UN Women Australia will mark Human Rights Day and the final day of the 16 Days of Activism with the release of a new 45‑minute special conversation bringing together some of the country’s leading voices on gender‑based violence, children’s rights, and legal reform.
Titled ‘Safe. Everywhere. Always.’, the filmed discussion is hosted by multi‑award‑winning media personality, author and advocate Maria Thattil and explores what it will actually take to end violence against women and children in Australia. The conversation looks at intersecting drivers of violence, the role of men and healthy masculinity, children and young people as victim‑survivors in their own right, and the urgent need for legal and systems reform in the context of rising digital abuse.
Joining Maria in the conversation are award‑winning family violence advocate and Victorian Multicultural Commissioner Tarang Chawla, children’s advocate and author Conor Pall, and Melbourne Law School Professor Heather Douglas, a leading expert in domestic and family violence and justice reform.
The film comes at a pivotal time – violence against women and children is recognised as a national and global crisis. Safety is a right, not a privilege – yet women are being targeted both offline and online at alarming rates.
– Technology is increasingly being weaponised against women, with 58 per cent of women globally and 53 per cent in Australia reporting online abuse or harassment, and online threats and stalking frequently escalating into real‑world harm.
– Globally, one in three women has experienced violence in her lifetime, and every 10 minutes a woman or girl is killed by a family member – meaning that in the 45 minutes it takes to watch this conversation, more than four women or girls will lose their lives.
– In Australia, two in five women have experienced violence at least once, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are 30 times more likely to be hospitalised due to family‑violence‑related assault.
– Worldwide, one in four children under five lives with a mother who is a victim of intimate partner violence, and conflict‑related sexual violence has increased by 50 per cent since 2022.
It is within this context that Safe. Everywhere. Always. asks what it will take to create systems, cultures and digital spaces where women and children can be safe, everywhere and always. From homes and workplaces to social media platforms, women and children are facing escalating patterns of abuse, harassment and intimidation, including technology‑facilitated violence such as online stalking, image‑based abuse and digital surveillance.
The campaign calls for action from individuals, communities, businesses, tech companies and governments to ensure women and children are safe in every space they move through.
The Safe. Everywhere. Always. Special conversation will be released on Wednesday 10 December across UN Women Australia’s Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and LinkedIn channels, with the full video hosted on YouTube.
Media enquiries:
Jessica Lewington
External Engagement Manager
UN Women Australia
[email protected]
+61 2 5112 2060
About UN Women Australia
UN Women Australia is a non-profit organisation committed to achieving gender equality for all women, empowering them to contribute their unique knowledge and skills to help create a better world for themselves, their families and their communities. Working in over 100 countries across the globe, UN Women runs vital programs that provide women and girls access to technology, training programs and safe spaces, empowering women and girls to obtain an education, become leaders in their community and build a brighter, more equal future for us all.
About Safe. Everywhere. Always
Safe. Everywhere. Always. is a national advocacy initiative striving to end violence against women and girls that runs during the UN’s 16 Days of Activism—starting from 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and finishing on 10 December, International Human Rights Day. It champions women’s right to safety at home, work, and in all public and digital spaces, raising awareness, challenging stereotypes, and calling for action from all Australians, including individuals, communities, businesses, and governments to create real change.
The initiative includes the Safe. Everywhere. Always. Challenge, UN Women Australia’s fundraising component that encourages everyday Australians to walk, run, swim, ride or roll their way through the 16 days in support of ending violence against women. Launched in 2023, the Challenge has raised over $350,000 to support the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women (UNTF) and UN Women Australia’s advocacy efforts to end violence against women and girls.
The UNTF is the only global grant-making mechanism exclusively dedicated to preventing and ending violence against women and girls, funding initiatives in over 100 countries worldwide. In 2024, UN Trust Fund projects reached over 7.7 million women and girls.
Find out more about Safe. Everywhere. Always. and ways to get involved here.
Key Figures
- Technology is increasingly weaponised against women—58% globally and 53% in Australia report experiencing online abuse or harassment.
- 1 in 3 women have faced violence; every 10 minutes globally, a woman or girl is killed by a family member.
- 2 in 5 Australian women have experienced
- violence at least once; 46 were killed by an intimate partner in 2023-24.
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are 30 times more likely to be hospitalised by family violence.
- There was a 50% increase in conflict-related sexual violence per UN reports since 2022.
- Worldwide, 1 in 4 children under age 5 live with a mother who is a victim of intimate partner violence.
