Up to one billion children worldwide are estimated to be victims of violence. Now, an intended study of 12,000 children in eight cities worldwide wants to discover what it really means to be a child of the city today – the adversities, the vulnerabilities, the resilience.

By comparing a new generation from each city, we can build a scientific backbone for interventions to prevent violence against children

Manuel Eisner

It’s 1960 and two boys are born into cities of different nations about to gain independence from the British. Their homelands have comparable GDP per capita, similar literacy rates and roughly the same levels of crime and violence.

Now nearing 60 years old, they are about to have grandsons of their own. The boy born in Kingston, Jamaica, will have a startling 15% chance of growing up to be a victim of homicide, if current murder rates continue. The grandson born in Singapore will have less than a 0.1% risk of violent death.   

How did these countries diverge over a single lifetime until they were at opposite ends of the spectrum of violence? Some blame politics, while others point to drug trade exposure or differences in crime prevention and health policies. 

State legitimacy waxes and wanes, illegal markets bubble and burst, neighbourhoods thrive or deteriorate – and all these fluctuations trickle down to entrench order or violence in millions of lives from childhood onwards. Yet we know little about how this happens.

“Experiences in the first years of life shape a person’s lifelong development,” says Manuel Eisner, Wolfson Professor at Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology. “If we want to understand the roots of adversity that lead a nation to violence and turmoil, we need to understand how it incubates in a child of that society.   

“For example, what does a child in Kingston experience – even before birth – that may increase the risk of failure at school, or mental and physical health problems, or criminality and substance use? How does that compare with children in the cities of South Africa, or East Asia?”

Eisner argues that everything from national and municipal systems, such as infrastructure and education, to proximal environments – the street, family and even uterus – contribute to the “psychosocial construction” of children, and consequently the stability of societies in which those children become citizens.   

His goal is to map the risk factors that influence early child development around the world, from the political to the hormonal. To do this, Eisner and his colleagues on the Evidence for Better Lives Study (EBLS) intend to follow 12,000 children yet to be born in eight cities in Jamaica, Ghana, South Africa, Romania, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and the Philippines.

1,000 days of life

Children will be tracked from the womb through the first 1,000 days of life, and hopefully on to adolescence, in a major birth cohort study that Eisner wants to see become a valuable resource for “understanding and promoting child wellbeing in the 21st century”. The ambition is to identify how policy can most effectively stem societal violence and “foster resilience”.

“For the first time in history, there are goals at a global level aimed at reducing child abuse, exploitation and all forms of violence, and to promote children’s mental health,” says Eisner, describing the United Nation’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. “The EBLS is our response to this challenge. It will provide important evidence for system-level changes to tackling violence against children. But it can also shine light on how violence evolves.

“If we want to address high levels of violence in a city like Kingston, we need to know the ages when active ingredients are added to young people’s development. Then we can design the right intervention strategies.”   

Information and data from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission’s Illicit Drug Data Report (IDDR) is now available on the Australian Institute of Criminology’s (AIC) Crime Statistics Australia (CSA) website—an interactive gateway to statistics and information on Australian crime and justice issues.

The IDDR is the only report of its type in Australia, providing governments, law enforcement agencies and interested stakeholders with a national picture of the illicit drug market and includes arrest, detection, seizure, purity, profiling, clandestine laboratory and price data.

The IDDR CSA site—which features a range of infographics and graphs detailing the latest findings, as well as access to some historical data—will offer greater accessibility to the unique and valuable data contained in the report, as well as providing greater functionality to users.

To view the Crime Statistics Australia Illicit Drug Data Report website visit: http://crimestats.aic.gov.au/IDDR/
 

The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) and the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) are today co-hosting the Child Exploitation Material (CEM) Reduction Research Program Roundtable in Brisbane.

The Child Exploitation Material Reduction Research Program will bring together multi-disciplinary research teams to explore new solutions to reduce CEM from both a crime prevention and crime detection perspective.

The Minister for Home Affairs, the Hon. Peter Dutton MP opened the roundtable event.

AIC Deputy Director Dr Rick Brown said the event was an opportunity for potential applicants to meet key stakeholders, hear about issues in tackling the problem, and help generate ideas.

“Each year, substantial numbers of individuals seek to view CEM by participating in online networks that share and trade materials or by paying for access to obtain materials for individual use,” Dr Brown said.

“As with other forms of cybercrime, law enforcement agencies have been inundated with reports involving CEM that make investigation and subsequent prosecution beyond the resources of many police and prosecution agencies.

“In addition to pursuing official criminal justice action, a number of alternative approaches can be adopted to tackle the problem,” he said.

AFP Deputy Commissioner Operations Neil Gaughan said the program would contribute to the ACCCE’s mission to drive a national response to counter child exploitation.

