International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is one of the most widespread, persistent and devastating human rights violations in our world today remains largely unreported due to the impunity, silence, stigma and shame surrounding it. It is alarming to know that one in three women and girls experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, most frequently by an intimate partner.
According to the United Nations (UN), only 52 per cent of women married or in a union freely make their own decisions about sexual relations, contraceptive use and health care. Additionally, almost 750 million women and girls alive today were married before their 18th birthday; while 200 million women and girls have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM).
To further compound the need for the protection of women and girls from violence, the UN says one in two women killed worldwide were killed by their partners or family in 2012; while only 1 out of 20 men were killed under similar circumstances adding that 71 per cent of all human trafficking victims worldwide are women and girls, and three out of four of these women and girls are sexually exploited.
Violence against women is as serious a cause of death and incapacity among women of reproductive age as cancer, and a greater cause of ill health than traffic accidents and malaria combined, UN notes.
The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women issued by the UN General Assembly in 1993, defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”
The adverse psychological, sexual and reproductive health consequences of VAWG affect women at all stages of their life. For example, early-set educational disadvantages not only represent the primary obstacle to universal schooling and the right to education for girls; down the line, they are also to blame for restricting access to higher education and even translate into limited opportunities for women in the labour market.
While gender-based violence can happen to anyone, anywhere, some women and girls are particularly vulnerable – for instance, young girls and older women, women who identify as lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex, migrants and refugees, indigenous women and ethnic minorities, or women and girls living with HIV and disabilities, and those living through humanitarian crises.
Violence against women continues to be an obstacle to achieving equality, development, peace as well as to the fulfilment of women and girls’ human rights. Overall, the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – to leave no one behind – cannot be fulfilled without putting an end to violence against women and girls.
In Guyana, VAWG is very prevalent and while some inroads have been made we are yet to reach a stage where we can say that the issue is being adequately addressed. Every day there are several reported cases of VAWG but despite this, there are no significant data collected by the relevant governmental agencies to holistically address the issue of violence against women.
To observe International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women there are several activities held by advocacy organisations and they range for marches to workshops and seminars. They all serve to create awareness surrounding the issues faced by women and how we can address them. (Times Sunday Magazine)