Welcome to our annual “16 for 16” Special Edition of The Pixel Project’s VAW e-News Digest. In this edition, we bring you the top 16 news headlines in each category related to violence against women over 2016.
2016 is remembered by many for its significant cultural and world events, and this is no exception for the news and developments about violence against women. While there have been distressing news such as violent acts going viral and politicians identified with rape culture, there has also been growing awareness, bolder acts of resistance and progress in legislation.
Here are the 16 biggest trending VAW headlines of 2016:
- Twitter starts implementing anti-harassment tools to decrease incidences of online bullying.
- In Russia, Ukraine, and across Eastern Europe, women make use of the #IAmNotAfraidtoSpeak hashtag to vocalise their stories of sexual violence.
- A link has been made between climate change and violence against women.
- Ignited by the rape and murder of Lucia Perez, women in Argentina and Brazil protest en masse against sexual violence against women.
- Women in Pakistan respond to arguments that Islam allows for the ‘light’ beating of wives with the defiant hashtag #Trybeatingmelightly.
- In South Korea, the Gangnam murder case inspires debate on misogyny.
- The ‘Nordic paradox’ becomes of interest to researchers as European countries with high level of gender equality also oddly enough show high levels of violence against women.
- The Chibok girls captured by Boko Haram have been released.
- Portugal has banned verbal harassment of women.
- Gambia has banned female genital mutilation, but requires mandatory head coverings.
- In the United States, the Brock Turner case turns the spotlight on campus rape and kicks off changes in California laws on rape and sexual assault.
- In the United Kingdom, the first domestic violence abuser convicted through victimless prosecution has been jailed.
- The migration and refugee crisis following conflict has also resulted in more women exposed to sexual violence.
- In India, survivors of sexual assault share their stories through Snapchat filters.
- Germany broadens its definition of rape under new laws.
- The ranking of Asia Pacific countries on how they stand on human trafficking has ignited controversy, but is an important step in challenging the phenomenon.
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It’s time to stop violence against women. Together.
With all good wishes,
The Pixel Project Team
General Violence Against Women
- WORLD: Will Twitter stock be helped by possible anti-harassment tool?
- WORLD: How climate change is fueling violence against women
- WORLD: Gloria Steinem links violence against women with global instability
- ASIA PACIFIC: Agencies seek better data on violence against women.
- ARGENTINA: Argentinians protest violence against women on ‘Black Wednesday’
- BRAZIL: Tired of being beaten and abused, Brazil’s womnen are fighting back online
- COLOMBIA: Colombia tightens law to curb acid attacks on women
- FIJI: ‘Pornified’ culture contributing to violence against women
- JAPAN: Police in Kyoto clamping down on ‘upskirt’ photos
- PAKISTAN: Pakistan Women’s Protection Measure Declared ‘un-Islamic’
- PERU: 50,000 march in Peru to protest violence against women
- PORTUGAL: Portugal bans the verbal harassment of women
- SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa’s murder rate climbs 4.9 per cent to 51 people killed every day
- SOUTH KOREA: Gangnam murder case triggers debate on misogyny and mental illness in South Korea
- UNITED KINGDOM: Vile online abuse of female MPs needs to be challenged now
- UNITED STATES: Sexual assault survivors struggle to cope with Trump’s election win
Domestic Violence
- WORLD: How workplaces can get domestic violence so wrong
- AFRICA: Living in a resource-rich African nation increases odds of domestic violence
- EUROPE: The Nordic paradox – Highest in gender equality and intimate partner violence