“Last year the AFP received about 9,700 reports of child exploitation material. So far this year, that figure is already over 15,000. That’s 15,000 reports which can contain hundreds if not thousands of images and videos of children being sexually abused.”

“As the problem of child exploitation continues to grow, we must respond as a whole community in a coordinated, consolidated and informed way. The research from this program will help to identify new solutions to this critical issue, and ultimately see children freed from exploitation.”

The Child Exploitation Material Research Program has been funded for $800,000 over two year under Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

The program will aim to result in robust evidence that will be used to inform changes to policy and practice.

The approach to market was released via AusTender in October, with research proposals to be submitted by 27 November.

 

Groundbreaking 50-State Report on Public Safety Updated with 2017 Data

October 15, 2018

The CSG Justice Center has released an updated version of the 50-State Report on Public Safety that includes 2017 crime and arrest data. The report is a web-based resource that combines extensive data analyses, case studies and recommended strategies from all 50 states to help policymakers address their state’s specific public safety challenges.

The 50-State Report on Public Safety features more than 300 data visualizations comparing crime, recidivism and state correctional practices across all 50 states. The report couples these data with the latest research on strategies that work to improve public safety and more than 100 examples of public safety innovations drawn from every state in the country. With three core goals, 12 strategies and 37 action items, the report provides a playbook that policymakers can customize to tackle the issues most relevant to their communities.

“State officials want to keep people safe and healthy, but each state struggles with its own particular combination of challenges with respect to crime, addiction, and mental illness. Data and research are essential to successfully addressing the unique conditions in each state,” said Megan Quattlebaum, Director of the CSG Justice Center. “The 50-State Report on Public Safety is an unparalleled resource that we hope will inform stakeholder conversations about improving public safety and guide action by policymakers across the country.”

Data presented in the report combines publicly available information from dozens of sources with information gleaned from interviews with corrections staff in all 50 states to offer new insights on the latest criminal justice trends.

“There is no shortage of information to examine and consider when it comes to public safety. As the head of a state corrections agency, digesting all of the available data can be overwhelming,” said Bryan Collier, Executive Director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. “The 50-State Report on Public Safety organizes a wealth of criminal justice information in one place, creating an important resource that is without equal in its size and scope.”

Highlights of the report’s findings include:

• Between 2007 and 2017, violent crime rates decreased overall in 31 states. However, violent crime rates increased in rural areas in 16 of those states.
• The number of drug overdose deaths is almost four times higher than the number of homicides, compared to 20 years ago when they were nearly the same.
• In 2015, states spent nearly 10 times as much taxpayer money on prison costs than they did on community supervision, despite the fact that there were 1.5 million people in state prison compared to 4.5 million people on probation and parole.
• Nearly all states track and publish recidivism for people leaving prison, but 32 states use a narrow definition that only includes reincarceration, not rearrests and reconvictions. Only 11 states collect and publish any measure of recidivism for the millions of people starting probation supervision each year.
• All but 8 states saw an increase in correctional populations in the last decade, and 24 states are projecting growth in their prison populations.
• In 2014, at least 40 percent of people in prison had been convicted of property or drug offenses in 16 states.

“States are facing a wide range of public safety challenges from increasing crime rates in some communities and a surge in drug-related deaths to high recidivism rates and rising correctional costs,” said Alabama State Sen. Cam Ward. “This report gives policymakers a blueprint for achieving results, and the strategies offered here will be useful for years to come.”

The report builds on work started last year at the 50-State Summit on Public Safety, hosted by the CSG Justice Center in partnership with the Association of State Correctional Administrators. The summit brought together critical voices in criminal justice policy from all 50 states, including state legislators, corrections leaders, law enforcement officials and behavioral health professionals, to discuss the complex landscape of crime, arrests and correctional-system trends across the country.

“The Council of State Governments Justice Center continues to provide criminal justice stakeholders with new analysis and insight,” said Commissioner Marie Williams of the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. “The 50-State Report on Public Safety highlights the intersection of the behavioral health and public safety systems and illustrates why states need a comprehensive strategy to address the needs of people in the criminal justice system who struggle with mental illness and substance addiction.”

To meaningfully advance local public safety efforts, participants at the summit recognized the need for easy-to-interpret data, along with concrete strategies supported by research and examples, to better understand and address trends in crime, recidivism, mental health, substance addictions and prison and jail spending. As a continuation of the summit, the CSG Justice Center is currently working with more than 15 states to facilitate statewide forums on public safety with a broad coalition of stakeholders.

