International perspectives
There’s no pride in silence: domestic and sexual violence against women in Armenia
13 November 2008
National surveys suggest that more than a quarter of women in Armenia have faced physical violence at the hands of husbands or other family members. Many of these women have little choice but to remain in abusive situations as reporting violence is strongly stigmatized in Armenian society.
Violence in the family takes many forms, ranging from isolation and the withholding of economic necessities, to physical and sexual violence, and even murder, yet women have few options to escape situations in which they are at risk.
Violence in the family is not defined in law separately from other kinds of violence involving strangers, and abused women face powerful pressures not to report violence to the police. Strong family bonds are an integral aspect of Armenian culture and women who report violence are seen as threatening the family and are pressured to keep domestic violence a private “family matter”.
The social stigma associated with separation or divorce is worse than that associated with domestic violence. The pressure not to report rape is even more powerful and rape victims commonly encounter the attitude that they are to blame.
Women who try to report violence in the family often experience social isolation, as friends, relatives and neighbours reject them. This culture of preserving silence on violence extends to the police force.
Women often experience reluctance on the part of the police to get involved, and in some cases the police endorse the view that domestic violence is a “family matter”.
Since 2002, a handful of shelters have been operating despite facing widespread criticism for their part in making domestic violence a public issue. These shelters, which are run by non-governmental organizations, are reliant on intermittent funding, and most of them have been forced to close or reduce their operations in recent years due to lack of funds.
While shelters are not a catch-all solution, they fulfil a crucial role in providing women who face violence with an initial, short-term step out of their situation. Establishing a network of shelters must be a key element in government strategies to address the issue of violence against women in Armenia.
The fact that some state officials now acknowledge that violence against women actually exists both signifies progress, but also the fact that there is a long way to go. Some positive steps have been taken towards addressing violence against women:
- A draft law criminalizing domestic violence is currently under discussion.
- Police training programmes have been initiated to implement guidelines for police responsibilities in responding to domestic violence.
Amnesty International is calling on the Armenian authorities to clearly and forcefully condemn violence against women. They must also take other urgent steps to change wider social attitudes to domestic and sexual violence. These should include, though not be restricted to, the following:
- Criminalizing domestic violence, facilitating its prevention and providing support to its victims and survivors;
- Ensuring that victims of domestic and sexual violence have access to the criminal justice system without facing pressure to withdraw their complaints;
- Raising awareness of family violence as a crime and a human rights violation.
Who Answers to Women? Gender and Accountability
“Progress of the World’s Women 2008/2009, Who Answers to Women? Gender and Accountability“
UNIFEM has released a publication that will be integral in holding governments and organizations accountable to their commitments in improving women’s rights. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says:
“If any man asks why I support better accountability to women, here’s my response: because a government that answers to women will answer to you, too.”
UNIFEM largely blames the severe lack of improvement in gender quality within various nations on an “accountability crisis.” Women should have the right to ask for explanations, to ask for information from decision makers – if they can’t simply ask and be answered to, where can we even start implementing change?
Read the whole report, “Progress of the World’s Women 2008/2009, Who Answers to Women? Gender and Accountability“, which also includes an interactive feature guiding you through the report.
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Iran sentences 4 women activists to prison
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP), Sept. 4 — Iran has reportedly sentenced four female activists to six months in prison for writings demanding equality for women, a move denounced Friday by Sweden, which awarded a human rights prize to one of the activists earlier this year.
The reported sentencing is apparently the latest move in a crackdown by Iranian authorities on women activists who have stepped up a campaign over the past year demanding changes in divorce, inheritance and other laws that discriminate against women.
Parvin Ardalan, the most well-known of the four, had been due to travel to Stockholm in March to collect the Olof Palme award but was barred by Iranian authorities from leaving the country.
She and the other three women were sentenced on Tuesday for writings on several Iranian women’s rights Web sites, the independent Iranian daily Kargozaran and a women’s web site Kanun-e-Zenan Irani reported. The reports said the women were appealing, and it was not known whether the four had been taken into custody. Iranian judiciary officials could not be reached for comment.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt on Friday condemned the sentences, calling it “yet another expression of the deteriorating respect for human rights in Iran.”
I have previously called attention to Sweden’s appreciation of Ardalan and her colleagues’ engagement to promote human rights in Iran. Their work is especially important for women’s situation in Iran,” he said.
The other three activists were identified as Jaleh Javahiri, Mariam Hosseinkhah and Naheed Kashavarz.
