By The Victorian Auditor-General

School staff have a right to feel and be safe at work. Work-related violence resulting from student behaviour can negatively impact school staff's health and wellbeing. Work-related violence includes behaviours ranging from verbal abuse to physical assaults. This audit examined students behaving in a violent way toward staff in Victorian government schools.

The Department of Education must provide and maintain a safe workplace for government school staff. This audit examines if the Department provides and maintains a work environment that is safe from work-related violence resulting from student behaviour.

The report presents three key findings and four recommendations. The Department of Education has accepted the recommendations in full or in principle.

Key findings

The Department does not record and report all work-related violence incidents resulting from student behaviour.

The Department's work-related violence policies meet its legislative obligations, but it does not comprehensively review those policies.

The Department provides staff resources and training to manage work-related violence resulting from student behaviour.

Recommendations

Establish a mechanism to better estimate under-recording of work-related violence resulting from student behaviour.

Review and fix data issues to ensure incidents are reported completely to the Department’s executive leadership.

Strengthen the approach to reviewing and updating all policies and procedures for managing work-related violence as an occupational health and safety issue.

Ensure there is consistent criteria on when to conduct post-incident reviews and incorporate the lessons learned into policy reviews.

Melbourne: Victorian Auditor General, 2025. 33p.

By Heather Douglas, Kath Kerr

This review of the evidence focuses on First Nations women’s engagement with the family law system, especially in the context of family violence (FV). It consolidates key considerations gathered from existing research about, and by, First Nations people and their engagement with colonial structures and institutions.

First Nations women face a significantly higher risk of FV than non-First Nations women and are also at greater risk of having their children removed from their care by state-based child protection agencies. The family law system may offer some protection against child removal. As such, identifying barriers and exploring how these barriers to the family law system can be dismantled for First Nations women is a vital component of Australia’s strategy to reduce FV risks and harm.

This review finds that there has been limited research specifically on First Nations women’s engagement with family law in the context of FV. Further research to identify and understand the needs of First Nations women in the family law system, especially in the context of FV, is necessary. This is required to continue to enhance accessibility, equity, inclusiveness and outcomes for First Nations people and to prioritise the identification of systemic reform and to highlight required service changes and other reforms as part of this endeavour.

Canberra: ARC Centre of Excellence for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, 2025. 29p.

By Karlee O’Donnell,  Mulu Woldegiorgis,   Constantine Gasser,   Katrina Scurrah,   Catherine Andersson,   Heather McKay,   Kelsey Hegarty,   Zac Seidler

This research explores the use of intimate partner violence among Australian men, including factors that may reduce the likelihood of such behaviours. A public health approach is taken that considers the power of improving men’s health and wellbeing in relation to preventing intimate partner violence. The report is accompanied by supplementary material.

Programs that support men to develop good quality relationships with their children and partners based on mutual respect and affection – as well as initiatives that encourage men to develop strong social connections and seek support – could contribute to a reduction in use of intimate partner violence.

Key messages

1. In the nationwide survey, around 1 in 3 men (35%) reported they had ever used a form of intimate partner violence, as an adult, by 2022; this is up from 24% who had ever reported use by 2013-14.

2. Emotional-type abuse was the most common form of intimate partner violence, with 32% of men in 2022 reporting they ever made an intimate partner feel ‘frightened or anxious’.

3. Men with moderate or severe depressive symptoms were 62% more likely to use intimate partner violence by 2022, compared to men without these symptoms.

4. By 2022, 25% of men reported ever using and experiencing intimate partner violence, more than twice the proportion who reported using violence but never experiencing it (10%).

5. High levels of social support and high levels of paternal affection both reduced the likelihood of men using intimate partner violence.  

Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2025. 21p..

Ministry of Health (New Zealand)

This strategy sets out New Zealand’s approach to, and budget for, funding and coordinating services to prevent and minimise gambling harm. The strategy was developed following a comprehensive consultation process, which included engagement with people with lived experience of gambling harm, gambling harm service providers, the gambling industry and other stakeholders with an interest in gambling harm.

