WUNRN
Michael
Platzer, Liaison - Academic Council on the United
Nations System (ACUNS)
Chair - Vienna NGO Alliance on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice
Commission
on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice 2013
„STOP
the Killing of Women and Girls“
23
April 2013
Context
Since 2011, the United Nations has been raising awareness on the issue of gender-related killings of women and girls/femicide. The UNODC homicide report of 2011 includes statistics on domestic/intimate-partner related femicides; the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, wrote a comprehensive report on gender-related killings in 2012 and the study of the Secretary General describes several forms of femicides in his re-issued report on violence against women.
The
outcome document of the Commission on the Status of Women included for the
first time the issue of femicide while a resolution
on femicide has now been tabled by Argentina at the upcoming CCPCJ, with
many co-sponsors.
Content
The
side event will focus on best practices
to stop the gender-related killings of women and girls/femicide. Each speaker
will have 5-7 minutes to present how gender-related killings can be effectively
stopped through improved investigation, prosecution, and punishment of the
perpetrators as well as awareness raising and the introduction of new
legislation. Femicide is a global
phenomenon, but there have been good legislative models from Latin America as
well as effective public campaigns in Asia to end the preference for boys and
the killing of girls and women. Academic
Council on the United Nations, supported by the government of Austria and city
of Vienna, has republished a collection of research on the different forms as
well as the United Nations documents and statements from prominent individuals,
“Femicide: An International Issue that demands attention”. A symposium on Femicide was held on the
International Day to combat violence against women last year with the
participation of the Ambassadors of Argentina, Austria, Slovenia, Spain,
Thailand and the United Kingdom and a “Vienna Declaration” issued.
The Speakers
The
Special Representative of the Secretary General on violence against children, Ms. Marta Santos Pais, the Director
of the Research and Right to Development Division of the OHCHR, Ms. Marcia Kran, as well as the Ambassador of the Philippines and the Ambassador of Costa Rica have accepted to speak during this side
event.
The President of the Austrian National Council, Ms. Barbara Prammer, has also been invited to open the discussion.
WHAT
HAS THE UN DONE TO STOP THE GENDER RELATED KILLING OF WOMEN AND GIRLS?
By Michael Platzer
Has
the United Nations done nothing but watch the killing of women and
children? Starting from the very
purpose of the organization to save “succeeding generations from the scourge”
of war, the focus of the Geneva War Convention (1949) and main activity of the UN High Commissioners
for Refugees(1949) have been the protection of civilian populations,
particularly women and children. The
targeting, raping, and killing of women had been a war tactic of all sides during
World War II. The Universal Declaration
of Human Rights (1948) proclaims that all human beings are born free and equal
in dignity and rights. Everyone is
entitled to all the rights, particularly the right to life and to be free from
torture. The sub- Commission on the
Status of Women was already established in 1946 to examine the discrimination and special
problems faced by women (eg. discrimInation in marriage). A Declaration on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women was adopted in 1967 by the General
Assembly. The Convention on Elimination
of Discrimination against Women went into force in 1979 and subsequently each
year countries are examined about the violence women face in the specific
country being scrutinized. (if they have signed the Optional Protocol). Under CEDAW, the States are required to take
all measures to guarantee the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental
freedoms on the basis of equality with men.
VIOLENCE
AGAINST WOMEN
In
the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, the CSW, the CEDAW committee and eventually
the Human Rights Commission on Human Rights brought the issue of violence
against women to the forefront of the international agenda. In 1995, the
Beijing Platform identified violence against women as the obstacle to the
achievement of equality, development and peace, while emphasizing that it
nullified the enjoyment by women of their basic human rights and fundamental
freedoms. In 1993 the General Assembly
passed the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (Resolution
48/104) which defined violence against women as any act of gender based
violence that result in physical, sexual harm, or suffering to women, whether
occurring public or private life. The
United Nations Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime
and Abuse of Power (General Assembly Resolution 40/34, Annex) of 29 November
1985 reminded States of their due diligence obligations to protect women and to
bring to justice the killers of women, including provision of reparations to
their families and support to those who survive such attacks.