“Without a clear understanding of why and where crime is occurring, law enforcement cannot develop effective strategies to improve public safety in our communities,” said Anthony Campbell, the chief of police in New Haven, Conn. “The 50-State Report on Public Safety illustrates why data is such an instrumental tool in combatting crime.”

Funding for the 50-State Report on Public Safety was provided by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance.

Strasbourg, 13 November 2018

European Commission reports on progress in Bulgaria under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism

The European Commission adopted today its latest report on steps taken by Bulgaria to meet its commitments on judicial reform, the fight against corruption and organised crime, in the context of the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM).

Today's report looks at the progress made over the past year to meet the final 17 recommendations issued by the Commission in the January 2017 report and positively notes Bulgaria's continued efforts and determination to implement those recommendations. The Commission is confident that Bulgaria – if it pursues the current positive trend – will be able to fulfil all the remaining recommendations and thereby the outstanding benchmarks. This will enable the CVM process for Bulgaria to then be concluded before the end of this Commission's mandate – in line with the orientation given by President Jean-Claude Juncker when he started his term of office.

First Vice-President Frans Timmermans said: "This report acknowledges that Bulgaria has continued to make steady progress in implementing the final recommendations we set out in January 2017. These reforms are necessary to effectively fight corruption and organised crime. If the current positive trend continues and progress is maintained sustainably and irreversibly, I am confident that the CVM process for Bulgaria can be concluded before the end of this Commission's mandate."  

Over the twelve months since the last report in November 2017, Bulgaria has continued its efforts to implement the recommendations set out in the January 2017 report. The Commission considers that several recommendations have already been implemented and a number of others are very close to implementation. On this basis, three benchmarks (judicial independence, legislative framework and organised crime) out of six can be considered provisionally closed. Given that in some cases developments are ongoing, continued monitoring by the Commission is required to confirm this assessment.

Bulgaria needs to continue to develop a track record of concrete results so as to consolidate the progress made. This positive trend will need to be maintained under the CVM and will need continued monitoring by the Bulgarian authorities after the closure of the CVM. Transparent reporting by the Bulgarian authorities and public and civic scrutiny will play an important role in internalising monitoring at national level and providing the necessary safeguards to maintain the path of progress and reform. In addition, the Commission's report notes a significant deterioration in the Bulgarian media environment over recent years which risks restricting the access of the public to information and can have a negative impact on judicial independence, with targeted attacks on judges in some media. More widely, the ability of the media, as well as of civil society, to hold those exercising power to account in a pluralistic environment free from pressure is an important foundation stone to pursue the reforms covered by the CVM, as well as for better governance more generally.

The Commission is confident that Bulgaria will pursue its reform efforts and will be able to fulfil all the remaining recommendations. It will continue to follow progress closely and will make a further assessment of the progress made before the end of this Commission's mandate. The Commission expects that with this, the CVM process for Bulgaria will be concluded. To achieve this objective, Bulgaria is invited to pursue the current positive trend towards implementation of all remaining recommendations.

Background

On 1 January 2007, the Commission established the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) to assess progress against the commitments made by Bulgaria in the areas of judicial reform and the fight against corruption and organised crime. Since 2007, the Commission has reported on progress in these areas on a regular basis in written reports to the European Parliament and Council. The reports have benefitted from contacts with Member States, civil society, international organisations, independent experts and a variety of other sources. The Commission's conclusions and the methodology of the CVM have consistently enjoyed the strong support of Member States in Council Conclusions following each report.

The CVM report of January 2017 took stock of 10 years of the CVM, with an overview of the achievements and the remaining challenges, and set out the key remaining steps needed to achieve the CVM's objectives. The Commission made 17 recommendations that, if met by Bulgaria, could be considered as sufficient to close the CVM, unless other developments were to clearly reverse the course of progress. The January report also highlighted that the speed of the process would depend on how quickly Bulgaria will be able to fulfil the recommendations in an irreversible way. A first assessment of progress on the 17 recommendations was adopted in November 2017, but the Commission at that time could not yet conclude that any of the benchmarks were satisfactorily fulfilled.

Today's report takes stock of the steps taken by Bulgaria since November 2017. It contains the Commission's assessment on how the Bulgarian authorities have followed-up on the 17 recommendations, and is complemented by a staff working document which sets out the Commission's detailed analysis, drawing on continuous dialogue between the Bulgarian authorities and the Commission services.

For More Information

MEMO – CVM Reports on Bulgaria and Romania: Questions & Answers

All CVM Reports

European research team with participation of the Georg August-Universität Göttingen analyses the response of European states to the so-called refugee crisis of 2015

The migration movement to Europe in 2015 has been broadly perceived as a “refugee crisis” and provoked different political and societal responses in several European countries. The research project RESPOND - Governance of Mass Migration in Europe and Beyond analyses these reactions with regards to regulatory frameworks such as border management, protection regimes, reception and integration politics. The project mainly focuses on the regulation of the so-called Balkan route as well as the experiences of refugees.