The strategy strengthens alignment with the government’s mental health priorities by providing additional funding to improve access to services and treatment, strengthen the workforce, focus on prevention and early intervention, and enable more effective service support. This includes funding an impact evaluation of the strategy over time to identify what has been most effective and where investment should be directed to address gambling harm in the future. This strategy also aims to improve monitoring and data collection, to gain further insights into gambling harm and services.

The strategy is accompanied by appendices.

Wellington: New Zealand Ministry of Health, 2025. 27p.

By Jan Breckenridge, et al.

This fifth and final research paper in the series analyses existing research on older people, economic and financial abuse. It identifies a gap in the evidence base relating to the perpetration of economic and financial abuse against older people specifically in the context of domestic and family violence.

To develop this report, GVRN conducted a comprehensive review of academic and relevant policy literature to identify and analyse existing research on older people, economic and financial abuse.

The significant finding from the report is that there is a gap in the evidence base relating to the perpetration of economic and financial abuse against older people in the context of DFV.

Sydney: University of New South Wales, Gendered Violence Research Network: 2022. 75p.

By Lorana Bartels, Karen Gelb, Sally Eales, et al.

Pathways to offending among women and girls are significantly characterised by histories of domestic and family violence, trauma, homelessness, illicit drug use, unemployment and/or mental illness. While the ‘school-to-prison pipeline’ is often used as a short-hand description of boys’ pathways to incarceration, a ‘sexual abuse-to-prison pipeline’ is a more apt description of the trajectories for girls and young women. The foregoing issues are compounded for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

This literature review outlines current evidence-based research that identifies the needs and experiences of women and girls involved with courts and applies gender and cultural lenses to examine the efficacy of court-based interventions. It includes a series of case studies. Issues covered include:

Canberra: Australian National University,

THE CENTRE FOR SOCIAL POLICY RESEARCH, 2025. 214p.

By Relationships Australia NSW

Elder abuse is a growing and often hidden crisis – affecting one in seven older Australians. This abuse often takes the form of psychological harm, financial exploitation or neglect. Drawing on frontline experience and expert consultation, this policy paper presents a clear path for the New South Wales Government to take real, lasting action. The need for action is urgent, particularly given the scale and projected growth of the issue. Without sustained and targeted intervention, this silent crisis will continue to escalate. The paper outlines five key areas of reform.

Key findings

At least 15% of older Australians are currently experiencing abuse – most commonly from an adult child, partner or friend.

Service providers are seeing increasing demand, often from older people with multiple, intersecting needs.

Reform areas

Strengthening the NSW service system – secure ongoing investment in dedicated elder abuse services.

Legislative reform – review of state coercive control laws, stronger protections and a new information-sharing framework.

Workforce resilience – longer funding cycles, enhanced training and development, and better integration across sectors.

Better data and research – improved data collection, longitudinal research and a focus on the needs of marginalised groups.

National leadership – a push for a 10-year National Plan to end the abuse of older people within a generation.

Relationships Australia, 2025. 9p.

By The Australian Human Rights Commission

This report reveals the systemic barriers faced by people who experience workplace sexual harassment and outlines urgent reforms needed to drive lasting, meaningful change. It calls for real action, accountability and cultural shifts for everyone to be safe and respected at work.

The report marks the delivery of the final recommendation of the Commission’s Respect@Work report. It addresses a gap in what workers from diverse backgrounds think needs to change to make workplaces safer. The Speaking from Experience project brings lived experience insights into the national conversation on workplace sexual harassment.

The report outlines 11 key recommendations to better address workplace sexual harassment. These include amending the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 to limit the use of confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements, increasing funding for specialist support services and introducing civil penalties for employers who breach their Positive Duty under the Act.

Sydney: Australian Human Rights Commission, 2025. 88p.

