End Violence Research Articles

Physical, sexual and overall reported interpersonal violence against adult out-patients with severe mental illness under remission, receiving healthcare at Butabika hospital: A cross-sectional study

Interpersonal violence is a significant public health and human rights concern. People living with severe mental illness are especially vulnerable. The Sustainable Development Goals 2030 Agenda aims to end violence. To this end, we gathered information on the prevalence and factors associated with interpersonal violence among one of the most impacted groups: individuals with severe mental illness at Butabika Hospital in Kampala, Uganda. We conducted a cross-sectional study in 2020, including individuals 18 years or older. Data was collected through a socio-demographics questionnaire and nine questions from the modified My Exposure to Community Violence Questionnaire. The assessment evaluated physical or sexual violence experience, frequency, and perpetrator identity. The data was analyzed using STATA version 12 through simple logistic regression to determine the correlation between a single exposure and the outcome of interest, with a significance level of 5%. Among 385 participants, the past year prevalence of overall reported interpersonal violence was about 34%, while physical and sexual reported interpersonal violence were approximately 29% and 11%, respectively. Participants who had perpetrated physical violence had higher odds of experiencing reported interpersonal violence. With increasing age, the odds of experiencing reported interpersonal violence decreased; compared to those aged 18–24 years, those aged 35–44 years had AOR = 0.31 (95% CI: 0.14–0.70, p = 0.005), and those aged 45 years and above had AOR = 0.34 (95% CI: 0.15–0.80, p = 0.013). Reported interpersonal violence was high among the participants. While individuals of older age had lower odds of reporting interpersonal violence, those who had perpetrated physical violence in the past year had higher odds. Screening for interpersonal violence among young patients is recommended. Psycho-education on preventing physical violence should be provided, especially to younger adults. The Ministry of Health should address violence against individuals with mental illness through mass sensitization. A prospective study could investigate risk and protective factors.

Sport Event Leveraging and Violence Against Women: The Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games and One Million Stars to End Violence

The connections between sport events and violence against women are an emerging area of research and align with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 5–Gender equality. This article explores the connection between sport event leverage initiatives and raising awareness about violence against women, through a case study of an arts and cultural initiative that ran in conjunction with the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games: One Million Stars to End Violence (OMSTEV). Event leverage literature and a gendered lens informed our study. We focused on the official messaging of the initiative, as a key aspect in social event leverage. We conducted a document analysis of 30 documents including event reports, government media releases, and public media articles to explore how official messaging and media coverage reported the initiative to the broader public. We found official messaging and media coverage portrayed OMSTEV as a successful community engagement initiative that produced a beautiful artistic installation. However, the official reporting and media coverage failed to communicate in a way to raise the broader public’s awareness regarding violence against women. We provide suggestions for practice and research to better contribute to the value of sport events for targeted social causes.

Peace in an extreme climate: How climate-related security risks affect prospects for stability in Lake Chad

The lake Chad region faces a humanitarian crisis with simultaneous risks coming from conflict and fragility. Climate change is compounding the many political, environmental, economic, and security challenges facing the region, exacerbating the already complex security challenges. Climate change is causing higher temperatures and greater fluctuations in rainfall patterns, making it harder for communities around Lake Chad to sustain their livelihoods. At the same time, the conflict between armed opposition groups and state security forces is increasing people’s vulnerability to climate change risks and undermining traditional coping mechanisms. This article presents the findings of the climate-security nexus assessment of the Lake Chad region to inform response options for the region. We conducted locally grounded, participatory conflict analysis. The conflict analysis is based on 229 in-depth one-to-one interviews, which have been conducted by a locally-led research team with affected communities around Lake Chad in all four countries of the region (Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria). It contributes to an evidence base to assess the specific ways climate change interacts with the risk landscape, systematically analysing how climate change shapes risks and determining appropriate responses for the Lake Chad region. The article sets out four climate-fragility risks: (i) Climate and ecological change increase livelihood insecurity; (ii) Vulnerability heightens as conflict and fragility strain coping capacities.; (iii) Resource conflicts rise due to scarcity.; and (iv) Livelihood insecurity fuel recruitment into armed groups. We argue that the success of stabilisation efforts to end violence in the region hangs on their ability to account for climate risks affecting Lake Chad.

End violence against children and adolescents: integrate climate policy into the 2030 SDGs.

End violence against children and adolescents: integrate climate policy into the 2030 SDGs.

