PRESS CONFERENCE ON OBSERVANCE OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

 

Violence against women and girls was a pandemic that could be stopped, given the necessary political will and resources, said a panel of women speaking at a Headquarters press conference today, on the eve of International Women’s Day.

International Women’s Day, observed 8 March, was a day when women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries or ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, reflected on a tradition representing at least nine decades of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development.  This year’s theme was “Ending Impunity for Violence against Women and Girls”.

Although every girl and woman had the right to live free of violence and discrimination, said Rachel N. Mayanja, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, discrimination persisted and was in violation both of the United Nations Charter and of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

“There is not a single country which is free from violence,” she continued.  “It transcends politics, religion, culture, income, age -- it covers all women.”

Such a finding had been revealed last October, in the Secretary-General’s thorough and multisectoral study, she said.  According to that study, 140 million women were suffering from female genital mutilation, and discrimination itself was reinforcing violence against women.

In response to the study, the General Assembly had adopted a ground-breaking resolution calling on all stakeholders to act against violence against women.  In turn, the United Nations system had established an inter-agency taskforce that would work on coordinating efforts within the Organisation to assist Member States.

Currently, less than half of the membership had legislation on acts of violence such as rape, and even fewer had laws regarding marital rape.  Despite legislation, however, there was not adequate enforcement -- nor adequate investigation -- in many countries.  As a result, there was often impunity for perpetrators of violence.

Referencing history, Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of UNIFEM, explained that one of the events leading to the creation of International Women’s Day had been the “triangle fire” in New York City’s Union Square.  The fire had taken the lives of more than 140 girls, textile workers, who were burned to death because of the factory’s locked doors.

“It was because of that rebellion, the rebellion in terms of injustice, that we have International Women’s Day,” she said.

After the fourth World Conference on Women 10 years ago, the General Assembly had established a system-wide funding mechanism -- the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women.  The Trust Fund had granted over $13 million to more than 230 initiatives in over 100 countries.  Currently, 89 States had legislative provisions on domestic violence, 104 had made marital rape a crime, 90 had provisions against sexual harassment and 93 prohibited trafficking in human beings.

While citing a few examples, Ms. Heyzer said that, in Liberia, which had only recently passed its first law against rape, the Fund was assisting efforts to assess judgements, train 900 judicial and traditional court officials and strengthen the rural women’s groups on monitoring and reporting violent incidents.  In Eastern and Southern Africa, it had supported work to train judges on human rights principles.

On the use of rape as a weapon of war, she said that the violence that women experienced in times of peace was further exacerbated during conflict.  Furthermore, women’s limited access to peace processes meant that they were not in a position to make responding to sexual violence a priority.  In Peru, a United Nations Trust Fund-sponsored report on sexual violence during the armed conflict had convinced the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission to define rape as a weapon of war and grant reparations to victims.

“The issue of ending violence against women is an underinvested issue.  On this day, we are asking for a real increase in resources throughout the UN system, including for the Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women,” she continued.  “We are aiming at a level of $10 million annually.”

The present level of $3.5 million was not sufficient, Ms. Heyzer added.  Both deficits –- the institutional and the resources deficits -- needed to be addressed in order to end impunity for crimes and violence against women.

Rima Salah, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), referring expressly to sexual violence, said that its strategic intent was to humiliate communities, demobilize individuals and disintegrate the fabric of society.  It had been done in Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Congo and, more recently, in Darfur. 

“No one, including the UN itself, is doing enough to end this terrible situation,” she said.

This week, United Nations agencies had joined forces to confront sexual violence in conflict, to commit to doing more in protecting women, girls and survivors, she added.  One way to help stop the scourge was by ending impunity against its perpetrators, whether those be State or non-State actors.  Asked about reports regarding peacekeepers committing such crimes in the Sudan, she responded: “It’s a crime everywhere, whoever does it.”

In addition, the International Criminal Court’s recent ruling, charging two individuals with 51 counts of crimes against humanity in Darfur, including rape, was a good start, she said.  The international community needed to support those indictments and hold people accountable for “turning a blind eye” to rape and other forms of sexual violence.

On the subject of a high-level panel established by the United Nations to discuss how to better intensify efforts in ending sexual violence, many suggestions had been made.  Those included improving support and services for survivors, better information-sharing between the United Nations agencies and the International Criminal Court, and appointing more senior women into peacekeeping forces.

“Violence against women and girls is a war that we can win,” Ms. Salah added, quoting the newly appointed Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes.

In response to a question about what was being done to make legislation on violence against women universal, Ms. Heyzer said that the pressure exerted by women’s groups and peer groups had made countries respond swiftly.  Five years ago, only half the number of countries had even dealt with such legislation.  In fact, there was a growing movement, but it did need to be mobilized.  It was also imperative to get regional groups engaged.  Both the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the African Union had made the issue critical.

In a follow-up to that, Ms. Mayanja added that there were at least 185 Member States that had ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.  The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women had always asked States parties what measures had been taken in introducing such legislation.  As such, there was also pressure exerted from the Committee itself on Member States.

Responding to a question on why the issue had become a priority, considering that all the names of the countries mentioned had been African, Ms. Mayanja said that the Secretary-General’s study concerned everybody.  It was not any one region’s agenda, but rather the United Nations agenda.

Ms. Salah noted that, in Turkey, for the first time, the Organization of the Islamic Conference had organized a forum two months ago for women minsters working in women’s and children’s affairs.  That meeting’s theme had been how to adapt the laws of the Islamic world to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In response to a question on how many countries had made rape a crime, Ms. Heyzer said it was safe to say that over 100 countries had dealt with the issue.  She stressed that the issue was also one of education and changing attitudes and behaviour.  It was important to bring men and boys into the educational stream, as well.

On including men in the discussion, Ms. Mayanja added that efforts to end violence against women would not be successful without engaging men.  In light of that, tomorrow’s panel on International Women’s Day would include men who could give their feedback on how to deal with the subject of impunity.

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For information media • not an official record