The Religion and Society Research Centre of the University of Uppsala coordinates the international research consortium with 14 project partners. They come from countries along the flight route from the Middle East through the Balkans until Northern Europe and range e.g. from Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Poland, Austria to Germany. The research project is scheduled for three years from December 2017 until November 2020 with a budget of 470,000 Euros for the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. Within the three years, eight thematic complexes will be analysed in research packages. The university of Göttingen is taking the lead role in the work packages “Border Management and Migration Control” and “Mapping and Assessing Reception Policies”.

Methodologically, the study is grounded in an innovative multi-layered analysis taking into account the interplay of different levels of societal action and perception: The macro-level of policy making in respect to European and national states, the meso-level considering the actions of NGOs and civil society in local contexts and the micro-level, focusing on the life reality of refugees.
The experiences and perceptions of refugees play a central role in the project design. Thereby, the project seeks to explicitly avoid considering refugees/migrants as mere statistical figures or passive recipients of regulatory policies. In contrast, it takes into account that refugees/migrants are a heterogeneous social group with regards to gender, ethnicity, religiosity and class. In addition to interviews and participatory observation, the different involved actors will interact with researchers and scholars in round table discussions and focus groups.

In addition to academic articles, book publications and conferences, RESPOND will result in policy briefs, country reports and comparisons as well as quantitative data. Furthermore, a variety of knowledge transfer projects and formats are planned, including documentary films, art exhibitions, so-called ‘advice hubs’ with and by migrants themselves and roundtable discussions with different societal actors.

The European Parliament Liaison Office in Germany, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Allianz

Cultural Foundation and the Freudenberg Foundation cordially invite you to the conference:

Organizational remarks

Challenge accepted?

On the way to a new EU migration policy

Friday, 16 November 2018

10:00 am to 3:45 pm

The buzzwords “migration” and “displacement” continue to polarize European society, and remain

high on Germany’s political agenda. According to Eurobarometer surveys, the majority of Europeans

desire changes in migration politics and responses to current challenges. Have the European

Union and its member states truly accepted these challenges and where do they stand in the

revision of present-day politics? The aim of the conference is to take a closer look at the various

aspects of European migration policy in an attempt to provide solutions to current issues.

A series of three panel discussions will tackle the following topics: opportunities of legal migration,

the revision of the Dublin system which has now come to its limits and the integration of new

arrivals into the EU.

Representatives from the areas of politics, civil society and the sciences will come together to

discuss possible solutions.

Interpretation: The conference will be translated into German, English and Italian.

PROGRAM

ZIF-WORKSHOP;

Bielefeld, Germany

RIGHT-WING POPULISM AND GENDER

Convenors: PD Dr. Gabriele Dietze (Berlin, GER)

Prof. Dr. Tomke König (Bielefeld, GER)

Prof. Dr. Andrea Maihofer (Basel, SUI)

Prof. Dr. Julia Roth (Bielefeld, GER)

Prof. Dr. Birgit Sauer (Wien, AUT)

22 – 24 November 2018

THURSDAY – 22 NOVEMBER

15:00 Registration and Coffee/Tea

15:30 Welcome Addresses by Véronique Zanetti (Executive Director of the ZiF, Bielefeld)

and Tomke König (IZG Bielefeld)

Introduction: Gabriele Dietze (Berlin) / Julia Roth (Bielefeld)

16:00 – 18:00 Panel 1: Populism and Gender – General Perspectives

Chair: Elahe Haschemi Yekani (Berlin), Discussant: Alexandra Scheele (Bielefeld)

Stefanie Mayer (Vienna): Gendering 'the People'. Heteronormativity in Populist

Imaginary

Ursula Birsl (Marburg): 'Not only the Populists': Anti-Feminism as Counter-

Movement to Democracy

David Paternotte (Bruxelles): Does Populism Explain it all? European Anti-Gender

Campaigns

18:00 – 18:30 - Coffee and Tea Break -

18:30 – 20:00 Round Table: How to Safeguard Feminism from Populist Appropriations?