By The Yoorrook Justice Commission (Vic)

This is Yoorrook’s second interim report. It considers systemic injustices in the child protection and criminal justice systems. It fulfils the requirement in the amended Letters Patent dated 4 April 2023 to deliver a second interim report by 31 August 2023. This report is divided into seven parts: Part A (this section) includes the Letter of Transmission, Chairperson’s foreword, and this brief introduction to the report’s methodology and terminology. Part B includes an Executive Summary, list of recommendations and key facts. Part C examines the historical foundations of the child protection and criminal justice systems. It explains how current injustices, including systemic racism and human and cultural rights violations created by these systems, are not just historical, but continue to persist today with critical impacts on First Peoples families and communities. It then goes on to discuss matters for Treaty in relation to child protection and criminal justice. In particular, Yoorrook finds that the transformation necessary to end the harms that the child protection and criminal justice systems continue to inflict on First Peoples can only be addressed through self-determination involving the transfer of power, authority and resources to First Peoples via the treaty process. Part C concludes by examining consistent themes in evidence to Yoorrook that span both the child protection and criminal justice systems including accountability and transparency, cultural competence and responsivity, and compliance with cultural and human rights obligations. Whole of government recommendations to address these issues are made. Part D examines critical issues in the child protection system. It begins with a short overview of some of the key policies, laws and human and cultural rights that are engaged by this system. It then examines the pathway into, through and beyond child protection with chapters on early help, child removal, out of home care, permanency and reunification. Findings on critical issues and recommendations for urgent action are made in each chapter

Yoorrook Justice Commission, 2023 445p.

By Brigitte Gilbert

This study aims to track the progression of recorded incidents of domestic assault through the criminal justice system, from initial police report to sentencing. METHOD We used data from the NSW Computerised Operational Policing System (COPS) and the NSW Criminal Courts datasets to follow the progress of domestic assaults recorded by the NSW Police Force in 2022 through the NSW criminal justice system. The attrition of domestic assault incidents at the police investigation phase was examined, along with the attrition of any domestic violence charges associated with these incidents. Attrition rates were tracked separately for intimate partner assault, family assault and “other” domestic assault. RESULTS In 2022, there were 33,811 incidents of domestic assault recorded by the NSW Police. About 57 per cent of these incidents occurred in the context of an intimate relationship. NSW Police proceeded to charge an individual accused of domestic assault in 24,273 incidents (72% of incidents). This varied by relationship type, with 77 per cent of intimate partner assaults, 67 per cent of family assaults, and 58 per cent of “other” domestic assaults resulting in legal action. During the court phase, 68 per cent of court appearances with a domestic violence charge related to the initial recorded domestic assault incident had one of those charges proven. This was consistent across the relationship categories. Of the 12,916 court appearances in which a domestic violence charge was proven the vast majority (81%) were finalised by way of the defendant entering a plea of guilty. Just under 20 per cent of court appearances had all domestic violence charges withdrawn. Seventy-four per cent of court appearances with a proven domestic violence offence received a community correction order, of which half were supervised. Only 14 per cent received a custodial sentence, with this being higher for intimate partner assaults (16%) compared to family assaults (10%) and “other” domestic assaults (12%). Overall, these results indicate that only 39 per cent of the 33,811 domestic assault incidents recorded by NSW Police in 2022 resulted in a proven outcome. CONCLUSION While relationship type has no bearing on the likelihood of a domestic violence charge being proven at court, NSW Police are more likely to charge an individual suspected of intimate partner assault and where the offence is proven, judicial officers are more likely to impose harsher sanctions. Further research examining why non-intimate partner assault incidents receive a different criminal justice system response to intimate partner assault incidents is warranted.

Sydney, NSW: NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, 2025. 19p.

By Kelly M. McMann

Why do ordinary people engage in corruption? In Corruption as a Last Resort, Kelly M. McMann contends that bureaucrats, poverty, and culture do not force individuals in Central Asia to pay bribes, use connections, or sell political support. Rather, corruption is a last resort when relatives, groups in society, the market, and formal government programs cannot provide essential goods and services. Using evidence from her long-term research in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, McMann shows that Islamic institutions, secular charities, entrepreneurs, and banks cannot provide the jobs and credit people need. This drives individuals to illicitly seek employment and loans from government officials.

Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2014.

Edited by Maria Antonia Tigre, Melanie Jean Murcott and Susan Ann Samuel

This volume explores climate litigation as a means to tackle the rights and socio-ecological, intergenerational, gender, racial, and other justice implications of the ever-growing vulnerability to climate change, whilst critically engaging with the notions of vulnerability and intersectional climate justice. With insightful analysis, thought-provoking case studies, and a global perspective, the collection illustrates the opportunities and pitfalls of litigation pursued by people from the Global South who face intersecting forms of oppression and marginalisation amidst the climate crisis. Contributors discuss litigation strategy, novel legal arguments, institutional barriers, and unique socio-ecological and political challenges in the Global South. Divided into two parts, the book recognises that climate change is an existential threat to humanity more frequently being tackled in courts worldwide. The first part exposes the limits of litigation as a mechanism for intersectional climate justice for vulnerable people in the Global South. The second part highlights innovations in climate litigation in pursuit of intersectional climate justice. The book will be of interest to academics, researchers, and policymakers in the areas of human rights law, environmental law, climate law, Latin American studies, South Asian studies, and African studies.

London; New York: Routledge, 2025. 349p.

By Madeline Brashear, Sarah Diaz

Along the U.S.-Mexico border, particularly within California, Arizona, and Texas, exists one of the largest mass graves in the world, both perpetuated and ignored by the U.S. government. Since 1998, the remains of over 7,500 migrants1 have been recovered around the U.S.-Mexico border and over 7,667 are still missing.2 According to data compiled by the Missing Migrants Project, “more lives are known to be lost in the United States of America than in all other countries in the Americas combined.”3 The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has found that the Mexico-United States border is the zone of the most border deaths in the Americas, due in large part to the “harsh conditions of the arduous desert trek,” and is the third-highest zone of border deaths in the world.4 These numbers, while incredibly high, are a significant undervaluation, as thousands of migrants are reported missing each year, yet to be discovered.5 Many of these missing perished in the remote regions of the desert, their bodies will never be recovered, and their stories may never be told. An accurate calculation of the death toll will never be known.6 This brutal reality is the product of our nation’s immigration laws and policies: Border Patrol disguises the impact of its current enforcement policy by mobilizing a combination of sterilized discourse, redirected blame, and “natural” environmental processes that erase evidence of what happens in the most remote parts of southern Arizona. The goal is to render invisible the innumerable consequences this socio-political phenomenon has for the lives and bodies of undocumented people.7 In Arizona alone, the remains of approximately 3,500 migrants have been recovered since 1990. 8 Over one third of those recovered remain unidentified due to the state of decomposition in the harsh conditions of the Sonoran Desert.9 The Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner (PCOME), located in southern Arizona along the Tucson sector of the border, continues to be the agency that investigates the highest number of migrant deaths in the United States.10 While the local medical examiners work diligently to recover and identify missing migrants, the federal government does nothing to ameliorate the problem they created. It leaves that task to the border communities affected by this silent violence. For over twenty years, humanitarian organizations, NGOs, and scholars have sounded the alarm, expecting the United States government to take action to prevent the preventable.11 Instead of enacting policies to stop the deadly policies, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and within it, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) have consistently enacted policies that have only amplified the problem.

CLALS Working Paper Series, No. 44 (Nov. 2023) Washington, DC: American University,

Center for Latin American & Latino Studies, 2023. 38p.