Activists say the government of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has tried to roll back rights won by women. Ardalan was among dozens of women arrested during a 2006 demonstration in Tehran demanding equal rights and she was given a three-year suspended prison sentence on charges of jeopardizing national security.
Ardalan, a columnist in women’s publications, is the co-founder of a campaign aimed at gathering 1 million signatures in favor of equal rights for women.
Source: Associated Press
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14 women a day murdered in honor killings – usually by fathers or brothers
Around the world, 14 women a day — or 5,000 a year — are murdered in so-called honor killings, according to United Nations figures. Last month, one of them was an American from Jonesboro, Ga. Chaudhry Rashid, 56, has been charged with strangling his 25-year-old daughter, Sandeela, with a bungee cord because she had an affair and wanted to divorce the husband her father arranged for her to marry six years earlier in Pakistan.
So-called honour killings are carried out, usually by a father, brother or other male relative, to restore the family’s honour after a woman has been raped, committed adultery, fallen in love with someone her family disapproves of or rebels against religious or cultural guidelines for behaviour. Complete story
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Human trafficking third largest illicit trade behind drugs and weapons
Human trafficking, 80 percent of which sexually exploits women and girls, is now the largest human trade in history and the third largest illicit trade behind drugs and weapons. The most common crime against an individual due to natural-born characteristics is gender-based, including rape and other forms of sexual assault, domestic violence, homicide, and domestic and sexual slavery. Source: Women’s ENews
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Human rights commissioner fought a long battle for her own rights
THE new United Nations high commissioner for human rights,the South African judge Navanethem Pillay, has spent a lifetime toppling barriers and exceeding expectations.
So when human rights groups and some American officials expressed scepticism before her appointment on Thursday, she said she was used to it. As a member of a minority from a poorIndian neighbourhood in apartheid-era South Africa, she was long kept from becoming a judge by the colour of her skin. For years, although she was a lawyer, she could not even sign a contract without her husband’s consent.
But Nelson Mandela, who had come to know her during visits toher clients while he was in Robben Island prison, named her in 1995 as the first woman of colour on the High Court. “Judges were all white and male,” said MsPillay, 66. “The first time I entered a judge’s chambers was when I entered my own.”
While some questioned whether she could abandon her studied impartiality to become an activist for the world’s oppressed, Ms Pillay said she had learned to discount the doubters.
A lifetime of facing injustice had made her sensitive to the plight of victims, she said.
She is the daughter of a bus driver, and her impoverished community collected money to pay for her university tuition and planted in her the determination to give something back. She made a name for herself in South Africa as a lawyer defending abused women and opponents of the apartheid regime.
In 1973 she won the right for political prisoners, including MrMandela, to have access to lawyers. In 1995, the year after apartheid collapsed, she became a High Court judge, and then wasselected as a judge on the tribunal set up after Rwanda’s genocide of 1994.
On the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, she presided over cases that established mass rape as a form of genocide, convicted a former head of state for crimes against humanity and prosecuted media for inciting genocide.
Since 2003 she has been a judge on the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Ms Pillay said she was ready to stand up against human rights violators in instances where it would be impolitic for the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, to speak out. On a recent visit to Burma to ensure aid for hurricane victims, Mr Ban declined to call for the release of the democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
“The high commissioner must be the fearless and consistent voice for the rule of law, justice, peace and human rights,” MsPillay said. She will succeed the Canadian judge Louise Arbour, who overcame similar doubts when she took the post.
US diplomats expressed concerns about MsPillay’s management skills and her position on abortion. But the US ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, said he looked forward to working with Ms Pillay. Source
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UN Debates Women, Peace and Security
June 24, 2008
Following an emotional debate, the United Nations Security Council on Thursday June 19 adopted a resolution that declares rape and sexual violence to be weapons of war, and demands an end to sexual violence against civilians in armed conflicts around the world. The resolution says, in part, that sexual violence is being used as “a tactic of war to humiliate, dominate, instill fear in, disperse and/or forcibly relocate” civilians in certain ethnic groups and communities.
United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice chaired the session, which focused on how to best protect women and girls from sexual abuse during and after armed conflict. The resolution asks the U.N. Secretary-General to tighten procedures for stopping violence committed by UN peacekeepers, and to prepare an action plan for collecting information on the use of sexual violence in conflict and then report the information back to the Security Council.
