WALKING WITH THE EXCLUDED
By Molly Jackson,
Policy and Communications Manager, Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Australia.
The recent 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence was a global movement uniting people, organisations and communities in a shared commitment to end violence against women and girls. The campaign began on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and concluded on 10 December, International Human Rights Day.
A United Nations initiative, the campaign began in 1991 and has since drawn the attention of governments, NGOs and think tanks, among others, to the critical issue of gender-based violence. At its core is the need to confront the root causes of violence, challenge systems that perpetuate inequality, and take action to ensure safety, dignity, and justice for all women and girls.
According to this page on the United Nations Women site, the 2025 theme, set by UN Women, was “UNiTE to End Digital Violence against All Women and Girls”. Their site explains how digital tools are increasingly being used to stalk, harass, and abuse women and girls. These include:
- Image-based abuse/ non-consensual sharing of intimate images – often called revenge porn or leaked nudes.
- Cyberbullying, trolling, and online threats.
- Online harassment and sexual harassment.
- AI-generated deepfakes such as sexually explicit images, deepfake pornography, and digitally manipulated images, videos or audio.
- Hate speech and disinformation on social media platforms.
- Doxxing – publishing private information.
- Online stalking or surveillance/tracking to monitor someone’s activities.
- Online grooming and sexual exploitation.
- Catfishing and impersonation.
- Misogynistic networks – e.g. manosphere, incel forums.
These acts don’t just happen online. They are often precursors lead to offline violence in real life (IRL), such as coercion, physical abuse, and even femicide – killing of women and girls. The harm can be long-lasting, in a way that affects survivors over a prolonged period of time.
Violence against women and girls affects one in three women. It is a global human rights emergency that must stop. As the world marks the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action – one of the most progressive international agreements on women’s rights to date – the UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE 2025 campaign focused on one of the fastest-growing forms of abuse: digital violence against women and girls. This year’s campaign is also a reminder that digital safety is central to gender equality.
Our call to Government: no woman left behind
Throughout the 16-day campaign, JRS Australia continued to stand in solidarity with survivors and advocate for urgent action from state and federal governments. Ending gender-based violence within a generation requires ensuring that no woman is left behind, including women on temporary visas.
“All women who have been subjected to violence on our shores and on our watch ought to have the same rights and same access to safety and justice, recovery and healing, regardless of their visa status,” said Josephine Rechichi, JRS Australia’s Assistant Country Director.
Many women on temporary visas — including those seeking asylum — face almost insurmountable barriers to safety and recovery. Excluded from crisis accommodation, social welfare supports, and emergency financial assistance, they are too often left without pathways to protection.
JRS Australia’s Finding Safety Project continues its long-standing work to end this discrimination, while supporting providing specialist casework and community support to women and girls on temporary visas who have experienced violence in Australia.
The Finding Safety Project
Operating out of our Women’s Space, the Finding Safety Project offers specialised sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) casework, wellbeing programs, advocacy, and practical support accessing emergency accommodation, training, medical care, mental health assistance and legal advice.
The women we accompany show extraordinary courage, resilience, and leadership in rebuilding their lives. During these 16 Days, we invited our community to learn from their voices and stand alongside them in solidarity.
The 16 Days campaign provided lots of opportunities to make this possible.
Cumberland City Council held the Western Sydney Women’s March to amplify calls to end violence against women, while the “Wishing Tree” set up in Parramatta Square displays powerful messages from women with lived experience of violence – messages that serve to inspire and educate the community towards collective resistance to violence.
Sara Muzamil, the JRS Finding Safety Project Manager, also presented at the Parramatta-Cumberland forum ‘Unite to End Digital Violence Against All Women and Girls’. She spoke about empowering women and girls in digital spaces; the role of communities and organisations in prevention and support; and raising public awareness and catalysing cultural change. Sara and our new Project Officer Vandana Setia also featured in an SBS Arabic story marking the 16 Days of Activism, which you can watch here.
Finally, we were also able to hold a celebratory Women’s Gathering at our Women’s Space, where staff and participants shared lunch and stories while they also made art together. The significance of these events cannot be understated.
As I explained at the time, “When women come together in a space that is truly theirs: to gather, to make art, to share food, and simply to breathe – something powerful happens.”
“These moments rebuild what violence tries to erode: the truth that each woman’s life is precious, her story is powerful, and her future remains her own. Being together in community becomes a quiet yet irrepressible act of resistance to the isolation and silence that violence creates. It reminds every woman that she is seen, supported, and never alone.”
As part of the Temporary Migrants Group with the Sydney Alliance, we are calling on the NSW government to ensure women on temporary visas are eligible for the Start Safely rental subsidy available to victims of domestic and family violence.
16 Days, 16 Stories
Our 16 Days, 16 Stories campaign page chronicles the need to support women on temporary visas who have experienced or are at risk of sexual or gender-based violence. One of the more compelling tales is Chioma’s story. She was an accountant in her home country, but sought asylum in Australia after experiencing sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).
Chioma (her name has been changed to protect her identity) arrived in Australia from her home country on a student visa. While trying to complete her studies at university, she faced what she described as the worst moments in her life.
Chioma was in an abusive relationship and she was experiencing domestic violence.?As a temporary visa holder, and like many women in her position, Chioma feared leaving the relationship and risking her visa status.
Since walking away from the relationship, however, she has discovered new freedoms, and believes she can have a bright future as a single mother living in Australia.
“When there is danger in your life, you really need to find a solution, and the solution is fleeing for your life to where you can find safety. The earlier you find freedom the faster you can move on with your life”, she said. “Now I can see that I have prospects and plans, and my strategies are working out for me.”
The Finding Safety Project played an important role in empowering Chioma to leave her abusive relationship.
While our specialist caseworkers coordinate a range of practical supports to assist women on temporary visas, a core part of the work is accompanying women as they reassert their strengths, redefine their futures, and find safety in themselves.
“Moving away was a heap of relief because I was able to sleep that night. I slept very well with the belief that I could live a life of fulfilment. Now I can see that I have prospects and plans, and my strategies are working out for me”, Chioma said.
Describing her search for freedom, Chioma added: “I found freedom by looking for where I can express myself freely, where I don’t have to be under pressure or constraint or intimidated. That is where I say that there is freedom in this place. Where there is freedom of expression, freedom of life, freedom of association and freedom of religion”.
Visit the JRS Australia 16 Days, 16 Stories campaign page to learn more, and if you would like to support the Finding Safety Project, please consider donating here.
Banner image: Julie Ricard, Unsplash