March 13, 2013 (New York): As hundreds of diplomats meet at the United Nations (UN) in New York to negotiate global commitments on ending violence against women and girls, humanitarian organisation CARE International warns that a failure by governments to secure a strong agreement risks setting back women’s rights efforts by decades.
The UN Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW) started on Monday 4th March and negotiations are due to conclude on Friday 15th March.[1] Contentious issues on the table include commitments on sexual and reproductive health, gender equality, violence in situations of political instability and conflict, and tackling traditional harmful practices, such as early and forced marriage. Last year’s UN CSW collapsed due to disagreements on these and other issues. Such failures are catastrophic for women around the world, and CARE International calls on governments to put aside their differences and agree a strong set of commitments at CSW to end violence against women and girls.
“The stakes at CSW are high. While diplomats wrangle over the wording of an agreement in New York, thousands of women and girls around the world will have suffered different forms of violence. Too many of them will go without support to cope with the devastating consequences and impunity will prevail. This needs to change. For this to happen, we need a strong agreement at CSW this week,” said Kamani Jinadasa, Project Director at CARE Sri Lanka.
One in three women globally will experience some form of gender-based violence during their lifetime, according to a study by Johns Hopkins University.[2] Yet while the statistics are bleak, CARE International and its local civil society partner organisations have identified a range of innovative and successful methods for challenging the violence and transforming the institutions, practices and individuals involved. For this reason, CARE International is supporting a delegation of 12 women’s rights activists from across the Middle East, Asia and Africa to attend and bring grassroots perspectives into the global talks.[3]
“In my own country, Kenya, and in my own lifetime, I have personally witnessed dramatic changes in how local people understand violence against women and girls, even in the most isolated rural areas. Take female genital cutting as an example. We found ways to work with local institutions to preserve their traditional role while finding new rites of passage for young girls which aren’t harmful. The CSW talks offer an opportunity to scale-up these kinds of creative solutions to ending the violence,” said Anastasia Olembo, Gender Advisor at CARE Uganda.
The UN CSW talks also include discussions on the up-coming revision of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which set the global framework for aid and other development efforts around the world. CARE International is advocating for the CSW conclusions to recommend that the revised MDG framework includes specific indicators on reducing violence against women and girls. According to a study by CARE International in Bangladesh, the economic cost of violence against women to the national economy was equal to 2.13% of national GDP in 2010 or the equivalent of 12.65% of the total expenditure budget of the government for the year researched.[4]
“Violence against women and girls is one of the great taboos. Some forms of abuse remain hidden in the home. Others, like early and forced marriage, are sensitive as they are so embedded in local cultures. But violence against women is not an inevitable or natural state of affairs. Whether in the home or society at large, a range of social and political factors determine if gender violence gets better or worse. We need the UN talks this week to agree strong commitments which can help to turn that tide,” said Vivian Thabet, Women’s Rights Programme Director at CARE Egypt.
For more information or to interview any of the CARE staff or partners at the CSW talks, please contact:
Kate Hunt, CARE International UN Representative, +1 917 332 8115 [email protected]
Howard Mollett, CARE International UK, +44 7785627655 [email protected]
About CARE: Founded in 1945, CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty and providing lifesaving assistance in emergencies. CARE places special focus on working alongside poor girls and women because, equipped with the proper resources, they have the power to help lift whole families and entire communities out of poverty.
Notes
[1] UN Commission on the Status of Women official website: http://www.unwomen.org/how-we-work/csw/
[2] Heise, L. et al (1999). Ending Violence Against Women. Population Reports, Series L, No. 11. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, Population Information Program.
[3] The CARE International delegation of staff and civil society partners have prioritised the following recommendations for inclusion in the CSW conclusions:
· Need for strong accountability mechanisms at national level, so that national institutions can be held in compliance with commitments to prevent and respond to violence against women.
· Increased investment in sharing and scaling-up best practices within and across countries.
· Enhanced action to overcome traditional harmful practices involving violence against women and girls, by addressing root causes of gender inequality, and engaging men and boys to change norms and behaviour.
· Commitment to ensure that women’s empowerment, gender equality and human rights are integrated into the UN's post-2015 Millennium Development Goal framework, including an indicator on tackling violence against women and girls.
[4] ‘Domestic Violence Against Women – Cost to the Nation’, study by Dr Kaniz Siddique, CARE Bangladesh, available to view at: http://www.carebangladesh.org/rs_pdetail.php?publishid=95