Policy Paper to the Australian Government on Violence Against Women and Girls with Disabilities

In late 2011, Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) was invited by the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights, to provide a Submission to the preparation phase of the United Nations Thematic Study on Violence Against Women With Disabilities (A/HRC/RES/17/11). WWDA’s Submission to this global UN study, was published in late December 2011 and aims to provide an overview of the legislation, regulatory frameworks, policy, administrative procedures, services and support available within Australia to prevent and address violence against women and girls with disabilities. See: [PDF]  [Word]  [Text Only/Large Print]

Given the extensive amount of work WWDA undertook to develop the Submission to the United Nations, WWDA used this key piece of work to form the basis of a Policy Paper to the Australian Government on Violence Against Women and Girls with Disabilities. This Policy Paper summarised the key themes in our Submission to the UN, and included a series of recommendations. There are six major recommendations, and a number of more general recommendations for consideration by Australian Governments, in particular the Australian Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA), and the Attorney-General’s Department, which are the Australian Government’s principal sources of advice on social policy, and law and justice respectively.Copyright WWDA June 2012.