Press
Release ECE/GEN/00/7
Geneva, 20 January 2000
Preparatory
Meeting Begins Panel Discussion
on Women and Violence
Stronger
Response Urged Throughout Europe
Participants in a panel discussion
this morning on "women and violence" told a European preparatory meeting on
women's concerns that the problem was pervasive and that responses to date were
insufficient and underfunded. Such violence would not be ended until broad-based
discrimination against women that left them vulnerable and socially undervalued was
overcome, speakers said.
Violence against women in war and other
conflict situations also was condemned and greater consideration of gender issues was
called for in humanitarian responses to armed conflicts.
The Regional Preparatory Meeting on the
2000 Review of the Implementation of the Beijing Platform of Action divided the discussion
on women and violence into two parts; the morning session began with debate on domestic
violence and on trafficking in women and girls. Later the focus was shifted to the topic
of violence against women in armed-conflict situations; review of this second issue will
continue this afternoon.
The panellists for the first part of the
debate were Charlotte Bunch, President of the
Centre for Women's Global Leadership, of the United States; Goran Lindberg, Chief Commissioner of the Uppsala
County Police Department and Expert Adviser on Gender Equality for the Government of
Sweden; and Ruth Dreifuss, Federal Counsellor
of the Interior Federal Department of Switzerland.
Ms. Bunch said that when it came to
violence against women, there were no "developed countries", and that while the
problem was increasingly recognized, there had been little progress in ending it.
"Nowhere," she said, "is the gap between rhetoric and reality larger".
Mr. Lindberg told the meeting that
discrimination and undervaluation of women was widespread and continuing; women still were
not considered as valuable as men, and until they gained equality violence against them
would continue.
Ms. Dreifuss, who focused on trafficking
in women and girls, said that in Europe at least 300,000 women were estimated to be
involved. While economic difficulties in eastern Europe were exacerbating the problem, she
said, it had to be noted that demand for trafficked women was growing in wealthier
"countries of destination".
Panellists on the topic of violence
against women in situations of war or conflict were Laura Balbo, Minister of Equal
Opportunities of Italy; Marijana Grandits, former Member of Parliament and a political
scientist and consultant, of Austria; and Jadranka Milicevic, Member of the Managing
Board of Zene Zenama and Women in Black, of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Ms. Balbo, in her introductory statement,
said women should be involved in designing and carrying out humanitarian responses to
armed conflicts and should be the primary actors in the reconstruction of their lives and
communities. Most gender-based acts of intolerance and revenge during armed conflicts were
practiced by men, yet few women actively opposed them, and those who did often acted in
isolation, she said.
Ms. Grandits said violence against women
during armed conflict was only a continuation of violence against women in times of peace
-- it was important to remember that those who committed such acts were also fathers,
brothers, and sons; if they did such horrible things during war it meant that such acts
were acceptable to them in times of peace; and as long as society allowed violence against
women in times of peace it would continue to be carried out in more extreme form in times
of conflict.
Ms. Milicevic told the meeting that the
victims of war and armed conflict were most frequently women and children -- it sometimes
seemed that women were not considered human, that one could not be human and a woman at
the same time.
Those offering comments and asking
questions from the floor included members of national delegations, representatives of
non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and officials of international agencies.
Toward the beginning of the meeting a
minute of silence was observed in memory of women and men who had died as a result of
violence.
The preparatory conference, organized by
the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), in partnership with the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM),
the UN Division for the Advancement of Women, the Council of Europe, and the European
Commission, will continue through Friday. Its purpose is to provide European input for a
special session of the United Nations General Assembly entitled "Women 2000:
Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-First Century" to be held in
June in New York. The General Assembly will focus on progress made in the wake of the
Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing five years ago.
Providing comments from the floor during
the meeting were representatives of the NGO Caucus on Violence against Women; United
States; France; Women for Women's Human Rights; Austria; European Women's Lobby; Italy;
Norway; National Women's Information Centre of Poland; Greece; Denmark; Turkey; World
Population Foundation; Israel; Belarus; NGO Caucus on the Status of Women Working Group on
Girls; Sweden; Azerbaijan; and Ukraine.
The preparatory session will resume at 3
p.m. to continue its panel discussion on women and violence. At the conclusion of that
debate, a panel discussion will begin on the topic of women in power and decision-making.