By Sarah J. Diaz, Jenny Lee

In the spring of 2018, United States citizens bore witness to the unfathomable: children, toddlers, and even breastfeeding infants were ripped screaming from their parents’ arms by U.S. immigration officials and then disappeared into government detention. The events that took place shocked the collective conscience, moving American mothers to march with their children to government immigration offices across the country to demand a halt to the program. The policy of family separations, or parent-child separations, was formally announced by the Trump Administration through a memo entitled “Zero Tolerance” and defended by the administration as not only permissible but required by U.S. law. The Biden Administration condemned the phenomenon as a “human tragedy that occurred when our immigration laws were used to intentionally separate children from their parent or legal guardians (families).” However, there have been no pronouncements by the Biden Administration that the Zero Tolerance policy was anything other than a legitimate, albeit unfortunate, immigration policy. The global community cannot allow the Trump Administration’s policy of family separation to be accepted as a legitimate government immigration policy. Instead, it is imperative to recognize that the policy of family separation, and the manner in which parent-child separations were carried out, constitute crimes against humanity. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS The following document synthesizes data gathered from litigation, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and publicly available reports written by NGOs, government bodies, and international organizations alike to determine exactly how the Trump Administration’s policy of parent-child separations via Zero Tolerance unfolded. The review uncovered the following key findings of fact explored extensively in the Findings of Fact section of this report: • Throughout the Trump Administration’s four years in power, top government leaders deployed nativist, xenophobic and increasingly inflammatory rhetoric to describe Central American migration. This rhetoric stemmed from the top, emboldening its widespread use amongst rank-and-file officers at the southern border. Trump himself disparaged Central American migration as a “violent invasion” or an “infestation”—at one point calling migrants “animals.” Then-DHS Secretary John Kelly’s rhetoric revealed an attitude of insidious structural racism toward Central American migrants in which he referred to them as “rural people with limited education who don’t have skills nor integrate well.” The rhetoric at the top was replicated by line officials, and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was eventually described as having “a pervasive culture of cruelty aimed at immigrants.” • The Trump Administration implemented the policy of family separation with the specific intent to deter migration from Central America (specifically, from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador – referred to as the “Northern Triangle”). Then-DHS Secretary John Kelly specifically indicated to the media that family separation was being considered to deter future migration to the southern border by Central American families. The policy was only implemented at the southern border and was never carried out along the northern border, coastal ports of entry, or ports of entry in the interior. • Family separation was first carried out in secret, away from the public eye, and denied by the Trump Administration. In the spring of 2017, long before the formal implementation of Zero Tolerance, the government quietly launched family separation pilots in Yuma and El Paso. The Trump Administration denied the existence of the pilot programs even as immigration and child welfare advocates offered evidence of a sharp increase in the separation of infants and toddlers from their parents. • Terrorizing children and families was central to the government’s policy, not merely an unfortunate byproduct. From the beginning of the Trump Administration, the government openly stated that it was considering family separation as a tool of deterrence. While the Trump Administration repeatedly claimed that separation was merely incidental to a policy of prosecution, recently released government emails show an administration furiously working to enforce separation even when it was not necessary, when it could have been avoided, and even when other government agencies were trying to immediately reunify families. The secret pilot programs demonstrated the inevitable harms to separated children (including losing children into detention systems, protracting separation, exacerbating harm) but these lessons were deliberately ignored by the Trump Administration. • The Trump Administration was at all times aware of the unthinkable and lasting harm that the family separation policy would cause to children. Researchers have documented the harm of parent-child separation for decades. In the midst of the Trump Administration’s separation of families, medical experts were unequivocal in their condemnation: family separation causes lasting and profoundly harmful physical and psychological effects on children. The American Academy of Pediatrics described the practice as “state-sanctioned child abuse.” The medical community denounced the practice as a form of child torture. In fact, the government’s own detention facilities recorded family separations as “abuse in DHS custody.” • The Trump Administration exploited harm to children to employ pervasive and illegal coercive practices to force deportations of separated families. One report contains evidence that U.S. government officials used physical and verbal threats, deception and intimidation to coerce separated parents into signing forms to relinquish their right to request asylum and to opt instead for deportation. The trauma of being separated from their children, as well as the coercive environment created by government officials, made it extremely difficult for parents to participate meaningfully in the legal process. Thirty percent of mothers reported that immigration officers threatened that if the mother did not sign the deportation order, they would never see their children again. • As of the date of this publication, the Trump Administration separated over 5,500 children from their parents pursuant to the policy of family separations via Zero Tolerance; an accurate number will never be known. According to government records, at least 5,569 children were separated from their parents by the Trump Administration as of January 20, 2021. However, these numbers do not paint the complete picture. In addition to the unreported numbers from Yuma, multiple agencies have reported parent-child separations that were not registered in HHS records.

Chicago: Center for the Human Rights of Children at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, 2022. 83p.

