Women and Violence
Violence affects the lives of millions of women around the world, in all socio-economic classes and educational. Cutting through cultural and religious barriers, impeding the right of women to participate fully in society. Violence against women takes a variety of ways disappointing, from domestic abuse and rape of child marriages and female circumcision. All are violations of the most fundamental human rights.
In a statement to the Fourth Conference on Women held in Beijing in September 1995, United Nations Secretary General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, said the violence against women is a universal problem that should be universally condemned. However, said the problem continues to grow.
The Secretary General noted that domestic violence is the only growing. Studies in 10 countries, he said, have found that between 17 percent and 38 percent of women have been physically assaulted by their partner.
The Platform for Action, the basic document of the Beijing Conference, governments declared "Violence against women constitutes a violation of human rights and an obstacle to achieving the goals of equality, development and peace."
The work of the Special Reporter
The question of the advancement of rights of women is related to the United Nations since the founding of the Organization. However, the alarming dimensions overall female violence aimed not explicitly recognized by the international community, until December 1993 when the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
Until then, most governments tend to view violence against women largely as a private matter between individuals and not as a widespread problem of human rights require state intervention. Given the alarming increase in the number of cases of violence against women worldwide, the Commission on Human Rights adopted resolution 1994/45 of March 4, 1994, which decided to appoint Special Rapporteur on the violence against women, its causes and consequences.
As a result of these steps, the problem of violence against women has been drawing increasing political attention. The Special Rapporteur is mandated to collect and analyze comprehensive data and recommend measures to eliminate violence at the international, national and regional levels. The mandate is threefold:? To collect information on violence against women, its causes and consequences of sources such as governments, treaty bodies, specialized agencies and intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, and to respond effectively to such information, recommend measures and means, at national level regional and international levels to eliminate violence against women and its causes and remedy its consequences; Work closely with other special rapporteurs, special representatives, working groups and independent experts of the Human Rights Commission.
Incest, Rape and Domestic Violence
Some women are victims of violence before birth, when parents who are expecting a baby to abort their unborn daughters, hoping for sons instead. In other societies, girls are subjected to practices such as circumcision, which leaves maimed and traumatized. In others, are forced to marry at an early age, before be physically, mentally or emotionally mature.
Women are victims of incest, rape and domestic violence that often lead to trauma, disability or death. And rape is still used as a weapon of war, a strategy used to subjugate and terrorize entire communities. Soldiers deliberately impregnate women of different ethnic groups and leave when it is too late for an abortion. The Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women declared that rape in armed conflict is a war crime – and could, under certain circumstances, be considered a genocide. Secretary General Boutros-Ghali, told the Beijing Conference that today more women who suffer directly the effects of war and conflict than ever before in history.
"There is a regrettable trend towards the organized humiliation of women, including the crime of mass rape", the Secretary General. "We will press for international action against the perpetrators legally organized violence against women in times of conflict. "
A preliminary report in 1994 by the Special Rapporteur, Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, focused on three areas of interest where women are especially vulnerable:
1. in the family (including domestic violence, traditional practices, infanticide);
2. in the community (including rape, sexual assault, violence is marketed as women, labor exploitation, migrant workers, etc);
3. and the State (including violence against women in detention and violence against women in situations of armed conflict and against women refugees.)
The Platform for Action adopted at Beijing Conference, violence against women and human rights of women are 2 of the 12 critical areas identified as major obstacles to the advancement of women.
Commitments by Governments
Governments agreed to adopt and implement national legislation to end violence against the women and to work actively to ratify all international agreements related to violence against women. They agreed that there should be shelters, support legal and other services for girls and women at risk, and counseling and rehabilitation for perpetrators. Governments also pledged to take appropriate measures the field of education to modify social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women. And the Platform calls on the professionals of the media self-regulatory guidelines to address violent materials, degrading or pornographic nature while promoting non-stereotyped, balanced and diverse images of women.
