Latest news with #SarahBenson
Irish Examiner
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
Pornography 'in children's pockets and in their bedrooms' and 'finding them when they go online'
Pornography is 'in children's pockets and in their bedrooms', and is presenting itself to children online without them having to go looking for it, according to the chief executive of Women's Aid. Sarah Benson was speaking ahead of a two-day strategic convention on the issue, beginning on Thursday in Athlone. The event, organised by Women's Aid and the Community Foundation of Ireland, will examine how society can reduce and prevent the harms of pornography 'on gender equality, healthy sexual development and online safety'. Ms Benson said Women's Aid commissioned a Red C survey in 2022 on public attitudes around pornography. 'We further commissioned a piece of research which was undertaken by the Sexual Exploitation Research and Policy Institute which was published in November of last year.' That research found much of what features in mainstream pornography constitutes sexual violence, including the strangling of women during sex. Ms Benson said pornography could 'no longer remain the elephant in the room', adding it is a multi-billion euro 'broadly unregulated industry' which 'is on every smartphone, is on every social media app, in children's pockets and in their bedrooms, it is in the bedrooms of young people and adults alike, coming between positive sexual intimacy'. She warned: 'We now have the rise of AI and deep fake, so online safety, gender equality, sexual violence, healthy sexuality, children's exposure — it [pornography] is in too many spaces and places. "This is us convening, in a closed session, a wide group of experts who work on many different things but have that one thread of shared concern. Together, what we hope to be able to arrive at is some sort of strategy for action, whereby we can bring that to the general public, perhaps bring it to legislation. We are not talking about children accessing Pornhub — we are talking about porn finding them when they go online. We have to assume that they will be exposed to it, and not hope that they won't. She said a platform for action was what was now needed to tackle the harmful impact. Current gender adviser to the G7 and former tánaiste and MEP Frances Fitzgerald will chair the event. More than 50 delegates will include representatives from a range of areas including domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, men's leadership and development, children's rights and children's safety, education, online safety, consent programmes, youth organisations, migrant rights agencies and researchers.
RTÉ News
03-05-2025
- Health
- RTÉ News
Rise in migrant women seeking support for gender-based violence
An organisation which supports migrant women affected by crime said that it has witnessed a rise in those seeking support who are exposed to gender-based violence. AkiDwA said there is a "huge" increase in migrant women and girls who are subjected to harm and who are contacting them. It is impacting women from many countries and of all ages, including students and young girls, according to AkiDwA's Chief Executive, Dr Salome Mbugua. "We have seen an increase in the number of women seeking support in both Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and domestic violence," she said. "We have almost 6,000 women who live in this country who have been subjected to FGM," she said. The organisation is also supporting many women who are affected by violence in the home and those in child marriages. One of their tasks is raising awareness among migrant women about what constitutes violence. "Most women identify with physical violence but don't identify with sexual violence," she said. She also outlines aspects of domestic violence where women can't access money and are deprived in this way. Women's Aid, which provides support to victims of domestic violence, said, on average, 40% of the women who contact them face to face are from outside Ireland. "So, proportionate to the migrant population in the country, that's considerably higher," explained Sarah Benson, Chief Executive of Women's Aid. She explains how their circumstances are often more precarious. "Of course, their vulnerability and circumstances where they might be subjected to domestic, sexual or other forms of gender-based violence can be higher," she said. In some cases, where the women are at risk from a partner or their former partner their children are also suffering harm. She also warns that a lack of knowledge of what constitutes a crime can prevent victims from coming forward. "If there are countries where, for example, there isn't strong legislation or sanctions for domestic violence or other forms of sexual violence, it can normalise and minimise that and perhaps make it less likely that somebody might be able to access safety or justice". She also describes the difficult situations migrant women can find themselves in where "if they don't speak the language" and they are being subjected to coercive control. "You are lied to about your rights and entitlements, or you're simply not exposed to the fact that there is help." Women's Aid phone line currently offers help in 240 languages. Last year it supported women in over 30 languages. After English, the most calls were through Polish followed by Portuguese. In recent years there has also been more focus on providing training to frontline services to ensure that professionals in certain sectors are familiar with harmful cultures and practices. AkiDwA is tasked with providing this nationwide. "The cultural norms are one of the key challenges that service providers face," Dr Mbugua explained. "We have women who require support from many different backgrounds. She highlights how most of their referrals come from hospitals, social workers and healthcare professionals. "We support them so they can handle issues coming into their hospitals." Those issues include the many cases of female genital mutilation, a cruel practice that is still prevalent in parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Currently around 1,600 girls are at risk of FGM in Ireland, according to Dr Mbugua. The support that these victims need is both psychological and physical, with surgery and counselling seen as integral to their recovery. Victims of FGM in Ireland are currently on waiting lists for surgery of up to 10 months. She is calling for more education and advocacy around FGM and other forms of gender-based violence in schools. "Many schools are not aware of this violence," she explained. There is also despondency among those who support vulnerable women over the current system for those entering direct provision. Sarah Benson describes how the women and girls may be subject to sexual exploitation or domestic violence. She wants to see more recognition that "this is happening within systems" to make sure that there are safe spaces for women and children and "recognising that before they ever arrive in this country." She said female migrants, particularly those who are fleeing conflict, are "disproportionately likely to have experienced sexual violence" on their journey here. "So, receiving them into standard direct provision centres is simply not acceptable. I don't think yet that the system properly recognises the gendered nature of migration into this country and is has quite a lot that it could do to improve, specifically, the response to women and children." The Chief Executive of Ruhama, Barbara Condon, echoes these concerns. "A key difficulty is accessing safe and appropriate accommodation for victims of human trafficking for sexual exploitation," she said. She also speaks about how stigma and shame associated with sexual violence and exploitation can be a barrier to seeking support. However, the charity has seen an increase in the number of women and girls contacting their services in the last few years. Early indications show there has been a further rise in the first few months of this year. Approximately 90% of the women that Ruhama support are migrant women. According to AkiDwA, migrants are feeling safer in Ireland compared to two years ago when tensions flared around migration. However, safety behind closed doors remains a massive issue for many of these women and girls. The Minister for Justice has said a priority is ensuring that Cuan, the agency set up to tackle domestic sexual and gender-based violence, has the resources required to meet the demands of "diverse" and "new communities".
