Tackling violence, harassment and bullying - Annual Report 2011-2012: Australian Human Rights Commission

The year in review

Tackling violence, harassment and bullying

‘BackMeUp gives you the opportunity to stand up, and not sit back, and show how you would support someone who has been cyberbullied'

(Ruby Rose, Campaign Ambassador)

Tackling violence, harassment and bullying is the second of the Commission's two major policy priorities.

We all have a right to feel safe and respected. We all have a right to live our lives free from violence. Violence, harassment and bullying can violate these rights. They can also impact on other rights, such as the right to education and the right to health. Violence, harassment and bullying affect well-being and quality of life.

We have published several research papers on how violence, harassment and bullying affects vulnerable groups including women, Indigenous people, people with a disability and people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

A significant amount of our work has focused on cyber bullying and, in particular, the role of bystanders. We have also developed partnerships to work more effectively with these issues.

Countering cyber bullying

As part of our cyberbullying and bystander project, we engaged Edith Cowan University's Child Health Promotion Research Centre to conduct research into the most effective ways to motivate young people to take safe and effective action when they witness cyberbullying. In June 2012 they published a report entitled Research and Insights: Report on Bystanders and Cyberbullying.

The Centre used blogs (409 participants), focus groups (109 participants) and polls (10 341 participants) to generate both qualitative and quantitative data. The research found that the majority of bullying incidents occur in front of bystanders. It also found that a majority of bystanders either feel powerless to act in support of the victim, or they actually encourage the bullying.

The research also provides the springboard for the Commission's most recent social marketing campaign, called BackMeUp. Launched on 15 June 2012, the campaign aims to help prevent cyberbullying among young people and emphasizes taking positive action to support friends or peers who are bullied.

BackMeUp is a competition in which young people submit a digital story they have created showing the importance of bystanders in a cyberbullying situation. The competition prize is a week-long film making course at the National Institute for Dramatic Art. The campaign is supported by a range of project partners across the government, corporate and NGO sectors. Campaign Ambassadors are Ruby Rose and Cody Bell.

Safeguarding the rights of international students

Australia continues to have a high number of international student enrolments, with a total of 557,425 in 2011.

Despite a number of policy and service reforms and reviews relating to international students, some international students continue to experience challenges that relate to economic insecurity, language and cultural barriers, social isolation and issues related to accessing services and information.

The Commission has continued to work in consultation with international students and their representative bodies, as well as representatives from the international education sector, government and other key stakeholders, to develop a set of principles that aim to promote and protect the human rights of international students living in Australia.

These principles also aim to positively inform the ongoing development of policies and services relating to international students living in Australia. They will be launched later in 2012.

‘Lateral violence is harmful behaviour perpetrated within oppressed communities by members of that community. It can occur within families, between families, between clans and even across entire communities.'

(Commissioner Gooda )

Addressing lateral violence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities

The Social Justice and Native Title Reports 2011 focused on the issue of lateral violence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

The Social Justice Report looked at the historical and contemporary factors in our communities, with a particular focus on Palm Island in North Queensland. It also reported on cyberbullying, young people and bullying in schools, workplace bullying, organisational conflict, social and emotional well-being and involvement in the criminal justice system.

The Native Title Report considered how the native title system provides a platform for lateral violence to be played out within our families, communities and organisations.

Based on strong structural foundations and the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the reports consider options for addressing lateral violence.

Working to prevent violence against women

In April 2012, the Commission and the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs co-hosted a study tour for the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Ms Rashida Manjoo.

The study tour was an opportunity for governments, community organisations and individual women across the country to consider the manifestations of violence against women within Australia, and to review the strategies being used to reduce and eliminate all forms of violence against women and its causes. Commissioner Broderick and Deputy Commissioner Durbach accompanied the Special Rapporteur to a range of roundtables, meetings and site visits to hear from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, migrant and refugee women, women with disability and women of diverse sex, sexuality and/or gender and other women. While not a formal mission, the study tour gave visibility to this pressing human rights crisis within Australia. The study tour was an opportunity to examine the implementation of Australia's National Action Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and Their Children and highlight the range of significant work being undertaken by women and men, NGOs, government departments and various service providers to reduce and eliminate the causes and consequences of violence against women.

In February 2012, Commissioner Broderick attended the 56th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York. The focus on this year's forum was ‘The empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development and current challenges'.

At the session, the Commission advocated for the rights of women in rural, regional and remote areas experiencing violence, as well as the rights of women with disabilities. We also advocated for addressing unpaid work and multiple disadvantage and for gender responsive policy and continued our advocacy for independent participant status for NHRIs.

Commissioner Broderick and Deputy Commissioner Durbach have also examined the issue of domestic violence as a workplace issue. In particular, they looked at providing support for victims and survivors through workplace policies and clauses in enterprise agreements that provide access to paid leave or flexibility measures in relation to domestic and family violence. They also examined the possible basis upon which status as an actual or perceived victim of family violence could be included as a protected attribute under Commonwealth anti-discrimination law. Deputy Commissioner Durbach convened a roundtable discussion with representatives from women's NGOs, working women's centres, discrimination law experts, women's legal centres, unions, and other stakeholders to discuss the introduction of domestic and family violence as a new ground of discrimination. Consequently, in a submission to the Consolidation of Commonwealth Discrimination Law Inquiry, the Commission called for the introduction of a new ground of discrimination concerning domestic and family violence.

