Managing the mandate: How Australia handles the UN SRVAWG as a diplomatic inconvenience

The AAWAA Women’s Advocate · Jun 1, 2026 · 13m

Emma and Amber look at how the Australian Government has chosen to ‘manage the mandate’ of the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, rather than engage squarely with her warnings about Tickle v Giggle, CEDAW, sex‑based protections and rights, and female‑only spaces. Drawing on FOI documents and internal briefings, they trace the pattern from ‘courtesy letters’ that never get answered, to decisions not to submit evidence, to closed‑door efforts to neutralise a UN expert whose work does not ‘conform with our views’ – and ask what this means for women who rely on robust…