By Amy Farrell; Meredith Dank; Katherine Kaufka Walts; Callie Hansson; Andrea Hughes; Chlece Neal

The exploitation of children who are working in the United States is a critical social issue. While recent public attention has been directed toward labor abuses of migrant children, there is strong evidence that labor trafficking impacts a wide range of children who experience individual and structural vulnerabilities. Despite public concern about the exploitation and labor trafficking of children, we lack detailed information about what young people are exploited for labor, the contexts under which these abuses occur, and how to best meet the needs of these young survivors – both U.S. citizen and foreign-national. Utilizing data from 71 cases of child labor trafficking either prosecuted by U.S. officials (36) or served by legal advocacy agencies in four U.S. sites (35). Across these cases information was coded for 132 child labor trafficking victims and 145 child labor trafficking perpetrators. Case data was supplemented with in-depth interviews with legal advocates, victim service providers, child welfare, law enforcement and other government officials, as well as adult child labor trafficking survivors, this study fills important gaps in our knowledge

Report to the U.S. National Institute of Justice, 2024. 93p.

By Laura E. McMinn, Juliane A. Kloess, and Zoe Stephenson

Young people with special educational needs (SEN), such as intellectual disability and/or autism, are particularly vulnerable to child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA). This mixed-methods systematic literature review consolidates findings in respect to how young people with SEN are currently being taught about CSEA in the UK, incorporating empirical and practice-based findings to counteract publication bias. Key databases were searched, and relevant organizations were contacted regarding studies published between 2015 and 2022 (inclusive). Thirteen articles met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 10 adopted a qualitative methodology, and three a mixed-methods approach. The thematic synthesis of the qualitative studies identified the following themes: (a) beliefs and stereotypes about CSEA, vulnerability. and risk have led to young people with SEN being misinformed and misunderstood, and (b) anxiety about the topic of sex and abuse creates polarized views regarding CSEA education in adult guardians of young people with SEN. Themes are discussed in the context of societal biases in respect to vulnerability and risk, and these biases are considered to have a negative effect on how young people with SEN are supported. The findings of this review encourage providers of CSEA awareness education to be mindful of not endorsing harmful stereotypes, and to involve parent–carers as much as possible. This review additionally encourages services and organizations to increase focus on practitioner reflexivity and regular training to counteract potential biases in respect to gender, vulnerability, and risk.

Trauma, Violence, & AbuseVolume 25, Issue 3, July 2024, Pages 2503-2520

By Audrey N. Beck, Sheldon Zhang, Kyle Vincent, Kantar Ghana

This study estimates likely child trafficking and exploitative child labor in three fishing districts around Lake Volta in Ghana. Both international and Ghanaian definitions were applied to determine these populations. Targeting children in fishing villages along the coast of Lake Volta, this study used a household-based probability sampling to reach N=1,286 children. Household parent/caregivers (N=489) were also sampled to understand community perceptions of trafficking and child labor in these areas. Among children interviewed, we find that about 38% were likely victims of human trafficking and an additional 45% were engaged in likely exploitative child labor (i.e., excessive hours, harsh conditions). Additionally, we find that children identified as likely trafficked victims are more frequently exposed to dangerous working conditions, physical and psychological harm. Among children, we find: • Approximately 37.7% (CI=34.3,41.1) of children were identified as likely trafficked victims. • The majority of these children were boys (~60%). • These children were about 13 years old on average. • An additional 45.1% (CI=41.6,48.7) were engaged in likely exploitative child labor conditions only, and 17.2% (CI=14.6,20.2) were doing other child work/ help. • About half of all children engage in fishing tasks out on the lake, such as bailing/scooping water, paddling the boat, diving for nets, etc. • Some of these tasks are particularly dangerous, with 15% reporting going underwater to retrieve nets. • About 20% of children said they were not attending school, citing the need to work as one of the most common reasons for skipping school. Likely trafficked children • Many were working in dangerous conditions (28.6%) or working excessive hours, including: ~22.5 per week on average, 34.4% working six days a week, and 13.7% reporting working seven days a week. • More than half worked while it was dark. • 58% of likely trafficked children report extreme fatigue, 55% report severe stomach aches, and 51% report severe back and joint pain. About 40% expressed feeling sad, hopeless, or having little interest in things. • Emotional violence, such as being belittled and insulted, was significantly higher among likely trafficked children (25.3%) than those in likely exploitative child labor (12.3%). A similar pattern emerges for physical violence and threats of violence, with 36.7% of likely trafficked children experiencing such conditions. • Likely trafficked children experienced the highest levels of restrictions on their freedom, perceived exit or work refusal costs, and emotional and physical abuse at work. Among parent/guardians, we find: • Nearly 20% know of a child brought to their village to work, while about 34% know of a child not enrolled in school (most commonly to support their family economically). • About a fifth have witnessed children engaged in dangerous fishing tasks, with about 10% noting they have seen boys being treated badly in fishing. • However, most parent/caregivers believed children enjoyed working in fishing, most commonly because it allowed them to earn money for themselves or their family. • Knowledge of labor laws is lacking, with only 9% reporting their employers are knowledgeable about most labor laws. Using rigorous probability-based methods, this study finds child labor in the fishing industry to be pervasive in the villages along Lake Volta, dangerous and abusive working conditions to be common, and the number of potential child trafficking victims to be alarming. In addition to probability household sampling, we also used population-based calibrations to weight our results. These results point to the need for increased efforts to enforce child protection laws, eliminate abusive working conditions for children, and improve access to child welfare and education services. More importantly, periodic assessment through repeated measures should be built into all anti-child trafficking or anti-human trafficking efforts to evaluate program outcomes and monitor progress.