Practices + Strategies

Shermin Langhoff (Gorki Theater Berlin), Nanna Heidenreich (ifs Köln, Kuratorin

Film und Medien), Hengameh Yagoobifarah (Missy Magazin), Katharina Pühl

(Rosa-Luxemburg Stiftung)

Moderation: Julia Roth (Bielefeld)

20:00 Reception + Exhibition Opening: "Glances of Resistance: The Nicaraguan Uprising

through artistic narratives" (SOSNicaragua-Alemania) + Performance "Voces fieras"

with Mariby del Carmen Romero Soto and Mira Sophia Rühl, Teatro "Las Amapolas",

introduced by Edith Otero Quezada

followed by: - Dinner at ZiF -

PAGE 2

FRIDAY – 23 NOVEMBER

09:00 – 10:30 Panel 2: Populism and Masculinity

Chair: Walter Erhart (Bielefeld), Discussant: Paula Diehl (Bielefeld)

Ov Cristian Norocel (Bruxelles/Helsinki): Understanding the Right-wing Populist

Paradoxes: A Superordinate Intersectional Perspective

Simon Strick (Berlin): Alt.Right Masculinities and Sharable Affects

10:30 – 11:00 - Coffee and Tea Break -

11:00 – 12:30 Panel 3: Populism and Homonationalism

Chair: Beatrice Michaelis (Rostock), Discussant: Elahe Haschemi Yekani (Berlin)

Niels Spierings (Nijmegen): Homonational Anti-Immigrant Gays – New

Constituencies for Populist Vote?

Patrick Wielowiejski (Berlin): Nationalism, Masculinity, and the Case of Gay Men

in the Alternative für Deutschland

12:30 – 13:30 - Lunch -

13:30 – 15:00 Panel 4: Populism and Female Leadership

Chair: Birgit Sauer (Vienna), Discussant: Cornelia Giebeler (Bielefeld)

Birte Siim (Copenhagen): Reframing Populism, Gender and the Family - Western

European Female Leaders

Jasmin Siri (Munich): Between 'Mutterkreuz' and Lesbian Motherhood. Leading

Women in German AfD

15:00 – 15:30 - Coffee and Tea Break with Cake -

15:30 – 17:00 Panel 5: Populism and Sexual Politics

Chair: Alexandra Scheele (Bielefeld), Discussant: Gabriele Dietze (Berlin)

Imke Schmincke (Munich): Sexual Politics from the Right. Attacks on Sexual

Diversity, Sex Education and Gender

Agnieszka Graff (Warsaw): Angry Women: The Black Protest as Social Movement

and Cultural

United Nations Universal Children’s Day was established in 1954 and is celebrated on November 20th each year to promote international togetherness, awareness among children worldwide, and improving children's welfare.

November 20th is an important date as it is the date in 1959 when the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child. It is also the date in 1989 when the UN General assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Since 1990, Universal Children's Day also marks the anniversary of the date that the UN General Assembly adopted both the declaration and the convention on children's rights.

Mothers and fathers, teachers, nurses and doctors, government leaders and civil society activists, religious and community elders, corporate moguls and media professionals as well as young people and children themselves can play an important part in making Universal Children's Day relevant for their societies, communities and nations.

Universal Children's Day offers each of us an inspirational entry-point to advocate, promote and celebrate children's rights, translating into dialogues and actions that will build a better world for Children.

2018: Children are taking over and turning the world blue

This year the world is going blue! We’re asking individuals, schools and corporates worldwide to go blue to help build a world where every child is in school, safe from harm and can fulfil their potential, and we know you do too. Going blue activities include: sharing our promo video for Children's day, signing the global petition and going blue in support of children’s rights in social media, and much, much more.

World Children’s Day - a day for children, by children - is almost here and we want you to take part.

Children have their rights denied every single day. We want to build a world where every child is in school and learning, safe from harm and able to fulfill their potential, and we know you do too. It's time to put children back on the agenda.

Sign the petition and #GoBlue to call on world leaders to commit to fulfilling the rights of every child and acknowledge that these rights are non-negotiable.

Funded by the Erasmus+ programme, the RETHINK project (Remembrance Education for THINKing critically) aims to highlight the relevance of these programmes in addressing intolerance and polarisation and to facilitate their dissemination.

Gathering 6 European partners in the field of formal and informal education, RETHINK aims to:

• Build a database that will offer a unique overview of effective educational practices in the field;
• Select some of these practices as effective models to be adapted across contexts and countries;
• Deliver an e-learning platform that will offer innovative pedagogical material based on remembrance education programmes and adapted to the classroom environment;
• Create a new network for memorial institutions to foster transnational dialogue and collaboration between like-minded institutions.

Brussels, 23 November 2018

“Ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we reaffirm our commitment to ending violence against women and girls.

Violence against women is a grave violation of human rights and yet it is still widespread across the world. The perception that harassment or being violence towards women is normal and acceptable is wrong and must change. We all have the responsibility to say no, openly reject acts of violence or harassment, and stand by the victims.

Violence against women happens everywhere: at home, at work, in schools and universities, on the street, in public transport and online. It can happen to any woman, affecting her general well-being and preventing her from fully participating in society. Around half of women in the European Union have experienced verbal, physical or online sexual harassment. According to Eurostat, 80% of trafficking victims in the EU are female.