‘The Church is against us!’ Feminist collective apostasies and the struggle for gender equality in Argentina and Spain

ABSTRACT Feminist mobilisations risen across the globe in the last few years. This is especially the case in Latin America and Spain, where social movements to claim the legalisation of abortion and to end violence against women have become key political actors. Some of these movements have adopted collective apostasies as a tool within their mobilisation repertoires to denounce the role of the Catholic Church in maintaining the patriarchal system and interfering in the state and politics. By collectively and formally leaving the Church, members of these groups bring together the fights for gender equality and for the separation of church and state. In so doing, they make apostasy a highly politicised action, far from how previous scholarly conceptualisations of institutional disaffiliation considered it an individual process of religious disengagement. Feminist groups identify the Church as an enemy of women’s rights and while they acknowledge the restricted impact apostasies may have, they perceive them as useful tools to open up public debates around the contentious intersection of institutional religion and gender. This contribution draws on interviews, ethnographic observations, and document and visual analysis of feminist collective apostasies in Argentina and Spain to unpack the discourses generated in and around them.

The price of politics: What the 2020 oil shocks in Nigeria teach us about transactional political systems

Political spending—funds that elite actors use to buy and sell political power—is the lifeblood of Nigerian politics. It fuels backroom deals, forges political coalitions, and is the means to incite or end violence. To date, political spending in Nigeria has largely been financed by its immense oil revenues flowing through the government. It is natural to assume that political budgets should rise and fall with oil’s boom-and-bust cycles, but the reality is not so straightforward. Based on an analysis of the 2020 oil crash in Nigeria, this paper examines how traumatic decarbonization—the sudden, unplanned loss of oil revenues—did not lead to a reduction in political budgets but did force a change in how they were funded and channeled. Despite the loss in oil revenues, patronage and the “contractocracy,” government contracts used to funnel rents to the elite, were protected and expanded massively in 2021 with funding from domestic and international loans. The 2020 oil crash demonstrated the resilience and rising cost of transactional politics in Nigeria, even when it came at the expense of the Nigerian people. Through this analysis, the paper further examines systemically corrupt political systems and how political actors adapt to changes in available political finance.

Media as a Behavioral Change Agent amid Girl’s Educational Issues in Rwanda’s Eastern Province

This study sought to establish the role of media as a behavioral change agent amid girl’s educational issues in Rwanda’s eastern province, using the descriptive correlational design. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics and Pearson correlations. The study took place in five sectors/ local administrative entities of Gatsibo District in Rwanda’s Eastern Province. The researchers chose the province because it is the region with the highest prevalence of girls’ education issues. The affected girls in the district were 1,542 while the non-affected girls were 77,428, identified through statistical data from the Gatsibo District department of education, department of gender monitoring and from the Sector authorities. The affected group was included because they were the victims of the teenage pregnancy and other forms of violence. The non-affected were also included because they are vulnerable to girls’ education issue. Data collection involved the use of a questionnaire. Based on the findings, the study concluded that media has some potentials to educate girls on reproductive health and raise awareness of the importance to end violence against girls. The study contributes to the understanding of how to address girls’ educational issues through media for sustainable education. Therefore, policy makers should design tailored behavioral change messages targeting peers, parents, educators and the community at large to promote social environment behaviors that support girls’ education. Media can particularly address such issues like parenting skills, reproductive health education and girls’ rights to education.

‘Hazing, booze and bedrooms’: an autoethnography of sexual trauma in a university residential college

ABSTRACT This autoethnographic essay, ‘Hazing, booze and bedrooms’, explores my personal experience of sexual trauma in a university residential college and its cultural significance. The essay is written at a time of urgency to address gendered violence within Australian universities, with the release of the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022–2032 and The Commonwealth Consent Policy Framework. I use autoethnography to explore the trauma across one body and time, moving through the space of four bedrooms. Each bedroom represents a different aspect of the narrative: the autoethnographic approach to writing about sexual trauma, a summary of research on gender-based violence in Australian universities, and my own personal experiences in the residential college bedrooms she occupied in the early 1990s. The essay concludes by reflecting on the value of bearing autoethnographic witness to sexual trauma and questioning what might happen next regarding moves to eliminate practices of hazing and sexual violence in university residential colleges, and in a call to action, asks, ‘If not now, when?’

Toward Ending Violence Against Women: The Association of Intimate Partner Violence With Food Security Status Among Ever-Married Women in Cameroon.

