January 31, 2008

In This Issue:

• Stopping Gender-Based Violence Key to Preventing HIV
• Supreme Court to Hear Domestic Homicide Case
• Spotlight on Missouri
• Teen Dating Violence Awareness Week
• In The News
• New Resource
• In His Own Words
• Save The Date

STOPPING GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE KEY TO PREVENTING HIV

Last week, experts from some of the world’s leading women’s health and violence prevention organizations told more than 100 congressional leaders and advocates that highly effective programs, from Kenya to Hong Kong, Fiji to Papua New Guinea, and Nicaragua to South Africa, are helping to stop gender-based violence and HIV infection. With Congress poised to reauthorize the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and consider the International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA), experts from the Family Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF), International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), and PATH urged a greater focus on preventing the violence that can promote the spread of HIV and AIDS.

“Where there is HIV and AIDS, there is violence against women and girls. The two are inextricably linked,” said FVPF Public Policy Director Kiersten Stewart. “Violence is a global crisis that creates profound public health challenges and contributes significantly to the pandemic of HIV infection. We need Congress to recognize the connection between these issues and act this year. There’s no time to waste.”

According to the World Health Organization, one in three of the world’s women will experience violence in her lifetime, including being raped, beaten, sold into marriage or domestic servitude, or subjected to harmful practices such as female genital mutilation. One potential consequence of this violence is HIV infection, with women now the fastest growing group in the epidemic, largely as a result of sexual violence and an inability to negotiate safer sex practices.

“There is a compelling need for lawmakers to address the root causes of gender-based violence, and adopt integrated, multi-sectoral approaches,” said PATH’s Senior Advisor for Gender, Violence and Human Rights, Mary Ellsberg, PhD. “Interventions do not need to be costly to be effective. In fact, actions as simple as providing 30 minutes of counseling to pregnant abused women or asking faith-based communities to help stop the stigma and discrimination against women living with HIV and AIDS can make a huge difference.”

Ellsberg urged Congress to improve services for women in the health sector, strengthen women’s organizations around the world, and promote access to justice for survivors of gender-based violence.

“Changing community norms, attitudes and responses to gender-based violence is critical to reducing women’s vulnerability to HIV infection,” added Nata Duvvury, PhD, Director of Gender, Violence and Rights for the ICRW. “We know from field experience that it is possible to change social norms through community-based projects. Women worldwide urgently need Congress to move quickly to strengthen PEPFAR to better address violence by expanding such programs, and pass the I-VAWA.”

Duvvury and Ellsberg described effective programs that are addressing gender-based violence and HIV infection. Among them:

• Stepping Stones, originally developed for use in Uganda, is now used in more than 40 countries and has been translated into at least 13 languages. It involves a series of workshops that address questions of gender, sexual health, HIV and AIDS, gender violence, communication and relationship skills through role play, drama and other participatory learning approaches.
• IMAGE (Intervention with Microfinance for AIDS & Gender Equity) combines a poverty-focused microfinance initiative targeting the poorest women in communities with a participatory curriculum of gender and HIV education. A rigorous evaluation provided strong evidence that a combined microfinance and training intervention has the potential to generate social and economic benefits for women, reducing their vulnerability and leading to reductions in levels of interpersonal violence.
• VCT Liverpool in Kenya, which is transforming the way rape victims are treated and giving them access to care and treatment after exposure to HIV.
• The Pan American Health Organization, which for more than a decade has run a multi-pronged program in seven Latin American countries to strengthen the health sector’s response by promoting screening of women for violence and HIV, and referrals for victims to community-based networks that coordinate with local women’s groups.
• Soul City in South Africa, an innovative multi-media health promotion and social change project reaching more than 16 million South Africans. It uses drama and entertainment to impart information on social norms, attitudes and practices, aimed at empowering audiences to make healthy choices.

The Capitol Hill briefing featured Pamela Sibanda Mumbi, Director of the International Justice Mission in Zambia who discussed the urgent need to dispel myths about HIV transmission. Some men believe having sex with a virgin or young girl will cure them.

Mumbi talked about problems with the legal system, poor prosecution of perpetrators, and lack of training for police and medical staff. “We need properly trained medical officers on every compound,” she said.

The event was held in conjunction with the Congressional Human Rights Caucus and the Global Health Caucus. Hans Hogrefe, Executive Director of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, moderated.

SUPREME COURT TO HEAR DOMESTIC HOMICIDE CASE

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that could clarify the Sixth Amendment’s “confrontation clause.” It may have implications for victims of domestic violence.

Giles vs. California is an appeal brought by Dwayne Giles, a California man accused of shooting and killing his former girlfriend, Brenda Avie. Several weeks before the murder, Avie told police that Giles was threatening to kill her. At issue is whether the police officer’s testimony about what Avie told him is admissible, since Giles cannot now face Avie in court to challenge her claim that he was threatening her life.

This is not a new issue for the Supreme Court. Its 2004 decision in Crawford v. Washington emphasized the right of defendants to confront a state’s witnesses. In that case, the Court ruled unanimously that statements from witnesses who do not come to court and thus cannot be confronted by their accusers should be excluded. It was, at that time, a significant change to existing law.

