Bibliography

Female genital mutilation

Allotey, P.
Women in focus: an interview with Pascale Allotey.
Working Well: Working Women's Health Newsletter Jul 2001: 7,15

This interview with Dr Pascale Allotey focuses on a research project, Reconciling Culture and Reproductive Health. She speaks about what she thinks will be the outcomes of the Project for the health and well being of migrant and refugee women from Sahel Africa and the Middle East. The women are mostly from developing countries where Islam is often the dominant religion, where women have limited access to reproductive health services and where female genital mutilation may be a traditional practice.

Available from: Working Women's Health, Ground Floor, 192 High Street, Northcote Vic 3070. Internet http://www.workingwomenshealth.asn.au

Australia. Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.
Rights of passage: a dialogue with young Australians about human rights.
Sydney, NSW: Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 2005, 112p, tables, Online (PDF 1.02MB)
http://www.humanrights.gov.au/human_rights/rights_of_passage/index.html

This report discusses the findings of the Young People and Human Rights Dialogue which was begun in April 2005. The Dialogue aimed to ascertain what young Australians know about human rights, and to listen to their views on a wide range of contemporary, rights-related issues. Data collection was via a literature review, focus groups, a national survey with 400 completed surveys, and essay and art competitions with 140 entries submitted. The report firstly outlines HREOC's online human rights education programme and resources for schools; it finishes with recommendations about education for human rights. Case studies debated in the focus groups were on youth wages, anti-terrorism laws, public space, and female genital mutilation. Key issues from all activities are scrutinised via an eight part framework - egalitarian rights, overall knowledge, awareness of human rights, rights and responsibilities, individual rights, participation and democracy, civil rights, economic rights. Research consultant Dr Stephen Bochner's overview essay titled Human Rights-related Attitudes and Behaviours among Young People is an appendix: he discusses theoretical and empirical studies of human rights, tracing the evolution and development of the construct with additional information from other countries.

Available from: Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 1042. Internet http://www.hreoc.gov.au/

McNeill, Paul M; Macklin, Ruth; Wasunna, Angela; Komesaroff, Paul A.
An expanding vista: bioethics from public health, Indigenous and feminist perspectives.
Medical Journal of Australia v.183 no.1 Jul 2005: 8-9, and Online
http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/183_01_040705/mcn10239_fm.html

The 2004 World Congress of Bioethics explored ethical approaches to health care from a number of perspectives. This congress report outlines the conference program, keynote addresses, and papers on bioethics in relation to the following: the broad social, cultural and political contexts affecting health care delivery; feminist perspectives; responsibility for health in the developing world; tension between population health and individual perspectives; human rights; Indigenous ethics; and the challenge of accommodating diversity.

Available from: Australasian Medical Publishing Company, Private Bag 901, North Sydney NSW 2059. Email ampco@magna.com.au. Internet http://www.mja.com.au/

Narulla, Ranipal.
Circumscribing circumcision: traversing the moral and legal ground around a hidden human rights violation.
Australian Journal of Human Rights v.12 no.2 Apr 2007: 89-118

This article considers why society and the law treat the circumcision of males and females differently. Analysis focuses on the circumcision of male children in Australia, with reference to the UK and the USA. The discussion encompasses the circumcision of all male children, as the issues of lack of consent and the imposition of a parent's religious and cultural norms upon the child are consistent for all minors. There is a specific focus on neonatal children who have additional aspects of vulnerability. This article deconstructs the medical myths that surround the circumcision of male children, and in doing so makes a strong argument for the need to recognise male circumcision of minors as a human rights violation. (Journal abstract, edited)

Available from: Australian Human Rights Centre, University of New South Wales. Internet http://www.ahrcentre.org/content/research_ajhr.htm Subscription: LexisNexis Butterworths

Nur, S.
Birthing and post-natal practices of African communities in Victoria.
In: Journey through: newly arrived immigrant and refugee women's health: conference proceedings. Northcote, Vic: Working Women's Health, 2002, p28-31

Responding to the health needs of an increasing number of African and Middle Eastern women refugees has brought a new awareness among Australians of differences in social, cultural and religious practices. The author, a health worker, is responsible for increasing African women's access to health and community services. She describes different cultural attitudes and practices towards issues such as female genital mutilation, birth and confinement, and the role of men and the community in child birth and child care. She examines post natal depression in particular, and discusses ways in which African women can be encouraged to recognise and understand this condition, and to benefit from the support of health and community services in overcoming it.

Available from: Working Women's Health, Ground Floor, 192 High Street, Northcote VIC 3070. Internet http://www.workingwomenshealth.asn.au

Oriel, Jennifer.
Introduction to the Feminist Declaration of Sexual Rights.
Social Alternatives v.24 no.2 Second Quarter 2005: 46-49

According to the author, it is time for a Feminist Declaration of Sexual Rights. The rights include: the right to sexual equality; the right to sexual health; the right to sexual safety; the right to sexual liberation; the right to sexual integrity; the right to sexual dignity of the person; the right to conscientious sexual objection; the right to legal recognition of all intimate partnerships and family forums that support sexual equality; the right to sex education and information; the right to sexual justice; and the right to sexual peace.

