WUNRN
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN EPIDEMIC
DOCUMENTATION PROJECT
CASE EXAMPLES, SUCCESSES &
CHALLENGES - 10 COUNTRIES
Author and journalist Karin Alfredsson
founded 'Cause of Death: Woman' to investigate the worldwide epidemic of
violent acts against women
Karin Alfredsson is spearheading a
nongovernmental project to document violence against women around the world,
and to highlight the shortcomings and successes of legislation and other
initiatives aimed at helping to curb it.
(Linda Forsell)
Yet not enough is being done to stop it, says
Swedish journalist and author Karin Alfredsson, who has launched an unprecedented global
initiative aimed at focusing attention on a worldwide epidemic of violence
against women.
"It's everywhere," Ms. Alfredsson
says.
The project, called Cause of Death: Woman, is
taking her or members of her team to 10 countries – Pakistan, Mexico, the United States, Egypt,
South Africa, Spain,
Brazil, Russia, Sweden, and the Democratic Republic of Congo – to document what they call
the "violent reality" for women and to highlight ways to end it.
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Alfredsson's team includes Kerstin Weigl, an award-winning reporter for the Swedish
national daily newspaper Aftonbladet, and Linda Forsell, a photojournalist. Their findings and
recommendations will be presented at a February 2012 conference in Washington, D.C., organized by the US-based National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV).
Alfredsson's project provides a catalyst for
conversations, says Sue Else, president of the NNEDV. "We can't begin to
address this epidemic problem until we talk about it openly and widely,"
Ms. Else says.
Funding (2.5 million Swedish kronor, about
$390,000) is being provided by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency; Sigrid Rausing, a philanthropist, anthropologist, and
publisher; and the family of the late Swedish crime novelist Stieg Larsson, whose books often dealt with gender-based
violence.
The project – an offshoot of Alfredsson's
career as the author of five works of fiction focusing on the issue – will
include an interactive website with real-life examples of women affected by
gender-based violence and information on how to stop it, Alfredsson said in an
interview at her home outside Stockholm.
More than 30 years ago, and almost
single-handedly, Alfredsson persuaded Swedish authorities to take the issue
seriously and to act more forcefully in handling cases of domestic violence,
says Margot Wallström, the United Nations special representative on sexual violence in
conflict.
Alfredsson's book on that subject, "Den
man älskar agar man?" ("The Person You Love You Hurt?"), was
published in 1979. Since then, she has written 14 books – most of them dealing
with women's issues.
Alfredsson played a pivotal role in
pressuring Swedish politicians and the police to treat domestic violence not
merely as a family matter but as potentially criminal, Ms. Wallström told the
Monitor. "She really started the discussion."
Alfredsson considers herself to be a
journalist, despite having written a series of fictional thrillers whose main
character, a Swedish doctor named Ellen Elg, confronts acts of violence against women in
countries as diverse as South Africa, Poland, Vietnam, and India.
As part of the new project, countries will be
rated using several criteria, including whether they have effective legislation
in place to prevent violence against women, whether their judicial system is
dealing with the issue, whether measures exist to protect women threatened with
or harmed by domestic violence, and whether they have programs to treat
offenders.
Some countries already have taken significant
steps. In
In
The US-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that
the cost to society of "intimate partner violence" – rape, physical
assault, and stalking – is more than $5.8 billion a year, including $4.1
billion in direct medical and health-care costs.
Most countries, however, have still not done
enough to address the problem, according to a report published earlier this
year by UN Women, a UN agency. Few countries have enacted
legislation making rape within marriage a crime.
Wallström says her office has thrown its full
support behind the Alfredsson initiative. "This is a global problem,"
she says. "Women are attacked because they are women.... This has to
stop."
In some countries rape is seen as a
"cheap and effective" weapon to instill fear and terror in a
population, she says.
The UN Security Council has recognized violence against women as
a significant impediment to peace and security, Wallström says. "But from
recognizing the problem to being able to stop it is a big step," she says.
"That is what we're now focusing on – going after the perpetrators and
ending impunity.... It is a huge problem."
"I think that [Alfredsson's project]
will help put the spotlight on the problem and intensify the debate,"
Wallström says.