THE
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT AND SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTIONS
At the same time, as a result of the horrible atrocities in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, the targeting of women and girls as a form of ethnic cleansing and tactic of war, were now being considered “international war crimes” and prosecuted as such by the ad hoc tribunals for ex-Yugoslavia and Rwanda. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, adopted in 1998, included gender related crimes, massive rape and crimes of a sexual violence as a crime against humanity, a war crime or a constitutive act with respect to genocide.
The
Security Council in its landmark resolutions 1325 of 31 October, 1820
of 19 June 2008, 1888 of 30 September 2009, 1889 of 5 October 2009, and 1960 of
16 December on” women and peace and security” emphasized the special needs of
women and girls during the conflict, repatriation and resettlement,
re-integration and post conflict reconstruction. It was the first UN document that required
parties in a conflict to respect women’s rights and support their participation
in peace negotiations. The parties to a
conflict were also urged to take measures to protect women and girls from
gender based violence such as rape. The
resolution emphasised the responsibility of all countries to prosecute those
responsible for these war crimes.
Another set of Security Council resolutions called on combatants to
protect children in armed conflicts and prohibited the use of child (girl)
soldiers (auxiliaries or concubines) in resolution 1882 (2008) and 1998 of 12 July 2011 on armed conflict
and post conflict situations,
Despite
the Secretary General’s directives and Gender Advisors posted in UN
peacekeeping operations, UN military and civilian personnel have been accused
of sexual abuse of children, forced
prostitution, rape and murder in the Bosnia, Congo, Haiti, Kosovo, and Sudan. In the 1996 UN Study “The Impact of Armed
Conflict on Children”, the former first lady of Mozambique, Graca Machal, found
that the arrival of peacekeeping troops has been associated with a rapid rise
in child prostitution, in 6 out of 12 country studies. UN employees have been accused of direct
involvement in procurement of sex slaves for brothels in Bosnia and Congo. Usually, those accused are simply repatriated
to their home countries.
MODEL
STRATEGIES AND SECRETARY GENERAL’S STUDY
At
the same time, Updated Model Strategies and Practical Measures on the
Elimination of Violence against Women in the Field of Crime Prevention and
Criminal Justice were developed by the UN Office of Drugs and Crime and
approved by the General Assembly Resolution 65/228. In 2005, the Secretary -General’s in depth
study on violence against women, mandated by General Assembly resolution 58/185
was prepared by the Division for the Advancement of Women of the Department of
Economic and Social Affairs. A second
expert group on good practices was organized by the United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime, together with a task force of NGOs, recognized experts and
several entities of the United Nations system in 2006 (republished by the UN
Entity for Gender Equality in 2013).
FEMICIDE
The
Secretary General’s study for the first time listed the forms and
manifestations of the violence against women: violence against women within the
family, marital rape, dowry related violence, female infanticide, pre-natal sex
selection, female genital mutilation, early marriage, forced marriage, violence
perpetuated against domestic workers.
The most common form of violence is intimate partner violence; femicide
studies from Australia, Canada, South Africa, and the USA show that 40 to 70
percent of the female murder victims are killed by husbands or boyfriends. The Special Rapporteur on harmful traditional
practices listed crimes against women committed in the name of “ honour”,
maltreatment of widows, including inciting widows to commit suicide, dedication
of young girls to temples, restrictions on a second daughter’s right to marry, dietary
restrictions for pregnant women, nutritional taboos, marriage to a deceased
husband’s brother and witch hunts (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/36). The Secretary General first referred to
“Femicide: the gender based murder of a woman” in connection with the brutally
raped and murdered young women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico and Guatemala. It also mentioned the violence against women
in conflict settings, violence against indigenous women, against women based on
caste, and against elderly women.
