By: Dr. Hilal Özcebe, Dr. Sutay Yavuz, Hacer Taşcene, and Dr. Sinan Türkyılmaz

Around the world, women and girls are victims of countless acts of violence. The range of gender-based violence is devastatingly endless, occurring quite literally from womb to tomb. Violence against women and girls occurs in every segment of society – regardless of class, ethnicity, culture, or country.

While you are reading this text, many millions of women around the world will experience the trauma of violence and abuse. It is estimated that 1 in 3 women throughout the world suffer this violence during her lifetime. The same figure for EU countries is 1 in 5. Women in Turkey face violence like women in many other countries; the latest survey shows that 2 in 5 women have been exposed to physical violence. In the same research, 42 percent of women have been exposed to physical and sexual violence, and 44 percent of women have been exposed to emotional violence or abuse. All of these were caused by their husbands or partners.

Over the past 30 years, increasingly gender-based violence has been recognized both in Turkey and worldwide. One of the newest and most comprehensive international instruments to combat violence against women is “Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention)” which was built on the 4P principle of ‘Prevention, Protection, Prosecution, and Policy’. For many years all the interventions to combat VAW have been mostly built around the protection and prosecution. However policy development and prevention are the weakest links of the combating interventions. Among the prevention interventions the most excluded groups have been the youth and children. As it is indicated in some research, children and the youth are the two groups who have been the silent victims of violence within the family even they are not the subject of direct violence. However it is also known that violence is an act that is learnt and to prevent violence against women, the interventions should be started in the early childhood.

Increased rates of violence worldwide have heightened the need to understand what children think about their experiences as victims or witnesses of violence. Much has been written about children and violence, but less has been written from the viewpoint of the children themselves. Without knowing their experience and perception it is impossible to develop any intervention to prevent violence against women regarding to early ages of youth.

This research which is the first in its area had been conducted to understand the perception of school age youth (ages between 11-17) on violence against women and gender inequality which is the root cause of the act. Upon the results of this research UNFPA with the relevant partners will develop prevention interventions for the school age children.

As UNFPA we would like to thank to the researchers, Prof. Dr. Hilal Özcebe, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sinan Türkyılmaz, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sutay Yavuz and Hacer Taşçene and the interview team for conducting this special qualitative research. We would also convey our gratitude to all the government officials, school principals and teachers who supported us in Ankara, Aydın and Erzurum.

Population Association (Turkey) and United Nations Population Fund - UNFPA November 2013

By Dinesh Wadiwel, Claire Spivakovsky, Linda Steele

This report understands a complaint mechanism as a procedure within an organisation, institution or governing authority which allows individuals to report negative experiences and problematic conduct and policy; seek individual rectification; and, where appropriate, trigger system change. Additionally, in this report, the term ‘complaint mechanism’ can refer to the diverse range of public bodies and agencies that are made responsible for handling complaints, which includes various commissions, ombuds, government departments and bespoke complaint or oversight agencies.

Some people with disability utilise complaint mechanisms to report violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. As shall be discussed, the use of complaint mechanisms to report such experiences creates a number of unique challenges, including whether existing complaint mechanisms are fit for purpose, whether complaint mechanisms are able to guarantee equality before the law and equal rights to justice for people with disability, how complaint mechanisms relate to other reporting pathways, in particular police and courts, and whether complaint mechanisms are able to protect individuals from violence and create system change to prevent violence. Raising these concerns does not mean that complaint mechanisms may not be appropriate or desired pathways for people with disability who want to report and seek justice for violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. Indeed, a complaint mechanism may be able to offer forms of just process and justice in outcome that are not available through police and courts. However, much care is required in the design of complaint mechanisms as reporting pathways for violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation to ensure that they are effective in terms of process and outcome, including in achieving a broader goal of violence prevention.

This report provides guidance to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability (the Disability Royal Commission) on the design of accessible and inclusive complaint mechanisms which function as a reporting pathway for violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. Our report puts forward an ideal approach to creating accessible and inclusive responses to complaints of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability. The report utilises contemporary understandings of human rights, violence prevention, procedural justice and justice in outcome to identify the principles that should inform the design of complaint mechanisms to optimise their function as reporting pathways for violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. The report centres lived experiences of people with disability, providing extensive accounts of people navigating complaint mechanisms in relation to violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. The report further provides a mapping of the Australian complaint mechanism landscape, through a survey of website information, and where appropriate, policy or legislation, identifying some common features and limitations of existing complaint mechanism approaches, particularly in relation to the reporting of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation.