Around the world, about 12 million girls under the age of18 are married every year - one every two seconds. Married girls often quickly become pregnant, drop out of school and are at higher risk of domestic violence than women who marry as adults. At least 200 million women and girls today have undergone female genital mutilation, which is still practiced in around 30 countries. Women in migration are particularly vulnerable and more exposed to abuse or violence.

Eradicating violence against women and girls is at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It is a first step towards global peace and security, a precondition for the promotion, protection and fulfilment of human rights, gender equality, democracy, and economic growth.

The European Union has put substantial actions in place to ensure violence against girls and women is ended once and for all. Our action is bearing fruit. Things have started to change.

Over the last two years, we supported more than 1.5 million girls and women with services for protection and care related to female genital mutilation. 3000 communities, representing 8.5 million people, have publicly announced that they are abandoning this practice. On child marriage, the EU reached over 1.6 millionindividuals through initiatives designed to change attitudes and practices regarding girls' rights.

Global challenges require global solutions that can best be formulated and then implemented working closely together with our international partners and through effective multilateralism. In December last year, with the OECD, the Council of Europe and UN Women we agreed on a global action to combat violence against women. We are stepping up our cooperation and called on world leaders from both public and private sectors to join the intensified global effort to fight violence against women.

In partnership with the United Nations, we have launched our Spotlight Initiative, a global, multi-year initiative focused on eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls. With an unprecedented initial investment of €500 million, we are protecting and giving voice to those women and girls who have been silenced by their societies and now want to speak up. We are also leading the global Call to Action on Protection from Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies initiative. This action brings together nearly 80 aid actors to foster accountability for addressing gender-based violence.

We are also working on concluding the EU accession to the Council of Europe's Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence and harassment against women, which provides victims with the right of protection and support.

We must finally eliminate gender-based violence. The European Union will continue to work relentlessly towards this goal. A life free of violence is an inalienable fundamental right: depriving women and girls from freedom, means depriving the world from freedom.”

Background

Violence against women and girls is one of the most widespread and devastating human rights violations across the globe. It is estimated that one third of women and girls worldwide experience violence at some point in their lives. This violence is a barrier to gender equality, women's and girls' rights and empowerment and overall development, and an impediment to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The European Commission is running the NON.NO.NEIN campaign – Say NO! Stop violence against women from 2016 to end 2018, providing 15 million euros in funding for Member States, local governments, relevant professionals and civil society organisations across Europe to intensify their actions and campaigns to combat violence against women. To wrap up this year of focused actions, the European Commission is hosting a high-level conference for representatives from Member States and international organisations, together with civil society actors and activists. The conference will take place on 4 December 2018 in Brussels.

The Spotlight Initiative, launched together with the UN, responds to all forms of violence against women and girls. The European Commission and UN Women will hold on 27-28 November in Skopje a regional forum to promote the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women and of the Istanbul Convention in the Western Balkans and Turkey. The European Commission is finalising a regional campaign to counter and prevent violence against women and girls in North of Africa and the Middle East. Implemented over a three-year €3.24 million grant contract, the initiative will start in spring 2019 and will support awareness-raising and education activities.

For more information

Questions and answers on Violence against Women

Andreas Armborst (Hrsg.), Erich Marks (Hrsg.), Catrin Trautmann (Hrsg.), Simone Ullrich (Hrsg.)

The prevention of radicalization ranks high on the international political agenda. However, our knowledge of the impact of preventive programs and interventions is still very limited. In order to counter the threat of terrorism and political violence successfully by means of effective procedures, policy makers and practitioners are in dire need of reliable evidence which procedures actually work. Rigorous evaluation of preventive programs and interventions is crucial for political accountability. Substantial public funds have been spent in order to implement preventive interventions and there is a growing concern about their effectiveness. Therefore, it is paramount to establish whether current (and future) preventive programs really achieve what they intend to achieve. Due to this gap of knowledge, there is a strong demand for a sound evidence base in order to be able to judge whether social interventions - may they be implemented in schools, in the community, or in prisons - are worth the money and efforts that were invested in their implementation. This book contains a selection of papers which were presented at the international conference "Countering Violent Extremism: Building an Evidence-Base for the Prevention of Radicalization and Violent Extremism" held on June 16-18, 2017, at the Hanover Congress Center (HCC) in Germany.

