1. Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls
IPA 2013

2. Introduction History Facts Stories Achievements Challenges Reflection
What is violence?

3. 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).

4. Questions Have you experienced or witnessed violence?
What was that like for you?
What patterns of violence do girls experience in schools, homes and communities?
How are these related to girls’ everyday interactions and relationships?
What can girls do to contest violence, to express their perspectives and influence decisions about matters that concern them?
How can these be expanded?
Discuss the questions in pairs and give some feedback.

5. 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

6. 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).
Unite and others,

7. 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’
Holly Atkinson ‘brutality cascade’
Cost of DV in Australia estimated at $13.6 billion annually. Two thirds of women in the Pacific are affected by DV.

8. 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.
12% of women aged 18–24 years experienced at least one incident of violence, compared to 6.5% of women aged 35–44 years and 1.7% of women aged 55 years and over (ABS 2006: 6).
30.2% of sexually active Year 10 females and 26.6% of sexually active Year 12 females have ever experienced unwanted sex (Smith et al. 2003).
One in seven girls and young women aged 12 to 20 (14 per cent) have experienced rape or sexual assault (National Crime Prevention 2001).

9. 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!!!
Need more prevention, protection, provision of services, prosecution.
Need to challenge governments, share responsibility, assess impact of action taken.

10. 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)

11. 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
For your own country – find out what is being done.

12. 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 – ,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 in developing countries.
Over 67 million women year old in 2010 had been married as girls. Half were in Asia, one-fifth in Africa.
50 million girls could still be at risk of being married before their 15th birthday in this decade.

13. 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.
Child marriage is a human rights abuse. It constitutes a grave threat to young girls’ lives, health and future prospects. Marriage for girls can lead to complications related to pregnancy and
childbirth, and in developing countries these are the main causes of death among 15–19 year-old girls. Girls who are married are also exposed to sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. For
a girl, marriage can mean the end of her education, can set aside her chances of a vocation or career, and can steal from her foundational life choices
How do you feel reading this?
Photo courtesy National Geographic

14. 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
root cause needs to be addressed i.e. labour demand. Some good things happening since Palermo e.g. Californian companies compelled to explain labour use; Argentina has integrated approach in TIP (hospitals, police, brothels, NGO’s cooperate),
5 P’s of TIP: policy, prevention, protection of victims, prosecution and partnership
4 R’s of TIP: rescue, recovery, repatriation, re-integration
Push and pull factors: political unrest v nearby country needing workers; TIP seen as business; job selectiveness; uneven implementation of laws.

15. 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 Secretary- General on Violence against Children’.
SRSG Special Representative of the Secretary General

16. 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…”

17. 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
Elizabeth Broderick: Positives: paid parental leave, flexibility in work arrangements, pay rises for women, doubling of women in business, male champions on change,
world can’t afford cost of violence:

18. The Human Rights Council Working Group recommends all States ensure enforcement of the law, investigation, prosecution, protection, collecting and analysing of data, and addressing the root causes of violence through awareness raising and education. There are international laws and agreements already in place. However, only 44 States and 19 UN bodies had responded to the survey by June Law reform is needed where there is inconsistent legal regulation, selective implementation and compliance with law, lack of awareness of legal rights in communities, prejudice among personnel and a poor capacity to address children’s rights.

19. 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

20. Positives Important factors:
Hiring motivated, educated, female teachers willing to teach in conflict regions 
Female teachers are influential role models
Girls and their families can become motivated to make girls’ education a priority.
Ensuring community leaders encourage girls to attend schools.
Conflicts create new communities (refugee camps & migrants) community leaders help by pooling resources, creating alternative education strategies, alleviating localized violence against girls.
Educators build fences & walls around schools, hold classes in mosques or community centres, and create stronger buildings to sustain girls’ education during conflict.

21. 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, to get information

22. 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
Based on Kenyan plan of action

23. 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.

24. 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
Education of girls in Afghanistan
Beyondance song 4 minutes
psa/watch/world-humanitarian-day-2012-i-was-here-by- beyoncé/
What surprised you? What challenged you? What will you do?