REPORT
OF SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR VAW RASHIDA MANJOO
In May 2012, the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Its Causes and Consequences, Ms. Rashida Manjoo, addressed the topic of gender-related killings of women in her report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/20/16). She describes the increasing use of the word “femicide” to cover the misogynist killing of women by men, with sadistic desires, the unpunished killings of women in the private and public spheres,” crimes of passion”, female infanticide, preadolescent mortality of girls and dowry related deaths, and the torture, sexual abuse, deprivation of liberty, murder and post mortem dismembering of bodies. She holds the term to be useful when holding governments to account for the impunity, institutional violence of such crimes, tolerance, blaming the victims, lack of access to justice and effective remedies, negligence, threats, corruption, and abuse by officials- in other words, a state crime due to the inability to prevent, protect, and guarantee the lives of women. She provides statistics and describes the extent of 1) Killings of women as a result of intimate-partner violence, 2) Killings of women due to accusations of sorcery/witchcraft, 3) Killings of women and girls in the name of “honour”, 3) Killings in the context of armed conflict, 4) Dowry-related killings of women, 5) Killings of aboriginal and indigenous women, 6) Extreme forms of violent killings of women (connected to gangs, organized crime, drug dealers, human and drug trafficking, proliferations of small arms), 7) Killings as a result of sexual orientation and gender identity, and 8) female infanticide, gender based sex selection. She cites the General Assembly Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (48/104), General Assembly Resolution 61/143 of 19 December 2006 and Resolution 63/155 of 18 December 2008 on the intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women. In 2004, the General Assembly passed a resolution on the elimination of crimes against women and girls committed in the name of honour (59/165).
Most
pointedly, she cites recent CEDAW criticisms of Austria, Canada, Mexico, and
India for failure to act. But she also
refers to positive national practices. Following the deposition of her
report, 60 countries submitted a joint statement on gender –based killing in
the Human Rights Council declaring States “must exercise due diligence to
prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish the perpetrators, and provide
protection to women and girls who have experience violence.” The signing states committed themselves to
fight impunity, especially the horrendous crimes of gender based killings,
including legislative cooperation, creation of national sex-disaggregated data
bases, publication of gender educational programs and manuals, standardizing of
protocols, development of expertise or any other adequate action in order to
eradicate gender based violence.
80
States co-sponsored the Human Rights Council Resolution (A/HRC/20/L.10) which welcomed the work of the Special
Rapporteur on violence against women and invited all relevant stakeholders,
including regional organizations and mechanisms, treaty bodies, United Nations
entities, special procedures, civil society organizations, academic institutions, to contribute to the
mandate holder’s study on State responsibility for eliminating violence against
women by submitting relevant information, including on providing remedies for
women who have been subjected to violence.
UNITED
NATIONS OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME
The
UNODC has produced a Handbook of Effective police response to violence against
women (www.unodc.org/unodc/en/justice-and-prison-reform/tools)
and a Training Curriculum on Effective Police Responses to Violence against
Women, based in part on the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Cooperation
Organization (SARPCC0). It begins
“Violence against women is a global issue of pandemic proportions, which has an
impact on all societies….Such violence can have a devastating effect on the
lives of victims, their families and communities. Studies conducted on all five continents
suggest no society can consider itself immune from such violence. Violent practices that victimize women and
girls transcend social, cultural, ethnic and religious boundaries” While the focus is on domestic violence,
other forms of violence are discussed.
“Police are at the frontline of the criminal justice system. They are often called upon to intervene when
an act of violence in in process or shortly after it has taken place. Police are confronted by victims, offenders,
witnesses, and various forms of evidence.
Their attitude and response to all involved can have a dramatic impact
on ensuing developments, including the prevention of future acts…”
In
2011, the UNODC Statistics and Surveys Section published a “Global Study on
Homicide: Trends, Contexts, Data”. The
World Health Organization provided the public health data presented in the
study. The Organization of American States supported in the collection of data
in the Americas. The study was prepared
by Angela Me, Enrico Bisogno, and Steven Malby and made possible by the
financial contribution of the Small Arms Survey. A whole chapter deals with “Women and
Intimate Partner/ Family related Homicide”.
Data for Europe reveal half of the female victims were murdered by
family members (35% by spouses or ex-spouses, 17% by relatives). The murder of women in Australia, Canada,
Israel, South Africa show similar patterns- 40-70%. Moreover, these ratios have not changed; they
are linked to male partner unemployment, firearm ownership, drug and alcohol
use, the threat of separation, sexual jealousy, extreme male dominance-despite
murder rates declining in many of these countries. While homicide levels have steadily declined
in India over the past 15 years, the rate of dowry related deaths has increased
40 percent.