English Recommendation Rec(2006)2 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the European Prison Rules In 28 other languages

Shqip http://bit.ly/1d95Tpx - Hայերեն http://bit.ly/1OkxIMa - Azeri http://bit.ly/1aY6pVD - Bosanski http://bit.ly/1DjRuf5 -  български http://bit.ly/1DHiEgs - Hrvatski http://bit.ly/1Gf7elG - Český http://bit.ly/1zUxlw0 - Dansk http://bit.ly/1DHj5r4 - Deutsch http://bit.ly/1JkI0Zw - Español http://bit.ly/1EyS6oj -  Ελληνικά http://bit.ly/1DjSgIV - ქართული http://bit.ly/1JkHZ7N - Magyar http://bit.ly/1DYdPm6 - Italiano http://bit.ly/1d98jEJ - Latviešu http://bit.ly/1Gf7G3m - Lietuvių http://bit.ly/1d99qnD  - Norsk http://bit.ly/1Fk7hk2 - Polski http://bit.ly/1DHkAWb  - Português http://bit.ly/1DXo74s - Româna http://bit.ly/1PuSm9w - Pу́сский http://bit.ly/19ls75U - Српски http://bit.ly/1Drsa8l  - Slovenský http://bit.ly/1DYg8G0  - Slovinčina http://bit.ly/1boq2GP - Svenska http://bit.ly/1IQsy3Q - Suomi http://bit.ly/1HzS2Ur - Türkçe http://bit.ly/1aY9bu6

The statute of the CEPEJ emphasizes the comparison of judicial systems and the exchange of knowledge on their functioning. The scope of this comparison is broader than ‘just’ efficiency in a narrow sense: it also emphasizes the quality and the effectiveness of justice.

In order to fulfil these tasks, the CEPEJ has undertaken a regular process for evaluating judicial systems of the Council of Europe's member states.

Its Working Group on the evaluation of judicial systems (CEPEJ-GT-EVAL) is in charge of the management of this process.

To facilitate the process of collecting and processing judicial data, an online electronic version of the Scheme has been created (accessible on CEPEJ-COLLECT). Each national correspondent can thus accede to a secured webpage to register and to submit the relevant replies to the Secretariat of the CEPEJ.

National replies also contain descriptions of legal systems and explanations that contribute greatly to the understanding of the figures provided. Easily accessible to all citizens, policy makers, law practitioners, academicians and researchers on CEPEJ-STAT, a genuine data base on the judicial systems of the Council of Europe's member states, they are therefore a useful complement to the report, although because of the need to be concise and consistent, it was not possible to include all this information in this report.

The next edition of the report will be published in 2020 and will concerne 2018 data.

Special event: University College London, Jill Dando Institute of Security and Crime Scien...   

Date: Wed 12th December, 1pm-2pm

Location: UCL, London

November 14, 2018

The National Reentry Resource Center and the CSG Justice Center released a new edition of Reentry Matters: Strategies and Successes of Second Chance Act Grantees in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Second Chance Act (SCA). Enacted with bipartisan support, SCA helps state, local, and tribal governments and nonprofit organizations in their work to reduce recidivism and improve outcomes among people who have been in the criminal justice system. Since its passage 10 years ago, SCA has supported more than 900 grants for adult and youth reentry programs, as well as systemwide improvements to help jurisdictions better address the needs of people who are incarcerated. Featuring 21 stories from programs across 19 states, Reentry Matters profiles the impact of SCA grant-funded programs through both the practitioners who run them and the people who are impacted by them.

For analysis of the most up-to-date recidivism data in 11 states, read Reducing Recidivism: States Deliver Results, which profiles states showing significant declines in their three-year return-to-prison rates and details how SCA grant awards have helped the 11 featured states to test recidivism-reduction strategies, invest in evidence-based practices, and increase the capacity and scale of programs.

In partnership with the Assistant Minister for Home Affairs, Senator the Hon Linda Reynolds CSC, the Australian Institute of Criminology today awarded twelve Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Awards to police and community-led projects across the nation.

The Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Awards are a joint initiative of the Australian, state and territory governments, coordinated by the AIC and co-sponsored by the Ministerial Council for Police and Emergency Management.

These annual awards recognise the outstanding contributions being made across Australia for crime prevention, including the development and implementation of practical projects to reduce violence and other types of crime in the community.

Australian Institute of Criminology Director, Mr Michael Phelan APM, said these awards encourage the implementation and sustainability of effective and efficient crime prevention programs, significantly contributing to stopping crime and making Australia safer.

“This year we have recognised the efforts of twelve projects across the country for their role in protecting our communities and enhancing our national response to crime and violence prevention,” he said.

“These projects are of a high quality, have demonstrated sustainable project outcomes, and in many cases have the ability to be implemented elsewhere.

“The Australian Crime and Violence Awards provide a valuable service to government by identifying practical projects that are reducing harm to the community, and raising community awareness of crime and violence.