Definition based on gender abuse
The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women is the first international human rights instrument exclusively and explicitly the issue of violence against women. Affirms that the phenomenon violates and impairs or nullifies women's human rights and the exercise of fundamental freedoms.
The Declaration contains a definition of abuse gender-based, calling it "any act of gender-based violence that results or is likely to result in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life. "
The definition is extended in Article 2 of the Declaration, which identifies three areas where violence often takes place:
1.Physical, sexual and psychological violence that occurs in the family, including battering, sexual abuse of girls in the home, violence dowry-related, marital rape, female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women, non-spousal violence and violence related to exploitation;
2. Physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring within the general community, including rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in educational institutions and elsewhere, trafficking in women and forced prostitution;
3. Physical, sexual and psychological violence or condoned by the State, wherever it happens.
Action Foundation takes place in Vienna
The importance of the issue of violence against women is stressed in the last decade through the exploitation several expert group meetings sponsored by the United Nations to call attention to the magnitude and severity of the problem.
In September 1992, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women established a special working group and gave a mandate to elaborate a draft declaration on violence against women.
The following year, the United Nations Commission for Human Rights in resolution 1993/46 of 3 March condemns all forms of violence and violations of human rights directed specifically against women. The World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna in June 1993, laid extensive groundwork to eliminate violence against women. In the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, Governments declared that the United Nations system and Member States should work to eliminate violence against women in public life and private, and of all forms of sexual harassment, exploitation and trafficking in women, gender bias in the administration of justice, and conflicts that arise between the rights of women and the harmful effects of certain practical traditional or customary, cultural prejudices and religious extremism.
The document also states that "rights violations women's human in situations of armed conflict are violations of the fundamental principles of human rights and humanitarian law "and that all violations of this type – including murder, systematic rape, sexual slavery and forced pregnancy – "require a very effective
response. "
The forms of violence against women
Domestic violence
Violence against women in the family occurs in the developed and developing countries alike. It has long been considered a private matter by pedestrians – Including neighbors, community and government. But such private matters have a tendency to become public tragedies.
In the United States, a woman is beaten every 18 minutes. In fact, domestic violence is the leading cause of injury among women of reproductive age in the United States. Between 22 and 35 percent of women visiting emergency rooms are there for this reason. The highly publicized trial of OJ Simpson, the retired football player acquitted United States of murdering his ex-wife and a friend, helped to focus international media attention on the issue of domestic violence and spousal abuse. In Peru, 70 percent of all crimes reported to police involve women beaten by their husbands. In Pakistan, Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto defended a mother of 35 year old two years who suffered severe burns on her husband in a domestic dispute.
"There is no excuse for this behavior," the Prime Minister said after visiting victims in hospital. "My presence here is to send a message to all those who violate Islamic teachings and challenge laws of the land with their inhuman treatment of women. This will not be tolerated. "According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, in 400 cases of domestic violence reported in 1993 in the province of Punjab, nearly half ended with the death of his wife.
According to the report of the Special Rapporteur, governments many now recognize the importance of protecting victims of domestic violence and take steps to punish the guilty. The establishment of structures that allow officials to deal with cases of domestic violence and its consequences is a significant step towards eliminating violence against women in the family.
The special rapporteur's report highlights the importance of adopting legislation that provides for prosecution of offenders. It also emphasizes the importance of training specialized law enforcement and medical and legal professionals, and the establishment of community support services for victims, including access to information and shelters.
Traditional practices
In many countries, women are victims of practices which violate their human rights. The persistence of the problem has much to do with the fact that most of these physically and psychologically harmful customs are deeply rooted in tradition and culture of society.
Female genital mutilation
According to the World Health Organization, 85 million to 115 million girls and women in the population have experienced some form of mutilation genital mutilation and suffer from its adverse health effects. Each year an estimated 2 million girls undergo this procedure. Most live in Africa and Asia – but an increasing number is among the immigrant and refugee families in Western Europe and North America. In fact, the practice has been banned in some countries Europeans. In France, a Malian was convicted in a criminal court after her baby died of an infection related to female circumcision. The procedure had done on the baby at home.
