Category Archives: Our Research

QUT Workshop: Gender Violence and the Global South

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The QUT Centre for Justice co-hosted a two day workshop on Gender Violence and the Global South on 2-3 November in the beautiful surroundings of the Botanic Gardens Café.

The workshop heard from leading scholars on gender violence from Brasil, Victoria, NSW, Qld, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and PNG. Outcomes include plans to edit a special edition of the Journal, a Handbook on Feminism and Gender Violence in the Global South, a co-hosted conference in Port Alegre, Brasil, November 2020; an international network, and international reading group. Key note speakers included Carmen Hein de Campos, Soraia Mendes, Camila Magalhaes, and Thiago Peirobom from Brasil, Heather Nancarrow, CEO of ANROWS; Professor Heather Douglas, Law UQ; and Rowina Maguire, QUT Law

 

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Centre for Justice DECRA success 2020

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Congratulations to Centre for Justice members, Dr Bridget Harris and Dr Helen Berents who have both been awarded a DECRA to commence in 2020. This is an outstanding result, not just for QUT and for the Faculty but for both of these exceptional researchers.

The DECRA success rate for 2020 was 16% nationwide. Across Australia just only 21 grants were allocated to the FoR code 16 (Studies in Human Society). These were the only HASS DECRAs awarded to QUT this year which again speaks to the calibre and standing of the researchers and their projects.

Bridget’s project is titled: Building State responses to technology-facilitated domestic violence
This project aims to investigate one of Australia’s most pressing social problems: domestic violence and the emerging use of digital technology to enact and escalate abuse and stalking. Technology-facilitated domestic violence threatens psychological, emotional and physical wellbeing and safety (and signifies risk of homicide), and so warrants attention. Justice systems have a crucial role to play in preventing technology-facilitated violence and safeguarding and empowering victim/survivors. This timely project seeks to assess existing State responses to and regulation of such harms. It expects to provide an evidence base to enhance and develop innovative policing and judicial policy and practice, with benefits to communities and economies.

Helen’s project is titled: Youth Leadership and the Future of Peace and Security
This project aims to investigate the roles youth play in building inclusive and durable peace at local and international levels. It advances one of the first detailed studies of youth-led peacebuilding in three post-conflict contexts in order to generate new insights into best practice for including youth in peace and security policies. Expected outcomes contribute to growing global recognition of youth peace advocacy by providing richer understandings of how to support and empower youth in conflict-affected contexts. The project seeks to strengthen Australia’s leadership in peacebuilding initiatives and enhance policy efforts towards regional and global security and prosperity.

Congratulations Helen and Bridget.

Engaging men in the Pacific in violence prevention

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Photo credit: UN Women/Natalie Garrison

Associate Professor Michael Flood leading discussion at the Pacific Regional Dialogue on Engaging Men in the Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls (Fiji)
Photo credit: UN Women/Natalie Garrison

In countries throughout the Pacific, there is growing interest in the roles men can play in stopping violence against women. At the Pacific Regional Dialogue on Engaging Men in the Prevention of Violence Against Women, Associate Professor Michael Flood contributed to the facilitation of the first three days of the workshop. He focused on how to engage men in primary prevention, exploring international best practice in this work and the practical and political challenges of engaging men.

The Pacific Regional Dialogue on Engaging Men in the Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls gathered more than 40 participants from seven Pacific countries’ governments, civil society organizations, faith-based organisations, and communities of male advocates for women’s human rights. The Regional Dialogue was formally opened by Minister for Health and Medical Services Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete. Participants came from Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu.

The Regional Dialogue, led by the Pacific Women’s Network Against Violence Against Women, was a collaboration between the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC) and the UN Women Fiji Multi-Country Office. It took place over 16–20 September 2019 in Sigatoka, Fiji. More information on the event is available in this media release.

‘Toxic masculinity’ at GOMA

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GOMA Talks: Toxic Masculinity discussion, held during the ‘Quilty’ exhibition / Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane / September 2019 / Image courtesy: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / Photography: Chloe Callistemon

Associate Professor Michael Flood was one of the panellists in a recent event on ‘toxic masculinity’ at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) in Brisbane, on September 23. The event was hosted by ABC Radio National host Paul Barclay (Big Ideas), and featured Michael Flood, Catharine Lumby, Joe Williams, and Tarang Chawla.

Flood contributed to a lively discussion on ‘toxic masculinity’. What does the term mean, and is it useful? What impact do dominant norms of manhood have, both among boys and men and those around them?

About 360 people attended the event, across four locations, and another 304 viewed the live stream online during the session. Audience members were able to send in questions and comments live as the event proceeded, with 149 people doing so. Twitter reach during the program included 68,000+ accounts and 295,000+ impressions. A recording of the event is available on YouTube.

Event: Thirty years after Fitzgerald: The unfinished business of Queensland’s sex work policy

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In July the CJSDRC launched the first of its briefing papers, The Case for Decriminalisation: Sex Work and the Law in QLD’.

This month the paper will be re-launched at Queensland State Parliament,by Centre Director Melissa Bull, at an event sponsored by Peter Russo, State Member for Toohey. If you are interested in reading and hearing more about decriminalisation, join the Respect Inc and #DecrimQLD in Brisbane Parliament House for a solutions-focused Symposium on the unfinished business of the Fitzgerald Inquiry Report. The Fitzgerald Report recommended significant changes to prevent the continued misuse of police powers. Thirty years later sex work remains in the Criminal Code. At this Symposium you will have the opportunity to hear the concerns and solutions from experts in the field of sex work policy. More about the event can be found below.

