Why gender equality and women's empowerment must lie at the heart of EU external action?

BY EUROPEAN UNION DELEGATION TO BARBADOS & THE EASTERN CARIBBEAN

Originally published: March 08, 2010 03:55:00 PM
Last updated: November 30, -0001 01:54:24 AM

Fifteen years after the groundbreaking Fourth World Conference on Women, which was held in Beijing in 1995, the international community has clear legal norms on the prohibition of discrimination and the active promotion of gender equality and women's empowerment.

These norms are accepted in all countries of the world as part of human rights law. The international community is also equipped with bodies that can effectively monitor the implementation of women's rights. This is the case of the UN Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (the 'CEDAW Committee') and the recently-established Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on violence against women in conflict situations.

However, implementation is slow in many countries of the world. From a new 10-country study on women's health and domestic violence conducted by the World Health Organisation, it appears that between 15% and 71% of women reported physical or sexual violence by a husband or partner. Between 4% and 12% of women reported being physically abused during pregnancy. Every year, about 5,000 women are murdered by family members in the name of honour each year worldwide. Under these conditions, women's rights mechanisms remain under-exploited, and the possibility for individual victims to submit complaints to the UN, for example, is unknown to most women. These are key challenges for the EU human rights policy in third countries. And we must also lead by example in our EU internal policies.

On the eve of the International Women's Day, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission Catherine Ashton said:

"International Women's Day provides a great opportunity for each one of us to reflect on our responsibility for working towards the eradication of gender inequality. This is very much true also in international relations, where all must play their part in reaching this common goal. Sustainable peace and security cannot be achieved without the full participation of women. Unfortunately, the persistence of constitutions and laws that blatantly discriminate against women still undermines the development of countries around the world. Violence against women has direct negative consequences on women's access to education, job and on to their participation in the public life. The impact of the marginalisation of women is not only at the expense of women, but runs counter to the overall empowerment of local communities. There remains a huge amount to do in all parts of the world."

"This is a global challenge of the highest order, to deliver gender equality and empower women, within Europe and beyond. That is why the EU will continue to put pro-active work in this field at the heart of our policies, both internal and external. Heads of EU Delegations throughout the world have just received clear instructions in this respect", she added.

Background 

In December 1977, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a United Nations Day for Women's Rights and International Peace to be observed on any day of the year by member countries, in accordance with their national traditions.

The EU has a long-standing commitment to promote gender equality; already in 1995, for instance, it played a leadership role at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. Since then, the EU has sought actively to integrate the priorities and needs of women and men in all its key policies, notably in external assistance. Annually almost 35% of the European Commission's development aid is spent on projects that have a gender dimension. A forthcoming “EU Action Plan on Mainstreaming Gender Equality in Development” will aim at strengthening the coordination of activities in this field by EU institutions and individual EU Member States.

This gender mainstreaming strategy is reinforced by specific measures, programmes and projects to support the empowerment of women. The EU closely monitors women's rights and gender equality in third countries, including issues such as discriminatory laws and women's participation in public life. In 2008, the EU adopted new Guidelines on violence and discrimination against women and girls, which foresee regular reporting from EU Member States’ embassies and EU Delegations in third countries. As a way to implement these Guidelines, the EU urges third countries to enhance the fight against impunity and to support the protection and reintegration of victims, in close cooperation with civil society organisations and with defenders of women's rights. This includes protection against traditional practices that are harmful, such as female genital mutilation. The implementation of these Guidelines involves the work, as of today, of some 90 EU Delegations and EU Member States embassies in third countries.

This first-hand information forms the basis for constructive discussion with third countries' governments in the framework of human rights dialogues and consultations as well as in ad hoc conferences, such as the follow-up meetings of the 2006 Euromed ministerial conference on 'Strenghtening the Role of Women in Society'. Most recently, a meeting at the ministerial level was held in Marrakesh on 11-12 November 2009, in the framework of the Union for the Mediterranean.