- CANADA: Manitoba passes law to offer victims of domestic violence leave from work
- CHINA: As China passes first law against domestic violence, a long road lies ahead
- FIJI: Ministry of Women pays out $85K for setup of Domestic Violence helpline
- INDONESIA: How a wife’s tiny food shop brought financial freedom and escape from domestic violence
- KENYA: Kenya’s women-only villages offer protection from domestic violence and rape
- MALAYSIA: Violence involving lovers among issues in proposed amendment to Act
- MEXICO: Sexual and domestic violence – the hidden reasons why Mexican women flee their homes
- RUSSIA: Suffering in silence – lack of law keeps rate of domestic violence high (trigger warning: illustration)
- PAKISTAN: #TryBeatingMeLightly shows Pakistani women won’t stand for wife-beating bill
- SOUTH AFRICA: Oscar Pistorius receives six-year prison sentence for murder of Reeva Steenkamp
- UNITED KINGDOM: Man, 24, is one of the first people jailed for coercive control offences using victimless prosecution
- UNITED STATES: How domestic violence feeds the mass shooting epidemic in America
- ZIMBABWE: Zimbabwe’s failing economy crippling fight against domestic violence
Rape and Sexual Assault
- WORLD: ‘I didn’t have anywhere to run’ – migrant women are facing a rape epidemic
- AFRICA: ‘1 in 4 children’ victims of sexual violence in Africa
- EUROPE: On perilous migrant trail, women often become prey to sexual abuse
- AUSTRALIA: Julie Gillard warns of almost ‘daily’ rape threats for women in public life
- CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: The U.N. says that its peacekeepers were paying 13-year old girls for sex
- COLOMBIA: 97% of Colombia’s cases of sexual violence remain unpunished
- GERMANY: ‘No means no’ – Germany broadens definition of rape under new law
- INDIA: How Snapchat became a virtual confessional for sexual assault victims
- INDONESIA: Indonesia’s government vows to castrate rapists. It won’t work.
- IRAQ: A Yezidi woman who escaped ISIS slavery tells her story
- ITALY: Italy confronts online sexual violence following suicide and viral rape video
- NIGERIA: How did Nigeria secure the 21 Chibok girls’ release from Boko Haram?
- SPAIN: Thousands protest sex assaults at bull rain in Pamplona, Spain
- SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa announces withdrawal from International Criminal Court (has repercussions on rape in conflict)
- SOUTH SUDAN: Rape, sexual violence going unchecked in South Sudan
- UNITED STATES: California to become the first state to make sexual consent lessons mandatory in high schools beginning next year
Human/Sex Trafficking
- WORLD: Can prosecutors stop child sex trafficking without breaking the Internet?
- WORLD: Human trafficking a $5 – 6 billion global trade
- WORLD: Missing migrant children – 10k missing children for sex trafficking, slave trade
- ASIA PACIFIC: Human trafficking rankings in Asia Pacific spark a flurry of disagreement
- BANGLADESH: Heartbreaking photos show what it’s like living in a walled city of a brothel
- INDIA: Disowned by family, women rescued from Indian brothels turn to counselling
- LEBANON: Dozens of Syrians forced into sexual slavery in derelict Lebanon house
- THE MARSHALL ISLANDS: Marshalls demands US re-think on trafficking listing
- MEXICO: Sex trafficking is booming, Mexican drug cartels expand their business
- THE PHILIPPINES: Philippines upgraded to Tier 1ranking in Trafficking in Persons report
- SOUTH AFRICA: How South Africa could become the first African country to decriminalize sex work
- SYRIA: How this 23-year old survived being an ISIS captive
- NIGERIA: The world of Nigeria’s sex-trafficking ‘Air Lords’
- UKRAINE: Sex, lies and psychological scars: inside Ukraine’s human trafficking crisis
- UNITED KINGDOM: ‘No prosecutions’ for paying for sex in Northern Ireland despite new law
- UNITED STATES: Ruling on Backpage may help Boston combat sex trafficking
Female Genital Mutilation