Thirty years after Fitzgerald: The unfinished business of Queensland’s sex work policy
Sex industry policy in Queensland remains unfinished business. Thirty years after the 1989 Fitzgerald Inquiry found excessive levels of police corruption and misuse of powers over the sex industry, 80% of sex workers in Queensland are still subject to police regulation and monitoring.

In response to the Fitzgerald Inquiry, the Prostitution Act 1999 (Qld) introduced a brothel licensing system but left the Criminal Code 1899 (Qld) intact. The 1999 legislation criminalises sex workers working in pairs and massage parlours, and regulates only 20 brothels. Standard practices such as hiring a receptionist, texting another worker when a client arrives and leaves, are illegal. Police powers include immunity when posing as clients undercover. Police now actively prosecute sex workers for implementing safety strategies, with charges up by 126%, and for incorrect wording in sex work advertising, with charges up 450%. The ‘criminals’ are predominantly women over 30; they are fined up to $6,000. Access to justice is impeded. The unintended consequence of the lack of action on this issue is that basic safety strategies are criminalised. Everyday, sex workers in Queensland must choose between working safely or legally.

The evidence is that decriminalisation is the best model of sex industry regulation. It is a system that would bring all sex industry businesses under Queensland’s existing robust business and industrial regulation. Repealing outdated laws would finish the work of Fitzgerald and provide safer working conditions for sex workers, free from fear of arrest.
This symposium is sponsored by Peter Russo MP, State Member for Toohey.

Photo ID and a ticket are essential for Parliament House events.

Register here

Janelle Fawkes

Panel: Violence in Africa – towards a Southern Criminology

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CJSDRC Member, Professor John Scott was invited to La Trobe University, Department of Social Inquiry on 22 July to head a panel on ŒViolence and Africa: Towards a Southern Criminology¹,

This symposium focused on the on a range of problems relating to violence and Africa, including the African diaspora. While it explored issues of violence in Africa, it also explored the neo-colonial violence against Africa, and the way in which accounts of Africa are often framed with reference to narratives of violence. These issues extend to the African diaspora and ideas of migration that become intertwined with accounts of violence, while violence against refugees and migrants is often erased.
Through these issues, the question of structural violence and its centrality to the articulation of a Southern Criminology that challenges existing global power relations and systems of knowledge is made central in critically rewriting accounts of the Œdark continent¹.

Presenters
John Scott: Towards a Southern Criminology

Anthony Collins: These violent delights have violent ends: the righteous killing of Mlungisi Nxumalo and the interpretation of South Africa violence.

Ndumiso Daluxolo Ngidi: The Geography of Crime and Violence: Exploring Queerphobic Crime and Violence in Two Southern African Countries

Simóne Plüg: Violence in Campus Protests: Exploring intergenerational trauma and the escalation of conflicts.

Crispin Hemson: Young South African men confronting violence Akuch Kuol Anyieth: Masculinity and the Negotiation of Domestic Violence in the Melbourne¹s South Sudanese Australian community

Kim Lah: The Congo, an ŒExemplary¹ Australian, and the Massacre of Civilians in Kilwa: A Case Study of Capitalism, Structural Violence, and the Banality of Evil.

 

 

Domestic violence and technology: Findings and future pathways

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Associate Professor Molly Dragiewicz and Dr Bridget Harris will present findings from the ACCAN funded study Domestic violence and communication technology: Victim experiences of intrusion, surveillance, and identity theft. This free public seminar will present key findings from the report on survivor experiences of technology-facilitated coercive control.

26 June, 2019
4:00 pm-5:30 pm
Room P419, Level 4, P Block, Gardens Point Campus

Download the report and infographics here

Information about the research team, future presentations, and publications is here.

Ask LOIS webinar on Domestic violence and communication technology

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Associate Professor Molly Dragiewicz and Dr Bridget Harris will present an Ask LOIS webinar on Domestic violence and communication technology
20 June, 2019
11:00 am-11:30 am
Register here https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/974592111259198209

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Domestic violence and communication technology: Insights from Australian survivors

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Associate Professor Molly Dragiewicz will present Domestic violence and communication technology: Insights from Australian survivors at the Queensland Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Month Breakfast hosted by Cairns Regional Domestic Violence Service in Cairns, Australia. This is the first presentation of the findings from the ACCAN funded study Domestic violence and communication technology: Victim experiences of intrusion, surveillance, and identity theft.

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Australia Brazil exchange on preventing family violence

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The Australian Embassy in Brazil is funding an exchange of family violence experts.

The first phase of the project, taking place in June 2019, involves five leading gender and family violence prevention scholars traveling to Brazil to engage in a program of visits to family violence and criminal justice agencies. The  Australian experts will also partake in a series of academic and public forums and presentations with Brazilian experts.

The second phase of the exchange will involve more than a dozen Brazilian expert practitioners and academics traveling to Australia to engage in a similar program of activities. One of the Victorian Andrews government’s defining policy contributions and investments ($2.7 b) has been towards ending family violence.

In the wake of the landmark Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence (2016), Australia is a world leader in preventing family violence. A

The Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre is a key partner and participant in the exchange. The Australian experts attending the Brazilian exchange also include Professor Kerry Carrington from QUT School of Justice who has been researching the prevention of gender violence and women’s police stations in Argentina – https://research.qut.edu.au/pgv/

The five leading gender and family violence prevention scholars traveling to Brazil in June include, (pictured below from L to R)

Professor Kerry Carrington (QUT), Dr Lisa Harris (RMIT),
Professor Jude McCulloch (Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre),
Dr Jasmine McGowan (Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre), Dr Heather Nancorrow (CEO, ANROWS)