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Welcome to the 14th edition of The Pixel Project’s VAW e-News Digest. As usual, we bring you the latest and most relevant news pertaining to violence against women across the world from the past fortnight.

While the chance to celebrate it is a privilege held by many, not everyone of us can look to Father’s Day without recollecting some form of pain. Across the world, the most damaging kinds of violence against women are often committed not by strangers, but by people the woman trusts and usually someone from within the family.

Thankfully, this past Father’s Day, we did find those who remembered the often ignored epidemic of violence against women, and who kept the topic in conversation during Father’s Day. We found those who chose to highlight, amidst the festivities of the World Cup, the link between sports and violence. Counteracting the link are athletes and sports celebrities who use their influence to speak up about violence against women.

Violence against women may seem like a neverending epidemic, but keeping it in conversation and in focus will make a great difference in combating it around the globe. If you have news about violence against women that you’d like to share with us, contact our archivist, Catalina Rembuyan, at catalina@thepixelproject.net.

If you’d like to follow more up-to-date news, follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pixelproject. Don’t forget to vote for your celebrity of choice at The Pixel Project Voters’ Choice Campaign (https://www.thepixelproject.net/community-buzz/voters-choice-celebrity-male-role-model/) – there are only two more days left until closing!

Regards,
The Pixel Project Team

General Violence Against Women News

Coverage of the “No to Violence Against Women” conference: violence against women is linked to economic growth

Father’s Day focus: Fathers can stop violence, too

World Cup focus: Footballer slaps woman, FIFA does nothing

World Cup focus: Domestic violence is football’s dirty secret – how incidents of domestic violence increase during the football season

World Cup focus: Football’s stand against sexual violence and homophobia – what FIFA, football, and violence against women have to do with each other

Canada: Gladys Radek has taken on the challenge of raising awareness for 2900 missing women in Canada

Central American Region: Report aimed at galvanizing public opinion on violence against women in the region, including but not limited to its most extreme form, femicide

India: Indian women learn karate to thwart male aggressors

Iraq: Iraqi women fear family wrath for their interest in football

Israel and Palestine: Palestinian says women’s rights forgotten in Gaza

Nepal: Nepal hosts South Asian international meeting on child violence

Nigeria: Discussion held on violence in Nigerian films, including violence against women

Thailand: 88 groups to join the Say No to Violence Against Women campaign

United States: Text messages become a weapon in dating violence

United States: Movie critic gives feedback on the violence in recent controversial film ‘ The Killer Inside Me’ – the violence ‘spoils the film’

United Kingdom: Men band together to combat the association of sports to ultra machismo and with it, the link between sports and violence against women

United States: NFL players part of project to raise awareness concerning violence against women

Domestic Violence / Intimate Partner Violence

Angola: Bishop calls for end to domestic violence

China: Domestic violence laws too weak to protect women

Ghana: British Ghanaian muscleman promotes anti-violent message

United Kingdom: Special law to target domestic abusers

United Kingdom: Romani (gypsy) women break taboo concerning domestic violence

United States: The question is always asked, “Why doesn’t the victim leave?” – the better question is, “Why is it considered all right to hit another human being?”

United States: Actor Mel Gibson accused of domestic violence

Rape / Sexual Assault

Congo: “Rape here is so common – it’s cultural.” No, it’s not, corrects this writer

Haiti: Half a year after the earthquake, the conditions in Haiti are still ‘ideal for rape’

Haiti: Sexual assault adds to miseries of Haiti’s ruins

Malaysia: Sexual harassment is a sign of insecurity

South Africa: South Africa debuts anti-rape female condom

South Africa: Does Rape-Axe prevent sexual assault? A discussion on Feministing.com

United States: Baltimore records extremely high rape statistics

United States: Former Vice President Al Gore accused of sexual assault

United States: “After a series of traumas, one can lose the capacity to feel fear appropriately”. Rape, trauma and terrorism – how a woman turned her Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder into a study of terrorists

Honour Killing

Bangladesh, India and Pakistan: Honour-killing, a subcontinental phenomenon

India: Honour killings give birth to balika vadhus, or child marriage, to prevent young people from marrying according to their personal choice

India: Two minor girls become the victims of honour killings

Forced Marriages

Congo: Women in Congo experience forced marriage, at high risk of HIV

Saudi Arabia: Country seeks to regulate child marriages

Tanzania: Child sexual abuse often ends in forced marriage

Sex Trafficking

Malaysia: Malaysia receives recommendations on how to combat human trafficking (focus is on labour, but applies to sex trafficking as well)

United Kingdom: Sex trafficking on the rise in Ireland

United Kingdom: Wales must change its ‘culture of disbelief’ regarding sex trafficking

United Kingdom: Women in Kent reveal pain of sex trafficking

United States: An article on sex trafficking of children in the United States, with statistics

United States: America vs. Sex Trafficking – in New York, convicted prostitutes who are victims of sex trafficking will have their criminal records wiped clean

Female Genital Mutilation

Iraq: Iraqi Kurds urged to ban female circumcision

Iraq: Shocking statistics of female genital mutilation in Iraq

United States: The sanctioning of child genital cutting at Cornell University – the original report by Dan Savage

United States: More details about the uncovered case of female genital cutting at Cornell

United States: Probably the most comprehensive blog post made on the subject of female genital cutting at Cornell University, on Feministing.com