UNODC
has found the highest female homicide rates in Africa, followed by Americas,
and Europe. In different contexts around
the world, membership of certain racial or ethnic is strongly linked to
becoming a homicide victim or offender.
However, more and better data are needed for the majority of countries
world wide.
At
the twenty second session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal
Justice, a side event was organized by the Statistics and Surveys Section, the
Academic Council on the United Nations System, and the Small Arms Survey.
On
the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against
Women, the Academic Council on the United Nations System together with UN
Office of Drugs and Crime organized a one day Symposium
on Femicide. It was attended by
representatives of Austria, Argentina, Chile, India, Italy, Philippines,
Thailand and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as well
as other diplomats, experts, academics, activists, and the general public. A Vienna Declaration on Femicide was
proclaimed which called on improved collaboration between the Human Rights
Council, the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, the
Commission on the Status of Women and the Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women as well as regional human rights mechanisms. It invited UNODC, UN Women, OHCHR, UNICEF,
UNDP, UNFPA, and other relevant UN agencies to support programmes to prevent
and respond to femicide. The Declaration
called for the creation of a platform where lawyers, prosecutors, judges, law
enforcement officials, academics, feminists, non-governmental organizations, UN
agencies, governmental and inter-governmental institutions and other relevant
actors could share expertis and good practices, in order to transfer knowledge
across regions.
On
8 March 2013, International Women’s Day, the Executive Director of UNODC issued
a statement “Murder is the ultimate expression of violence…..18 per cent of the
homicides occurring in a year are (femicides).
Based on UNODC Statistics, in Europe, 18 women are killed every day; 12
of them murdered at the hands of their intimate partners or other family
members. We must now allow theses
murders to continue. … I call on
nations, international organizations, civil society, the private sector, and
the public to work together to create societies where women feel safe and
secure”
THE
COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN
From 4 to 15 March, 2013, the fifty-seven session of the Commission on the Status met in New York with the theme “The elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls”. It produced a historic, unanimous outcome document, mentioning gender related killing of women and girls and even the words ‘femicide’ and ‘feminicide’. The Commission stressed that “all States….must exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish the perpetrators of violence against women and girls and end impunity, and to provide protection as well as access to appropriate remedies for victims and survivors.” It expressed” concern about violent gender-related killings of women and girls, while recognizing efforts made to address this form of violence in different regions, including in countries where the concept of FEMICIDE or FEMINCIDE has been incorporated in national legislation”. The Commission urged governments to “adopt…comprehensive measures that criminalize violence against women and girls” …”and appropriate punishment of perpetrators to end impunity”. It furthermore called for “national legislation to punish violent gender related killings of women and girls “ and “specific mechanisms to prevent, investigate, and eradicate such deplorable forms of gender –based violence.” It demanded “accountability for the killing, maiming and targeting of women and girls and crimes of sexual violence, stressing the need for the exclusion of such crimes from amnesty provisions in the context of conflict resolution processes” and ending impunity by “punishing perpetrators of the most serious crimes against women and girls under national justice or where applicable international justice”.
The
Commission went so far as to “hold accountable public officials (judiciary,
police, teachers, religious leaders, health, social welfare, immigration, and
defence officials) for not responding to violence and abuse of power. It
condemned the violence against women in health care settings, forced
hysterectomy, forced caesareans, forced sterilization, and forced
abortion. The Commission recognized the
increased vulnerability of disadvantaged women, those living with HIV,
indigenous and Afro-descendent women, older women and girls from ethnic
minorities. In addition to effective
criminal justice measures and educational programmes, the Commission called for
measures to protect women from harassment, improve the safety of girls on the
way to and from school , by community policing, improved urban planning,
infrastructure, public transport and street lighting through programmes like
the “Safe Cities for Women and Children” initiative. The Commission ended by arguing that ending
violence against women should be considered a priority in the elaboration of
the Post-2015 Development Agenda