Elimination of Violence
against Women and Girls
IPA 2013
Introduction
 History
 Facts
 Stories
 Achievements
 Challenges
 Reflection
What is violence?
Definition
United Nations Declaration - violence against women/girls
includes “any act of gender-based violence that results in,
or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological
harm or suffering to women/girls, including threats of such
acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivations of liberty, whether
occurring in public or private life (United Nations, 1993)”.
The most common type of violence against women worldwide
is “domestic violence” or the physical, emotional and/or
Sexual abuse of women by their intimate partners or
ex-partners
(Heise et al., 1999).
Questions
1. Have you experienced or witnessed violence?
2. What was that like for you?
3. What patterns of violence do girls experience
in schools, homes and communities?
4. How are these related to girls’ everyday
interactions and relationships?
5. What can girls do to contest violence, to
express their perspectives and influence
decisions about matters that concern them?
6. How can these be expanded?
UN History re violence issue
 1989, 1990, 1999, 2000 UNICRI - first International
Crime Victimisation Survey (ICVS)
 1992 General Recommendation of the United Nations
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
 1993 UN Declaration on Violence against Women/Girls
 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
 2000 Special Rapporteur for Violence Against Women
 2008 UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign
 2013 CSW 57 Elimination of Violence against Women
Unite to end violence
against women
“Violence against women and girls continues
unabated in every continent, country and
culture. It takes a devastating toll on women’s
lives, on their families, and on societies as a
whole. Most societies prohibit such violence –
yet the reality is too often, it is covered up or
tacitly condoned”
(UN SG-Ban Ki Moon, 8 March 2007).
http://www.un.org/en/women/endviolence
World Facts
 70% women/girls suffer violence
 40 – 70% of women murdered killed by close partner
 162 countries have laws against violence but perpetrators
walk free
 4.8 million children aged 6 – 15 live in conflict areas. Over
half are female and all are out of school
 Over 66% women in the Pacific are affected by DV.
 Boys start viewing pornography at 8 years of age
 More violent video games – ‘brutality cascade’
Facts - Australia
 1 in 7 young women aged 12 – 20 experience rape or
sexual assault
 Pay gap in Australia is 17.5% between men and
women
 Women in government - 38%
 Top positions in companies - 8% women
 Stereotyping common “good mums have kids”
 25% women experience sexual harassment in
workplace
 Cost of DV in Australia estimated at $13.6 billion
annually.
Why violence against women/girls?
 Lack of respect for human rights
 Structural factors include:
dehumanising, forced labour, social exclusion
 Failure to deal with core problem (What is it?)
 Opt for short term solutions not long term
planning
 There is lack of:
prosecution, data, political will, policy coherence,
gap between commitment and action;
We all contribute to it indirectly!!!
What stops women/girls?
Mindsets,
Do you say “No”?
Attitudes,
How do you behave to others?
Violence,
What shows belittle girls?
Culture,
Does your boyfriend tell you what to wear?
Undermining of effective decision making,
Subtle discrimination (pregnancy, care giver,
sidelining pay and promotion, less transparency,
women left out of negotiations, assignment of
work, entry to jobs)
Counteracting violence: Australia
Elizabeth Broderick (Sex Discrimination Commissioner)
Positives:
 paid parental leave,
 flexibility in work arrangements,
 pay rises for women,
 doubling of women in business,
 male champions on change,
 boys/men encouraged to change stereotypes
http://www.whiteribbon.org.au/schools
Violence against girls
 Every 3 seconds there is a child bride in the world
 1 of 3 girls in developing countries (excluding China) is
likely to marry before the age of 18
 There were 14.1 million child brides in 2012
 Most of these girls are poor, less-educated & live in rural
areas
 2010 – 2020 39,000 girls under 18 will be married each
day
 Early marriage (10years) leads to higher mortality,
fistula problems, school drop out, child bearing before
maturity, etc
 Pregnancy and birth complications - main cause of death
among adolescent girls 15-19 in developing countries.
Child marriage
TEHANI, AGE 8 (Yemen)
“Whenever I saw him, I hid. I hated to see him,” Tehani (in
pink) recalls of the early days of her marriage to Majed,
when she was 6 and he was 25.
The young wife posed for a portrait with former classmate
Ghada, also a child bride, outside their home in Hajjah.
How do you
feel reading
this?
Photo courtesy National Geographic
Trafficking in Persons
TIP Global report 2012
 83% countries have TIP legislation
 16% no convictions, 23% 1-10 convictions 34% no
prosecutions
 Forced labour in Africa big issue, big flow from East Asia;
fine line between TIP and exploiting migrants
 Often ‘victim’ prosecuted – employer freed
TIP Report: practical way of making
countries aware of extent of TIP & moral
issues. Need better implementation.
Root causes need addressing e.g. labour
demand, poverty, inequality etc
Marta Santos Pais SRSG
‘Across the world, violence affects millions of children who are
working, legally and illegally.
Violence against children & child labour are closely related.
Violence at home, school or institutions can push children into
child labour. Work becomes a way to survive, even if it is
hazardous or exploitative.
UN Study on Violence against Children recognizes high incidence
of violence in workplace, including ill-treatment by employers
and sexual violence of child workers.
It noted “of all the settings where children are exposed to
violence, the workplace is among most difficult to address.”
That is why violence against children in work place is a priority
for my mandate as Special Representative of the SecretaryGeneral on Violence against Children’.
How to Change
Counteract violence/discrimination by:
 make discrimination visible, uncover situation,
 law suits,
 leadership from top,
 increase transparency,
 objective evaluation,
 flexibility,
 stop buying from companies that harass,
 monitor change.
Women/girls need normative standards of equality,
acceleration of practical equality & social change.
Use CEDAW in approaching government “our
government signed…”
What is being done
Draw a line http://www.theline.gov.au/
Look at positives: Women own 9 million small
businesses worldwide
Raise awareness:
 Austria re Domestic Violence – perpetrator
removed from home - women, children stay at
home.
 Positive male models re-educate men e.g.
‘Swedish’ model now in Iceland, Norway
 Strip clubs banned from making profit
 UN Trust fund works in 85 countries
 Anti-violence campaigns http://saynotoviolence.org/commit
NGO Working Group on Girls
Set up in 1995, the International Network for Girls (INfG) has
over 500 members in 100 countries. It publishes “Action for
Girls”.
With diverse programs in education, health, nutrition, child
labour & sexual exploitation, Network members focus on
improving girls’ rights
INfG uses collective strength to advocate for girls’ rights
worldwide
Positives
Important factors:
1. Hiring motivated, educated, female teachers willing to teach in
conflict regions
2. Female teachers are influential role models
3. Girls and their families can become motivated to make girls’
education a priority.
4. Ensuring community leaders encourage girls to attend schools.
5. Conflicts create new communities (refugee camps & migrants)
community leaders help by pooling resources, creating
alternative education strategies, alleviating localized violence
against girls.
6. Educators build fences & walls around schools, hold classes in
mosques or community centres, and create stronger buildings
to sustain girls’ education during conflict.
Working Group on Girls - Julia
Julia: ‘all issues [against girls’ education] together prevent universal girls’
education.’
The issues “unfairly victimize girls more than boys” & include girls roles
during crises, exploitation of girls in economically unstable situations,
lack of sanitation materials for girls.
Julia advocates that UN hold governments accountable for HRs. She
wants people to “be entrepreneurial. innovative, use new technology”
Julia further argues that gender-neutral social values be taught to
encourage more girls to pursue positions of leadership.
She stresses need to “aid [girls], celebrate them, and raise their
visibility…and [help them] identify their own passions and goals.”
As a WGG Girl Advocate and Girls Learn International representative, Julia
is on the Advocacy Task Force & attended several UN events.
In March 2013, she moderated the WGG Girls Tribunal on Violence
during the Commission on the Status of Women.
For more information on how you can become a WGG Girl Advocate,
email: info@girlsrights.org to get information
Action Plan to prevent violence
1. Create and implement school based curriculum
2. Public awareness campaign – explain & get men’s interest
3. Scale up by-stander intervention e.g. banging pots in Sth
Africa, doorbell ringing in India,
4. Scale up media campaign
5. Develop scale of prevention strategies to help victims
6. Implement alcohol reduction strategies
7. Restrict access to guns
8. Minimize violence prevention programs as women gain skills
9. Parent training for fatherhood
10. Research and evaluate interventions
CSW57 Agreed Conclusions
 The Agreed Conclusions adopted by CSW57 condemns
the pervasive violence against women and girls.
 This agreement is one step more for realizing the rights
and dignity of women and girls.
 By adopting this document, governments have made
clear that discrimination and violence against women
and girls has no place in the 21st century.
 The document calls for increased attention and
accelerated action for prevention and response.
 The important focus is on prevention, including through
education and awareness-raising, and addressing
gender inequalities in the political, economic and social
spheres.
Reasons to stop violence
 Violence against women/girls human rights issue
 World can’t afford cost of violence
 Full participation of women/girls is worthwhile
economically and culturally
http://girlrising.com/#66-million-girls
Education of girls in Afghanistan
http://portal.sliderocket.com/BBVXH/Hoshyar-Foundation
Beyondance song 4 minutes
http://webtv.un.org/news-features/public-service-announcementpsa/watch/world-humanitarian-day-2012-i-was-here-bybeyoncé/1792844252001
What surprised you? What challenged you? What will you do?