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Outside/In: Everybody Knows Somebody

Laine Kaplan-Levenson

January 07, 2021 |

NPR |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States

The story of the passage of the Violence Against Women Act starts with a young legal aide to Sen. Joe Biden who did not identify as a feminist and knew little about the issues, but whose methodical building of a coalition and a set of arguments led to the historic passage of the law in 1994. VAWA was the first U.S. federal law to address comprehensively the ancient problem of gender-based violence. A key provision, authorizing federal civil lawsuits by victims, helped many women for six years until the Supreme Court struck it down. The law's other effects, still ongoing, include funding victim-aid groups.

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CASA program uses volunteers to advocate for kids

Cheryl Splain

January 04, 2021 |

Knox Pages |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Mount Vernon, Ohio

In 55 Ohio counties, judges can appoint volunteers from Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) programs to represent the interests of children when their families' struggles end up in court. CASA volunteers act as a judge's eyes and ears in the lives of children who are suspected of being victims of abuse or neglect, or who at least need a more stable home. They recommend placement options and treatment services. Such programs can save counties money, by replacing paid lawyers serving as guardians, and volunteers can be more attentive to children's needs.

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After 3 years and $1.5 million devoted to testing rape kits, Alaska made one new arrest

Kyle Hopkins

December 30, 2020 |

Anchorage Daily News |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Alaska

Despite hopes that testing a backlog of rape kits would reveal many new serial-rape suspects, Alaska's three-year push to test 568 kits under the federally funded Sexual Assault Kit Initiative led to only one new prosecution. The reasons the program fell short of expectations include a lack of usable DNA samples, errors by investigators, cases in which victims and suspects had died or victims no longer wished to proceed, or the kits revealed no evidence that wasn't previously known. Alaska is now footing the bill to test more kits, which contain physical evidence collected after a rape.

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Sextortion in Syria: Young women support each other

Nawar Al Mir Ali

December 26, 2020 |

Deutsche Welle (DW) |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Syria

To help Syrian women facing the threat of "sextortion" – harassment based on threats to expose women's nude photos – Gardenia magazine's It Is Your Right campaign has encouraged 1,100 women to come forward to sue their harassers. The campaign also provides counseling to the women. Another campaign, No To Electronic Harassment, acts more swiftly, seeking to close Facebook accounts used by harassers. So far it has closed dozens. The harassment often succeeds because of victims' fear, especially in Syrian society, of being found out by their families.

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The child trafficking survivors training to prosecute sex crimes

Neha Bhatt

December 16, 2020 |

Al Jazeera |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: India, Kolkata

The School for Justice provides an education in law or advocacy to young women who have survived sex trafficking. The program started in Kolkata in 2017 and has expanded to Mumbai and Katmandu. Forty students receive housing, counseling, and free tuition to the local university of their choice, where they can study to be lawyers, paralegals, social workers, police officers, or journalists. The goal is to equip them with the tools they need to protect others from child sexual exploitation and to bring perpetrators to justice. Along the way, they begin to heal through empowerment and peer support.

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They Made a Revolutionary System to Protect People With Developmental Disabilities. Now It's Falling Apart.

Amy Silverman

December 12, 2020 |

ProPublica |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Arizona

In Arizona, state officials recruited individuals for volunteer committees to have oversight of the state Division of Developmental Disabilities that was responsible for caring for those with developmental disabilities. Although the program was initially successful and "helped Arizona earn its reputation as one of the best states in the country for the care of people with developmental and intellectual disabilities," in recent years, a series of resignations and increased workload have left some of the panels "barely functioning."

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How a new approach to fighting domestic violence is changing lives in Burundi

Clarisse Shaka Naira Davlashyan

December 10, 2020 |

Euronews |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Burundi

A grassroots movement in Burundi has resulted in more familial bliss for households who suffered from domestic abuse. Through CARE International, a group of Burundian men are taking on toxic masculinity, entrenched cultural misogyny, and "destructive gender roles" through community meetings. Previously abusive men speak to their communities about how and why they were able to break the cycle and how their families have benefitted from a better home environment, better relationships, and even the benefit of being able to make and save more money as a result of helping their wives, instead of abusing them.

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La lutte contre les violences domestiques change des vies au Burundi

Clarisse Shaka Naira Davlashyan

December 10, 2020 |

Euronews |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: Burundi

Abatangamuco est un groupe d’hommes burundais qui utilisent les représentations théâtrales, les témoignages personnels, et les consultations individuelles pour changer les idées culturelles sur les violences domestiques. Avec plus de 8 000 hommes dans neuf provinces, le mouvement s'appuie sur les relations communautaires et les gouvernements locaux.

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NYPD Cops Cash In on Sex Trade Arrests With Little Evidence, While Black and Brown New Yorkers Pay the Price

Joshua Kaplan Joaquin Sapien

December 07, 2020 |

ProPublica |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

New York Police Department sex-crimes enforcement officially shifted away from arresting people selling sex to those buying it and those in the large-scale trafficking business. At the same time, the Human Trafficking Intervention Court was created to divert sex workers' criminal cases away from conviction and toward social services. The reality, however, is that police officers' overtime income gives them incentives to make high volumes of arrests of sex workers and buyers in flimsy, low-level cases that get plea-bargained down, but which skew heavily against people of color.

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How a Spanish project keeps migrant mothers away from trafficking networks

Mar Segura

November 26, 2020 |

The Local |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Spain, Córdoba, Andalucía

Women migrating to Spain from Sub-Saharan often fall prey to traffickers of sex workers and forced laborers, but gaps in aid to them exist because most migrants are young men traveling alone. Since 2018, the Ödos Project has provided shelter and counseling to women traveling with children, to give them a stable entry point in the country to lessen the risk of trafficking. The young women at Ödos often come with histories of gender-based discrimination and violence in their home countries, typically Ivory Coast and Guinea Conakry. Workshops include how to seek asylum.

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