The Guardian
01-04-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Sarah Benson: from a PhD in explosives to overseeing integrity in Australian sport
Sarah Benson is the forensic scientist who has been appointed sport's top cop as chief executive of Sport Integrity Australia. Her CV includes working on federal police responses to the Bali bombings, the downing of MH17 in Ukraine and the volcanic eruption on New Zealand's White Island. That experience prepared the 47-year-old for a not-straightforward initiation, where she found herself at the centre of the ferocious debate around illicit drugs in sport just as the AFL and the code's players were finalising an update to the controversial 'three-strike' policy. An Australian National Audit Office report into SIA's operations published four weeks ago found the AFL had sent a list of 51 players to SIA for targeted testing – without saying why – sparking friction between the league and the AFL Players' Association and prompting AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon to publicly deny any player privacy had been breached. The saga heightened suspicions within the players' union and put on hold discussions around the new illicit drugs policy, but Benson said on Monday – two weeks after her appointment, and having acted in the CEO role for eight months – there was nothing unusual about the list. 'It's considered best practice that we work with sports, and part of working with sports is they may provide us a list, particularly where they've got their own integrity unit,' she said. The audit report also declared SIA's management of the National Anti-Doping Scheme was only 'partly effective', and that the organisation was at risk of 'regulatory capture' by the commercial sports. Benson said she supported the audit process and it was aligned with a commitment to improvement within her organisation – set up in 2020 from Asada and previously disparate government sport integrity functions – but declared any suggestion that SIA was not independent to be incorrect. 'Whilst there's commentary that as a regulator we might be unduly influenced if a sport provides us a list of names, it is very clearly articulated in the Wada [World Anti-Doping Agency] international standard for testing and investigation that each organisation must plan and execute a testing plan, which is proportionate to the risk of doping,' she said. SIA carries out testing of athletes on a 'user pays' basis with major professional sports, after working with officials to develop a testing plan, and charges fees for tests undertaken. The organisation collected 316 samples from AFL players across 2023 and 2024, compared to 333 for players in football and 718 from those in NRL. But the audit report said testing in Australian rules and rugby league had 'deficiencies' including limited out-of-season testing. 'In context of the [audit] recommendations, part of the negotiations and discussions with sports would be to revisit the numbers and make sure that the numbers are proportionate to the risks, so that will be something that we look at,' Benson said. Sign up to Australia Sport Get a daily roundup of the latest sports news, features and comment from our Australian sports desk after newsletter promotion The ANAO report is the first high-profile challenge for Benson at the helm of SIA, but she was no stranger to sport even before joining the agency in 2023. 'The Olympics is the only reason I actually got the job in the AFP, I was second choice on a recruitment list,' she said. 'Late in 1999, because the AFP wanted to set up a national security and explosives capability to protect the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, I got a job to build that capability,' she said. After completing PhD research in man-made explosives, Benson worked for the AFP for more than two decades, rising to chief forensic scientist. She was involved the organisation's response to many of the harrowing international disasters that affected Australians during that time, including the White Island eruption in 2019. Benson recalls a family member of a person who had died expressing gratitude for returning the victim's body in time for Christmas. 'It highlights the point that everything we do at any point in time has an impact on an individual or beyond, and that we need to – where we can – operate with speed but also accuracy, and I think balancing those two translate into the sport integrity world as well,' she said. In 2024, SIA managed over 250 child safeguarding or discrimination complaints across more than 50 sports, and in the six-month period up to February 2025 child safeguarding concerns accounted for every complaint investigated. Benson said progress had been made to ensure children are safe in sporting settings, including having 32 integrity managers in place, but the safeguarding framework was still 'maturing'. 'I think we're in a good place in Australia, but there's still work to be done,' she said.
