Current direction, 19 September 2026: this is an earlier, unsent Human Rights Watch draft retained in the public record. Atlas now intends to refer the matter first to the Australian Human Rights Commission, then pursue appropriate international avenues. This draft does not record a submission to any organisation.
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Document 007: Proposed Human Rights Watch submission
Atlas Men’s Advocacy | 19 September 2026 | Public version 1
Status: Public draft for review. Not sent; no endorsement or investigation is implied.
Adult male victims deserve to be seen
Request for independent human-rights assessment of Western Australia's coercive-control advertising
Prepared for Human Rights Watch, Australia office
Atlas Men's Advocacy | 19 September 2026 | Draft for review, not sent
1. Why Atlas is approaching Human Rights Watch
Atlas Men's Advocacy advocates for adult men. We ask Human Rights Watch to independently assess whether Western Australia's public education about coercive control adequately recognises adult male victims, particularly men subjected to abuse by female partners.
The government acknowledged male victims of partner emotional abuse in its own campaign launch statement. Yet the four acted advertisements in Atlas's initial review depicted male controlling partners and female victims. Two additional shorter versions located in the expanded toolkit have not supplied a reverse portrayal in the sequences inspected.
Our central question is straightforward: where are the publicly funded advertisements that allow an adult man controlled by a female partner to recognise his own experience?
We seek an assessment of the evidence, assistance in establishing the full decision record, and consideration of investigation or advocacy within Human Rights Watch's remit. If another organisation is better placed to undertake that work, we would welcome a referral.
2. The government campaign and its stated purpose
The WA Government launched Coercion Hurts on 30 September 2024 as a statewide campaign, with a stated $5 million commitment over two years. The launch described its purpose as helping victim-survivors, perpetrators and the public recognise coercive control. It cited Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates that 23% of women and 16% of men had experienced partner emotional abuse since age 15. These are the figures the government used, not Atlas estimates of coercive-control prevalence. Official launch statement.
The campaign was launched under Premier Roger Cook and then responsible minister Sabine Winton. The Department of Communities records that it developed the campaign in partnership with the Department of the Premier and Cabinet. Responsibility for commissioning, creative approval and later continuation should be established from the relevant records. Department of Communities annual report, page 21.
3. What the advertising review establishes
Atlas's initial review covered four official films:
| Film | Link |
|---|---|
| Couple, 30 seconds | Official video |
| Family, 30 seconds | Official video |
| Young adults, controlling appearance | Official video |
| Young adults, isolation from friends | Official video |
Within that defined set, Atlas classified 4 of 4 films as depicting male-to-female partner control, and 0 of 4 as depicting an adult male partner victim of a woman. That is 100% versus 0% of the four reviewed executions, not a percentage of total campaign spending, exposure or all available assets. The films reuse relationship scenarios, so they are not four independent couples.
The April 2026 toolkit also links 15-second young-couple and family versions. Those additions were inspected through browser frames and embedded captions, not a complete audio transcription. The six-link inventory therefore must not be represented as six independently and fully coded films. Official toolkit.
The family scenario includes an affected boy. Atlas's concern here is adult male intimate-partner victims. Generic bystander resources and an Easy Read guide also address people without restricting victimhood to women. Such wording does not itself provide the reverse acted portrayal at issue. The wider translated material, audio and Aboriginal campaign have not been exhaustively coded. This submission makes a defined representation claim, not a claim that every government resource excludes men.
4. Evidence that adult male victims require recognition
Research documents serious female-perpetrated abuse of male partners. Hines and Douglas's study of 302 male help-seekers and 520 community men identified patterns consistent with intimate terrorism among the help-seeking group. Its selected male samples establish experiences and patterns, not a male/female population ratio. Primary research.
The US CDC's 2016/17 survey reported lifetime coercive-control victimisation of 42.8% among men and 46.2% among women, under its behavioural measure. The difference is 3.4 percentage points. These are US victimisation estimates, not WA prevalence or sex-specific perpetration rates. CDC report, Tables 5–6.