Available from: Social Alternatives, c/- Graduate School of Education, University of Queensland, St Lucia Qld 4072. Internet http://www.socialalternatives.com

Overview of Australian responses to violence against women.
In: International Conference on Family Violence: Towards Development of Coordinated Service Delivery System, May 2000. Washington, DC: World Bank, 2000, p171-209

Violence and the threat of violence against women are a fundamental violation of human rights, and a form of discrimination preventing women from achieving full social and economic equality. This paper provides an overview of the Australian response to violence against women. The States and Territories have the major responsibility for legislating and providing services, and the Federal Government plays a strong leadership role and works cooperatively with the States and Territories to eliminate all forms of violence against women. This paper provides information on the incidence and causes of domestic violence, community awareness and level of understanding, response to domestic violence, the importance of community education and participation of businesses against domestic violence. Other topics discussed are: perpetrators of domestic violence, income support, housing, children's contact services, marriage and relationship support, crime prevention, gun control, legal services, violence in schools, educational resources, portrayal of violence in the media, protection against sexual exploitation, research being undertaken, trafficking and sexual slavery of women, national women's health policy, female genital mutilation, indigenous women, women from non English speaking backgrounds, women with disabilities, international initiatives and examples of State and Territory initiatives.

Patrick, I.
Responding to female genital mutilation: the Australian experience in context.
Australian Journal of Social Issues v.36 no.1 Feb 2001: 15-33

The increasing number of migrant women and girls in Australia affected by female genital mutilation (FGM) presents a significant challenge for public policy. Addressing FGM requires an understanding of the practice, its incidence and consequences; as of the cultural patterns and belief systems that underwrite it in those countries where it is commonly practised. Australian policy and programmatic responses to FGM are placed in the context of both international initiatives and those in other countries of settlement, and the underlying principles that guide effective FGM policy development identified. (Journal abstract)

Available from: Australian Council of Social Service, Locked Bag 4777, Strawberry Hills NSW 2012. Email acoss@acoss.org.au. Internet http://www.acoss.org.au/

Patrick, I; Markiewicz, A.
Female genital mutilation: challenges for child welfare in an Australian context.
Children Australia v.25 no.1 2000: 14-20

This article addresses the challenges facing the child welfare system in general, and child protection practice in particular, in responding to female genital mutilation (FGM) in an Australian context. Policy and programmatic responses to FGM are analysed to identify how child welfare concerns may be addressed in a culturally sensitive manner. (Journal abstract, edited)

Available from: Oz Child: Children Australia, PO Box 7020, Dandenong Vic 3175. Tel (03) 9791 5423. Fax (03) 9792 1550. Email ChildrenAustralia@latrobe.edu.au

Rogers, J.
Making the Crimes (Female Genital Mutilation) Act 1996, making the '(non) mutilated woman'.
Australian Feminist Law Journal v.18 Jun 2003: 93-113

In 1996 an amendment to the Victorian Crimes Act 1958 made female genital mutilation a criminal offence. The author explores the discourses of female genital mutilation that were considered in the development of this legislation. She argues that this included the production of an unspeaking and unspeakable 'other', the mutilated woman. This form, she argues, resulted from the silencing of migrant communities that was part of the Family Law Council's consultation process and that has long been the practice in Western discourses of female genital mutilation.

Available from: Australian Feminist Law Foundation, PO Box 4337, Melbourne University, Parkville Vic 3052. Internet http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/AHR/goodo/ journals/femlaw.html

Sejoe, M.
I want the best for my daughter, but I do not share your morality: the case of female circumcision prevention in Victoria.
In: VCOSS Social Policy Congress: developing visions for new ways forward: proceedings 2002. Melbourne, Vic: Victorian Council of Social Service, 2002, CD-ROM, 8p

Considering the reaction to the practice of female genital mutilation in Victoria, the author asks why, when there are existing mechanisms such as international human rights conventions to address this, was morality employed as the rationale to speak out against the practice? The author questions the role of the media and the government in the presentation of the issue and examines how the human rights framework was used in Victoria.

Available from: Victorian Council of Social Service, Level 6, 130 Little Collins Street, Melbourne Vic 3000. Email vcoss@vcoss.org.au. Internet http://www.vcoss.org.au/ ; Congress CD-ROM $12.00

Victoria. Office of Women's Policy.
Women's safety strategy: a policy framework.
Melbourne, Vic: Office of Women's Policy, 2002, 76p

One in three Victorian women experiences some form of violence in adulthood. This book outlines the Bracks Government policy on women's safety, designed to reduce the level of violence against women and women's fear of violence. The single policy framework operates across many portfolios; the key areas are crime prevention, community care, disability services, regional health and aged care. The document considers - What is violence against women?; addresses the following forms of violence against women including definitions - family violence, sexual assault, violence in public places, stalking, workplace violence and bullying, sexual harassment, racial and religious violence against women, trafficking in women and girls, female genital mutilation; and asks why does violence against women occur and how does it impact on Victorians?

Available from: Office of Women's Policy, Department of Premier and Cabinet, Level 3, 1 Treasury Place, Melbourne VIC 3000. Internet http://www.women.vic.gov.au

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