Washington, DC: International Justice Mission, 2023. 31p.

By Kirsten Singleton, Katrina B. Stone, and Julie Stricker

Past studies have demonstrated the presence of child work, child labor, and child trafficking within Lake Volta’s fishing industry—highlighting that many children live outside the legal safeguards Ghana has established to protect child welfare—and have also documented the hazards and hardships faced by these children. However, prior to this mixed methods baseline study, the extent of child trafficking into forced labor on Lake Volta could only be inferred. The purpose of this baseline study was to document the scope and nature of child trafficking in Lake Volta’s fishing industry. Methodology IJM conducted two primary data collection efforts: 1) an operational assessment in the southern region of Lake Volta in 2013; and 2) a qualitative research study in destination and source communities in 2015. 1. Operational assessment in the southern region of Lake Volta: In 2013, IJM conducted an operational assessment on Lake Volta to determine the scale of child trafficking into forced labor. This assessment was conducted in IJM’s intended project area (the southern portion of the lake, which ranges from south of the Abotasi fishing village and east of the Akosombo Dam). Over the course of 17 days during June and July, data collectors conducted interviews with children and/or adults in a total of 982 occupied boats (canoes) classifying the trafficking status of all children interviewed or observed. 2. Qualitative study in destination and source communities: In 2015, IJM hired a local Ghanaian research firm to conduct in-depth qualitative research in the top three destination and top three source communities identified by the southern operational assessment. In total, the study team conducted 32 focus group discussions with targeted community members involved in Lake Volta’s fishing industry—including young adults who had worked in the fishing industry as children; men in the fishing industry; women in destination communities who host children; and parents/guardians who send children to Lake Volta—and interviewed 51 key informants. To further triangulate information, the study team documented five accounts with survivors of trafficking and profiled six fishing villages in which focus group discussions were conducted. Results - Findings from the distinct yet complementary studies in 2013 and 2015 reveal that the majority of children working in Lake Volta’s fishing industry are 10 years old or younger. This shows that the majority of children are too young to legally conduct the hazardous tasks inherent in many aspects of the fishing industry. Although the 2013 operational assessment overwhelmingly found boys working on Lake Volta (99.3% of children on the southern region of the lake were boys), the 2015 study found that girls also work in—and are trafficked into—the fishing industry. The findings demonstrate that girls have different roles in the fishing industry, completing most tasks somewhere onshore or further inland instead of on the lake where the 2013 assessment occurred. The 2015 study also revealed that both boys and girls have physically demanding, and sometimes hazardous, roles in Lake Volta’s fishing industry. The 2013 operational assessment found that more than half (57.6%, 444/771) of children working on southern Lake Volta’s waters were trafficked into forced labor. In 2015, each of the fishing communities sampled during the qualitative study confirmed the presence of child trafficking. Across destination communities, most respondents estimated that 60% or more of the children working in the fishing industry were born in other communities. In source communities, most respondents estimated that between 20-50% of children leave the community specifically to work in Lake Volta’s fishing industry. Data collection in 2013 and 2015 found that children trafficked into the fishing industry had contractual agreements for their exploitation, which were frequently between the trafficker and the child’s parent/guardian. The 2015 study found that while many perpetrators may be low-income fishermen themselves, they do not use trafficked children merely to survive. In fact, exploiting trafficked children enabled them to send their biological children to school and provide better accommodations and clothing for their own family. One male survivor accounted that, “We were more or less like house slaves, because their own children did nothing.” Thus, several factors distinguished trafficked from non-trafficked children, including: access to education, working conditions—such as working longer hours and being assigned more intense, hazardous, or difficult tasks—and improper clothing and shelter. Physical violence committed against children was widespread in Lake Volta’s fishing industry, with parents/guardians in source communities reporting that children were “beaten like goats.” While trafficked children overwhelmingly experienced violence, this was not unique to trafficked children due to the cultural acceptance of physical discipline in Ghana. Qualitative data in 2015 revealed that traffickers controlled children through violence and limiting access to food; and sometimes kept older boys in their employment through sexual rewards and marriage. The latter control tactics rendered girls in the fishing industry vulnerable to multiple forms of victimization. These means of control combined with the working and living conditions affected trafficked children, with key informants citing that survivors displayed signs of trauma and underdeveloped social skills. Further, although everyone acknowledged that there are government programs in place and NGOs that serve trafficking survivors, the service needs of trafficked children far exceeded the availability and accessibility of services. Recommendations The study’s results revealed the need for a holistic, multidisciplinary anti-trafficking intervention which includes: 1) prioritizing the arrest, prosecution and conviction of perpetrators of child trafficking into forced labor and the related psycho-social support of trafficked children; and 2) reducing vulnerability through increased access to education and through economic empowerment. The information in this report can help inform strategies for the identification and investigation of cases of child trafficking, including: methods to reach hidden populations and routine monitoring of trafficking hotspots. Once identified, trafficked children must be provided with appropriate services by the Ghanaian government as well as other community and non-governmental stakeholders. Findings demonstrate the need for strong trauma-informed recovery services for survivors and reintegration support.