Other studies distinguish similar rates of experiencing any controlling behaviour from greater repeated or extensive exposure among women. That distinction should be preserved. Atlas's case for recognising adult male victims does not depend on proving identical prevalence or severity across sexes. New Zealand population study.
Research on male victims' help-seeking identifies barriers including disclosure concerns and perceived invisibility of services. This supports investigating recognition as a practical issue. It does not establish that WA's campaign caused a particular person's failure to seek help. Systematic review.
5. What officials knew and what remains to be established
The 2023 WA consultation report recorded concerns about exclusion when coercive control is discussed solely through heterosexual male perpetrators. Its examples included LGBTQIA+ relationships, disability and older people. This establishes an earlier institutional awareness of exclusion concerns; it is not an explicit finding about heterosexual adult male victims. Consultation report, page 10.
The launch statement's acknowledgement of male partner-abuse victims provides a direct campaign-specific record of recognition. The question is how that recognition informed the creative choices.
Parliamentary question 1603, recorded in the Assembly questions booklet of 17 February 2026, identifies 303 MullenLowe Australia Pty Ltd as managing campaign research and confirms that development reports were produced. Those reports have not been obtained by Atlas. Official answer, page 383.
The research, creative briefs, alternative concepts, consultation advice and approval records could establish whether adult male victims were considered and whether reverse portrayals were proposed or rejected. We do not presently attribute a deliberate exclusion decision to a named individual.
6. The human-rights concern for assessment
Public education helps people identify abuse in their own relationships and recognise it in others. Atlas is concerned that repeated male-perpetrator/female-victim portrayals may leave adult male victims less recognisable and female perpetrators less accountable in public understanding.
We ask Human Rights Watch to assess whether the documented pattern, its reach and the government's decision-making raise concerns about equal protection, non-discrimination and effective access to information and support. The further inquiry should examine the actual experience of affected adult men, including recognition and help-seeking, with their informed consent.
Official acknowledgement should translate into recognisable public education. Adult men should not have to mentally reverse every depicted relationship to recognise that the message applies to them.
7. Outcomes Atlas seeks
Atlas seeks Human Rights Watch's assessment of, and support where warranted for, the following corrective measures:
- An apology to adult male victims for failures of recognition established by the examination.
- Dollar-for-dollar reverse advertising: funded portrayals of female coercive control against adult men, with matched expenditure and comparable reach in predominantly female-audience programming. The proposed benchmark includes the expenditure on male-perpetrator portrayals during AFL coverage, once verified. The actual AFL placement and expenditure figures remain outstanding.
- Additional compensatory investment in adult men's initiatives, separate from corrective advertising and existing budgets, directed to victim support, recognition and prevention. The amount should be assessed against the established failures, their effects and unmet needs. This is a proposed public remedy, not a quantified damages entitlement already established.
- Independent scrutiny and transparent reporting of research, creative decisions, spending, audience reach and the effectiveness of recognising adult male victims.
8. Specific request to Human Rights Watch
Please assess whether this matter falls within your work and whether the available evidence warrants further investigation or advocacy. In particular, we seek assistance to:
- Review the defined advertising findings and the proposed human-rights basis independently.
- Identify the further evidence needed to establish discriminatory treatment or practical harm.
- Support disclosure of the campaign research, decision records and expenditure schedule.
- Evaluate the proposed remedies and identify appropriate accountability mechanisms.
Atlas has prepared a source-linked research dossier, a knowledge chronology, an expanded asset inventory and a draft records request. These working records distinguish verified findings from incomplete checks. The FOI applications remain pending submission. A payment enquiry has been sent to Communities. No human-rights submission or statutory complaint has been lodged, and no position or endorsement by Human Rights Watch is assumed.
Supporting public records for the review package
- International evidence dossier
- Government knowledge chronology
- Expanded asset audit and examination limits
- Toolkit hyperlink inventory
- Proposed records request
The supporting records are now publicly linked. Documents 001 and 002 contain the current separate FOI scopes; the original combined request is retained as superseded development history. This draft is an initial assessment request; the outstanding asset checks must not be represented as completed.