Statements of panellists
CHARLOTTE BUNCH, President of the
Centre for Women's Global Leadership, of the United States, said one of the greatest gains
of the women's movement recently had been to put the issue of violence against women on
the global agenda; when it came to such violence, there were no "developed
countries". Such violence affected the realization of other rights of women. While
the problem was recognized, there had been little progress in ending it over the past five
years -- nowhere was the gap between rhetoric and reality larger. Funding was nowhere near
sufficient. Systematic national and international campaigns were needed on the scale of
those launched against smoking and other hazards. The solution would not be simple;
multi-faceted strategies were needed that attacked root causes.
In the United States, many women's
shelters reported that it was vital for victims of domestic violence to be able to find
jobs and child care to escape situations in which they were prone to violence. Education
and prevention strategies that countered prevailing attitudes and attacked improper
portrayals in the mass media also were necessary. Offenders had to be held accountable for
their actions; the greatest cause for such continuing offenses was that men thought and
believed they could get away with it. Legal discrimination against women in relation to
violence had to be rectified -- many countries still had not outlawed domestic violence or
related offenses, such as incest. Clear guidelines for those in the justice system and
training for law-enforcement officials in dealing with issues of violence against women
were critical. More data and research were also needed, based on uniform standards and
indicators. A feminist human-rights perspective on trafficking in women required that all
steps to end such offenses look at the matter from the point of view of the well-being of
the women involved.
GORAN LINDBERG, Chief Commissioner of the
Uppsala County Police Department and Expert Adviser on Gender Equality for the Government
of Sweden, said there was an enormous amount of violence in society, and men accounted for
the overwhelming proportion of it. Violence, unfortunately, often was glorified. In
Sweden, violence committed by men against women and children had been increasing and had
grown more severe in character. Every week a woman in Sweden was murdered in a case of
domestic violence; every hour in Sweden a woman was beaten in a domestic incident. It was
a myth that men who beat women were usually drunk or otherwise abnormally stimulated; men
who beat women were everywhere and were present in the course of normal life. At root,
such violence was a matter of value; if a man looked upon a woman as having equal value to
himself, he would not beat or rape her. But the truth was that discrimination and
undervaluation of women were widespread and continuing: women in fact were not considered
as valuable as men.
Only a broad response attacking this
pervasive discrimination would succeed in ending violence against women. Economic
discrimination had to be ended and women's roles in child-raising and homemaking had to be
recognized and given greater value. When cases of violence did occur there had to be an
immediate response; police had to be sensitive to the issues involved; victims needed to
have legal aid; all authorities involved in the process should be well-trained; and women
needed to be provided with medical and social aid. Follow-up contact with victims was
vital -- in Sweden the police checked in every week with former victims and provided
greater protection if it was needed.
RUTH DREIFUSS, Federal Counsellor of the
Interior Federal Department of Switzerland, said violence against women remained the most
shocking manifestation of inequality between women and men. Women who were economically
dependent could not effectively defend themselves against such attacks, and social
attitudes reinforcing the myth of male superiority/female inferiority perpetuated the
problem. Trafficking in women and girls was carried out by organized criminal groups who
played on such attitudes and economic weaknesses. Law-enforcement efforts to fight the
practice were in general too fragmented; national Governments had to recognize that such
trafficking was threatening to undermine their societies; trafficking represented one of
the most flagrant and widespread violations of human rights in Europe.
The treatment of women and girls who were
trafficked was utterly unacceptable. In Europe, at least 300,000 women were estimated to
be victims of trafficking. Economic difficulties in eastern Europe were exacerbating the
problem, but it also had to be noted that demand for trafficked women was growing in
countries of destination. In most cases the victims were only seeking better futures for
themselves and their families; once these women crossed borders, their papers were taken
away from them and they were forced to engage in prostitution or in virtual slave labour.
If there was no demand for these abysmal services, they would not occur, and the victims
would not perform them if they were not under duress. Resolving the problem required
attacking the root causes of economic and social insecurity that made women vulnerable,
and required ending such unacceptable activities as sex tourism.
LAURA BALBO, Minister of Equal
Opportunities of Italy, said the war in the Balkans last year had made a difference in the
way Europe addressed issues of conflict and peace; Europe's inability to prevent conflicts
over the past decade on its own soil was a tragic reminder of how far Europe was from
implementation of the Beijing Platform of Action. Reducing the risk of conflict and making
social and economic reconstruction as effective as possible were part of protecting women
in times of armed conflict. Civilian populations had been targets in recent conflicts. It
still was not realized how crucial the gender factor was in such crises -- for example,
gender was not yet sufficiently considered in the design and management of refugee camps.