“I congratulate the winners of the 2018 Awards, and encourage other community and police-led projects across the country to consider nominating their project for recognition in 2019,” Mr Phelan said.

Community-led project winners 2018:

• Gold: Save the Children’s Out-Teach Mobile Education Program (Tas)
• Gold: Family Life’s Together We Can Program (Vic)
• Silver: Daniel Morecombe Foundation’s Day For Daniel (Qld)
• Silver: Mission Australia’s Mac River Residential Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Service (NSW)
• Bronze: Sexual Assault Support Service’s Whole of School Primary Prevention of Sexual Violence Program  (Tas)
• Bronze: Seeds of Affinity: Pathway for Women’s Seeds for Affinity Program (SA)
• Bronze: Prisoners’ Aid Association NSW’s Mates on the Move and Class Mates training projects (NSW)

Police-led project winners 2018:

• Gold: Queensland Police Service’s Gold Coast Domestic and Family Violence Taskforce (Qld)
• Silver: Queensland Police Service’s Connected Women Project (Qld)
• Silver: Cairns Child Protection Investigation Unit’s Speak Up, Be Strong, Be Heard (Qld)
• Bronze: Wollongong Police District’s Stay Safe in Our State advice for international students (NSW).
• Bronze: Queensland Police Service’s South West District Blue Light Shearing Project (Qld)

To learn more about the 2018 Gold ACVPA winners, watch this video.

For the latest crime and justice facts and figures, visit Crime Statistics Australia.

Today, the European Commission is becoming a permanent international partner to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). The participation of the EU to this international body provides will allow for closer cooperation on combating Holocaust denial and preventing racism, xenophobia and Antisemitism. This is a direct follow- up to President Juncker's call for closer international cooperation in his statement on Holocaust Remembrance Day, this 27 January, as well as the European Parliament's resolution on combating Antisemitism of June 2017. First Vice-President Frans Timmermans said: "With a decreasing number of Holocaust survivors and at a time when Antisemitism is on the rise, we need to foster the memory of the darkest chapter in our history. The EU joining the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance will help promote understanding so that future generations will heed the lessons of our past."  Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, Vera Jourová added: "This commitment is part of our wider effort to fight against Antisemitism. Our involvement in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance has special importance at a time when Holocaust denial is spreading." Today, at the plenary meeting of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, the EU Coordinator on Combatting Antisemitism will officially accept the role. As a result, the Commission will represent the EU in this body, which provides expertise on Holocaust denial, distortion or Antisemitism. It will give the Commission access to the expertise of International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's Working Groups on education, particularly on key challenges like multi-cultural and multi-religious classrooms and inclusive remembrance. More information on the Commission's work on combatting Antisemitism can be found online here.

Published: November 27, 2018

Abstract

Background

Experience of domestic violence and abuse (DVA) is associated with mental illness. Advocacy has little effect on mental health outcomes of female DVA survivors and there is uncertainty about the effectiveness of psychological interventions for this population.

Objective

To test effectiveness of a psychological intervention delivered by advocates to DVA survivors.

Design, masking, setting, participants

Pragmatic parallel group individually randomized controlled trial of normal DVA advocacy vs. advocacy + psychological intervention. Statistician and researchers blinded to group assignment. Setting: specialist DVA agencies; two UK cities. Participants: Women aged 16 years and older accessing DVA services.

Intervention

Eight specialist psychological advocacy (SPA) sessions with two follow up sessions.

Measurements

Primary outcomes at 12 months: depression symptoms (PHQ-9) and psychological distress (CORE-OM). Primary analysis: intention to treat linear (logistic) regression model for continuous (binary) outcomes.

Results

263 women recruited (78 in shelter/refuge, 185 in community), 2 withdrew (1 community, control group; 1 intervention, refuge group), 1 was excluded from the study for protocol violation (community, control group), 130 in intervention and 130 in control groups. Recruitment ended June 2013. 12-month follow up: 64%. At 12-month follow up greater improvement in mental health of women in the intervention group. Difference in average CORE-OM score between intervention and control groups: -3.3 points (95% CI -5.5 to -1.2). Difference in average PHQ-9 score between intervention and control group: -2.2 (95% CI -4.1 to -0.3). At 12 months, 35% of the intervention group and 55% of the control group were above the CORE-OM -2clinical threshold (OR 0.32, 95% CI 0.16 to 0.64); 29% of the intervention group and 46% of the control group were above the PHQ-9 clinical threshold (OR 0.41, 95% CI 0.21 to 0.81),

Limitations

64% retention at 12 months

Conclusions

An eight-session psychological intervention delivered by DVA advocates produced clinically relevant improvement in mental health outcomes compared with normal advocacy care.

Trial registration