Preventing violence against women and girls with disabilities: Integrating a human rights perspective

Abstract

Violence against women is considered as one of the most widespread violations of human rights worldwide and is now firmly at the forefront of the international development agenda as an urgent human rights issue requiring national government and international action. In Australia, violence against women is being described in our communities as 'a national human rights disaster' an 'epidemic' and a 'national emergency'. As shocking as the current statistics are - showing that one in three women in Australia have experienced physical violence and almost one in five have experienced sexual violence - the picture is substantially worse for some groups of women - particularly women and girls with disabilities, Indigenous women, and women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and communities.