Gender Equality Online

UNiTE to End Violence against Women in the Pacific

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 05:20:00 GMT

The following Blog was written by Alice Ruxton who is the Communications and Advocacy Support Officer at the UNIFEM (part of UN Women) East and Southeast Asia Sub-Regional Office in Bangkok. She is participating in the Australian Youth Ambassador Program.

As a young woman working on gender issues, I often grapple with the issue of how we can end violence against women and girls. Even though I work for an organization that works to end violence against women, studied gender at university and have read many books and articles on the topic, I never cease to be utterly shocked at how pervasive and extreme violence against women and girls is throughout the world.

For me, ending violence against women requires individual action and the challenging of power relations between men and women, particularly beginning at a young age. Whilst human rights conventions, laws, policies and campaigns are critical for ending violence against women and girls, individual and community action is essential to affect real change. It was therefore so exciting to hear HRH Princess Bajrakitiyabha and Thai Prime Minister Abhisit reflect this sentiment in their speeches at the launch of Asia-Pacific UNiTE in Bangkok on 25 November 2010.

Asia-Pacific UNiTE is the regional component of the United Nations Secretary-General’s campaign UNiTE to End Violence against Women (http://www.un.org/en/women/endviolence/index.shtml).

At the launch, Prime Minister Abhisit said, “Apart from offering moral and rhetorical support, we all have to take concrete action to end impunity and to make fundamental changes to the existing unequal power structure”.

HRH Princess Bajrakitiyabha echoed this sentiment stating, “We will not successfully end violence against women, unless we substitute the mindset of masculinity with one of gender sensitivity”. HRH has served as a UNIFEM (part of UN Women) Goodwill Ambassador for Say NO UNiTE in Thailand since 2008.

The launch of Asia-Pacific UNiTE was attended by over 600 people including representatives from the diplomatic community, the Thai Government, civil society, UN agencies, media and students. The event included a number of performances including the reading of the poem ‘I got flowers today’, which was extremely moving and chilling, and had a profound effect on many of those in the audience.

I got flowers today.
I got flowers today.
It wasn’t my birthday
or any special day.
We had our first argument last night,
and he said a lot of cruel things
that really hurt me.
I know he is sorry
and didn’t mean the things he said
because he sent me flowers today.

I got flowers today.
It wasn’t our anniversary
or any other special day.
Last night, he threw me into a wall
and started to choke me.
It seemed like a nightmare.
I couldn’t believe it was real.
I know he must be sorry
because he sent me flowers today.

I got flowers today,
and it wasn’t Mother’s Day
or any other special day.
Last night, he beat me up again.
If I leave him, what will I do?
How will I take care of my kids?
What about money?
I’m afraid of him and scared to leave.
But I know he must be sorry
because he sent me flowers today.

I got flowers today.
Today was a very special day.
It was the day of my funeral.
Last night, he finally killed me.
If only I had gathered enough courage
and strength to leave him,
I would not have gotten flowers today.

No Rest for the Committed

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 23:07:00 GMT

The following Blog was written by Suze van Meegen who is currently in Dili, East Timor working with Fundasaun Alola. Suze will be writing regular blogs through Gender Equality Online.

In spite of the initial celebrations, no-one I've met in Timor-Leste is mopping their brow, kicking back and letting the new nation's long-awaited Law Against Domestic Violence take care of business. The law is an immense achievement and a credit to the men and women who campaigned for 8 long years to conciliate opponents - the Catholic Church chief among them - and laboriously champion a law that clearly defines domestic violence as a public crime and mandates support services. So now begins the task of implementation.

There is no comprehensive data on gender-based violence in Timor-Leste. 400 cases were reported in 2008 according to United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), but a 2005 report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) provides contextual information to suggest that the prevalence of gender-based violence is far greater than this number indicates. In their 2005 report Gender-Based Violence in Timor-Leste, UNFPA identify the following factors as specific to Timor-Leste :

• Patriarchal organisation of Timorese society;
• Cultural beliefs and practices - such as the bride price (barlaki), and traditional systems of law (adat);
• Infidelity and polygamy;
• Problematic behaviour, such as alcohol abuse, gambling and betting on cockfights;
• Infertility (for example, if a woman and a man are unable to conceive a child together, the woman is almost always blamed and may suffer abuse, abandonment or the infidelity of her male partner as a result);
• Family involvement in marriages, including family pressure not to take issues of abuse outside the family;
• The role of the Catholic Church, which emphasises the need to keep families together;
• The recent history and culture of violence within the society, primarily a result of occupation and colonialism;
• Tolerance of male violence;
• The high value placed on the chastity of women; and
• Public opinion that domestic violence and sexual assault are normal parts of life.

