NZFVC Weekly Quick Reads: 24 November 2023

Quick Reads: 24 November 2023

Welcome to our new Quick Reads format. Each week we share selected news bites relevant to family violence and sexual violence in Aotearoa. This is a new format and we welcome your feedback. Let us know what you think at info@nzfvc.org.nz. See all past NZFVC Quick reads.

New report on sexual offending against children 

The report, Identifying and understanding child sexual offending behaviour and attitudes among Australian men (2023), measured the prevalence of offending and risk behaviours and attitudes among a representative sample of 1,945 Australian men over 18 years of age. The executive summary highlights key findings including almost one in five (19.6%) Australian men in the study have sexual feelings for children and/or have sexually offended against children. It also looks at the different behaviours, attitudes and demographics for men who offend against children. It highlights that 29.6% of men with sexual feelings towards children want help. For more information, see the Guardian article One in 10 Australian men report having sexual contact with under-18s, study finds and the Sydney Morning Herald article The shocking number of Australian men sexually attracted to children and teens.

Corrections changes policy on community notifications in response to report

Corrections has made changes to their community notification policy, including changes related to sex offenders. The changes are in response to recommendations from an independent report by Dr Gwenda Willis, Independent Review of Ara Poutama’s Community Notification and Engagement Process (2023). The review was prompted by the murder of Julianna Bonilla-Herrera by her neighbour who was on parole following his release from prison 10 weeks prior to the murder. Corrections has accepted all 7 recommendations from the report, including expanding their community notification criteria to include adult sex offenders. For more information see the NZ Herald article Corrections to tell communities about more resident offenders.

New report about Pacific Rainbow people in Aotearoa

The Manalagi Survey Community Report: Examining the Health and Wellbeing of Pacific Rainbow+ Peoples in Aotearoa-New Zealand (2023) launched. The report shares findings from an Aotearoa survey of 750 Pacific Rainbow+ individuals and their allies. The survey asked questions about physical and mental health, support systems, family and disclosure, and religion, spirituality and community. Infographics for key finding are also available from the Manalagi Project website. RNZ spoke to principal investigator Seuta'afili Dr Patrick Thomsen about the findings. Dr. Patrick Tomsen also wrote a summary for E-Tangata.

Video recordings available from He Waka Eke Noa presentations

Video recordings of the webinars launching the findings from the He Waka Eke Noa research project are available. There were 9 webinars that covered contextualising and defining whānau violence, tikanga approaches to prevention and intervention, and He Waka Eke Noa: Findings and meanings. He Waka Eke Noa is a co-designed Kaupapa Māori project that is driven by Iwi and Māori social service provider aspirations to investigate the role of cultural frameworks in strengthening family and sexual violence prevention and intervention policies, practices and programmes.

Possible international forum on domestic violence and Hague Convention

The Eighth Meeting of the Special Commission on the Practical Operation of the 1980 Child Abduction Convention and the 1996 Child Protection Convention took place in October 2023 at the Hague. The meeting included discussion of issues related to domestic violence and the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The Conclusions and Recommendations notes the Special Commission supports the proposal of the UN Secretary General " to hold a forum that would allow for discussions amongst organisations representing parents and children, and those applying the Convention. ...The agenda of the forum, which would focus on the issue of domestic violence in the context of Article 13(1)(b), would be prepared by a representative Steering Committee" (see paragraph 26). The forum would ideally take place in 2024 and the Philippines offered to host the forum.