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Medical Whistleblower Advocacy Network

Human Rights Defenders

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”

 Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 1

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"Every rape is a grave violation of physical and mental integrity. Every rape has the potential to profoundly debilitate, to render the woman homeless in her own body and destroy her sense of security in the world.

 

Every rape is an expression of male domination and misogyny, a vehicle of terrorizing and subordinating women. Like torture, rape takes many forms, occurs in many contexts, and has different repercussions for different  victims.

Every rape is multidimensional, but not incomparable. "

 

Rhonda Copelon, “Surfacing Gender: Reconceptualizing Crimes Against Women in Time of War”

 

Specific Groups:

Native American -OJP Tribal Justice and Safety  http://www.tribaljusticeandsafety.gov/.

 

Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s Association
www.alz.org

Alzheimer’s Association’s Safe Return Program
Crisis Line: (314) 647–5959
www.alz.org/Services/SafeReturn.asp#how

 

Vision impairment or Blind

American Council of the Blind
(800) 424–8666
www.acb.org

American Foundation for the Blind
www.afb.org

 

Mental Illness

Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance
(formerly the National Depressive and Manic-Depressive Association )
(800) 826–3632
www.DBSAlliance.org

Treatment Advocacy Center
(703) 294–6001
www.psychlaws.org

 

Mental Retardation

American Association on Mental Retardation
(800) 424–3688
www.aamr.org

National Down Syndrome Congress
(800) 232–6372
www.ndsccenter.org

The Arc of the United States
(800) 433–5255
www.thearc.org

 

Deaf of Hard of Hearing

National Association of the Deaf
www.nad.org

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
www.nidcd.nih.gov

Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf
www.rid.org

 

Elderly

National Center on Elder Abuse
http://www.elderabusecenter.org/default.cfm

Disabled:

A person with a disability is 4 to 10 times more likely to be a victim of a crime than a person without a disability.  60% of women with hearing impairments, 59% of women with visual impairments, 57% of women with learning disabilities, and 47% of women with mobility impairments will be physically abused in their lifetimes.   81% of people with psychiatric disabilities have been physically or sexually assaulted. 85% of women with disabilities have been victims of some form of domestic abuse.  Women with disabilities stay in relationships with their batters almost twice as long as women without disabilities.  

 

Nora J. Baladerian, Table of Contents, from Interviewing Skills to Use with Abuse Victims Who Have Developmental Disabilities, at v (Spectrum Institute 1998). [Click Here]

 

Disabled Women Tips for Rape Counselors [Click Here]

 

The Investigation of Abuse and Women with Disabilities: Going Beyond Assumptions by Nosek, M., C. Howland, R. Hughes, 4/01,  22 pages, Available through The Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs, Inc. lending library Call # J:VAW:04/01/477 

 

Masuda, Shirley, “Violence Against Women with Disabilities”, Abilities, Summer 1992, Issue 12, pp.86-66. Moorey, Kelli [Click Here] 

 

Beating the Odds: Violence and Women with Disabilities by Jacqueline Pelletier, Report: Women with Disabilities Network meeting, June 20-23, 1985.   The issue is violence against women with disabilities was everywhere. In the rural areas and in the cities, in the operation rooms and on the psychiatric wards, at home, on the streets - Women are at risk - and Women with disabilities are at greater risk

[Click Here]

Deaf or Hard of Hearing:

Researching Sexual Violence in the Deaf Community by Jennifer Obinna, Ph.D., M.S.S.W.  2005 3 pages available thru  the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs, Inc. Lending Library Call #  J:SAR:01/05/33 [Click Here]

 

Supporting Deaf Women in Seattle: Abused Deaf Women's Advocacy Services, article by  Smith, M., Fall 2000, 1 page 01/01,  available thru  the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs, Inc. Lending Library Call # F:Di/D:22 

 

We Speak Your Language: Deaf Services at Rape Victim Advocates, Available thru  the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs, Inc. Lending Library Call # a 2 page pamphlet  F:Di/D:26

Domestic Violence by Police Officers

Victims of domestic violence by Police Officers face unique problems and have great difficulty getting appropriate help and assistance.