Even with the shiny new law, one could be forgiven for thinking it's a fairly unpropitious outlook. But then – and I'm trying to avoid cliches here – Timor takes on challenges pretty well. Advocacy by Timorese women resulted in the establishment in 2001 of the Office for the Promotion of Equality, sitting within the Prime Minister's Office. This followed the March 2000 establishment of Rede Feto Timor Lorosa'e, a national organisation concerned with promoting a 'rights based approach to development', and coordinating the 16 Timorese organisations working on women's issues. Chief mmong these are PRADET Timor Lorosa'e which has operated since 2001 under a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Health to deliver psychosocial support services; FOKUPERS, established in 1997 to provide support to women widowed or whose husband's were victimised during the Indonesian Occupation, and whose mandate has extended dramatically since; and Fundasaun Alola, established in 2001 by then First Lady, Kirsty Sword Gusmao, to raise awareness about sexual violence and advocate for women's rights, and now delivering education, health, advocacy and maternal and child health programs .

On November 3rd we celebrated National Women's Day, to commemorate the specific role of women in the struggle for independence, and in rebuilding the nation. And by 'we', I mean men and women both. The role and interest of Timorese men in advancing women's rights is far more visible and committed than is often seen in Australia. The Association of Men Against Violence (AKMV), established in 2001 by 20 Timorese men to provide community education, high level advocacy and to build networks, will have a significant role to play in mainstreaming the principles that underpin Timor-Leste's Law against Domestic Violence.

So a big job it will be. But not one with which Timorese people and organisations are unfamiliar, and certainly one they're well-equipped to do.

Making women count for peace

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 22:49:00 GMT

The following Blog was written by Alice Ruxton who is the Communications and Advocacy Support Officer at the UNIFEM (part of UN Women) East and Southeast Asia Sub-Regional Office in Bangkok.

Heavily pregnant and having to flee her home and village to escape conflict, resulting in the premature birth of her child – this was the scene that was set last week in Bangkok by Helen Hakena, a peace activist from Bougainville who shared her own personal experience to highlight the importance of including women in issues of peace and security. Helen, along with other women peace activists, representatives from government, civil-society and UN agencies met in Bangkok over two days to commemorate the 10th anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, and to participate in a capacity development workshop on UNSCR 1325.

UNSCR 1325 was passed in recognition that whilst women remain a minority of combatants and perpetrators of war and conflict, they often suffer the most. Alarmingly, sexual violence is increasingly being used as a deliberate tactic of warfare. Despite all this, women continue to be poorly represented in formal peace processes, although they contribute in many informal ways to conflict resolution.
UNSCR 1325 was a landmark resolution which called for international security institutions to address the different impacts of conflict on women and men, and to engage women fully in conflict resolution, peackeeping and peacebuilding. However, implementation of the resolution has been slow.

To mark the 10th anniversary of the resolution and to highlight how much more work needs to be done, UNIFEM (part of UN Women) East and Southeast Asia Sub-Regional Office in Bangkok was involved in facilitating two activities – the launch of the Asia-Pacific Regional Advisory Group on Women, Peace and Security and the capacity development workshop mentioned above.

Dr. Noeleen Heyzer, Under Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) launched the Asia-Pacific Regional Advisory Group on Women, Peace and Security at a special function held on 6 October 2010 at the UN Conference Centre, Bangkok. The Group - the first regional of its kind - will advise and support Governments, civil society and other relevant players on the effective implementation of UNSCR 1325 in the Asia-Pacific region. The Group is composed of women and men leaders having recognized expertise in advancing the role and interests of women in peace and security processes in the region, such as Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, who will act as an honourable advisor to the Group, Ms. Sima Samar, Head of Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and Ms. Teresita Quinto-Deles, presidential adviser on the peace process in the Philippines.

Not all members of the newly appointed Advisory Group were able to attend the launch, but those who did participated in a roundtable discussion. Bandana Rana, Regional Coordinator of the South Asian Campaign for Gender Equality from Nepal shared how at the Beijing 4th World Conference on Women, the delegates from Nepal felt that the discussions on conflict were not very relevant to them. However, unfortunately 15 years later the reality is much different, and Nepal is now currently in the process of developing its National Action Plan on the implementation of 1325, the first to be developed in South Asia. An audience member from India spoke about how India has recently sent its first all-women police team to participate in the UN Mission in Liberia. This was in recognition that when all-women police teams were introduced in India, there was an increase in women reporting crimes.

MAKE WOMEN COUNT FOR PEACE – SIGN THE PETITION!
UNIFEM's global campaign to Make Women Count for Peace is quickly growing but needs your support! We have two weeks left before the Security Council High-Level Ministerial meeting in New York focusing on Security Council Resolution 1325.
This is why we are calling on all our supporters to sign the petition before October 21, urging governments to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1325 that ensures women’s participation in peace-building.

You can make a difference!

The Launch of Gender Equality Online!

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 03:38:00 GMT

We are very excited to launch Gender Equality Online, the first online forum dedicated to all things gender and development.

We hope that you will take the time to go through our forums and resources pages and also consider uploading your own research.

There will be new forums added each month focussing on topical issues.

Look forward to reading your comments on the current forum topics.

Gender Equality Team