WUNRN
UN Human Rights Council – 23
“Violence
against Women and the Human Right to Peace”
World YWCA
Marie-Claude Julsaint, Global Programme Manager VAW
31 May
2013
Occupation,
armed conflict and war, including military abuse, are forms of violence that
impact the lives of women, young women and girls, and exacerbate already
existing genderbased violence and gender inequalities in society. According to
a recent WHO study, close to 90% of current war casualties are civilians, the
majority of whom are women and children, and rape is increasingly being used as
a weapon of war. The proliferation of firearms, even in so called “peaceful”
countries, has a direct impact on violence against women, young women and
girls.
But peace is much more than the absence of wars and conflict, of fighting between nations or communities with guns and other
weapons. Peace is also the harmonious relations between individuals in
families, in communities, at the workplace and other social settings, as well
as ensuring to present and future generations the possibility of living in
harmony with nature.
Violence
against women, young women and girls has grave consequences in communities
including the impact on women’s physical and mental health, the destruction of
family and social structures and the perpetuation of further violence. Violence
against women, young women and girls has a significant social and economic cost
on societies and places significant pressure on the sustainable development of
countries.
In
my home country, Haiti, women are referred to as the “poto mitan” of the
society. The poto mitan is the central post in a voodoo temple that serves as the connection
between the spiritual and the physical world; it is the conduit for the spirits
to enter the physical world during a voodoo ceremony. Women are therefore the
central beam that keeps everything in order and connected, in other words
peaceful. This simple concept has clear resonance with UN Security Council
Resolution 1325, affirming women's important role in peace building and
conflict resolution. However, it also highlights the challenge that the
struggle for peace in the home, in the community and in the world cannot be won
until violence against women is eliminated in all of its forms.
The link between gender equality, women’s rights and peace
At
the root of violence against women is gender inequality and the imbalance of
power relations. Therefore, as long as these factors continue to exist,
violence against women, young women and girls will prevail. Equality before the
law and non-discrimination are principles of international human rights law,
and a true partnership between men and women is needed for sustainable
development and peace in the world. Women and girls have the right to live a
life free of violence, a right to peace!
We
are pleased to see this recognised in the report released yesterday by the High
Level Panel on the post-MDGs, which has called for inclusion of a goal to
empower girls and women and achieve gender equality. And put as the first
priority to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against girls and
women. We encourage States to endorse this recommendation.
Indeed,
peace, security, women’s human rights and development are all linked and
mutually reinforcing. The UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and subsequent
Security Council resolutions 1820, 1888, 1889 on women, peace and security, are
a contribution to how gender equality and women's rights can be integrated into
the right to peace. Women’s equal participation in conflict prevention,
peace-building, and post-conflict reconstruction at all stages are essential
for international peace and security.
After
almost 3 decades of war in Sri Lanka, the YWCA of Sri Lanka has made peace with
justice one of its priorities and has taken up the challenge of helping women
to build peaceful and just communities which recognise and respect the
identities and rights of all people, including women, of different ethnic
backgrounds. One of the most significant peace initiatives of the YWCA was the
“Peace and reconciliation programme for war affected women”. It was a
residential programme to bring healing among women survivors of war and
violence, including rape and other forms of sexual violence. Participants,
representing all ethnicities, faiths and regions of the country, understood
that all women face common challenges and the same impact of conflict,
regardless of their ethnicity. Many
participants were moved by the stories of other women and their eyes were
opened to the suffering felt on different sides. This built a spirit of concern
among survivors of violence and a connection with other survivors of the
conflict. This peace building programme shows that positive engagement with
communities, including the participation of women, can result in transformation
of attitudes and peace in communities. For many women, this was a life changing
opportunity as it allowed them to engage several days with groups that had once
been their enemies. It gave them new insights to realise that conflicts can be
solved by working with one another and forgiveness. It helped realise that by
getting involved, even in small ways, they can contribute to the overall
national reconciliation process.
The
Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action states that the “full participation
of women in decision-making, conflict prevention and resolution and any other
peace initiative are essential to the realisation of lasting peace”. But how
can we maximise this potential - of half the world's population - while women
continue to be subjected to violence in their daily lives - intimate partner
violence, sexual violence and rape. UN Women estimates that in some countries,
up to 70% of the female population will experience violence in their lifetime,
which for many will have lasting emotional, physical and mental health
consequences. So while violence continues to be part of the daily reality of
women's lives, we are unable to maximize the potential to lead the world to
peace and exercise the right to peace.
The right to peace must be recognised under international human
rights law. The founding of the United Nations itself was
premised on the need to find global peace, security and peaceful coexistence
and collaboration of Nations. The purpose of the United Nations, as stated in
the UN Charter, is “to maintain international peace and security, and to that
end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of
threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other
breaches of the peace, and to bring this) about by peaceful means, and in
conformity with the principles of justice and international law…”
The
concept of the right to peace itself has already been recognised in
international and regional human rights instruments, such as the African
Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (1982) and the Declaration on Human Rights
adopted by the ASEAN countries (2012).
The
GA Declaration on the Right to Development (1986) states that “the right to
development is an inalienable human right”. If the right to development has
been recognised as a human right, it can be argued that the right to peace is
also a human right that deserves recognition.
Here,
the mandate of the Open Ended Working Group on the right to peace to
progressively negotiate a UN Declaration on the right to peace, or on the human right to peace, as
well as further define the legal content of this emerging right, is critical.
The
prevention of conflict is important as is advancing the international legal
framework and mechanisms to support prevention. The UN system, including the
Human Rights Council, should not be only reacting with urgent debates and
resolutions, to conflict situations, which always exacerbate violence against
women.
The
recently adopted London Declaration on the Right to Peace on 23 May 2013,
following the workshop of experts, calls on the President of the Human Rights
Council to support the timely and fruitful conclusion of a UN Declaration on
the Right to Peace.
In
the meantime, we need to strengthen existing human rights mechanisms to make
the link between violence against women and peace. Although the UPR process,
for example, allows for States to look at a multiplicity of issues, and most
UPR recommendations are around violence against women, very few recommendations
make the link between violence against women or gender-based violence and
peace, and hardly any address the root causes of violence, including
patriarchy. At this stage, internationally we are still only treating the
symptoms.
However it is a different story in local communities. On the ground through YWCAs in 22,000 communities, we are
contributing to the actualisation of the right to peace and working to tackle
the root causes. Reaching over 25 million women, young women and girls in 120
countries, the World YWCA movement has a clear focus on advancing gender
equality and women’s human rights. Violence against women, young women and
girls is one of the organisation’s global priorities, building on nearly 160
years of experience in community interventions on this issue. This includes
providing support for survivors of violence to rebuild their lives and dignity,
early intervention with those at risk of violence, including emergency
accommodation, legal services, community education and advocacy for legal and
policy reform in over 70 countries. Most importantly it also includes working
to address the underlying gender inequalities that enable violence to continue
by challenging harmful social and cultural norms and calling for greater
accountability for global commitments such as the Beijing Platform for Action,
CEDAW and UNSCR 1325. It also includes providing safe spaces for women, young
women and girls experiencing violence and empowering women socially and
economically to build the capacity to exercise their right to freedom from
violence.
The
YWCA’s work on violence against women seeks to ensure women, young women and
girls are able to claim their rights, including the “inherent right to life in peace” (as enshrined in the General Assembly resolution on the Declaration
on the Preparation of Societies for Life in Peace – 1978), as empowered
leaders, decision makers and change agents in responding to issues affecting
their lives and communities.
Thank you.