Crystal Brame was killed by her estranged husband, the police chief of Tacoma, Washington. Here are some facts on cops as batterers.


  1. Domestic violence is 2 to 4 times more common in police families than in the general population. In two separate studies, 40% of police officers self-report that they have used violence against their domestic partners within the last year. In the general population, it's estimated that domestic violence occurs in about 10% of families.
  2. In a nationwide survey of 123 police departments, 45% had no specific policy for dealing with officer-involved domestic violence.
  3. In that same survey, the most common discipline imposed for a sustained allegation of domestic violence was counseling. Only 19% of departments indicated that officers would be terminated after a second sustained allegation of domestic violence.
  4. In San Diego, a national model in domestic violence prosecution, the City Attorney typically prosecutes 92% of referred domestic violence cases, but only 42% of cases where the batterer is a cop.  

Abuse of Power

Life Span

International Association of Chiefs of Police Policy paper

 

National Center on Women in Policing

Elderly:

National Center on Elder Abuse

 

Elder Mistreatment: Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation in an Aging America (2003)  Richard J. Bonnie and Robert B. Wallace, Eds., Panel to Review Risk and Prevalence of Elder Abuse and Neglect, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences. [Click Here]

 

Violence in Families: Assessing Prevention and Treatment Programs (1998) Rosemary Chalk and Patricia A. King, Eds., National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. [Click Here]

 

Bibliography on Addressing the needs of Older Battered Women is available through Clearinghouse on Abuse and Neglect of the Elderly (CANE)at the National Center on Elder Abuse and accessible on the Center's web site at http://www.elderabusecenter.org/default.cfm?p=statistics.cfm#research.

 

Kathleen Quinn, Older Women: Hidden Sexual Abuse Victims, Coalition Commentary, Winter 1994, at 1.

 

Elder Sexual Assault and Abuse, Report by Ramsey-Klawsnik PhD, Holly, 2002, 11 pages  Available thru  the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs, Inc. Lending Library Call # F:Di/E:11 

 

Safety Planning for Professionals Working With Elderly and Clients Who Are Victims of Abuse by Candace J. Heisler, Bonnie Brandl 202, 5 pages, Available thru  the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs, Inc. Lending Library Call # J:01/02/65 

Sexual Assault on Native American Women

An Amnesty International Report found that Native women were 2.5 times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted than females in the U.S.A. in general, and are often assaulted by non-native men.  In Alaska, "there may not be a law enforcement official to report a crime to, and women from isolated villages may not have the means to travel to a town," the report noted.  A third of native villages that are inaccessible by road have no police presence. Adequate funding is crucial to address the pressing problems of Native American Women who become victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, and other crimes.  Too often the lack of attention to the needs of Native Americans means too little funding to confront the problems of vulnerable women, victims of crime, and women struggling with mental health issues like PTSD (rape trauma syndrome).  Cultural Differences between Native American Women and the general US population and lack of law enforcement training for officers in communication with Native American Women who have been victims of sexual assault means that these crimes go often unreported and uninvestigated.   Native American Communities struggle to meet the most basic needs of their population and therefore do not have the resources to mount a campaign to address these specific issues.  This is a silent problem within the Native American population some have even referred to it as a silent epidemic.

 

Amnesty International Report 2007 [Click Here] or http://thereport.amnesty.org/eng/Download-the-Report

 

OJP Tribal Justice and Safety web site, http://www.tribaljusticeandsafety.gov/.

 

Asian Pacific American Women:

Amnesty International Report 2007 [Click Here]

Jean Dietz, Rape turns refugee women into the "silent sufferers," The Globe, June 8, 1986 (page unknown).