The EU is an active actor in the international implementation of UN Security Council resolutions 1325 of 2000, 1820 of 2008, and the most recent 1888 and 1889 of 2009: these resolutions concern 1) the protection of women from violence in conflict and post-conflict situations and 2) women's participation in peacebuilding. The work of the Union in this area is guided by the “EU Comprehensive Approach for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1820 on women, peace and security”.

This policy document, which was adopted by the Council of the EU on 8 December 2008, presents a vision of the role and obligations of a regional actor such as the EU in protecting women in conflict situations and in facilitating their pro-active role as peace-builders. The EU has been instrumental to ask the UN to organise, in October 2010, a ministerial review conference of resolution 1325. By then, the EU aims at achieving concrete results on the implementation of its policy on women, peace and security.

Election observation is another relevant tool to promote women’s role and participation in post-conflict or conflict-prone societies. Reports of EU electoral observation mission systematically include a comprehensive analysis of women’s participation as both voters and candidates as well as a set of recommendations.

Various financial instruments provide support to NGOs working in third countries on women’s rights. The European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) includes the equal participation of men and women as a core goal of its Objective 2 on “strengthening the role of civil society in promoting human rights and democratic reform, in supporting the peaceful conciliation of group interests and consolidating political participation and representation”.

In future, the EIDHR should also provide opportunities to support NGOs activities to implement the EU Guidelines on violence and discrimination against women and girls. The thematic programme Investing in People also contains a separate financial envelope for funding NGOs actions in the area of promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women. The Stability Instrument is currently used to integrate a gender perspective into EU activities in the area of conflict prevention, for instance through support to training, research and capacity building activities implemented by specialised NGOs.

The European Commission works closely with international inter-governmental organisations working for the protection of women’s rights. In particular, in April 2007, the European Commission jointly with UNIFEM and the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization (ITC-ILO) - launched the EC/UN Partnership on Gender Equality for Development and Peace: this programme seeks to build capacity of relevant actors and improve accountability for gender equality in 12 focus countries: Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Honduras, Indonesia, Kyrgyz Republic, Nepal, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Suriname and Ukraine.

Ukraine participating in European convention combating violence against women and domestic violence

Ukraine participating in elaboration of European convention combating violence against women and domestic violencePhoto: change.org

Ukraine participating in elaboration of European convention on combating violence against women and domestic violence

Two days ago at 18:01 | Interfax-Ukraine

Ukraine is participating in a fourth plenary sitting of the Council of Europe Ad Hoc Committee on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (CAHVIO), which is taking place in Strasburg, France from February 22 through February 24, 2010, the press service of Ukraine's Justice Ministry has reported.

Justice Minister Mykola Onischuk said the Ukrainian delegation, consisting of representatives of the Justice Ministry, is participating in the discussion and assessment of a new draft of the European convention on combating violence against women and domestic violence.

The future convention, which is being elaborated at the initiative of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), is aimed at creating effective mechanisms to tackle gender violence.

The Council of Europe Ad Hoc Committee on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence was created under the aegis of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. The committee includes representatives of member states of the Council of Europe, as well as international and European organizations.

The Facts About Domestic Violence

The Facts on Reproductive Health and Violence Against Women

Violence against women and girls is a global epidemic that affects the health and economic

stability of women, their families, and their communities. Violence affects every aspect of

women’s lives – from their personal health and safety, to the safety of their families, to their

ability to earn a living. While domestic violence is a global problem, women in developing

countries face particular challenges. Intimate partner violence against women has serious

consequences for maternal mortality and child survival in addition to having detrimental effects

on a nation’s social and economic growth.