- WORLD: Dramas that raise local arguments against dangerous practice could bring change
- WORLD: More men than women oppose female genital mutilation in these countries
- WORLD: Doctors urge ‘compromise’ on female genital mutilation
- WORLD: Number of FGM victims to be 70 million higher than thought
- WORLD: Mapping FGM – building a global picture of female circumcision
- AUSTRALIA: First person to be imprisoned over female genital mutilation in Australia
- EGYPT: Egypt court releases mother of Suez FGM victim, postpones trial to November
- GAMBIA: Gambia bans female circumcision and then orders women to cover their hair at work
- GEORGIA: Law enforcers to investigate claims of female genital mutilation in East Georgia
- INDIA: A rebellion inside a small Indian sect seeks to end a brutal custom: female genital mutilation
- INDONESIA: Indonesia launches campaign to end female genital mutilation practices
- KENYA: Kenyan parents fearing ban on female genital mutilation secretly get girls cut at night
- NIGERIA: Osun – tackling the menace of female genital mutilation after more than a year of FGM being outlawed in Nigeria
- NIGERIA and JAPAN: Nigerian asylum seeker who fled over ‘female circumcision’ held in Japan solitary detention
- PORTUGAL: Over 6,500 women in Portugal subject to female genital mutilation
- RUSSIA: Report on female genital mutilation in Dagestan sparks controversy in Russia
- SINGAPORE: Singapore under pressure over female genital cutting of babies
- SOMALIA: ‘This is what it is like to pee after female genital mutilation’ – survivor Hido Wardere
Forced Marriage and Honour Killing
- WORLD: Why laws banning child marriage don’t work
- WORLD: Every seven seconds, a girl under 15 is forced into marriage, Save the Child report finds
- WORLD: Child marriage increases after natural disasters. Here’s how to prevent it
- AFGHANISTAN: Clash of values emerges as Afghan child bride burns to death
- BANGLADESH: Climate change is exacerbating child marriage in Bangladesh
- CAMEROON: New rules to help end child marriage in Cameroon
- GEORGIA: Marriage under-18 banned in the Pankisi Gorge
- GERMANY: Germany mulls stricter child marriage laws
- IRELAND: The government is finally outlawing forced marriage
- LEBANON: The kids trying to end child marriage
- PAKISTAN: Pakistan closes loophole allowing killers to go free
- MYANMAR and MALAYSIA: What it’s like to be a Rohingya child bride
- PAKISTAN: Qandeel Baloch’s brother confesses to ‘honour killing’
- TANZANIA: Men in Tanzania now face up to 30 years in prison if they marry or impregnate a schoolgirl
- UNITED KINGDOM: Bail denied in Samia Shahid ‘honour killing’ case
- ZIMBABWE: Former child brides win case to make child marriage illegal
Activism
- EUROPE: EU announces €19 million new support for women and girls’ empowerment at ‘Women Deliver’ conference
- AFGHANISTAN: Sonita, the Afghan teen who raps to end child marriage
- AZERBAIJAN: Azerbaijani women watch #IAmNotAfraidtoSpeak from the sidelines
- BRAZIL: Maria da Penha: the woman who changed Brazil’s domestic violence laws
- BANGLADESH: Bangladeshi surfer girls go against the cultural tide
- BURKINA FASO: Girls’ football tackle forced marriage in Burkina Faso
- FRANCE and SPAIN: French, Spanish women protest violence, gender gap
- INDIA: Acid attack survivor steps into spotlight as fashion brand’s newest model
- INDONESIA: Let’s #TalkAboutIt, Let’s Support #MulaiBicara campaign
- IRAQ: Watch Yazidi activist and sex slavery survivor Nadia Murad’s powerful message to ISIS
- MEXICO: Mexican women battle gender-based violence online
- NEPAL: 500 Kung Fu nuns are spreading the message of gender equality in the best way
- RUSSIA and UKRAINE: Russian and Ukrainian women’s sexual abuse stories go viral
- SYRIA: Inspired by Malala, this 15-year old Syrian is fighting child marriages
- TURKEY: Thousands of ‘fancy women on bikes’ defy intimidation to claim the streets of Turkey
- UNITED STATES: This teenager is changing the world, one tampon at a time