 

Nilda Rimonte, Pacific-Asian Survivors, in Los Angeles County Protocol, at 106 (date unknown) (abstract).*

 

Attitudes Toward Marital Violence: An Examination of Four Asian Communities article by Yoshioka, M., J. DiNoia, K. Ullah, 8/2001, 27 pages, available through The Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs, Inc. lending library  J:VAW:8/01/900  [Click Here]

Indigenous Women:

Mairin Iwanka Raya: Indigenous Women Stand against Violence. This report puts forward an Indigenous conceptualization of gender-based violence. It reflects the fruitful result of efforts by Indigenous women around the world, highlights promising practices in research, political mobilization, and community organizing, and describes future challenges to guarantee that Indigenous women have the right to a life free from violence. [Click here]

 

Violence against Indigenous Women: An Opinion Piece by Mónica Alemán, April 25, 2007 [Click Here]http://www.madre.org/articles/int/vaiwoped42507.html

 

2006 Report PDF 

African -American Women:

Women of Color:

Women of Color Resource Center, Sexual Assault Resources for Women of Color (visited March 2000) . [Click Here]

African-American Women:

Surviving the Silence: Black Women's Stories of Rape, book by Pierce-Baker, C. , 1998 available through The Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs, Inc. lending library Call # B:Di/AA:01 [Click Here]

 

H. Potter, Battered Black Women's Use of Religious Services and Spirituality for Assistance in Leaving Abusive Relationships,
Violence Against Women, March 1, 2007; 13(3): 262 - 284. [Click Here]

Gay/Lesbian

Same sex domestic violence SSDV is very much a hidden issue within the mainstream community and the gay and lesbian community.  There is a poor community understanding of DV, lack of services especially those with gay and lesbian cultural experience and membership of a small and often marginalized community. The threat of or actually outing a partner’s sexuality can be a very effective form of control because it comes with a raft of fears about rejection and isolation.  This is especially true of people in their first same sex relationship. Someone can be outed to their family, friends, work or community. A further heterosexist control is to use other people’s homophobia as a form of control.  So an abusive partner may convince their partner that others won’t accept their sexuality or the relationship and can use the associated fear to limit their social interactions, their family contact or even their career. There is a community wide myth that women aren’t perpetrators of abuse or violence and that men aren’t victims of it.  This perception is also held by many in the gay and lesbian community.  So when DV happens it is dismissed as something else – either a fight, an argument or just going through a bad period.  Actually Domestic Violence in same sex relationships is very similar to DV in different sex relationships.  

 

There is no Pride in Domestic Violence by Brad Gray [Click Here]

 

Same Sex Domestic Violence [Click Here]

Patterns of Anti-Gay Violence, by  Kuenle, K. & A. Sullivan, 8/01, 16 pages,  available through The Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs, Inc. lending library  Call # J:JIV:7/01/928 

Lesbian Rape Survivors, article by  Brooklyn Women's Anti-Rape Exchange, 1996, 3 pages available through The Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs, Inc. lending library  Call # F:Di/Le:01 

Lesbian Sexual Assault Brochure, San Francisco Women Against Rape, 3/7/2001  available through The Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs, Inc. lending library  Call #F:Di/Le:04

Military Victims:

The United States military is set apart from civilian culture by its own law, social customs, and practices.  This affects the military’s response to sexual assault and often makes it difficult or even impossible for victims to obtain the help they need and the investigation they deserve. Sexual assault in the military is often called "command rape."  

A Moment of Silence Is Not Enough, By Sara Rich

For Female Soldiers - Sexual Assault Remains a Danger

Sexual Assault in the Military

Vet becomes crusader for victims of soldier rape

Womens Organizing Women - Veterans advocacy for sexual assault victims 

Male Victims


Male victims of sexual assault have unique problems for both support and investigation.

 Men as Victims [Click Here]

Same Sex Domestic Violence [Click Here]

Nicholas Groth & Ann Wolbert Burgess, Male Rape: Offenders and Victims, AM. J. Psychiatry, July 1980, at 806. 

Rape Victim Advocates (RVA), Chicago, Illinois

Secondary Victims

Seconadary or Vicarious traumatization is used to describe the effects of sexual assault experienced by non-perpetrator family members of victim/survivors. Trauma research has recognized that witnessing violence or abuse against a “significant other”, or being exposed to traumatic material in other ways, is traumatic within itself, creating “secondary victims” of sexual assault and other traumas. In cases of sexual assault,  this secondary victimization occurs to the partners, family, friends, co-workers, even responding medical professionals, police officers and rape trauma counselors. This “secondary traumatization” and “vicarious traumatization” causes ripple effects that are under-recognized, but the effects are potentially endless because sexual assault affects all aspects of the victim’s life.