In Canada, the fear of being forced to undergo circumcision may be grounds for asylum. A woman Nigeria was granted refugee status because she felt she could be prosecuted in their country of origin because of their refusal to inflict genital mutilation of his baby daughter. There is growing consensus that the best way to eliminate these practices is through educational campaigns that emphasize their dangerous consequences health. Several governments have been actively promoting such campaigns in their countries.
Son preference
son preference affects women in many countries, particularly in Asia. Their consequences can be anything from fetal female infanticide or neglect of the girl child over her brother in terms of basic needs such as nutrition, basic health and education. In China and India, some women choose to terminate their pregnancies when expecting daughters but carry their pregnancies to term when the children waiting.
In accordance with reports from India, genetic testing for sex selection has become a booming business, especially in northern regions. clinical detection of sex-Indian drew protests from women's groups after the appearance of ads that suggest that it was better to spend $ 38 now to stop a female fetus to $ 3,800 later, her dowry. A study of amniocentesis procedures performed in a large Bombay hospital found that 95.5 percent of female fetuses identified as were aborted, compared with a much smaller percentage of male fetuses. The problem of son preference is present in many other countries too. Asked how many children they had fathered, the former United States boxing champion Muhammad Ali said in an interview: "One of the children and the errors seven.
Violence related to dowry and early marriage
In some countries, marriages are preceded by the payment of a dowry to those agreed by the bride's family. Non-payment of dowry can lead to violence.
In Bangladesh, a bride whose dowry was considered too small was disfigured after her husband threw acid on her face. In India, an average of five women a day are burned in disputes relating to dowry – and many more cases are never reported. Early marriage, especially without the consent of the girl, is another form of violation of human rights. Early marriage followed by a multiple pregnancy can affect the health of women for life. The special rapporteur's report has documented the destructive effects the marriage of girls under 18 years and has urged governments to adopt the relevant legislation.
Violence in the community
Violation
The violation can occur anywhere, including in the family, where you can take the form of rape or incest marriage. It occurs in the community, where a woman can fall prey to drug addicts. It also occurs in situations of armed conflict and in refugee camps.
In the United States, national statistics indicate that a woman is raped every six minutes. In 1995, the case of a Brazilian runner raped and murdered in New York City Central Park attracted international attention once again to the problem. The incident occurred just a few years after a previous case corridor sensational assault on the victim – an American assaulted in the same general area of the park – barely survived after his assailants left her for dead.
Relations between the residents of the Japanese island of Okinawa and U.S. troops were thrown into turmoil in 1995 After two Marines and a sailor was allegedly abducted and raped a girl of 12 years of age. The Special Rapporteur? S report highlights the importance of education for raising public awareness on the special horrors of rape, and sensitivity training for police and hospital staff who work with victims.
Sexual assault within marriage
In many countries, sexual assault by a husband his wife is not considered a crime: a wife is expected to submit. It is therefore very difficult in practice for a woman to prove that sexual assault has occurred unless that can demonstrate a serious injury. The report of the Special Rapporteur noted that the judgments of light on sexual behavior
assault cases send wrong message the perpetrators and the general public: that the sexual victimization of women is not important.
Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment in the workplace is a growing concern for women. Employers abuse their authority to seek sexual favors from her co-workers female or subordinates, sometimes promising promotions and other forms of promotion or simply creating a work environment intolerable and hostile. Women who refuse to yield to unwanted sexual advances as often at risk of degradation anything dismissal. But in recent years women have been presented to denounce these practices – some have their cases before the courts.
In its report, the Special Rapporteur emphasized that sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination. "Not only demeans women," the report said, "but reinforces and reflects the idea of non-professionalism on the part of women workers, who, therefore, be regarded as less able to perform their duties as their male colleagues. "
Prostitution And Traffic
Many women are forced into prostitution either by their parents, husbands or boyfriends – or as a result of the difficult economic and social conditions in which they occur. They are also lured into prostitution, sometimes by "mail order brides" The agencies that promise to find a husband or a job in a foreign country. As result, they often are confined illegally in brothels under similar conditions slavery in those who are physically battered and their passports withheld.