Our conclusions in brief (explored in detail in Chapter 8) can be summarised as follows:

a) The Structural Drivers of Violence and Complaint Mechanisms. Much of the violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation experienced by people with disability is driven by structural factors, including as a result of segregation and institutionalisation. For a range of reasons, complaint mechanisms, even when designed in accordance with ‘best practice,’ can be poorly equipped to deliver either individual rectification or the large-scale transformational change required to address and prevent violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation.

b) Complaint Mechanisms, Equality before the Law, and Legally Authorised Violence. Many complaint mechanisms are not necessarily equipped to provide justice in relation to violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. This is because many complaint mechanisms are non-independent and combine regulatory oversight with complaint resolution processes. They are thus potentially established with a policy goal to regulate services and maintain codes of conduct, and not necessarily designed to respond to violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation from a victim-centred and justice-focused perspective. Further, if there is a social or institutional expectation that some people with disability should use complaint mechanisms, rather than police or courts, to report violence, abuse, neglect and / or exploitation, then this potentially undermines equality before the law since this means some people with disability do not have access to the forms of justice that are available to the rest of the community. This problem is further complicated by the existence of legally authorised forms of violence, such as restrictive practices. However, despite these concerns, it is acknowledged that many people with disability utilise complaint mechanisms to report violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation, and that in some cases these pathways may be preferred over the criminal justice system due to the different forms of just process and justice in outcome that they may offer.

c) Improving Process and Outcome. Based upon this report’s survey of website information, and where appropriate, policy or legislation, there are many improvements that can be made to many existing complaint mechanisms at the level of stated process and outcome to enhance their ability to respond to violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. Improvements can be made through access to and consistency of information; dedicated reporting pathways for violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation; application of accessibility standards and the availability of supported decision making; increased clarity on how complaint mechanisms interact with and complement police and courts; and increased clarity on outcomes available as a result of a complaint, including for system transformation.

d) An Independent Complaint Mechanism for Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation. While improvements to existing mechanisms are possible, there remains a need for an independent complaint mechanism to respond to violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation, with strong perceived independence, neutrality, transparency, trustworthiness, effectiveness and capacity to support and recognise the voice of complainants. At present, this independent, dedicated, pathway for reporting violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation experienced by people with disability does not appear available within the existing terrain of relevant Australian complaint mechanisms.

e) A National Redress Scheme. Much violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation is historical in nature, including violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation that is supported by legally and socially authorised forms of segregation, institutionalisation and society wide discrimination. There is a pressing need for governments and society to acknowledge the role of historical injustices committed against people with disability in creating the conditions for current mass scale violence. In this context, a National Redress Scheme would serve an important role as both a form of transitional and transformative justice, and as an additional pathway for reporting violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation that is historical in nature.

f) Improved Processes for Police and Courts. While out of scope for this report, improvements in responses of police and courts to violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation experienced by people with disability would work in a complementary way with improvements to complaint mechanism pathways, and ensure equality before the law and equal rights to justice for people with disability.

Australia: Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability, 2022. 534p.

By Fadzilah Hanum Mohd Mydin, Christopher Mikton, Wan Yuen Choo, Ranita Hisham Shunmugam, Aja Murray, Yongjie Yon, Raudah M. Yunus, Noran N. Hairi, Farizah M. Hairi … 

Background: The examination of psychometric properties in instruments measuring abuse of older people (AOP) is a crucial area of study that has, unfortunately, received relatively little attention. Poor psychometric properties in AOP measurement instruments can significantly contribute to inconsistencies in prevalence estimates, casting a shadow of uncertainty over the magnitude of the problem at national, regional, and global levels.

Objectives: This review rigorously employed the Consensus-based Standards for the Selection of Health Measurement Instruments (COSMIN) guidelines on the quality of outcome measures. It was designed to identify and review the instruments used to measure AOP, assess the instruments' measurement properties, and identify the definitions of AOP and abuse subtypes measured by these instruments, ensuring the reliability and validity of the findings.

Search Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted up to May 2023 across various online databases, including AgeLine via EBSCOhost, ASSIA via ProQuest, CINAHL via EBSCOhost, EMBASE, LILACS, ProQuest Dissertation & Theses Global, PsycINFO via EBSCOhost, PubMed, SciELO, Scopus, Sociological Abstract via ProQuest, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Google Scholar and WHO Global Index Medicus. Additionally, relevant studies were identified by thoroughly searching the grey literature from resources such as Campbell Collaboration, OpenAIRE, and GRAFT.

