The Right To Feel Safe: Bystanders Of Violence Must Stand Up

As with my longstanding work in suicide prevention, justice is highly important to me. As a community we all play a part in ending cycles of abuse and disarming predators.

On this, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, I am proud to share, for the first time, I have been working on a new business (let’s call it Project V) . Project V is being developed with some of the leading subject matter experts, hospitals, producers, entrepreneurs, organisations and writers since August of 2019 to create an entirely new format of media and technology to raise awareness and create impact on a global scale. A formal announcement will be made on this in 2021.

“The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it.” - Albert Einstein 

Feeling safe is a right, not a privilege. As a community we must stand up against violence* and violence against women and children**

Our inaction often allows evil to flourish.

Over my 34 years I’ve met many women, men and children on the receiving end of assault, trafficking, child pornography and rape. I have encouraged every single person to report to police and have “held their hand” whilst they did so. Often, it’s the hardest take of a lifetime for victims, riddled with shame and fear. We all must support victims to feel safe, heard and encouraged to take the correct legal and psychological steps as they are likely disempowered to do so.

You can read about my activism with the backing of many editors and journalists in partnership with Alderman Rob Soward in 2009-2010 regarding justice for a 12-year old girl who was prostituted by Gary John Devine to over 100 men in Tasmania in the media published in this thesis.

Every human is born with the right to feel safe in their home, in their school, in their workplace and in the community.

?We need to talk about Bystander Syndrome.

A bystander (friend, family, witness to the crime or confidante of the victim/s) play a large role is changing the narrative in society. They can choose to disempower perpetrators. 

“Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” - Elie Wiesel

Are you a bystander? Is there someone in your life who is a perpetrator who you have not stood up to or sent a clear message that their actions are not ok and they are accountable for changing their actions? Or is your silence condoning their actions?

Do you hear your neighbours being abused and do nothing? Has someone confessed a crime to you and you just looked the other way?

Here are ten ways you can help end violence against women, even during a pandemic.

Here are some quotes I wish to share with you, to help you to gain strength and stand up against injustice:

“In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.”  - Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Thou shalt not be a victim. Thou shalt not be a perpetrator. Above all, thou shalt not be a bystander.”  - U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum qtd. in Halter

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” - Elie Wiesel

“Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.

For support, you’re always welcome to contact me confidentially. I also encourage you to head to 1800RESPECT, built by our technical partners at Tigerspike.

by Amanda Johnstone

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*Definition of Violence

Violence is defined by the World Health Organization in the WRVH as “the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation”.

**(From the United Nations)

Why we must eliminate violence against women

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is one of the most widespread, persistent and devastating human rights violations in our world today remains largely unreported due to the impunity, silence, stigma and shame surrounding it.

In general terms, it manifests itself in physical, sexual and psychological forms, encompassing:

• intimate partner violence (battering, psychological abuse, marital rape, femicide);
• sexual violence and harassment (rape, forced sexual acts, unwanted sexual advances, child sexual abuse, forced marriage, street harassment, stalking, cyber- harassment);
• human trafficking (slavery, sexual exploitation);
• female genital mutilation; and
• child marriage.

To further clarify, the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women issued by the UN General Assembly in 1993, defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”

The adverse psychological, sexual and reproductive health consequences of VAWG affect women at all stages of their life. For example, early-set educational disadvantages not only represent the primary obstacle to universal schooling and the right to education for girls; down the line they are also to blame for restricting access to higher education and even translate into limited opportunities for women in the labour market.

While gender-based violence can happen to anyone, anywhere, some women and girls are particularly vulnerable - for instance, young girls and older women, women who identify as lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex, migrants and refugees, indigenous women and ethnic minorities, or women and girls living with HIV and disabilities, and those living through humanitarian crises.

Violence against women continues to be an obstacle to achieving equality, development, peace as well as to the fulfillment of women and girls’ human rights. All in all, the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - to leave no one behind - cannot be fulfilled without putting an end to violence against women and girls.