Most women victims of traffickers initially have sexual little indication what to expect. Usually get a very small percentage of what the customer pays the pimp or brothel owner. Once they are trapped in the system there is virtually no way out, and are in a very vulnerable situation. Since prostitution is illegal in many countries it is difficult for prostitutes to come forward and seek protection if they are victims of rape or want to escape from brothels. Customers, in addition, rarely are the subject of criminal law.
In Thailand, prostitutes are complaining that the police often arrested and sent back to the brothels by the payment of a fine. The scope trafficking of women and girls has reached alarming proportions, especially in Asian countries.
Many women and girls are trafficked across borders, often with the complicity of border guards. In one incident, burned five young prostitutes in a brothel fire because they been chained to their beds. At the same time, sex tours to developing countries are a well-organized industry in several European and other industrialized countries.
The Special Rapporteur has called on governments to take measures to protect girls from being recruited as prostitutes and monitoring agencies recruitment.
Violence against women migrant workers
Migrant workers often leave their countries for better living conditions and better wages – but the real benefits accrue to host countries and countries of origin.
For countries origin, the money sent home by migrant workers is an important source of foreign exchange, while recipient countries are able to find workers for jobs of low remuneration that would not cover.
But the migrant workers themselves will go wrong, and sometimes tragically. Many become virtual slaves, subject to abuse and rape by their employers.
In the Middle East and Persian Gulf region, an estimated 1.2 million women, particularly in Asia, who work as domestic servants. According to independent human rights group Middle East Watch, women migrant workers in Kuwait often suffer beatings and sexual assaults at the hands of their employers.
The police are often of little help. In many cases, women who claim to have been raped by their employers are sent back to the employer – or even assaulted in the police station. Working conditions are often terrible, and employers prevent women to escape using their passports or identity documents. The report of the Special Rapporteur draws attention to the fact that there are many international instruments can be used to prevent abuse against women migrants and suggests some measures to protect human rights of women migrants.
Pornography
Another concern highlighted in the report of the Special Rapporteur is pornography, which is a form of violence against women that "glorifies degradation and abuse of women and asserts its subordinate role as mere receptacles for male lust. "
Violence perpetrated or tolerated by States
Violence against women in custody
Violence against women on the same people who are supposed to protect – the members of law enforcement and criminal justice systems – Is widespread.
Women are abused physically or verbally, but also suffer sexual and physical torture. According to Amnesty International Thousands of women prisoners are routinely raped in detention centers by police worldwide. The Special Rapporteur's report underlines the need for States to prosecute those accused of abuse of women during their arrest and hold them accountable for their actions.
Violence Against Women Armed Conflict Situations
Rape has been widely used as a weapon whenever they arise armed conflict between different parties. It has been used around the world: in Chiapas, Mexico, Rwanda, Kuwait, Haiti, Colombia. Women and girls are often victims of gang rape committed by soldiers from all sides of a conflict. These events are held mainly to trample on the dignity of victims. The rape has been used to strengthen the policy of ethnic cleansing in the war that has been tearing apart the former Yugoslavia.
The so-called "women "comfort" – Girls colonized or occupied countries who became sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II – have dramatized the problem in a historical context. Many of these women are now coming forward and demanding compensation for their suffering from the Japanese authorities. "Such a violation is the symbolic rape of the community, the destruction of the fundamental elements of a society and culture – the ultimate humiliation of the enemy male " the special rapporteur's report said. He stressed the need to hold the perpetrators of these crimes fully responsible.