 

 Vicarious trauma

http://www.interactivetheatre.org/resc/secondary.html

Immigrant Women

Leslye Orloff and Rachel Little, Overview of Domestic Violence and Battered Immigrant Issues (Immigrant Women Program, NOW Legal Defense & Education Fund 1999).

Massachusetts Dep't of Public Health, Immigrant and Refugee Survivors, in Sexual Assault Training Manual, at 13-1 (date unknown).

 

Unintended consequences, Refugee Victims of the War on Terror by Georgetown University Law Center Human Rights Institute, Refugee Fact Finding Investigation May 2006 [Click Here]

 

Swept Under the Rug - Abuse of Domestic Workers [Click Here]

 

Côte d’Ivoire Sexual Violence " My Heart is Cut" [Click Here] 

 

The Second Assault Obstructing Access to Legal Abortion after Rape in Mexico [Click Here]

 

Sexual Violence in Darfur and Chad [Click Here]

 

Barriers to Justice for Rape Victims in Rwanda [Click Here]

 

Exploitation of Migrant Workers in Saudi Arabia [Click Here]

 

Amnesty International Report 2007 [Click Here] or http://thereport.amnesty.org/eng/Download-the-Report

 

Prosecution of Rape in Congo War [Click Here]

 

Human Rights Watch [Click Here]

 

Jewish American Women

Heather Robinson, Overcoming the Taboo, The Jewish Week, May 5, 2000 (page unknown). [Click Here]

 

A Bibliography of Sexual and Domestic Violence in the Jewish Community [Click Here]

 

Sex, Rape and Survival: Jewish Women and the Holocast, Myrna Goldenberg Ph.D.  and Ida E. King Distinguished Visiting Scholar of Holocaust Studies, The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey [Click Here]

  Jewish Taskforce in Australia  

Jewish Survivors of Sexual Violence Blog [Click Here]  

 

List of Jewish Advocates:   

  1. Rabbi Hershel Billet, Woodmere, NY
  2. Rabbi Rabbi Yosef Blau - New York, NY
  3. Rabbi Reuven Bulka - Ottawa, Canada
  4. Rabbi Sholom Ciment - Boynton Beach, FL
  5. Rabbi Mark Dratch - Executive Director, JSAFE, New York, NY
  6. Rabbi Moshe Green - Committee for Rabbinic Integrity, Monsey, NY
  7. Rabbi Yisroel Hager - Committee for Rabbinic Integrity, Monsey, NY
  8. Rabbi Chaim Halberstam - Committee for Rabbinic Integrity, Monsey, NY  

 

Muslim Women:

The Muslim Wheel of Domestic Violence was developed by Dr. Sharifa Alkhateeb. It conveys some of the ways religion can be distorted to justify abuse against women and children in the family context. It is an adaptation of the Power and Control Wheel developed by the Domestic Abuse Project of Duluth, Minnesota. [Click here] 

Amnesty International Report in Arabic 2006

Pakistan Police Women - Gender Bias in Investigating Rape- Report [Click Here]

 

Violence against Palestinian Women and Girls [Click Here]

 

State Failure to stop Domestic Abuse and Abduction in Kyrgyzstan [Click Here]

 

Mukhtaran Bibi (مختاران بی‌بی)  also known as Mukhtar Mai, Mukhtiar or Mukhtaran is a Pakistani woman from a rural village in Pakistan. Mukhtar Mai suffered a gang rape as a form of honor-revenge (see honour killing), on the demands of tribesmen — or by some accounts, on the orders of a panchayat (tribal council).  By custom, Pakistani women are expected to commit suicide after such an event. Instead, she took the settlement money provided her by the government following a court case, and opened a center for refuge and education, the Mukhtar Mai Women's Welfare Organization. In April 2007, Mukhtar Mai won the North-Sourth Prize from the EU Council of Europe. In 2005, Glamour Magazine named her "Glamour Woman of the Year. After the conviction of her attackers, Mukhtaran became a symbol for advocates for the health and security of women in her region, attracting both national and international attention to these issues. Mukhtar Mai became famous after she took the money awarded her in the court settlement, and began to work to educate girls, and to promote education with a view towards raising awareness to prevent future honor crimes.