Selection Criteria: All quantitative, qualitative (addressing face and content validity), and mixed-method empirical studies published in peer-reviewed journals or grey literature were included in this review. The included studies were primary studies that (1) evaluated one or more psychometric properties, (2) contained information on instrument development, or (3) examined the content validity of the instruments designed to measure AOP in community or institutional settings. The selected studies describe at least one psychometric property: reliability, validity, and responsiveness. Study participants represent the population of interest, including males and females aged 60 or older in community or institutional settings.

Data Collection and Analysis: Two reviewers evaluated the screening of the selected studies' titles, abstracts, and full texts based on the preset selection criteria. Two reviewers assessed the quality of each study using the COSMIN Risk of Bias checklist and the overall quality of evidence for each psychometric property of the instrument against the updated COSMIN criteria of good measurement properties. Disagreements were resolved through consensus discussion or with assistance from a third reviewer. The overall quality of the measurement instrument was graded using a modified GRADE approach. Data extraction was performed using data extraction forms adapted from the COSMIN Guideline for Systematic Reviews of Outcome Measurement Instruments. The extracted data included information on the characteristics of included instruments (name, adaptation, language used, translation, and country of origin), characteristics of the tested population, instrument development, psychometric properties listed in the COSMIN criteria, including details on content validity, structural validity, internal consistency, cross-cultural validity/measurement invariance, reliability, measurement error, criterion validity, hypotheses testing for construct validity, responsiveness, and interoperability. All data were synthesized and summarised qualitatively, and no meta-analysis was performed.

Main Results: We found 15,200 potentially relevant records, of which 382 were screened in full text. A total of 114 studies that met the inclusion criteria were included. Four studies reported on more than one instrument. The primary reasons for excluding studies were their focus on instruments used solely for screening and diagnostic purposes, those conducted in hospital settings, or those without evaluating psychometric properties. Eighty-seven studies reported on 46 original instruments and 29 studies on 22 modified versions of an original instrument. The majority of the studies were conducted in community settings (97 studies) from the perspective of older adults (90 studies) and were conducted in high-income countries (69 studies). Ninety-five studies assessed multiple forms of abuse, ranging from 2 to 13 different subscales; four studies measured overall abuse and neglect among older adults, and 14 studies measured one specific type of abuse. Approximately one-quarter of the included studies reported on the psychometric properties of the most frequently used measurement instruments: HS-EAST (assessed in 11 studies), VASS-12 items (in 9 studies), and CASE (in 9 studies). The instruments with the most evidence available in studies reporting on instrument development and content validity in all domains (relevance, comprehensiveness and comprehensibility) were the DEAQ, OAPAM, *RAAL-31 items, *ICNH (Norwegian) and OAFEM. For other psychometric properties, instruments with the most evidence available in terms of the number of studies were the HS-EAST (11 studies across 5 of 9 psychometric properties), CASE (9 studies across 6 of 9 psychometric properties), VASS-12 items (9 studies across 5 of 9 psychometric properties) and GMS (5 studies across 4 of 9 psychometric properties). Based on the overall rating and quality of evidence, the psychometric properties of the AOP measurement instruments used for prevalence measurement in community and institutional settings were insufficient and of low quality.

Authors' Conclusions: This review aimed to assess the overall rating and quality of evidence for instruments measuring AOP in the community and institutional settings. Our findings revealed various measurement instruments, with ratings and evidence quality predominantly indicating insufficiency and low quality. In summary, the psychometric properties of AOP measurement instruments have not been comprehensively investigated, and existing instruments lack sufficient evidence to support their validity and reliability.

Campbell Systematic Reviews: Volume 20, Issue 3, 2024. 

By The Royal Commission Into Violence, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability

In this Royal Commission, people with disability, their families and a range of other people shared their dreams and aspirations for an inclusive Australia. These visions were diverse but rested on a common foundation: a future where people with disability live free from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation; human rights are protected; and individuals live with dignity, equality and respect, can take risks, and develop and fulfil their potential. We heard about these dreams and aspirations in Public hearings, including Public hearing 31, ‘Vision for an inclusive Australia’, as well as from submissions, responses to issues papers, private sessions, community engagements and research projects.1 This vision summarises what we learnt from people with disability, their families and supporters about their hopes for the future. Our public hearings, and the information we gathered from other sources, have necessarily focused on violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. But people with disability have also told us about positive changes that have made their lives better, and their confidence that together we can shape a society which recognises, empowers and values disability as part of human diversity. They rightly insist an inclusive society is better for everyone. What follows is a sample of what we have heard from people with disability and their families about their visions for the future, drawing out themes that help us to understand what inclusion is all about. We then explore the foundational significance of a human rights approach to preventing and responding to violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. Finally, we set out critical aspects of an inclusive society, highlighting the importance of listening to the voices, and recognising the leadership, of people with disability

Australia: The Royal Commission, 2023. 356p.