• The United Nations Development Fund for Women estimates that at least one of every

three women globally will be beaten, raped, or otherwise abused during her lifetime. In

most cases, the abuser is a member of her own family.1

• Sexual violence is a pervasive global health and human rights problem. In some

countries, approximately one in four women and girls over age 15 may experience sexual

violence by an intimate partner at some points in their lives, and rates of sexual abuse by

non-partners range from one to 12 percent over the course of a woman’s lifetime.2

• A 2005 World Health Organization study found that of 15 sites in ten countries –

representing diverse cultural settings – the proportion of ever-partnered women who had

experienced physical or sexual intimate partner violence in their lifetime ranged from 15

percent in Japan to 71 percent in Ethiopia. At least one in five women reporting physical

abuse had never before told anyone about it.3

• In the same study, four to 12 percent of women who had been pregnant reported having

been beaten during pregnancy, and more than half of these women had been kicked or

punched in the abdomen during pregnancy. Women who reported physical or sexual

violence by a partner were also more likely to report having had at least one induced

abortion or miscarriage than women who did not report abuse. 4

• Violence and the threat of violence against women contributes to the spread of

HIV/AIDS. Numerous studies indicate that violence dramatically increases the

vulnerability of women and girls to HIV/AIDS by making it difficult or impossible for

them to abstain from sex, get their partners to be faithful, or use a condom. Women

account for half of all people living with HIV worldwide, and nearly 60 percent of HIV

infections in sub-Saharan Africa. Over the last 10 years, the proportion of women among

people living with HIV has remained stable globally, but has increased in many regions.5

• The U.S. State Department reports approximately 800,000 people are trafficked across

borders around the world each year, which does not include the millions of people

trafficked within their own countries. Worldwide, four in five trafficking victims are

women and girls, and up to half are minors.6

The Facts on International Gender-Based Violence

• An estimated 100 to 140 million girls and women worldwide are currently living with the

consequences of female genital mutilation or cutting, with the majority of these instances

taking place in Africa and the Middle East.7

• Sexual violence and rape have been used during armed conflict to torture, injure and

degrade women, and have been a feature of recent conflicts around the world, including

those in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Darfur region of Sudan, Rwanda, and the

former Yugoslavia. In 2008, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution

that declares rape and sexual violence to be weapons of war, and demanded 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. 8

• Domestic and sexual violence in the United Kingdom costs the country £5.7 billion per

year, including costs to the criminal justice system, health care costs, housing and the loss

to the economy.9 In the United States, the health care cost of intimate partner rape,

physical assault and stalking totals $5.8 billion each year, nearly $4.1 billion of which is

for direct medical and mental health care services. Lost productivity from paid work and

household chores and lifetime earnings lost by homicide victims total nearly $1.8

billion.10

Where It All Began - Video

Nation stepping up efforts to combat domestic abuse

Tetyana Rudenko, an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe domestic abuse project coordinator

February 11 at 22:22 | Kateryna Grushenko

The good news is that Ukrainians – with the help of non-governmental organizations and more effort from law enforcement – have started combating the long-ignored problem of domestic abuse. The bad news is that, although domestic abuse may not be more widespread than in other countries, the victims in Ukraine are unprotected still by weak legislation, enforcement and awareness.

Police in the nation of 46 million people registered 93,000 domestic violence perpetrators in 2009, triple the number of 2003. More than 90 percent of the cases, as they are worldwide, involve women and children who are victimized by men. But the increase detected in official numbers is taken not as a sign that the problem is increasing, but rather that families are more actively reporting abuse and seeking help from authorities.

“Domestic violence is not on the rise in Ukraine, but it’s starting to show its true face, and both victims and those helping them are teaming up more effectively to combat it,” said Oleksandr Musienko, senior inspector of the social security department at the Interior Ministry.
Domestic violence is defined as deliberate actions of physical, sexual, psychological or economic abuse against one member of the family by another that causes moral, physical or psychological damage.

Overall, the number of registered cases is much smaller than in the United States, with 300 million people and 5.3 million of cases of domestic abuse registered annually. America, however, has a longer tradition of officially reporting these cases than in Ukraine, where many instances go unreported.

Activists and law enforcement officers are stepping up efforts to encourage victims to speak out and promise to push legislation to protect them – hopeful signs that a long-ignored problem is finally being confronted.