“As many of you know, for years there’s been a debate about whether or not sexual violence against women is a security issue for this forum to address,” Secretary Rice said. “I am proud that today, we respond to that lingering question with a resounding yes. This world body now acknowledges that sexual violence in conflict zones is indeed a security concern. We affirm that sexual violence profoundly affects not only the health and safety of women, but the economic and social stability of their nations.”
Former U.N. Peacekeeping Commander Major General Patrick Cammaert noted that, “It has probably become more dangerous to be a woman than to be a soldier in an armed conflict.”
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other world leaders also briefed the Security Council, citing conflicts from Darfur to the Democratic Republic of Congo to Liberia to Yugoslavia as examples of sexual violence being used as a military tactic. Ki-moon said that violence against women has “reached unspeakable and pandemic proportions in some societies attempting to recover from conflict.”
“When women and girls are preyed upon and raped, the international community cannot be silent or inactive,” Secretary Rice said. “It is our responsibility to be their advocates and defenders. We are taking an important step today that will enable us to better meet that goal.”
Family Violence Prevention Fund President Esta Soler praised the resolution, and the United States leadership in convincing the United Nations to adopt it. She noted that lawmakers here in the United States can help by passing the bi-partisan International Violence Against Women Act. It would address the global crisis of violence against women and girls by authorizing more than $200 million annually in foreign assistance for international programs that: address violence against women in conflicts and humanitarian situations; prevent violence; support health programs and survivor services; encourage legal accountability; change public attitudes; and promote access to economic opportunity and education.
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By Sens. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.)
Posted: 06/17/08
We must confront violence against women
One in three women worldwide will experience gender-based violence in her lifetime. In some countries, that’s true for 70 percent of women. No country is immune. From the trafficking of women in Eastern Europe, to “honor” killings in the Middle East, to the use of rape as a weapon of war in Darfur and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, violence against women and girls crosses all borders and affects women in all social groups, religions and socio-economic classes.
Violence against women and girls violates their basic human rights.
Violence against women and girls violates their basic human rights. It prevents girls from going to school, stops women from holding jobs, and limits access to critical healthcare for women and their children.
Moreover, violence against women is a global health crisis, not just because so many women and girls are injured and die, but also because the violence interferes with efforts to save the lives of pregnant women and babies. Rape increases vulnerability to the transmission of HIV/AIDS, a disease that in many countries disproportionately afflicts women. In sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, women account for close to three-quarters of those living with HIV/AIDS between the ages 18 and 24.
For humanitarian reasons alone, the United States should do what it can to end this scourge. But equally important, it has a profound impact on the health and development of countries worldwide. Stopping gender-based violence isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s also smart diplomacy. Violence contributes to the poverty, inequality and instability that threaten our security and our broad national interests.
Specifically, because it impedes women’s full and active participation in their communities and societies, it is one of the biggest obstacles that limit our effort to foster development around the world. Programs to address poverty and disease will be seriously encumbered as long as women face violence in their homes and communities.
At this year’s World Economic Forum, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated that if she could focus on one thing in developing countries it would be the empowerment of women.
The good news is that local organizations are working in communities around the world with courage and sensitivity to help women overcome violence at home, in school and at work. Governments are bringing together all sectors of their countries to try to prevent and end abuse. But they need our help.
Significant progress has been made in reducing violence against women here in the United States since Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 1994. It’s time to throw our weight and leadership behind efforts to help women and their families worldwide lead safer, healthier lives.
Last fall, we introduced the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA). This bipartisan legislation would ensure that our foreign assistance programs include efforts to end gender-based violence. We would accomplish this goal in three ways:
First, we propose to reorganize and rejuvenate the gender-related efforts of the State Department by creating one central office, the “Office for Women’s Global Initiatives,” directed by a Senate- confirmed ambassador who reports directly to the secretary of state. The coordinator will monitor and oversee all U.S. resources, programs and aid abroad that deal with women’s issues, including gender-based violence. This centralization will help prioritize initiatives and ensure the efficient use of taxpayer funds.
Second, we mandate a five-year, comprehensive strategy to combat violence against women in 10 to 20 targeted countries. We would allocate $175 million a year to support programs dealing with violence against women in five areas: the criminal and civil justice system, healthcare, access to education and school safety, women’s economic empowerment and public awareness campaigns that change social norms.