The issue arose again in 2006, but the Court only partially answered it. At that time, the New York Times reports, “Justice Scalia addressed concerns that victims of domestic violence, who are often afraid to testify in court, might suffer from such a rule. Defendants who ‘seek to undermine the judicial process by procuring or coercing silence from witnesses and victims’ would forfeit the protection of the confrontation clause.”

“It is therefore likely that the justices accepted the new case, Giles v. California, to make it clear that as long as the victim’s unavailability as a witness was a foreseeable consequence of the murder, the Sixth Amendment does not require the state to prove the actual motive for the murder was to make the victim unavailable,” the New York Times reports.

Giles vs. California is likely to be argued in April, with a ruling expected this summer.

SPOTLIGHT ON MISSOURI

More than two in five Missouri domestic and sexual violence programs (42 percent) had an operating deficit in 2006, and the average deficit for these programs was $34,886. These deficits largely resulted from decreased or stagnant grant funding, increased operating expenses (higher utilities, gas, insurance and the costs to help women establish safe new homes) and more requests for services. That is according to Funding Needs, a new fiscal survey released by the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence (MOCADSV).

Eighty-five percent of programs said they did not have enough staff to meet the community’s needs. Insufficient staff size, staff burn out, and inadequate salaries were among the greatest challenges facing programs in the sate.

“Limited funding has forced us to learn to provide quality services in the most cost-effective ways but has also restricted us from expanding to more creative and empowering services for survivors of domestic and sexual violence,” wrote a program leader from southeast Missouri. “Each new service seems to come at a cost to those already in existence.”

A central Missouri program leader wrote, “The biggest challenge, as always, is maintaining quality services when staff are overworked and underpaid. The number of victims served by our agency has more than tripled in the past five years, and the agency is finding it more and more challenging to meet the service needs in our area without receiving additional funding for more staff.”

Missouri domestic violence programs reported needing an additional $7,868,000 to meet the need of all domestic violence victims, and sexual assault programs reported needing an additional $1,843,700.

In October 2007, MCADSV surveyed domestic and sexual violence service providers statewide about their fiscal needs. 52 of the 68 programs completed the survey, a response rate of 76 percent. For more information, visit www.mocadsv.org.

TEEN DATING VIOLENCE AWARENESS WEEK

February 4 to 8 will be National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Week, 35 national organizations have signed on. This is the third year the United States Senate has passed a resolution declaring the week, and urging local, state and national organizations, governments and private industry to take action. For more information, please visit http://crapo.senate.gov/issues/teen_dating_violence.cfm.

IN THE NEWS

NATIONAL – Steven Glaude, former Deputy Undersecretary at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is the new executive director of Men Can Stop Rape. Patrick Lemmon stepped down late last year. “The issue of sexual assault affects every American family as well as every international community,” Glaude said. “While we must continue to support services for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence, we must heighten efforts to prevent these offenses from occurring. Men have a responsibility to reach other men about the healthy alternatives to violence and abuse.”

NATIONAL – One in four women are paying more attention to the upcoming presidential election because a woman is running, and a large majority of women (82 percent) say they will definitely or probably vote this year. The results are a part of Lifetime’s nonpartisan Every Woman Counts campaign, which is designed to make issues important to women a part of the campaign dialogue, encourage women to run for office, and motivate women to register to vote.

CA – The San Mateo County Health Foundation established a $2 million endowment to support the hospital’s domestic violence center, the Keller Center for Family Violence Intervention. The Center treats patients away from the traditional emergency room, provides initial care and screening for abuse victims, and works with police on criminal cases. The Foundation hopes the endowment will generate at least $60,000 per year to help support the Center, the Oakland Tribune reports.

MA – Homicide rates in Springfield rose 33 percent in 2007, when the city experienced its highest number of homicides since 1994. Police said that homicides by family members, parents or close acquaintances made up 40 percent of the total. The Springfield Republican notes that those numbers should be higher, because certain cases were excluded from the count. Police are looking at steps to stop this kind of lethal violence.

MI – The U.S. Department of Education fined Eastern Michigan University more than $350,000, largely because of the school’s cover-up of the rape and murder of 22-year-old Laura Dickinson in her dorm room in December 2006. The Associated Press reports that the school agreed to pay Dickinson’s family $2.5 million dollars as part of a settlement, which did not include any admission of liability.

NE – Prosecutors have decided not to pursue a third trial in a sexual assault case where the judge banned the words “rape” and “victim” in court. District Judge Jeffre Cheuvront said he restricted the accuser’s language to protect the defendant’s right to a fair trial; she said the ban had a marked effect. The first two trials ended in mistrials.

OK – Former Oklahoma State football player Chris Collins has been sentenced to ten years probation for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl at an after-prom party in 2004, the Associated Press reports. He also will be ordered to register as a sex offender. Collins pled guilty to aggravated sexual assault on November 7 and was dismissed from the team.

TX – A $5 per customer tax on strip clubs went into effect on January 1. The proceeds of the “pole-tax” will benefit sexual assault victims, and state officials estimate that it will raise more than $40 million dollars per year. “This is an industry that largely employs women, and this gives them an opportunity to raise funds for a crime that affects women,” State Representative and bill sponsor Ellen Cohen told the Associated Press. Club owners are suing to block the tax, which owners and patrons argue will unfairly drive some out of business and unfairly links their industry to sex crimes.

WA – A state Supreme Court rejected the claim that people have a constitutional right to a publicly funded attorney in divorce cases. The ruling stemmed from a custody case in which the father had an attorney present and the mother, who had a ninth grade education, represented herself. She lost primary custody of her three children. The court did note that the state legislature should consider providing legal aid attorneys in divorce cases because “wise public policy” may require higher standards than “those minimally tolerable under the Constitution,” the Seattle Times reports.

WA – Former Seattle Mariners pitcher Julio Mateo pled guilty to assault and disorderly conduct after he beat his wife in a New York hotel, the Associated Press reports. Shortly after his arrest in May 2007, the Mariners demoted him to their minor league team and suspended him for ten days without pay. He was later traded to Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Phillies have since released Mateo from their roster. As part of Mateo’s guilty plea, he was spared jail and instead sentenced to a domestic abuse program.

KENYA – The United Nations Children’s Fund reports a rise in child rapes since the disputed presidential elections last month. The Associated Press reports that, “Preliminary reports collected by three U.N. agencies in Kenya indicate that girls and women in the informal camps are forced to trade sex for biscuits, protection, transportation” or are raped while trying to get to the bathroom during the night.

NEW RESOURCE

The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape has produced a guide to help advocates understand the complex and often reciprocal relationship between poverty and sexual violence. Poverty and Sexual Violence: Building Prevention and Intervention Responses can help support rape crisis centers in their economic advocacy efforts, using the Spectrum of Violence Prevention as a blueprint to respond to the needs of victims, survivors and communities. The guide is available at www.pcar.org/resources/poverty.pdf.

IN HIS OWN WORDS

“If there was ever a story that deserved more coverage by the news media, it’s the dark persistence of misogyny in America. Sexism in its myriad destructive forms permeates nearly every aspect of American life. For many men, it’s the true national pastime, much bigger than baseball or football. Little attention is being paid to the toll that misogyny takes on society in general, and women and girls in particular… In its grimmest aspects, misogyny manifests itself in hideous violence – from brutal beatings and rape to outright torture and murder… We’ve become so used to the disrespectful, degrading, contemptuous and even violent treatment of women that we hardly notice it. Staggering amounts of violence are unleashed against women and girls every day. Fashionable ads in mainstream publications play off of that violence, exploiting themes of death and dismemberment, female submissiveness and child pornography. If we’ve opened the door to the issue of sexism in the presidential campaign, then let’s have at it. It’s a big and important issue that deserves much more than lip service.”
---Bob Herbert, “Politics and Misogyny,” New York Times, January 15, 2008

SAVE THE DATE

February 14, 2008, Massachusetts
Massachusetts White Ribbon Day
Jane Doe Inc. is inviting all men to join its statewide primary prevention campaign to end violence against women. The White Ribbon Day will mobilize men across Massachusetts to take a pledge not to commit, condone or remain silent about abuse. The day was launched with support from “Ambassadors” including a former governor, state legislators, corporate leaders and others. To sign up or learn more, visit http://www.janedoe.org/involved/involved_whiteribbonday.htm.

February 28-29, 2008, Bethesda, MD
Summit on Violence and Abuse in Relationships: Connecting Agendas and Forging New Directions
The American Psychological Association is hosting a summit to address intimate partner violence, child maltreatment, children exposed to violence and abuse, elder abuse, and related themes at the Hyatt Regency. The focus will be on “What We Know, What We Need to Know, and Where Do We Need to Go” with respect to research, intervention, and prevention. Preliminary keynote speakers include: Arun Gandhi; Mary Koss, PhD; Jacquelyn Campbell, PhD, RN; and David Finkelhor, PhD. For more information, please visit www.reisman-white.com/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=22.

February 29, 2008 – Scholarship Applications Due
Fitting the Forum to the Family: Emerging Challenges for Family Courts
The Association of Family and Conciliation Courts is offering scholarships to its 45th annual conference on May 28 – 31 at the Weston Bayshore in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Twenty-five scholarships will be granted. More information on the scholarships and the conference itself is available at http://afccnet.org/.

April 10-11, 2008, Tacoma, WA
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
Men Against Violence at Pacific Lutheran University regional conference in Tacoma will explore men’s roles in ending violence against women. The conference will feature presentations from leading experts Dr. Sut Jhally, Ben Atherton-Zeman, Lane Judson, A Call to Men, the Men’s Network Against Domestic Violence and others. Due to space restrictions, registration will be limited to the first 200 registrants. Early registration is highly encouraged and due by March 15. For more information please visit, www.plu.edu/~mav/mav-conference/home.html.