Surveys show that 68 percent of women say they have been victimized. The trauma leads some victims to commit suicide. Nearly 1 in 4 murders stem from domestic violence. Often, the perpetrators get away with a small fine of Hr 70 ($9).
But society is slowly becoming more responsive to victims.

“In previous years, victims had to run away and hide while the violator didn’t realize his fault, and had full command of family property,” said Gennadiy Mustafaev, a psychologist at Kyiv’s Desniansky center for family and women affairs.

A law on the prevention of domestic violence was adopted in 2001 and amended in 2008. It allows police to issue an official warning to suspect and to detain the perpetrator until a court hears the case. The violator, however, can return home after paying a small fine. Shelters have popped up in recent years giving abused women and children shelter for up to three months.

In many cases, alcohol and drugs are used by the male abusers. “Many of the perpetrators have a problem with alcohol and substance abuse, and end up selling family property, sometimes even apartments,” Mustafaev added.

The amended version of the law excludes victim behavior from the mitigating circumstances, closing the “she provoked me” loophole that the perpetrators often used.

“Accepting that ‘she provoked me’ [as a mitigating circumstance] is like accusing someone who had his cell phone stolen of keeping it in the wrong place or forgiving rape if the girl was a wearing a mini-skirt. It won’t be tolerated anymore,” said Tetyana Rudenko, an OSCE domestic abuse project coordinator.

Prior to 2001, no law on domestic violence existed and perpetrators had the status of “hooligans” rarely punished even for disorderly conduct. “The law is still far from perfect and we are assisting Ukraine to adopt the international experience,” said Rudenko.

During a recent conference, she produced examples of how Austria and Spain tackled their domestic abuse problems.

In Austria, if a policeman arrives on a domestic violence call, he or she can confiscate the keys to the house from the abuser and issue a restraining order for 7-10 days, prohibiting the accused perpetrator from approaching the house. In Spain, special courts deal with domestic violence and family matters. But experts are cautious on whether such solutions help or trigger further problems in Ukraine, where the police and courts are themselves notoriously corrupt.

“I’m not saying that these practices should be immediately applied to Ukraine, but the approach when the rights of the victim are prioritized is crucial,” said Rudenko.

Starting in 2010, correction programs for domestic violence perpetrators aimed to modify their abusive behavior will kick in on the national level. They are designed to substitute ineffective punishments, such as a small fine or public service, with psychotherapeutic group trainings and individual visits with psychologists.

Ukraine’s law enforcement officials are also starting to notice that improved training, teaching police on how to better deal with domestic abuse cases, can also make a difference. And so, they recently launched a two-room training room in Dnipropetrovsk, where officers test strategies with actors who imitate families experiencing domestic abuse problems.

“One of the two scenarios goes like this: A father returns home drunk, curses, picks on the family members, and it all blows up into a big fight. Then, neighbors call police, two officers arrive and try to handle the situation,” said Musienko.

The lessons learned from this center and as well as generally known methods, Rudenko said, will soon be disbursed via video-based training materials.

Kyiv Post staff writer Kateryna Grushenko can be reached at grushenko@kyivpost.com

Powerful Sand Art Video

This video shows the winner of 2009's " Ukraine 's Got Talent", Kseniya Simonova, 24, drawing a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how ordinary people were affected by the German invasion during World War II. Her talent, which admittedly is a strange one, is mesmeric to watch.

Meeting with Shelters

While in Ukraine we spent four days meeting with different shelters throughout Kiev and western Ukraine. Not only was I impressed and moved by the women who had come to the shelters to take control of their lives and hope for something better, but I was deeply moved by the Ukrainian workers who gave so much of their time, talents and professions to helping these women. Social workers, therapists, psychologists and other professionals were dedicating their lives to helping combat domestic violence...some for absolutely no financial gain whatsoever, and all of the others for the most minimal salaries.

They greeted us with graciousness and professionalism as we worked together to discover what programs and other needs Courage to Hope could facilitate.