Violence against refugee and displaced women
Women and children constitute the vast majority of refugee populations around the world and are particularly vulnerable to violence and exploitation. In refugee camps, who are raped and abused by military groups and immigration staff, bandits, male refugees and rival ethnic groups. They are also forced into prostitution. In its report, the Special Rapporteur proposes the following measures to be taken to protect of women and girls in refugee camps, improving security, the deployment of qualified women at all points of travel of refugees, participation of women in the organizational structures of the camps and the persecution of government and military personnel responsible for abuses against refugee women.
Legal measures to punish violence against women
In recent years some countries have taken significant steps towards improving the laws on violence against women. For example:
# In July 1991, Mexico amended its rape law in several important ways. A provision was eliminated that allowed a man who rapes a minor to avoid prosecution if he agrees to marry her. Now the judges are obliged to issue a decision on access to abortion within five working days.
# On June 9, 1994, the Organization of American States adopted the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women, a new international instrument that recognizes all gender-based violence as a human rights abuse. This convention provides an individual right of petition and the right of NGOs to lodge complaints with the Inter-American Commission Human Rights.
# In Australia, a National Committee on Violence against Women was established to coordinate policy development, legislation and law enforcement nationwide, as well as community education on violence against women.
# In 1991, the Government Canada announced a new four-year Family Violence Initiative seeks to mobilize community action, strengthening the legal framework of Canada, establish services on Indian reserves and Inuit communities, develop resources to help the victims and apprehend criminals, and provide housing for abused women and children.
# In Turkey, a Ministry of State for Women was established whose main objectives are, among others, to promote women rights and strengthen their role in the economic, social, political and cultural. Legal measures are being taken to achieve the elimination of violence against women.
The establishment of special courts to deal with violence is intended. Psychological treatment for battered women is also planned, together with the establishment of shelters for women throughout the country. Specially trained police officers could assist female victims of violence. ? In Burkina Faso, a strong campaign by the Government as well as television and radio programs in the unhealthy practice of genital mutilation was put into launched to educate and sensitize the public about the dangerous consequences of this type of operation. "It creates a National Committee to Combat division was established in 1990 by the current head of state. Today, the practice of genital mutilation has been eliminated in some villages of Burkina Faso. In others, there has been an incredible fall in the number of girls removed only 10 percent of girls are removed compared with 100 per cent 10 years ago.
? Some countries have introduced police units specially trained for dealing with spousal assault. In Brazil, police stations have been specific designated to deal with issues of women, including domestic violence. These police stations have entirely by women.
Guarantee that laws are obeyed
These examples illustrate some national measures taken to eradicate violence against women. Combat and eradicate this scourge requires greater and concerted efforts to protect women at the local, national and international levels.
States have tended to be passive when faced with cases of violations of women rights by private actors. Most laws fail to protect victims or to punish the guilty. Pass legislation to criminalize violence against women is an important way to redefine the limits of behavior acceptable.
States should ensure that national legislation, once adopted, will not go unimplemented. State responsibility is clearly indicated Article 4 of the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, which provides that "States should exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and, in accordance with national legislation, punish acts of violence against women, whether those acts are perpetrated by the State or by private persons. "
Any approach to combat violence must be twofold, addressing the root causes and treatment of its manifestations. Society in general, including judges and police, must be educated to change social attitudes and beliefs that encourage male violence.
Conclusion
The meaning gender and sexuality and the balance of power between women and men at all levels of society must be revised. Combating violence against women requires challenging the way in which gender roles and power relations are articulated in society. In many countries women have low status. They are regarded as inferior beings and there is a strong belief that men are superior to them and even their owners. Changing people's attitude and mentality towards women will take a long time – at least a generation, many believe, and perhaps more. However, awareness of the issue of violence against women, educate children and men to view women as valuable partners in the life in the development of a society and the achievement of peace is as important as taking legal measures to protect women's human rights. It is also important to prevent the violence that used nonviolent means to resolve conflicts between all members of society. Breaking the cycle of abuse will require collaboration and action partnership between the government and nongovernmental actors, including educators, health officials, legislators, judiciary and media.
About the Author
Loveleen Kaur Chawla
MBA/NET qualified
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