Violence Against Women - It's Making the UN News.

Greetings,

Copied below are some articles in recent online UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE e-newsletters relating to International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and the 16 Days of Activism to Stop Violence Against Women campaign. One of these articles celebrates the growing number of countries that have specific laws on domestic violence. And I wonder how many of those countries “shadow” or NGO reports on CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women) compliance show that those laws are actually being used to protect women from violence?

In another article UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour talks about the plight of immigrant women … “different types of exploitation often run parallel to women’s migration”. Isn’t it ironic that Louise Arbour is from Canada and I have created this online resource because I cannot get the Canadian authorities to deal appropriately with immigrant women’s experience of abuse in that country?

I look forward to when we celebrate not just new laws to protect women from violence but also overwhelming compliance with all voluntarily ratified human rights documents!


UN DAILY NEWS from theUNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE22 November, 2006 ======================================================================
MORE COUNTRIES HAVE LAWS BANNING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, SAYS UN WOMEN’S RIGHTS OFFICIAL
The number of countries with laws tackling the scourge of domestic violence has surged in the last three years, with 89 States now with some sort of provisions, the head of the United Nations Development Fund for Women(UNIFEM) said today.

Speaking on the eve of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, which is being marked on Saturday, UNIFEM Executive Director Noeleen Heyzer told reporters in New York that there were welcome signs of progress around the world.

In 2003 only 45 countries had specific laws on domestic violence, she said, but that number has now increased to 60, and in total there are 89 nations with some form of legislative provisions that deal with domestic violence.

Funding for initiatives is also on the rise, with the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women – which is disbursed by UNIFEM – set to hand out nearly $4 million this year, almost twice the amount of last year. Noting that many countries still had a long way to go, Ms. Heyzer said the key challenge is to help nations ensure that the laws and measures theyhave introduced are fully implemented, enforced and monitored, especiallyat the local level. She also said the rise in both anti-violence laws and Trust Fund grants is no coincidence – many grants in recent years have gone to campaigns that push for legislation on violence against women.
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UN DAILY NEWS from theUNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE 24 November, 2006 =======================================================================

UN JOINS IN 16-DAY CAMPAIGN TO FIGHT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

From bride burning and sexual violence as a weapon of war to genital mutilation, date rape and child marriage, gender-based violence will be the focus of a United Nations-backed 16-day-long campaign being launched tomorrow.

“We are working with partners to end impunity, to promote and protect the rights of women, including the right to sexual and reproductive health, and to foster equal opportunity, participation and decision-making,” UNPopulation Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said in a message ahead of tomorrow’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

The Day marks the first of the 16 Days of Activism to End Violence against Women in which UNFPA is joining with rights organizations worldwide to bring greater attention to this pervasive and deeply entrenched human rights violation, proposing a range of steps from greater overall publicityand an ending to silence over spousal abuse to pushing for legislative reform and providing safe havens for girls escaping coerced marriages.

To kick off the event UNFPA is highlighting five under-reported stories relating to gender-based violence for 2006: Bride-napping: the abduction, rape and forced marriage of young women throughout Central Asia;Breast-ironing: a traditional practice in some West African countries involving crushing the breasts of young girls in order to deter male attention; The epidemic of traumatic fistula in Africa: this is often caused by gangrape and forced insertion of foreign objects into the rape victim, tearing the tissues between the birth canal from the bowel and/or the bladder and leading to incontinence and ostracization; Ongoing femicide in Guatemala: unlike in Ciudad Juarez in Mexico, the wholesale murder and mutilation of Guatemala’s women continues under a cloak of media silence and official neglect.Child marriage: the forced marriage of girl children, mostly against their will to older men in the world’s poorest nations mean girls cannot complete their education and are at greater risk of being exploited and contracting sexual infections, including HIV.

More common examples of gender violence cited by UNFPA include:At least 130 million women have been forced to undergo female genital mutilation with 2 million more at risk each year; Killings in the name of 'honour' take the lives of thousands of young women annually in Western Asia, North Africa and parts of South Asia;At least 60 million girls who would otherwise be expected to live are'missing' due to sex-selective abortions or neglect.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour drew attention to the plight of women migrants. “Unfortunately, human rights violations in various forms such as trafficking in women or different types ofexploitation often run parallel to women’s migration,” she said in a message for the International Day.“Local and supposedly ‘traditional’ forms of violence against women, such as female genital mutilation or forced marriages, globalize as well, moving along with their potential victims.

These human rights violations are not inevitable consequences of women’s migration.“They can be curbed if states are truly committed to protecting migrant women against violence, trafficking and exploitation, without denying them the option to migrate legally, if they choose to,” she added in the statement in which she was joined by the Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences,Yakin Ertürk and the Council’s Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, Jorge Bustamante.
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UN DAILY NEWS from theUNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE 27 November, 2006 =======================================================================

CULTURE OF NEGLECT, DENIAL ABOUT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IS ‘MASSIVE’ – TOP UN OFFICIAL

There is a “massive” culture of neglect and denial about violence against women, and refugee populations are in the front line of the scourge, according to the top United Nations refugee official.

“That culture of neglect and denial exists everywhere,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) António Guterres said at the weekend launch of the annual 16 Days of Activism to Eliminate Violence AgainstWomen.

“I think we need to face this,” he added, stressing that sexual and gender-based violence against women is a global problem.

Citing a report he had read earlier this year showing that a high percentage of girls in Geneva high schools suffered sexually motivated violence, he said that if the problem was bad in an advanced country like Switzerland, it would be much worse in societies with huge social problems and difficulties.

“Refugee populations are in the front line of those difficulties,” he told staff in Geneva in launching UNHCR’s participation in the 16 Days, in which several UN agencies are teaming up with rights organizations worldwide to bring greater attention to this pervasive and deeply entrenched human rights violation.

“The key question, at the level of the UN system, at the level of an organization, at the level of the refugee camp, is the empowerment of women, and that must be one of the central objectives of a modern, democratic system and a tolerant society,” Mr. Guterres said, calling formore equality between men and women.

UNHCR offices around the world are participating in the 16 Days with activities and awareness-raising programmes. In Liberia, where violence against women is a major problem, UNHCR is joining in nationwide campaigns and workshops to inform women about their rights and to encourage men tochange their ways.

The agency is also involved in television campaigns to publicize the campaign in places like Croatia and Argentina.

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has cited a whole raft of issues to be faced in gender-based violence, from bride burning and sexual violence as a weapon of war, to genital mutilation and breast ironing, to date rape and child marriage, and has proposed a range of steps from greater overall publicity and an end to silence over spousal abuse, to pushing for legislative reform and providing safe havens for girls escaping coerced marriages.
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You can sign up for the UN Daily News e-newsletter at: http://www.un.org/apps/news/email/

For information on CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women:
www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/index.htm

For information on DEVAW Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women: www.ohchr.org/english/law/eliminationvaw.htm

For information on the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, including annual reports: www.ohchr.org/english/issues/women/rapporteur/

UN Division for the Advancement of Women including country compliance reporting:
www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/