 Violence Against Women – A Hideous Reality |
Issue 119 |
Violence Against Women – A Hideous Reality
Violence against women is perhaps the most shameful human rights violation. And it is perhaps the most pervasive. It knows no boundaries of geography, culture, or wealth. As long as it continues, we cannot claim to be making real progress towards equality, development, and peace. —UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, 1999
War is an atrocious aspect of our contemporary world and a daily reality for millions of people. It is an alarming fact that the majority of victims in today's armed conflict (over 70%) are civilians, not soldiers. Most of these civilians are women and children. One of the growing weapons used in warfare is sexual violence against women. Increasingly women are targeted through rape and terror. For example, in some areas that are under control of military forces women are stripped naked, humiliated and even raped in public. This creates an environment of intense fear. In relation to this UNIFEM records: “Women's bodies have become a battleground for those who use terror as a tactic of war - they are raped, abducted, humiliated and made to undergo forced pregnancy, sexual abuse and slavery.” During the 1994 war in Rwanda , approximately half a million women were raped. These women had their basic human rights ripped away from them on many different levels. The big question to ask is what happens to these women when the war is over? Who looks after them? How do they cope with their violent memories? The other important question is: what happens to the perpetrators? Unfortunately the answers to these questions show that the protection and support for women in post-war situations is extremely inadequate. Added to this, most of the criminals and rapists get away with their horrendous crimes.
Human trafficking is another grotesque aspect of our world. Unfortunately, it is also a growing problem. Trafficking is defined as “ recruiting or transporting another person in order to place them in a situation of abuse or exploitation such as forced prostitution, slavery, extreme cruelty, sweatshop labour, or exploitative domestic servitude” . Each year more than 2 million people in our global village are trafficked and over 700,000 of these innocent people are used for sexual exploitation. Most of these people are women and girls (the trafficking of boys is also a rising problem).
Both trafficking and using terror against women as a weapon in war are hideous examples of human rights abuse. However it is important to be aware that violence against women is not a problem that exists only in poor and war torn countries it occurs everywhere. As Kofi Annan so accurately states violence against women knows no boundaries . One in three women in all global communities is physically or sexually abused at least once in their lives. It is an ugly reality that most of the abuse is perpetrated by males who the victim knows – this type of violence is known as domestic violence. No country in the world is free from this kind of violence. In the UK 30 percent of women are or have been physically abused by partners or ex partners; this figure is 21 percent in Nicaragua , and 22 percent in the US . In Australia it is recorded that over a quarter of young people witness domestic violence in their homes.
So what can be done about this violence? November 25 th has been set aside as The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The activities that follow explore different ways you can become involved in this day as well as things we can do about violence against women in our global community and our own lives.
Activities Across the Curriculum
1) UNIFEM is the United Nations Development Fund for Women. In the document “ Violence Against Women Around the World” UNIFEM outlines some of the critical issues surrounding female violence. Go to the following site and read through the document, then complete the questions that follow: www.unifem.org/campaigns/
november25/facts_figures_2.php
- Find 10 statistics in the report.
- Choose 3 of these statistics and explain what shocked you about them.
- Read the section “Moving the problem into the public eye” by clicking on: www.unifem.org/campaigns/
november25/issue.php and scrolling down the page. What factors make it difficult for survivors of violence to seek help? - Provide 5 examples of solutions that have been put in place in relation to women who are victims of violence.
2) The Domestic Violence & Incest Resource Centre (DVIRC) is a service in Australia that aims to reduce and prevent family violence. It has an online site that provides helpful information to support people who have experienced abuse. Use this site to find out how people in Australia can get help if they are in situations of domestic violence. The site is: www.dvirc.org.au/
3) Violence Against Women, Australia Says No campaign was launched in June 2004. Info rmation about the campaign and on how victims of violence can get help is found at www.australiasaysno.gov.au/
4) The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25th marks the beginning of the 16 day campaign to eliminate violence against women. Visit the Amnesty International site to find out how you can become involved in this campaign: www.amnesty.org.au/Act_now/
campaigns/stop_violence_against_women
Art
Create a poster to display around the school to raise awareness about The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. In your poster use images, facts and quotes. The following sites may help you:
www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/16days/kit05/kit.html
www.amnesty.org.uk/svaw/
www.unicef-icdc.org/publications/
pdf/digest6e.pdf
English
1) Imagine that you work for the United Nations (UN). You have been told that the UN has decided to cancel their work with gender issues; this includes cancelling T he International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The rationale is that many people believe that women and men now have equal status in our world. You need to write a speech to be delivered to the UN Council which outlines why the UN must continue their work with gender equality and women's rights. The following site www.unifem.org/campaigns/
november25/facts_figures.php outlines different statistics about women in our world. Make sure you use information from at least 4 of the topics listed below:
- Domestic and Intimate Violence
- Sexual Violence in Non-Conflict Situations
- Harmful Traditional Practices
- Trafficking in Women and Girls
- HIV/AIDS and Violence
- Crimes Against Women in War and Armed Conflict
HSIE/SOSE
Women's activists have marked 25 November as a day against violence since 1981. This date came from the brutal assassination in 1961, of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic , on orders of Dominican ruler Rafael Trujillo. Write a 400 word historical account that details the life and death of the Mirabel Sisters, include key dates and events. Use the following sites to help you:
www.learntoquestion.com/seevak/groups/
2000/sites/mirabal/mainpage.html
www.womankind.org.uk/
white-ribbon-campaign.html
The following account was written by a Guatemalan mother:
“ My 15-year-old daughter María Isabel was a student and worked in a shop in the holidays. On the night of 15 December 2001, she was kidnapped in the capital. Her body was found shortly before Christmas. She had been raped, her hands and feet had been tied with barbed wire, she had been stabbed and strangled and put in a bag. Her face was disfigured from being punched, her body was punctured with small holes, there was a rope around her neck and her nails were bent back.”
Visit the following site: www.amnesty.org.au/Act_now/action_centre/
featuredaction/
stop_violence_against_women_in_guatemala and find out what happened to the perpetrators of this horrendous crime. Scroll down this site and discover how you can become involved in a letter writing campaign to help stop violence against women in Guatemala.
Other Useful Links
www.aic.gov.au/publications/rpp/06/RPP06.pdf is the report the Australian Institute of Criminology conducted in 1997 titled ‘Violence Against Women in Australia '.
www.ozspirit.info/archives.html#aid is the OzSpirit resource centre which archives past OzSpirit editions. There are numerous issues related to the current issue.
www.un-instraw.org/en/docs/
announcements/CallForAction_en.pdf is the call to action for the 16 Days of Activism Against Violence Against Women campaign in Latin America.