Washington, DC: International Justice Mission, 2021. 98p.

By Bronwyn Arnold

Child sexual abuse is presumed to be inherently harmful. During sentencing, the victim’s harm is relevant as a purpose for punishment and for determining the penalty, and the sentencing remarks communicate the reasons underpinning the offender’s punishment. This article explores a sample of sentencing remarks of sexually abused child sexual offenders made in three Australian jurisdictions between 2005 and 2018. It finds that the presumption of harm is routinely extended to the immediate victims, but rarely extended to victim-offenders. In some cases, judges used language which minimized the victim-offenders’ experiences. The article argues that the presumption of harm should be extended to victim-offenders and their harm acknowledged, to promote sentencing’s communicative function and help to facilitate its rehabilitative purpose.

The British Journal of Criminology,

By International Justice Mission

This study examines the prevalence of commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) in 20 priority cities in the Dominican Republic based on an undercover survey that used quantitative and qualitative methods. Investigators with police training conducted the survey in establishments and public spaces where sexual services are consistently sold. This report presents the current prevalence of CSEC in 2022 and compares it to the results obtained in a 2014 baseline study conducted by IJM (IJM, 2015). IJM used the same methodology in the baseline and endline studies. This report documents a statistically significant reduction in the prevalence of CSEC, which declined from 10.0% in 2014 to 2.2% in 2022. In other words, over the course of eight years, CSEC has become 78.0% less prevalent. Other qualitative data confirm this reduction and suggest it may be due to increased efforts by government authorities. This report also identifies and presents the way in which CSEC currently functions in the Dominican Republic. Although there are various qualitative studies on the efforts of authorities and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs),1 IJM’s 2014 baseline study and the current study are the only reports that use a systematized methodology to document the current prevalence of CSEC in the Dominican Republic. This study therefore offers authorities important information about the current reality of CSEC. This study is part of a concerted effort by IJM to measure the following indicators of protection: prevalence of the crime; people’s reliance on the public justice system (PJS) for protection; performance of the PJS in reported cases; and key stakeholder confidence in the PJS's response. This series of measurements provides evidence of the extent to which the Dominican public justice system has transformed its response to CSEC and sex trafficking throughout the course of IJM’s intervention.

Washington, DC: IJM, 2022. 64p.