By World Athletics

World Athletics today (22 December 2023) published findings of a study conducted during the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 focused towards identifying and addressing abusive and threatening behaviour aimed at athletes on the X and Instagram social media platforms.

Building on the past two years of implementing greater safeguarding measures in athletics, 449,209 posts and comments were analysed between 18-28 August for abusive content in 16 different languages and additional dialects, protecting 1344 athletes with 1666 active accounts across both platforms.

This included text analysis, through searches for slurs and other phrases (including emojis) that could indicate abuse. Image recognition tools were also deployed to flag potentially offensive images. These findings were then compared to results from the previous study, conducted a year earlier at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 (15-24 July 2022).

The research once again identified clear instances of online abuse and threats, targeting athletes competing at the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23. It detected notable examples of racist and sexualised abuse, with a selection of posts extending into potential action from law enforcement.

The study revealed:

X (formerly Twitter) was the preferred channel for abusers, accounting for almost 90% of detected abuse, a 500% relative increase compared to 2022

Racist abuse made up over one third of all abuse, an increase of 14% from 2022

Male athletes faced an increase in abuse, with the gender split of abuse being 51% targeting men and 49% targeting women

Two athletes out of 1344 monitored received 44% of all accounted abuse between them\

The levels of abuse detected during Budapest were noticeably higher when compared with the previous year’s study conducted during the World Athletics Championships Oregon22. Of the instances of racist abuse detected, the vast majority came on X. The abuse was overwhelmingly targeted at black athletes, with invocations of monkey imagery and deployment of the N-word in several spellings.

This is the third study of its kind in athletics and forms part of a research project World Athletics is conducting stretching over four years to fully understand the size, scale and gravity of online abuse athletes face during major sporting events. It is the third deployment of Threat Matrix, an initiative by data science company Signify Group, supported by sports investigations company Quest.

With a fourth study due to be carried out at the Olympic Games in Paris next year, the combined research will then encompass data from two Olympic Games as well as two World Athletics Championships, with events staged across Asia, Europe and North America.

World Athletics, 2023. 12p.

By The United Nations Development Program (UNDFP)

As the most extreme form of violence, femicides pose a threat to the safety of women around the world. Although they occur in different contexts, as a result of an intimate partner violence and domestic violence, sexual violence, armed conflict, or for the purpose of so-called preserving family honor (“honor murder”), the main causes are still to be found in the unequal distribution of power between men and women, and deep-rooted patriarchal values, even in developed countries.

This analysis was carried out with the support of the German Government project “Improving National Practices for Small Arms and Light Weapons and Building Violence Resilient Communities“ implemented by UNDP. The project is part of a broader regional initiative, a Roadmap for a Sustainable Solution to the Illegal Possession, Misuse and Trafficking of Small Arms and Light Weapons and their Ammunition in the Western Balkans by 2024.

By improving data collection, analysis and dissemination of information related to Small Arms and Light Weapons it is ensured that policies and practices for its control are guided by analysis and based on evidence. The gender aspect of the project is of particular importance for these policies and practices to deliver the best results in building a society resistant to violence.

The purpose of this analysis is to present the murder of women and girls in the Republic of North Macedonia in the period from 2017 to 2020, and is a continuation of the first Analysis of Cases of Femicides - murders of women in the Republic of Macedonia conducted by the National Network to End Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, with technical and financial support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The findings of the analysis will be used to develop recommendations for improving the system of prevention and protection of women who are victims of gender-based and domestic violence, which will contribute to the prevention of femicide as a consequence of long-term exposure to violence by an intimate partner violence and domestic violence.