 

Interview with Mukhtaran Bibi [Click Here]   Video of her refuge [Click Here]  Her Blog [Click Here]  

مائی بلاگ: پولینڈ سفر نامہ

 

General References:

Overviews:

Joel Epstein & Stacia Langenbahn, Outreach to Previously Underserved Populations, in Criminal Justice and Community Response to Rape, at 66 (Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Dep't of Justice 1994).

Linda E. Ledray, Working with Special Populations, in Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, Development and Operation Guide, at 79 (Office for Victims Crime, U.S. Dep't of Justice) (date unknown).

Mark A. Whatley, For Better or Worse: The Case of Marital Rape, Violence and Victims, Spring 1993, at 29 (abstract).

National Center for Victims of Crime, Arlington, VA and Crime Victim’s Research and Treatment Center, Rape in America: A Report to the Nation (1992).

Anne Seymour & Anna Whalley, Sexual Assault, inNational Victim Assistance Academy Text, at 10-1 (Victims Assistance Legal Organization & Office for Victims of Crime, U.S. Dep't of Justice 2000).

External Websites:

CAVNET  an extensive, searchable, online database of resources about violence against women

National Center for Victims of Crime 
Information on the dynamics of non-stranger rape.

National Center for Victims of Crime  - PTSD

National Center for Victims of Crime
Rape statistics, victims’ reactions to rape, as well as practical suggestions for assisting a rape victim after an assault.

National Center for Victims of Crime
This website discusses male rape victims.

Network for Battered Lesbians and Bisexual Women
This site includes resources for lesbian and bisexual survivors of violence.

Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice
This website provides information and research on sexual assault and domestic violence, as well as contact information for the state sexual assault coalitions, including direct links to their websites, when available.

Rape Treatment Center at the UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica, California
This website describes the impact of rape on rape victims.

Rape Victim Advocates (RVA), Chicago, Illinois
This website addresses the experience and reactions of male rape victims.

Rape Victim Advocates (RVA), Chicago,
This website explains common myths and facts about rape.

The Feminist Majority
This website contains sexual assault resources for survivors, advocates and criminal justice personnel, including state specific resources.

Victim Assistance Program, Akron, Ohio

Battered Women’s Justice Project
(800) 903–0111
www.bwjp.org

Childhelp USA/Forrester National Child Abuse Hotline

www.childhelpusa.org

Family Violence Department’s Resource Center on Domestic Violence: Child Protection and Custody
(800) 527–3223

http://nationalcouncilfvd.org

Family Violence Prevention Fund/Health Resource Center

www.endabuse.org

Mothers Against Drunk Driving
(800) 438–6233
www.madd.org

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

www.ncmec.org

National Center for Victims of Crime

www.ncvc.org

National Children’s Alliance
(800) 239–9950

www.nca-online.org

National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information
 
www.health.org

National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information
(800) 394–3366

http://nccanch.acf.hhs.gov/

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

www.ncadv.org

National Criminal Justice Reference Service

 www.ncjrs.gov

National Domestic Violence Hotline
(80...; (80..., TTY
www.ndvh.org

National Fraud Information Center
(800) 876–7060
www.fraud.org

National Organization for Victim Assistance
(800) 879–6682

www.try-nova.org

Office for Victims of Crime Resource Center

www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/ovcres

Parents of Murdered Children
(888) 818–7662
www.pomc.org

Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network
(800) 656–4673

www.rainn.org

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”
 
― Leo Buscaglia

Medical Whistleblower Advocacy Network

MEDICAL WHISTLEBLOWER ADVOCACY NETWORK

P.O. 42700 

Washington, DC 20015

MedicalWhistleblowers (at) gmail.com

CONTACT

"Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself."  Confucius

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt- Excerpt from the speech "Citizenship In A Republic", delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910