Despite an extensive body of literature that explores potential mechanisms explaining the factors associated with intimate partner violence (IPV) experienced by women, very few studies have studied the association of food security status with women's experience of IPV in sub-Saharan Africa countries, including Cameroon. Using data from the 2018 Cameroon Demographic and Health Survey (n = 4,690), we explore the association between food security status and three distinct forms of IPV (i.e., emotional, sexual, and physical IPV) among ever-married women in Cameroon. Adjusting for socioeconomic, demographic, and attitudinal and behavioral characteristics, we found that women with severe (odds ratio [OR] = 2.09, p < .01), moderate (OR = 1.88, p < .05), and mild (OR = 1.76, p < .05) food insecurity were more likely to experience sexual IPV, compared to those without any food insecurity, whereas women with severe food insecurity were more likely to experience physical IPV (OR = 1.89, p < .001). Although women with severe (OR = 1.51, p < .01) and moderate (OR = 1.67, p < .001) food insecurity had a higher likelihood of experiencing emotional IPV at a bivariate level, we found that these associations became no longer significant in our adjusted model. These findings suggest that food insecurity is a critical risk factor for IPV among ever-married women in Cameroon. Addressing IPV requires a comprehensive strategy that places special emphasis on households experiencing food insecurity. There is also an urgent need to implement educational programs to increase awareness of the interconnection between food insecurity and IPV and to allocate resources to community-based initiatives that empower women both economically and socially.

The Power of Language to Transform Efforts to Address Intimate Partner Violence: Tensions in the Field and Pathways Forward

Language has the power to mobilize communities and spark intervention development. Language also can cause harm and stymie intervention innovation. Building Healthy Relationships to End Violence, one of the Grand Challenges for Social Work, prompts us to consider the language we use to address interpersonal violence and related interventions. Through the lens of healing-centered engagement, this article analyzes evolving language about intimate partner violence (IPV), people who experience IPV, and people who engage in violent behavior in intimate relationships, considering the implications of such language for IPV-related interventions. The article additionally provides touchpoints for ongoing conversations about the intentional use of language in IPV research, education, and practice that reflect the varied experiences of diverse individuals, families, and communities impacted by IPV.

Violence Against Women and their Children (VAWC) Cases During Pandemic: Experiences of Women and Children Protection Desk (WCPD) Officers in Cebu City

This study aimed to explore the life experiences of the Women and Children Desk (WCPD) handling Violence against Women and their Children (VAWC) cases during the pandemic in Cebu City. Specifically, sought to address the following specific problems: the experiences of the informants in handling VAWC cases during the Covid-19 pandemic, addressing the problems encountered by the informants, and aspirations of the informants to improve the quality of service to the victims of VAWC. The phenomenological and qualitative approach in this study was utilized through interviews as the key process in the gathering of data. There were ten (10) selected police officers handling Violence against Women and their Children (VAWC) during the Covid-19 pandemic in Cebu City. Five (5) of them were individually interviewed, while the other five (5) were included in the Focused Group Discussion (FGD). They were selected randomly but met the qualifications and have broad experience in the subject matter. The research locations are the top five (5) police stations in Cebu City with a high number of VAWC cases is Cebu City namely: Police Station (PS) 4- Mabolo; PS5- Carbon; PS7- Pardo; PS9- Guadalupe and PS10- Punta. A validated interview guide was aided by the voice recorder for the basis of transcribing the responses of the informants. Utilization of Colaizzi's method, a phenomenological analysis procedure, was used to analyze the responses of the informants during the interview. For the experiences of the informants in handling VAWC cases in Cebu City during a pandemic, themes created were Satisfaction with Desired Result, Attained Productivity, and Embracing Limitations of Official Functions in addressing the problems encountered in handling (VAWC) cases during pandemic, the following themes created were: Intensified Implementation of Restrictions, Established Online Presence, and Maintaining Effective Collaboration and for the aspirations of the informants to improve the quality of service to the victims of VAWC, the following theme were created: New Normal Retooling and Equipment for Stabilization. The Philippine National Police (PNP)- Women and Children Protection Desk (WCPD) officers, as a specialized unit in enforcing laws related to the protection of women and children and regarded as the “quick-response-unit,” must maintain dynamic and standardized public service. It is suggested that the Performance Standards and Assessment Tool for police service addressing cases of violence against women be amended where the assessment tool should not be done as “Self-administered” to identify committed officers who are working diligently to end violence against women and children. The retooling of PNP-WCPD should not only cover policy-related attitudes, habits, and work ethics but should also investigate an array of services that can be extended during a crisis. The provision of additional facilities and personnel to attend VAWC cases will expedite the acquisition of relevant documents for filing legal actions and will be timely in the recent health crisis. This will enable the Department of Health to provide prompt intervention on the outbreak of mental health problems aggravated by the pandemic. PNP-WCPD and other linkages should develop process-based alternatives and act on the research of shared resources from the Covid-19 experiences because health protocols altered policing strategies and are not conducive to problem-oriented crime prevention and innovation.

