Global Effort Raises Awareness on Gender Violence

NEW YORK, Dec 3 (OneWorld.net) - Human rights groups in many parts of the world are taking to the streets this week to demand strict legal actions against those who commit violence against women and girls.

This women's group helps support victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. © cyclopsr (Flickr)"This is a truly global campaign to support women and girls to live their lives free from sexual and physical violence," said Heidi Lehmann of the U.S.-based International Rescue Committee (IRC) about the two-week campaign against gender violence.

Along with scores of other women's rights organizations, the IRC is currently engaged in organizing seminars, meetings, movie showings, and demonstrations to highlight the issue of gender violence.

Among the many events taking place are soccer and kickball tournaments in Liberia and Burundi, a London film screening about rape in the Congo, a discussion in Uganda about women and AIDS, and a Washington, DC roundtable on the U.S. role in fighting violence worldwide.

The campaign, which started on Nov. 25, leads up to the 60th anniversary of the UN adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The "16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence" was launched by women's rights groups in 1991. Every year the campaign runs from Nov. 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, through Dec. 10, which marks International Human Rights Day.

Despite improved laws and international treaties signed by various governments in the past few years, millions of women in many parts of the world continue to suffer violence at the hands of men.

At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime, and the abuser is usually someone known to her, says the UN Development Fund for Women.

According to the United Nations, in Russia, at least 14,000 women are killed by their husband or boyfriend every year. In India, demand is growing for girls trafficked from lower castes, who are subjected to household sexual slavery.

UN research shows that more women are being infected with HIV than men. Many of them get the disease as a result of the gender-based violence they face.

Rape in wartime, the practice of "widow cleansing" (where widows are expected to have sexual relations with a relative of their dead husband in order to secure property within the family), domestic violence, and female genital cutting are all forms of gender violence, according to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). Domestic violence is defined by legal experts as an act that involves various forms of physical aggression, ranging from slaps, punches, and kicks to forced sex, assault with a weapon, and homicide.

Some UN studies show that women who suffer violence at home are 10 times more likely to acquire HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Research shows that in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, women have been known to burn themselves alive as a way to escape domestic violence.

UNFPA also cites the phenomenon of "compensation marriages" prevalent in northwestern Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Middle East, and sub-Saharan Africa. This refers to the practice of forcing minor girls into marriages as compensation to offset debts or other disputes.

"The right to live free of violence and discrimination is the right of every human being," said UNFPA chief Thoraya Ahmed Obaid. "Yet this right is being violated on a massive and systematic scale."

Authors of a 2006 UN study strongly criticized governments that failed to adopt laws criminalizing gender violence. The findings showed that more than 100 countries still had no specific laws on domestic violence.

According to the report, many countries do not have sufficient support measures in place for victims of gender violence, nor do they keep any systematic or reliable data on violence against women.

In a past statement, Obaid urged all governments and parliaments that have not yet done so to adopt laws and establish programs to address these rights violations.

Joining others in the ongoing international campaign, women's groups in the United States are currently pressing members of Congress to endorse a proposed law that would protect women in poor countries.

"Violence is one of the biggest barriers to women's economic participation. It's hard to work if you fear for your life," said Ritu Sharma Fox, co-founder of the Women Thrive Worldwide coalition based in Washington, DC.

According to UN research, violence against women exists in every country in the world and continues to hinder efforts for gender equality.

Available statistics suggest that domestic violence is something that is rampant not only in developing countries, which frequently lack legal protections and equal opportunities for women, but also in industrially developed societies.

Despite strict laws against gender violence in the United States, for example, one in four women is a victim of domestic abuse there, according to a recent study titled "Women in an Insecure World" from the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces.