Theme 2007 : Ending Impunity For Violence Against Women

Here is the link to the website that i copied this article from, I thought it had everything to do with what we've been talking about in class.

http://www.123greetings.com/events/womens_day/info/violence_against_women.html

"For years together women have been considered to be the weaker and inferior sex and therefore subjected to all kinds of gender-based inhuman violence. Violence against women is severe and globally pervasive. It is prevalent in every country, cutting across boundaries of culture, class, education, income, ethnicity and age. Violence manifests itself in different monstrous forms of psychological abuse or physical torture. All forms of violence are believed to be representative of unacceptable violation of human rights. Despite the brutality that is met out to women, the vicious people of society who inflict such pain are let free and women denied justice. The plight of these women are often not heeded to, consigned to the back pages of newspaper or relegated to no more than a passing mention in mainstream broadcast media. However, within the UN system, UNFPA has played an active role in addressing this issue. With the aid of governments they have developed strategies as a part of the national plans to protect women from all kinds of violence.

Child marriage, rape, domestic violence, femicide, unhealthy conditions of living and international trafficking are different ruthless ways of proving that women are subjects of subordination. Women are subjected to violence in a wide range of settings including the family, the community, state custody and armed conflict and its aftermath. Interestingly according to history violence against women is said to have germinated from unequal power relation between men and women and pervasive discrimination against women in both public and private spheres. Patriarchal disparities of power, discriminatory cultural norms and economic inequalities serve to deny women’s human rights and support violence. Violence against women is one of the key means through which male control over women’s agency and sexuality and power relation is maintained.

Violence against women has a detrimental affect on the psyche of those affected by it. It is like an epidemic affecting the society, like the disease that eats into the roots of development and leaves it all maimed. This disease though diagnosed often goes uncured leading to further perpetration of this harmful effect. Globally women still continue to be the victims of sexual harassment, violence and murder. In fact the UN report states that although a lot of bold steps have been taken and laws formulated to foster the human rights of women, it is not implemented to its fullest potential. It states that to prevent violence and put an end to impunity, nations need to eliminate the gap that lies between international standards and national laws as well as between policies and practices. Violence against women is perpetrated when legislation, law enforcement and judicial systems condone or when they do not recognize violence against women as a crime at all. The worst scenario for which violence against women still continues to be a social scourge is that most societies despite condemning it they are often sanctioned under the guise of cultural practices and norms or through misinterpretation of religious tenets. Oft late, domestic violence has also been burgeoning. Home which should ideally be the haven of love and harmony turns into nothing short of hell as women are victimized to regime of terror. Certain research studies confirm the prevalence of physical violence in the domestic sphere. It is estimated that 20 to 50 percent of women face domestic violence. According to MSNBC 5 million women are victims of domestic violence every year in the USA. The statistics is therefore quite grim and needs to be given immediate attention to ensure that the problem is dealt with urgency.

Long back a UN resolution had designated November 25th as the ‘International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women’. Women activists have marked November 25th as a day against violence since 1981 as women have every right to lead a life of dignity and equality and enjoy every fundamental right. In fact The United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA had kicked off its annual 16 days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence from November 25th to December 10th by bringing five under-reported stories relating to gender-based violence to limelight. It has laid its focus on different forms of violence such as ‘bride-napping’, which is basically abduction, rape and forced marriage of young woman throughout Central Asia; ‘breast-ironing’, a traditional practice in a number of West African countries whereby the breast of young girls are crushed in order to deter male attention. Femicide or feminicide in Guatemala is another issue which was addressed at this campaign. It refers to the killing of women because of their gender and its function as a form of domination, power and control over woman. It is believed to be a rampant occurrence where State does not guarantee women’s safety or undertake any responsibility to create a conducive environment for ensuring that women’s lives are secure in their communities and at home. According to a special study conducted by the Special Commission on Feminicide, a woman or a young girl is murdered every 6 hours in Mexico. It has been reported that in Latin America and Caribbean the murder of women and young girls has increased in leaps and bounds over the last few years. Besides these three, ‘child marriage’ and ‘traumatic fistula’ were other two critical problems that were given due attention during this 16 day long campaign. In case of child marriage a girl child is coerced to marry an old man against her will. Most often than not this is common in poor nations where girls are considered to be a burden and so needs to be dispatched off like a commodity without providing any education rendering them more susceptible to sexually transmitted diseases and even sometimes leading to their death being unable to withstand the rigors of birth. Of all kinds of violence the ‘traumatic fistula’ seems to be a crime of most serious proportion. This is a common thing in war zones and in post-conflict settings whereby it is considered to be a weapon of terror as well as a form of gender-based torture. Fistula is usually caused by gang rape and often the forced insertion of foreign objects into the rape victim. This has an adverse effect leaving the victim doubly stigmatized both by the rape and then by its consequences. The victim is physically injured tearing delicate tissues of birth canal from bowel and psychologically traumatized as she is shunned from the society as a pariah.

During this campaign conducted by UNFPA certain interesting facts came to the fore front and gained global attention. It created a report that spoke of 130 million women being forced to undergo female genital mutilation with 2 million more at risks every year. Killings in the name of ‘honor’ resulted in the killing of thousands of young women annually in Western Asia, North Africa and parts of South Asia and a whopping 60 million girls who would otherwise be expected to live are ‘missing’ due to sex-selective abortions or sheer neglect.

Currently even Amnesty International launched an international campaign to counter violence against women. This 16 days of global campaign lasted from November 25th International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women) to 10th December (International Human Rights Day). As violence in any form is a serious breach of human rights so this campaign emphasized on issues such as ending impunity for those who commit such violence by pressurizing the governments to prosecute individuals and bring about changes in laws to protect women. However, the crux of that campaign was addressing incidence of rape and other violence committed in conflicts such as the Second Congo War and Darfur Conflict. Recently in many countries, even women NGO’s in collaboration with the State have been playing a humble yet a substantial role to curb violence against women.

Now that we have a clear picture of all the inhuman torture with which the fair sex is inflicted, it is the combined duty of the government and we as members of the society to ensure that the perpetrators are prosecuted and punished for the same. Impunity should not be allowed at any cost. All should follow a zero-tolerance policy as far as violence against women is concerned.

The alarming rate at which women are denied justice and perpetrators being let off easily, the theme of Women’s day seems to be aptly chosen. This year’s theme being ‘Ending Impunity for Violence against Women’, concrete steps need to be taken to make sure that the essential purpose of celebrating this year is served. With social stigma preventing the rape victims and others from reporting the crime it is the duty of the government to bring justice to these suffering souls. The tacit acceptance of violence against women and the State’s inability to hold the perpetrators guilty of it is not at all acceptable as it will not only encourage further abuses but also give wrong signal of it being a normal phenomenon. Impunity will not only result in the denial of justice to the sufferer but also reinforce the prevailing inequalities that affect other women and girls as well. If one’s motive is strong and intentions pure, belief can be transformed into actions and policies and laws enforced to ensure that women are once again placed on that divine pedestal of honor and respect."