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Efforts at tackling different forms of targeted violence may benefit from lessons generated from the longer‐standing work in tackling violence against women. These include the conceptualisation and articulation of targeted violence as a cause and consequence of inequality, and as a human rights issue. There is a need to develop effective coalitions and to make explicit the relevance and implications of targeted violence across all public services so that those affected receive the support they require. The importance of education and prevention is also highlighted. While such lessons can help reframe the issues and policies around targeted violence, they should not be transposed uncritically.

Violence and abuse often occur within the immediate family. However, violence against older women in families is still a taboo topic and professionals who work in community health and social services are often the only persons who have access to the target group. The purpose of this article is to describe research results and a training course developed within two linked European projects.

Both projects were divided into a research and a practical phase. In the first project, data were gathered via a literature review and interviews with health and social services staff. Additionally, a short survey of health and social services organisations, about what provisions they had for dealing with abuse against older women within families, was conducted. In Breaking the Taboo Two, research on existing training material for health care staff concerning violence against older women within families was carried out. Analysis of this material formed the basis for designing a two‐day training workshop for staff members in nine modules on aspects like defining and recognizing violence as well as intervention, cooperating with other organisations and caring for oneself.

A total of 14 trial workshops were carried out in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Portugal and Slovenia in September and October 2011. The target groups ranged from nurses, home helps, care assistants and social workers to Red Cross volunteers from visiting services and crisis intervention. It was established that the topic is very relevant to the participants' work; however, it became clear that this is a very sensitive topic and participants need time to be able to talk openly about such sensitive issues. It also became clear that offering such workshops is an important pillar in developing service providers' policies and procedures concerning violence against older women and can contribute well to networking in this field.

No specific training courses on violence against older women for staff of health and social services could be found until now. This article highlights two projects that deal with raising awareness and training in this field. It also includes findings from a number of European countries that participated in the projects and combines findings gained from research and practical experience.

In Sri Lanka women make up the majority of the country's population. However, there is a concern that many women are subjected to any form of violence at home which is known as family violence, or in Sri Lanka which is identified as domestic violence. As such domestic violence is one of the topics that have gained attention in Sri Lanka under the major topic of gender-based violence (GBV). Sri Lanka also imposed prolonged lockdowns, travel/mobility restrictions, social distancing, and other health measures/restrictions to control the speedy spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a consequence, the life of women was unfavorably impacted. A increase in the number of domestic violence cases against women during public emergencies – here referred to COVID-19 – is one of such negative impacts. Therefore, this study intends to examine the adequacy of the existing laws of prevention of domestic violence in Sri Lanka and investigate the appropriateness of the available judicial mechanism including its preparedness in achieving the proper protection support for the women victims of domestic violence during public emergencies. To reach that goal this doctrinal research study heavily engages in a descriptive and detailed analysis of legal rules found in primary sources such as domestic statutes, international treaties, statistics, government circulars and regulations and case law, etc., in respect of the issue of domestic violence against women during public emergencies with specific reference to Sri Lanka. Secondary resources such as print and electronic text material are also utilized in the completion of this study.

This chapter examines technology-facilitated violence from the perspective of international human rights law. It explores current research relating to technology-facilitated violence and then highlights the international human rights instruments that are triggered by the various forms of such violence. Ultimately, it focuses upon international human rights to privacy and to freedom from violence (especially gender-based violence) and the obligations on State and Nonstate actors to address violations of these rights. It argues that adoption of a human rights perspective on technology-facilitated violence better enables us to hold State and Nonstate actors to account in finding meaningful ways to address violence in all of its forms.

This chapter introduces a conceptual schema with which the authors chart the historical trajectory of four realms of feminist antiviolence efforts in the United States, describing strains and tensions between and within each realm, with a particular focus on the efficacy of violence prevention.

We draw on feminist theory and empirical studies of antiviolence efforts as well as our own interview and ethnographic research into violence prevention.

This chapter charts a four-part schema for understanding the trajectory of feminist engagements with violence against women. It theorizes that the segmentation of feminist antiviolence has given rise to a variety of tensions within realms that could be resolved or mitigated by reconnecting the realms.

In the face of growing objections to their handling of sexual assault and other forms of gender-based violence, the military, colleges, and other institutions have touted their violence prevention programs. While these programs serve as a testament to over forty years of feminist efforts to institutionalized antiviolence policies and practices, without a holistic feminist approach, violence prevention functions as little more than public relations.

The chapter is of use for scholars thinking about violence against women and gender-based violence, as well as institutions that set policy around issues of violence.

African feminist scholars and activists have made major contributions to our understanding of gender-based violence. This is especially the case in southern Africa, which has a long history of high rates of violence against women and girls. Their rates of gender-based violence are among the very highest in the world. While there are many forms of gender-based violence, this chapter will explore the important contributions of African gender scholars and activists to our knowledge concerning domestic violence and rape. These issues will be interrogated using Zimbabwe and South Africa as case studies, with some reference to Namibia. In the region, domestic violence and sexual assault have deeply rooted structural explanations linked to the long history of colonialism, apartheid and white minority rule, political transition, economic crises and adjustment, changes in expected gender roles and the HIV/AIDS pandemic. In the past 25 years, Zimbabwe and South Africa attempted to address violence against women through the development of laws as well as the creation of non-governmental organizations. Although these important efforts have not resulted in a major decrease in violence against women, they clearly demonstrate the long history of African women’s actions in resisting state power and patriarchy. African women as citizens, scholars and activists are responsible for bringing to the fore the critical importance of reducing gender-based violence in order to establish strong, just and sustainable societies in southern Africa.

Violence against women and girls is globally prevalent. Overcoming it is a prerequisite for attaining gender equality and achieving sustainable development. The United Nation's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development considers technology as a means to combat violence against women and girls, and there is ample evidence on the positive impact of technology in combating violence. At the same time, however, technology can promote and perpetrate new forms of violence. Research shows that more than 70% of women and girls online are exposed to forms of cyber violence. Most of these cases remain unreported.

This chapter argues that technology contributes to increasing cyber violence against women and girls which in turn leads to severe social and economic implications affecting them. It also argues that legislative and policy reforms can limit this type of violence while enabling women and girls to leverage technology for empowerment. It highlights cases of cyber violence in the Arab region and provides an overview of applicable legislative frameworks. The chapter concludes with recommended policy reforms and measures to strengthen and harmonize efforts to combat cyber violence against women and girls in the Arab region.

Purpose: The chapter aims to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on levels of domestic abuse at the global level; examine the responses of international and regional human rights bodies; and identify lessons which can be learnt with regard to responding to domestic abuse in a post-pandemic context.

Methodology/Approach: The chapter discusses the increase in rates of domestic abuse since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and proceeds to examine this form of abuse as an issue for international human rights law. The chapter then focuses on the responses of international and regional human rights bodies to the increased levels of domestic abuse in the context of the pandemic.

Findings: There is a danger of viewing the recent issues surrounding domestic abuse as simply being caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in reality the pandemic has served to expose and exacerbate pre-existing difficulties with the responses of States to this form of abuse.

Originality/value: The chapter adds to the literature on domestic abuse as a human rights issue by focusing on the specific context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the means and harms of technology-facilitated violence have become more evident, some governments have taken steps to create or empower centralized bodies with statutory mandates as part of an effort to combat it. This chapter argues that these bodies have the potential to meaningfully further a survivor-centered approach to combatting technology-facilitated violence against women – one that places their experiences, rights, wishes, and needs at its core. It further argues that governments should consider integrating them into a broader holistic response to this conduct.

An overview is provided of the operations of New Zealand's Netsafe, the eSafety Commissioner in Australia, Nova Scotia's Cyberscan Unit, and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection in Manitoba. These types of centralized bodies have demonstrated an ability to advance survivor-centered approaches to technology-facilitated violence against women through direct involvement in resolving instances of violence, education, and research. However, these bodies are not a panacea. This chapter outlines critiques of their operations and the challenges they face in maximizing their effectiveness.

Notwithstanding these challenges and critiques, governments should consider creating such bodies or empowering existing bodies with a statutory mandate as one aspect of a broader response to combatting technology-facilitated violence against women. Some proposed best practices to maximize their effectiveness are identified.

The Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence was adopted by the Council of Europe and opened for signature in Istanbul in 2011 (the Istanbul Convention). The Istanbul Convention offers a treaty-level protection against domestic violence to all people, including LGBTQs, that is, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer persons. Intimate partner violence (IPV) occurs in same-sex relationships as well as different-sex relationships. In addition, LGBTQ persons face the risk of violence in homophobic and transphobic family environments. The Istanbul Convention has faced significant backlash, a process driven by the global anti-feminist movement that also calls for the protection of traditional family values. In the Convention, “gender” is described as “the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for women and men” (Article 3(c)). The opponents of the Convention suggest that gender roles are not “given” by the society but inherent in different natures of women and men. The dissatisfaction of many States, such as Bulgaria, Armenia, Ukraine, and so on, is related to the perceived excessiveness of rights given to LGBTQ persons in the Istanbul Convention. This research paper sets aside the issue of political campaigning against the Convention in Eastern Europe, which has already been well reported. Instead, it aims to reveal how the protection against domestic violence under the Convention raises normative, conceptual, and substantive challenges in States entrenching the ideology of traditional family values in law.