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Sport anti-corruption chief forecasts evolving threats
The woman freshly appointed to combat corruption in Australian sport forecasts evolving threats ahead of the 2032 Brisbane Olympics. And Sarah Benson, who has taken over as Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) chief executive officer, says the corruption and doping watchdog must also change to succeed in the fight for fair play. "Some of the challenges as we look to 2032 is just really understanding the vulnerabilities that sport and the system in Australia faces from those integrity threats," Benson told AAP. "Not only for 2032, but on the pathway with a number of major events. "For us, we have started the process of horizon scanning to look what those integrity threats are, and then looking back at the Paris Olympics and across a number of sports to see what are some global trends and issues that we're seeing in sports." Dr Sarah Benson PSM has been appointed as the next CEO of Sport Integrity Benson had been acting in the CEO role prior to her permanent appointment and said leading the agency is a great honour and more: — Sport Integrity Australia (@ProtectingSport) March 14, 2025 Benson, a former Australian Federal Police chief forensic scientist, had been SIA's acting CEO since the departure of David Sharpe last August. And on taking the role permanently, she predicted ongoing integrity issues from organised crime, doping and match-fixing to rising incidents involving children in sport. "The high level themes we will be looking at into the future is the impact of emerging technology and AI," Benson said. "Online abuse of athletes and officials, that is a problem here and now and is only going to compound as technology and social media platforms keep evolving. "Societal attitudes towards doping friendly competitions ... as well as issues that may be posed from emerging sports such as e-sports. "We have had a very traditional background with respect to integrity threats and built our frameworks ... around doping and safeguarding of competition manipulation. "But certainly one thing that we forecast is the nature of those integrity threats is certainly going to change and evolve." Benson said striking a balance between monitoring present threats and those potentially in the future was vital for SIA. Last year, SIA managed more than 250 child safeguarding or discrimination complaints across more than 50 sports. And in the six months to February this year, child safeguarding accounted for 100 per cent of complaints investigated by SIA - 21 matters have been referred to law enforcement. "Those figures are because we have that increased awareness and also athletes now have a place to go," Benson said. "But certainly when we look at the child safeguarding numbers, no-one in their right mind would want to see that number above zero." SIA was formed in 2020, replacing the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) while also bringing under its umbrella all other sporting integrity matters. Benson said recent global criticism of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was impacting SIA. "When trust in the global system is questioned then it, by extension, relates to the role that we perform," she said. "Because we conduct all our functions under the World Anti-Doping Code and if that's not trusted necessarily, then it impacts us. "We are operating in a system that is changing and we all need to evolve. "Whether it's advances in science and technology or advances in how people are trying to cheat, there are always lessons to learn."
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Yahoo
'Bronze Age stone will not stop holiday park plans'
A forestry agency has said plans for a woodland holiday park will not be affected by the discovery of a stone dating back to the Bronze Age. A single standing stone thought to be part of a larger ceremonial site dating back 3,700 years was found in Farley Wood, near Matlock in Derbyshire, after excavations by Forestry England in partnership with archaeology series Time Team. Save Farley Moor campaigners hoped the discovery may put the brakes on plans to build 75 cabins in 140 acres of woodland off Farley Lane. However, Forestry England said in a statement: "Following recent excavations at the Farley Moor Standing Stone, we are confident that it will remain unaffected by our proposals for a Forest Holidays location." Plans for the scheme - which are being considered by Derbyshire Dales District Council – also include a car park, shop, cafe, outdoor play area, and an archery range. But residents and campaigners, including over 3,000 who have signed a petition against the scheme, have raised objections including an increase in traffic problems. Campaigner Sarah Benson said: "We're very much hoping that these significant findings will ensure that the proposed development doesn't go ahead. "There are also reports of other significant stones within the area designated for development that still require a full archaeological investigation." Dr Lawrence Shaw, Forestry England's lead historic environment adviser, had confirmed that what had been discovered was evidence of a much more complex ceremonial landscape including the original standing stone. However, Forestry England has said the standing stone lies outside of the proposal, and its preservation will continue. It added: "The wider landscape that surrounds the monument has been forested for approximately 50 years, meaning that the prehistoric landscape to which the site was originally connected has long since been altered. "As a result, the proposals will not affect the setting or historic landscape character of the site. "As part of the planning application process, an Archaeological Assessment was carried out and submitted with the application which noted the presence of the standing stone but that no other known sites or monuments are recorded as being present within the proposed development area. "The county council has assessed the proposal and raised no objections on heritage grounds. "Based on this we are confident we can take the appropriate mitigation measures to account for these and any other unknown features, as is normal within the planning process." Follow BBC Derby on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@ or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210. 'How I helped discover hidden Bronze Age monument' Archaeologists uncover Bronze Age stone circle Forestry England
