428 people kidnapped in the country between April and June this year.
“Service providers report receiving an average of 40 rape victims a day in some areas of the capital,” warns the new report from the UN’s office in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.
Continue reading...Sakina Muhammad Jan to serve at least 12 months in prison in Australia’s first forced marriage conviction
Ruqia Haidari wanted to marry for love.
Instead, she had an arranged marriage at the age of just 15, with the relationship ending in divorce when she was 20.
Continue reading...Swift response by Renmin University to student’s post creates shockwave in a country where accusers are often ignored or sued
Public allegations of sexual harassment are rare in China. Swift responses to punish the accused are rarer still. So a recent case at one of China’s top universities, in which a student posted a video online accusing her supervisor of sexually harassing her, leading to his sacking, has created shockwaves.
On 21 July, a woman who identified herself as Wang Di posted an hour-long video on Weibo, in which she accused her PhD supervisor at Renmin University in Beijing, Wang Guiyuan, of physically and verbally abusing her for more than two years. The professor, a former Chinese Communist party representative at the university, threatened to block her graduation prospects, Wang Di said.
Continue reading...Brazilian Forum on Public Safety finds every indicator of gender-based violence increased in 2023, including murder, harassment and stalking
Brazil has recorded unprecedented levels of rape and other forms of gender-based violence for the second year running, amid growing concerns over rightwing efforts to criminalize rape victims who have an abortion.
The data, released on Thursday in the annual report by the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety, showed that reported cases of rape rose by 6.5% from the previous year to a new historic high of 83,988 – or one every six minutes.
Continue reading...Government to announce terms which could free more than 20,000 inmates in coming months to manage capacity
The “shocking” prisons crisis is even worse than feared, Keir Starmer has said as the government prepares to release tens of thousands of inmates early in a bid to prevent jails becoming full.
The prime minister suggested he was opposed to freeing violent criminals and sex offenders when ministers announce the terms of a new prisoner release scheme for England and Wales on Friday.
Continue reading...Presenter says women should not be made to ‘feel unsafe going about our daily lives’ after Gavin Plumb convicted of plan to abduct her
Holly Willoughby has said “women should not be made to feel unsafe going about our daily lives and in our own homes” after a convicted violent offender was found guilty of masterminding a plot to kidnap, rape and murder her.
Gavin Plumb, 37, was obsessed with the television host, amassing more than 10,000 images of her on his phone including deepfake pornography. He was caught after unwittingly communicating online with an undercover police officer based in the US, who flagged him to UK authorities.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Activist claims she was threatened with release of the footage in order to silence her, amid multiple reports of sexual violence inflicted upon imprisoned Afghan women
The Guardian has seen video evidence of a female Afghan human rights activist being gang-raped and tortured in a Taliban jail by armed men.
There have been mounting reports that sexual violence is being inflicted on women and girls being held in detention in Afghanistan, but this video is believed to be the first direct evidence of these crimes occurring.
Continue reading...Special rapporteurs working for UN warn famine is imminent and over 25 million people need urgent help
Human rights experts working for the United Nations have accused Sudan’s warring parties of using starvation as a war weapon, amid mounting warnings of imminent famine in the African country.
Sudan plunged into chaos in April last year when simmering tensions between the country’s military and a notorious paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere in the country.
Continue reading...Victim of random street assault has become symbol of the legal system’s handling of gender-based violence
The case of a soldier who brutalised a woman in a random street attack and walked free from court has prompted protests across Ireland.
Thousands of people marched in Cork, Dublin, Galway and Limerick on Saturday to show solidarity with Natasha O’Brien, 24, who has become a symbol of the legal system’s handling of gender-based violence.
Continue reading...Acid Survivors Trust International calls for more focus on prevention in similar strategy to that for knife crime
Acid attacks and other offences involving corrosive substances in the UK have risen by 75% in a year but only 8% of cases led to criminal charges or a summons, figures suggest.
The total number of recorded offences last year based on freedom of information (FOI) requests was 1,244 – up from 710 in 2022 – comprising 454 physical attacks and 790 other alleged offences, including carrying corrosives and threats of acid attack to aid other offences such as rape or robbery.
Continue reading...Independent Akhmed Yakoob, who polls suggest is closing gap on Labour, also said ‘70% of hell will be women’
An independent candidate standing in Birmingham said “70% of hell will be women” and joked about domestic violence on a podcast earlier this year, it has emerged, as polling suggests he is closing the gap with Labour.
Akhmed Yakoob, who came third in the West Midlands mayoral election in May with just over 10% of the vote, is standing against Labour’s Shabana Mahmood in Ladywood, one of the most deprived constituencies in the country.
Continue reading...Jacinta Allan says no place for ‘misogynistic conduct’ as police investigate allegations fake nude images of students circulated online
Victoria’s premier has said there is no place for “misogynistic conduct” in the state following allegations deepfakes depicting about 50 female students from a private school in regional Victoria were circulated online.
Police are investigating the “incredibly graphic” nude images which appeared to have been created using artificial intelligence and photos of the girls’ faces taken from social media sites, and then circulated online.
Continue reading...Chris Minns says review of Molly Ticehurst’s interactions with government agencies will be provided to her family and the public
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has vowed the state will learn from “anything that has gone wrong” in the lead-up to Molly Ticehurst’s “preventable” death after her parents called for changes to a government program they said gave her “false hope” of home safety in the fortnight before she died.
Molly’s parents, Kate and Tony Ticehurst, would be provided with a report detailing the interactions their daughter had with NSW government agencies and service providers, Minns pledged, after they alleged she was promised security upgrades to her home that were not delivered before she died.
In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 988 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org
Continue reading...Plan for specialist unit in all police forces amid manifesto drive to reduce violence against women and girls
Labour will establish 80 new rape courts across and England and Wales to fast-track cases as part of wide-ranging plans to tackle violence against women and girls that will be announced in the party’s general election manifesto this week.
The specialist courts will be set up in unused rooms and spare capacity within every existing crown court, in an effort to end a growing backlog that causes 60% of rape victims to drop out before their cases even begin.
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