Third, in humanitarian crises and in conflict and post-conflict situations, women and girls are especially vulnerable to violence. Reports of refugee women being raped while collecting firewood, soldiers sexually abusing girls through bribery with token food items, or women subjected to torture as a tool of war are horrific and all too common. The Act requires training for workers and peacekeeping forces, and establishes reporting mechanisms and other emergency measures.
The legislation brings together, for the first time, coordinated American resources and leadership to this global issue. As the world continues this month to commemorate International Women’s Day, we believe this is the ideal time for the United States to get actively engaged in the fight for women’s lives and girls’ futures. We urge our colleagues to support this measure.
Biden is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Lugar is the committee’s ranking member
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HINCKLEY, Minn. – Hundreds of Native women will hone their leadership skills at the fourth annual WEWIN Conference later in July.
WEWIN conference to empower women
Posted: July 22, 2008
Indian Country Today
WEWIN – Women Empowering Women for Indian Nations – will take place at the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians’ Grand Casino Hinckley in Minnesota July 29 -31.
The three-day training and development conference will be packed with workshops, presentations and training sessions aimed at enhancing the leadership skills of female elected tribal officials, Indian community leaders, and state and federal program managers, who are commited to change and progress.
The conference was founded in 2004 by a group of dynamic female tribal leaders from across the country including Susan Masten, Yurok, former Yurok tribal chairman and former NCAI president; Melanie Benjamin, chief executive of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians; Patricia Parker, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, president and CEO of Native American Management Services; Wilma Mankiller, former 10-year principal chief of the Cherokee Nation; Nora McDowell, chairman of the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe; Rachel A. Joseph, chairman of the Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Tribe; and Veronica Homer, Mojave/Shasta. . . . . .
. . . On July 29, a daylong pre-conference workshop on ”Human Rights Training” will be given by the Indian law Resource Center, a nonprofit legal advocacy organization with offices in Montana and Washington.
The first session – ”The New Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: How to Use It” – will focus on how international advocacy at the United Nations can be used to address human rights violations against American Indians and Alaska Natives.
‘‘Violence Against Women – using International Law to Protect Our Families” will discuss how international advocacy can be used to raise awareness of the high rates of violence against American Indian and Alaska Native women and pressure the United States to fulfill its international legal obligations to ensure that Native women can enjoy their right to be free and safe from violence. Complete story
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BUFFALO, N.Y. July 21, 2008 — University at Buffalo Law School Dean Makau W. Mutua will deliver a keynote speech at this week’s Pan-African conference in Nairobi, Kenya, devoted to administering justice to those responsible for sexual and gender-biased violence in countries besieged by conflict and civil unrest. . . .
Conference on gender-based violence
“Only in the last decade have we seen serious attempts to remove women’s rights from the ghetto of the rights discourse. This is our challenge at this conference, and in the human rights movement, particularly in the context of transitional justice in Africa.
“How do we de-marginalize women’s rights questions in the construction of transitional justice vehicles? In particular, how do civil society, academics, states, funding organizations and intergovernmental organizations address — in serious ways — the problems of sexual and gender violence in transitional justice contexts?
“We know from the historical record that sexual and gender violence is arguably the most predominant abomination in civil conflicts and wars. Yet we also know that this egregious form of violence is either never reported, or rarely attracts the attention of the media.” Full story
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7/21/2008 – Women and young girls are being pushed to commercial sex work due to high food prices and widespread unemployment in Afghanistan. High fertility rates, poor health services, and a high maternal mortality rate compound these issues.
Need for Survival Fuels Sex Work, High Birth Rate Kills Mothers in Afghanistan
Sex work is considered to be a serious crime in Afghanistan, where offenders can face the death penalty or lengthy prison sentences for engaging in sex outside of marriage. Fariba Majid, Director of the Balkh Province Women’s Affairs Department, calls sex work “an abhorrent deed and an appalling crime,” according to Irin News. However, many sex workers do not have other means to survive or feed their families.
Afghan women face high fertility rates and one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. Only 14% of women receive skilled birthing attention during childbirth. Access to health services is limited by a lack of awareness, economic barriers, and men’s willingness to take women to health centers. One of six Afghan women will die from complications during pregnancy or childbirth; the average woman will have six or seven children.
Parental responsibility is often tied to sex work in Afghanistan. An Afghan prostitute, Najiba, told Irin News, “I am a widow and I have to feed my five children. I am illiterate and no one will give me a job. I hate to be a prostitute but if I stop doing this job my children will starve to death.”