Weathering the Storm

Abstract Over the last two decades, red umbrellas have increasingly appeared in campaigns to end violence against sex workers, oppose harmful legislation, advocate for decriminalization, commemorate lost community members, and broadly express sex worker pride. Originating with the work of the artist/activist Tadej Pogačar and the P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E. Museum of Contemporary Art’s contribution to the 2001 Venice Biennale (“The Prostitute Pavilion”), red umbrellas were originally presented as a visual symbol of self-help, organization, and protection for sex workers. Since then the red umbrella has been adopted and adapted to a broader range of meanings related to sex worker activism, including decriminalization, opposition to antitrafficking discourse, and more. The umbrella has also come to convey the “big tent” concept—that all sex workers are together under its canopy, unified as one coalition. But like any symbol, the red umbrella’s use has limitations. The red umbrella risks amplifying negative rhetoric employed by the antitrafficking movement, which casts sex workers as passive victims in need of salvation, or of oversimplifying a complex, multifaceted political movement. The Curated Spaces section of this issue presents a brief history of the red umbrella as a symbol for sex workers’ rights and images that demonstrate its varied uses.

Building Healthy Relationships to End Violence: Introduction to the Special Issue

Building Healthy Relationships to End Violence: Introduction to the Special Issue

Engaging the Mechanisms of Faith?

Violence against children is shaped by social norms which are frequently underpinned by faith-related beliefs and values. There isrenewed global recognition of the role of religions in legitimating or challenging harmful attitudes and practices, and this highlights the relevance and influence of faith communities in child protection. Faith communities may also have a unique role to play by engaging spiritual capital and faith mechanisms for positive change. These approaches go beyond an instrumentalised yet importantrole in service provision alone, to also transform harmful beliefs and offer positive alternatives grounded in faith mandates. This article draws on insights from a 2019 scoping study that explored positive and negative beliefs across multiple faith traditions that shape the perpetration, justification, or engagement to end violence against children. The study included three research components: a literature review, a case study submission process, and key informant interviews with experts on child violence working with diverse faith communities. Its findings show many ways in which religion’s spiritual capital can either help place children at society’s centre or can support harmful hierarchies of power that enable violence against children and seek to resist positive change.

Applying the WHO INSPIRE Framework to Ending Violence Against Pregnant Women and Unborn Children: A Case Study in Vietnam.

This article adapted the INSPIRE framework, developed by the World Health Organization to prevent violence against children, to the systematic analysis of city-level healthcare services for pregnant women who experienced intimate partner violence. A mixed-methods study conducted in-depth interviews with 22 health and social care professionals and 140 pregnant women in Vietnam. The women were more likely to report limited system-level support for partners regarding violence and mental health, while the professionals perceived more weaknesses in policies and management of services. Traditional values tend to isolate abused women from receiving social services. The INSPIRE framework is innovative and could be applied in other contexts.

Predictors for the utilization of community support systems against intimate partner violence among married women living with HIV in southwestern Uganda-A cross sectional study.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) disproportionately affects married women living with HIV (MWLHIV), resulting in undesirable human rights, socio-economic, mental, maternal, and child health consequences. Community Support systems against Violence (CoSaV) are widely available and promising public and voluntary resources for the prevention and mitigation of IPV but are poorly investigated. We set out to identify the predictors for the utilization of the CoSaV among the MWLHIV. This was a quantitative cross-sectional study conducted among 424 consecutively sampled MWLHIV attending the Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) clinic at Kabale Regional Referral Hospital in southwestern Uganda in April 2021. Using an interviewer-administered questionnaire, data were collected on the participant's socio-demographic characteristics, exposure to IPV, awareness about the CoSaV, perceptions about the quality, accessibility and challenges in accessing the CoSaV and the utilization. Modified Poisson regression model was used to identify the predictors for the utilization of CoSaV using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0. The mean age of the 424 participants in the study was 39.5 ± 10.2 years. More than half of the participants 51.9% (220/424) reported exposure to any IPV. Utilization of any CoSaV was found to be above average at 58.3% among the participants. The formal support (police, local government leaders, health workers and counselors) were more frequently utilized compared to the informal support (family, relatives and friends). Utilization of any CoSaV was higher among the women who were aware of the CoSaV and also those who were exposed to violence. Accessibility was identified as an independent predictor for utilization of any CoSaV. Intimate partner violence (IPV) was prevalent among MWLHIV in southwestern Uganda. However, the utilization of any CoSaV was suboptimal. The formal CoSaV were more frequently utilized than the informal support systems. Accessibility was an independent predictor for utilization of any CoSaV. There is need to improve access in order to increase the utilization of the CoSaV and contribute to the attainment of sustainable development goal 5.2.1 and end violence against women.

Combating Child Sexual Violence And Exploitation: Psycho-Legal Experience Of Ukraine And The World

Summary. The article examines issues related to Ukrainian and international experience in combating sexual violence and exploitation of children. At the same time, the book highlights that crimes related to sexual violence and child exploitation can cross borders when the perpetrator lives in one country and the victim in another. In cases of child sexual exploitation, the service provider is often a resident of another state. Therefore, legal approaches aimed at preventing and combating sexual violence and exploitation of children should be coordinated and coordinated as much as possible, in order to avoid that perpetrators of sexual crimes against children direct their efforts towards countries where children are more vulnerable, as such people know.&#x0D; The authors note that ending violence against children requires both primary prevention and effective countermeasures. Primary prevention aims to address underlying beliefs, attitudes and behaviors, inequalities, risks and drivers of violence at the level of the individual, family and relationships, community, organization /institution and the broader social and political context.&#x0D; Therefore, in order to combat sexual violence and exploitation of children, it is necessary to develop and implement in the life of the Ukrainian community effective strategies to end violence against children, which should include all forms of violence, whether physical, emotional, psychological, sexual violence or outrage.

Kim Namjoon’s Speech at the 2018 United Nations General Assembly: The Intentions and Impacts

This study, using a qualitative approach, was conducted to find out the types of illocutionary acts in the speech of Kim Namjoon at the 2018 United Nations General Assembly, including the intentions and the impacts. The speech on “Generation Unlimited”, was aimed to help young people all over the world to help end bullying and violence by sharing kind notes. In conducting the research, the writer used the theory proposed by George Yule (1996) completed by the related theory by O’Keeffe, Clancy, and Adolphs (2011). The findings reveal various intentions through the illocutionary acts and the impacts through the written responses as the perlocution. The intentions through the representative acts were to inform people about his struggles in the past. The intentions through the directive acts were to get the audience to begin speaking up and expressing what they believed. The impact of this speech was that it touched the audience's hearts; they got inspired by the speech to never give up, and they would now continue to love and speak for themselves even if it was hard. In conclusion, Kim Namjoon’s speech at the 2018 United Nations General Assembly resulted in inspiring and motivating impacts on the audience viewed from their written responses.

Labour Strategy as Break through to End Violence and Exploitation against Children

This study aims to gain knowledge about the experiences of girls who are victims of violence and exploitation from parents. This research was conducted in Somba Opu Sub-district, Romangpolong Village, Indonesia. Post-positivism paradigm was used as the basis of the research because of its advantages in allowing researchers to uncover the process of violence and exploitation perpetrated by parents against girls that occurs repeatedly. Data was collected by means of in-depth interviews. The determination of informants in this study used a purposive sampling technique, where the researcher chose informants variably based on reasons, which numbered 6 people with the following age criteria: girls (aged 7-10 years) and adolescent girls (aged 11-14 years). The results showed: (i) Providing parenting education for kids. (ii) Building good communication between parents and children (iii) Returning children who drop out of school by collaborating with the Education Office, DP3A, Social Service, and Regional Planning and Development Agency, Polres (iv) Parents are given special training related to how to improve the family economy a (v) Providing assistance evenly and gradually.

Challenges of Lack of Community Awareness and Its Impact on Child Sexual Assault in Tanzania: The Case of Arusha, Tanzania

This study intended to examine the challenges associated with community awareness on children rights and the rate at which child sexual assault in Tanzania has been increasing. A cross section research design was deployed. The target population was children aged between 10 to 17 years old from both primary and secondary schools in three districts of Arusha region. The sample size was 299 respondents. The study applied a mixture of quantitative and qualitative approach in order to complement to one another and implication of some data in situations. In addition the researcher approached the study on social work perspective. The data was analyzed by using descriptive and correlation measurements and themes for qualitative information. The findings of the study revealed that, there is negative correlation between community awareness on children rights and increasing/decreasing rate of child sexual assault by (r=0114). Further, a negative correlation between community awareness on children rights and frequent reporting of incidences to authorizes by(r= -0.361). Furthermore, the majority of the community members do not respond to child sexual assault collectively, instead, response is on family/individual bases. The study concludes that, there is inadequate level of community awareness on children rights and effects of child sexual assault in the communities. The planned interventions to end Violence against Women and Children, lacks financial and structural commitments. The study further recommends a review of National Plan of Action to End - Violence against Women and Children (NPA-VAWC) to improve the structure and commit adequate resources for effective implementation.