Other activities regarding prevention of violence against women included:

Ms Joy Ezeilo, the UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children, made an official visit in November 2011. We co-hosted a public forum and an NGO roundtable on human rights approaches to trafficking with Anti-Slavery Australia. The Special Rapporteur's report on her Australian mission was tabled at the 20th session of the Human Rights Council, on 23 June 2012. The Commission presented a statement at the Human Rights Council's 20th Session welcoming the Special Rapporteur's report.

Throughout the Fairfax Speaker Series during October and November 2011, we delivered speeches about domestic violence as a workplace issue.

We participated in a panel discussion on the International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women on 25 November. Our male Commissioners are White Ribbon ambassadors.

Complaint of sexual harassment in employment

The complainant alleged that she was sexually harassed by a co-worker at the aged care facility where she works. The complainant claimed the co-worker made comments about her breasts and on one occasion pushed her on a bed, lay on top of her, grabbed her genitals and breasts and rubbed his genitals against her. The complainant said she made an internal complaint, but this was not taken seriously.

On being notified of the complaint, the co-worker and employer agreed to participate in a conciliation conference. The complainant did not want to continue her employment with the respondent facility and the complaint was resolved with an agreement that the employer would pay her $50,000 compensation. The individual respondent's employment was terminated and he also agreed to undertake anti-discrimination training.

Domestic violence intervention

Being an intervenor in legal proceedings provides an important opportunity for the Commission to provide human rights expertise to the courts and coroners.

In late 2011, we were granted leave to intervene in the coronial inquest into the death of Andrea Pickett. Andrea, an Aboriginal woman from Western Australia, was killed by her husband while he was on parole for breaching a violence restraining order.

In this case, we advocated for systemic changes to domestic violence policies and procedures in all Western Australian Government Departments that deal with victims and perpetrators of domestic violence involving Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Peoples, as well as in the Western Australia Police Service, Department of Community Corrections and Department of Child Protection.

The inquest was heard in the Western Australian Coroners Court in June 2012, with many of the Commission's recommendations adopted in the final report of the Coroner.

‘I thank Ms Elizabeth Broderick and her team for their excellent work. This comprehensive report touches on all aspects of life at ADFA in 2011.”

(Acting Chief of the Defence Force, Air Marshal Binskin 4 November 2011)

Reviewing the treatment of women in the Australian Defence Forces

In April 2011, the Commission agreed to undertake a Review into the Treatment of Women in the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) and the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

In June 2011, a panel led by Commissioner Broderick began receiving submissions for Phase One of the Review, about the treatment of women in ADFA and the further initiatives that would be required for cultural change.

Research and consultation for Phase One engaged over 1000 individuals via a ‘World Café' discussion event, 38 focus groups and 600 survey respondents, in addition to submissions and calls to the Review hotline. This amounted to consultations with over one quarter of the cadet body, ADFA staff, parents of cadets, separated cadets and senior ADF personnel. This phase of the Review was completed with the launch of the Review of the treatment of women in the Australian Defence Forces in November 2011.

ADFA has accepted and begun implementation of all 31 of the Review's recommendations. An evaluation of the implementation of the recommendations twelve months after the release of the report has been agreed upon.

Phase Two of the Review is examining the effectiveness of cultural change strategies in the ADF and the measures and initiatives required to improve pathways for increased representation of women into the senior ranks and leadership.

Extensive consultations have been taking place since the completion of Phase One, with the final report due for release in August 2012. The terms of reference for both phases of the Review are available on the Commission website: www.humanrights.gov.au/defencereview/terms.html

Working toward stronger protection against sexual harassment

Sexual harassment in the workplace is a persistent and pervasive problem in Australia and elsewhere, demanding new and creative responses.

One significant area that may inform prevention and response strategies is the area of ‘bystander approaches'. During the year under review, we commissioned research to explore the potential for bystander approaches to prevent and respond to workplace sexual harassment.

Associate Professor Paula McDonald from QUT and Dr Michael Flood from the University of Wollongong were commissioned to undertake this research. Their report will be released in July 2012.

We also commissioned Roy Morgan Research to conduct the 2012 national sexual harassment prevalence survey on our behalf. The results from this survey will be released in the second half of 2012.

In July 2011, we made a submission to the Inquiry into the Family Law Legislation Amendment (Family Violence and other Measures) Bill 2011. The Commission supported the proposed amendments, ensuring that the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) aligns its provisions with international human rights standards.

Complaint of sexual harassment in employment

The complainant was employed as a tradesman/bricklayer with the respondent construction company. The complainant claimed a male co-worker sexually harassed him during a social gathering at a work campsite. The complainant claimed the co-worker grabbed his chest, stomach, testicles, buttocks and penis. The complainant had not returned to work since the incident.

The respondent company confirmed that an incident occurred on a work campsite between the complainant and his co-worker. The company submitted that it could not determine from its investigations what had happened and whether the complainant was sexually harassed. The company advised that it offered to move the complainant to a different worksite the day after the alleged incident.

The complaint was resolved with an agreement that the parties continue the employment relationship with assurances that the complainant would not have to work with the co-worker who was alleged to have sexually harassed him. The company also agreed to pay the complainant $20,000 compensation for his hurt and distress.