Skopje, UNDP, 2021. 32p

By Marc-André Argentino, Adnan Raja & Aoife Gallagher

Since QAnon’s rise to prominence, several high-profile celebrities have found themselves at the centre of the movement’s conspiratorial narratives, and therefore, the focus of coordinated harassment campaigns, brigading, dogpilling, slander and hate. This has led researchers who examine the digital information ecosystem to ask whether QAnon-coordinated harassment operates like other forms of targeted hate and harassment online, and specifically, whether vulnerable identity groups are faced with particularly egregious experiences. In this report, based on analysis conducted in early 2021, and examining upwards of 9 million posts and mentions across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, we examine the role of gender-based violence against celebrities who were of particular significance to the QAnon community’s conspiracy theories in late 2019 and into the end of 2020: Chrissy Teigen, Tom Hanks, Ellen DeGeneres, Anderson Cooper, Jussie Smollett and Oprah Winfrey. The resulting analysis confirmed the suspicion that the most prominent type of harassment came in the form of brigading individual targets with accusations and slanderous mentions of paedophilia, often with graphic and disturbing language in their accusations.

Amman: Berlin: London: Paris: Washington DC: Institute for Strategic Dialogue, 2022. 32p.

By The YWCA

Police killings of Black people and the ensuing nation-wide protests that swept across the United States during the spring and summer months of 2020 are certain to be recorded as defining elements of an unprecedented year. Like Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, and so many others before them, the names of the people of color killed by police in 2020 are now seared into our national consciousness: George Floyd. Rayshard Brooks. Tony McDade. Breonna Taylor. Their deaths unleashed a national fury and ignited a long overdue reckoning with racial violence by police against people of color.

But as so often happens, women and girls of color are again being left out of the story. Their experiences? Overlooked and erased by a media and policy narrative that overwhelmingly focuses on men and boys of color.

Washington, DC: YWCA, 2020. 49p.

By  Robert Urquhart and Jennifer Doyle 

The devastating effect of domestic and family violence (DFV) on children and young people has been increasingly researched, and its lasting impact acknowledged. Yet, despite the evidence, children and young people continue to be regarded as onlookers who ‘witness’ DFV, rather than as victims who directly experience DFV. Indeed, recognition of children and young people experiencing DFV as victim survivors in their own right and with their own unique needs is long overdue. It is time to recognise children and young people as equal victim survivors with their own safety and support needs, and to establish appropriate DFV support policy and programs which reflect the presence of multiple victims of DFV.  

Sydney: Barnardos Australia, 2022. 116p.

By Erin Carlisle, Christine Coumarelos, Kate Minter and Ben Lohmeyer  

The 2017 National Community Attitudes towards Violence against Women Survey (NCAS) found that although young people have a good overall understanding of domestic violence, particularly its physical forms, there were also some “areas of concern” within young people’s understandings. The NCAS raised concerns about young people’s understandings of:

• the non-physical forms of domestic violence, such as financial and technology-facilitated abuse

• the high prevalence of violence against women in the community

• the gendered nature of domestic violence.

To further explore these findings, the current study unpacked how young people define and make sense of domestic violence. In particular, the study examined how young people distinguish domestic violence from other unhealthy relationship behaviours, how common they perceive domestic violence to be and their understanding of the gendered nature of domestic violence.

Sydney:  Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety Limited (ANROWS), 2022. 114p.

By Carmel Hobbs

In this report you will find pieces of stories of strong young people who together share over 60 years of violence and abuse inflicted by a partner they cared about, trusted and often loved. Their voices are prioritised over other data in the report because the voices of young people who have experienced violence and abuse are sorely missing from research, policy and community-based knowledge about this issue. You will see their voices amplified by the professionals who participated in this project. These workers represent a range of government and non-government services who have direct contact with young people. Teen domestic violence and abuse is reaching epidemic proportions in Tasmania and nationally. Statistical evidence of this is also included in the report, further demonstrating the magnitude of this issue.  

Hobart Tasmania: Social Action and Research Centre, Anglicare, 2022. 168p.

By Adam Cotter

Criminal victimization in Canada, 2019: Highlights

 According to the General Social Survey (GSS) on Victimization, more than three-quarters (78%) of Canadians were very or somewhat satisfied with their personal safety from crime in 2019.

 One in five (19%) Canadians or their households were impacted by one of the eight crimes measured by the GSS in 2019. There were 8.3 million incidents of sexual assault, robbery, physical assault, break and enter, theft of motor vehicles (or parts), theft of household or personal property, or vandalism.

 Almost seven in ten (69%) self-reported incidents were non-violent in nature. Theft of personal property, the most common crime type, accounted for more than one-third (37%) of all criminal incidents.

 Women (106 incidents per 1,000 women) were violently victimized at a rate nearly double that of men (59 incidents per 1,000 men) in 2019. This gender difference is a result of the fact that women were five times more likely than men to be a victim of sexual assault (50 versus 9 per 1,000).

……

Criminal Victimization in Canada, 2019.