It also was time to consider women not as "weak" victims but as potential agents
of positive change. Women should be involved in designing and carrying out humanitarian
responses to armed conflicts and should be the primary actors in the reconstruction of
their lives and communities.
Introducing a gender perspective into
military action was complex and difficult, as the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia had
indicated; but a clearer focus was needed on how gender had or had not been considered
effectively in peacekeeping operations in the Balkans. Most acts of intolerance and
revenge were practiced by men, yet few women actively opposed them, and those who did
often acted in isolation. Domestic-violence rates were reported to be high in
post-conflict situations, and so peacekeeping and humanitarian-response activities had to
take this into account and act to prevent such abuses.
MARIJANA GRANDITS, former Member of
Parliament and a political scientist, and consultant, of Austria, said a new millennium
was beginning and unfortunately violence against women in times of war was still a serious
problem. It was necessary to admit that the pattern of warfare had changed greatly in
recent years; women and children now were the most frequent victims; in Kosovo, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, 75 per cent of those killed were women and children, and the great majority
of refugees were women and children. Rape, forced prostitution, and other forms of sexual
violence were being used more often as a tool of war. Although it was sometimes said that
rape in Bosnia and Herzegovina marked the first such occasion of systematic use of this
"tool", that probably was not true -- instead, Bosnia and Herzegovina had been
the first time such systematic violations had been talked about and recognized. This
awareness raising was valuable.
The connection had to be stressed that
violence against women during armed conflict was only a continuation of violence against
women in times of peace -- it was important to remember that those who committed such acts
were also fathers, brothers, and sons; they could not change context so thoroughly; if
they did such horrible things during war it meant that such acts were acceptable to them
in times of peace; as long as society allowed violence against women in times of peace it
would continue to be carried out in more extreme form in times of conflict. Impunity must
be ended; those known to have committed such atrocities during the recent conflicts in the
Balkans, for example, must be brought to trial, and it had to be noted that peacekeepers
themselves had been known to commit violence and sexual offenses against women, and should
be held accountable for such human-rights violations.
JADRANKA MILICEVIC, Member of the Managing
Board of Zene Zenama and Women in Black, of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said the mistakes made
in the formation of the new European democracies and the frictions and economic
consequences of those changes had most brutally affected women. In armed conflict
situations it sometimes seemed that women were not considered human -- it was as if one
could not be human and a woman at the same time. In war now the most frequent victims were
women and children.
In the Balkan region, women activists and
women's NGOs had come to the fore in the wake of the recent conflicts, often as a result
of serious human-rights abuses or the loss of family members; in their advocacy roles,
they frequently suffered new discrimination, violence, and even imprisonment.
Discussion
A number of speakers stressed that
efforts to date to end violence against women were insufficient, and that attention given
to the matter was not thorough enough. A representative of the NGO Caucus on Violence
against Women said it was important to consider the matter not only in terms of physical
attack but from the point of view of psychological damage and in terms of sexual offense.
It also was noted that women who were trafficked for economic reasons rather than for
sexual exploitation were numerous and deserved international attention and protection.
Participants in the debate urged repeatedly that victims of trafficking must not be
treated as criminals, as persons illegally present in foreign countries or as persons
carrying out illegal activities. A series of country representatives described national
efforts to combat domestic violence and trafficking in women, including through the use of
hotlines, police-training programmes, establishment of shelters, and enhancement of
coordination between law-enforcement and social-protection agencies.
Speakers said in several cases that
international trafficking required much greater coordination at national and international
levels than had been seen to date, and that humane treatment of victims in countries of
destination had to be followed up with humane treatment when they returned to their
countries of origin; others said legal issues such as "consent" of the victims
in matters of trafficking should not be used to place the burden of proof on the victims;
overall, it was noted, severe violations of human rights were involved in trafficking and
in violence of all kinds carried out against women. Punishing clients of prostitution was
urged, as were pursuit and punishment of traffickers across international borders, media
campaigns in countries of origin on the dangers of trafficking to alert potential victims,
particular attention to offenses committed against adolescent women, and development of a
binding international convention on trafficking. Such offenses as wife-burning and honour
killing should be placed in the category of violence against women, a representative of
Turkey said. The Chairperson of the NGO Caucus on the Status of Women Working Group on
Girls said surveys indicated that one in three young women was sexually abused and that
much greater attention was needed on the matter.
* * *
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