Module 10

1. Module 10 Violence against Women and Girls

2. Discussion question Eradicating violence against women has been a global priority since 1992. How does this violence manifest in practice? What are the causes?

3. Key TermsGender The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW Committee), and refers to “socially constructed identities, attributes and roles for women and men and the cultural meaning imposed by society on to biological differences, which are constantly reflected within the justice system and its institutions” (CEDAW Committee, General Recommendation 33, para. 7). ‘Gender’ is often seen as a ‘woman’s issue’ – as though men don’t have a gender identity. On the contrary, gender is a social construction that underlies the organization of all.

4. Key TermsBinary Gender Expectations Despite non-binary diversity of gender and gender-identity, gender is often reduced to the social attributes and opportunities associated with being female and male and to the relationships between women and men and girls and boys, as well as to the relations between women and those between men. The binary paradigm is socially constructed and, perpetuates harmful and reductionist stereotypes about the attributes expected of women and men. In most societies, there are differences and inequalities between women and men in responsibilities assigned, activities undertaken, access to and control over resources, as well as decision-making opportunities.

5. What is the difference between “sex” and “gender”? The distinction between sex and gender differentiates a person's biological sex (the anatomy of an individual's reproductive system and secondary sexual characteristics) from that person's gender which can refer to either social roles based on the sex of the person (gender role) or personal identification of one's own gender based on an internal awareness (gender identity).

6. Key TermsGender Identity Each person’s deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond to the sex assigned at birth, including the personal sense of the body (which may involve, if freely chosen, modification of bodily appearance or function by medical, surgical or other means) and other expressions of gender, including dress, speech and mannerisms. The concept of Gender identity includes being transgender and, for individuals with bodily diversity who choose to identify as intersex, gender identity also encompasses intersex.

7. Key Terms“Honour” Crime (crimes in the name of so-called “Honour”) Acts of violence that are disproportionately, though not exclusively, committed against girls and women, because family members consider that certain suspected, perceived or actual behaviour will bring dishonour to the family or community. Honour crimes are acts of violence against women and girls, where the perpetrators invoke terms such as “honour”, “custom” or “tradition” as a justification or excuse for their actions. In some cases, there is an explicit defence to crimes of violence, or a perpetrator benefits from a reduced sentence if he or she can persuade the court that they committed the crime for reasons of ‘honour’. The term ‘so-called “honour”’ is sometimes used to emphasize that it is a misuse of the term “honour” to use the concept as an excuse for violence.

8. Key TermsSexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) Acts of physical, mental, social or economic abuse (including sexual violence) that is attempted or threatened, with some type of force (such us violence, threats, coercion, manipulation, deception, cultural expectations, weapons or economic circumstances) and is directed against a person because of his or her sex, gender, or the sex/gender roles and expectations in a society or culture. A person facing sexual and gender-based violence has no choice to refuse or pursue other options without severe social, physical, or psychological consequences. Forms of SGBV include sexual violence, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, early marriage or forced marriage, gender discrimination, denial (such as education, food, freedom) and female genital mutilation (FGM).

9. Key TermsEconomic Violence (or Financial Abuse) Acts of control and monitoring of the behaviour of an individual in terms of the use and distribution of money, and the constant threat of denying economic resources. In some countries this is called economic abuse or financial abuse.

10. Key TermsHate Crime The term “hate crime” can be used to describe a range of criminal behaviours where the perpetrator is motivated by hostility or demonstrates hostility towards the victim's disability, race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity. A hate crime can include verbal abuse, intimidation, threats, harassment, bullying, assault, or homicide, as well as damage to property.

11. Key TermsGender Related Killing of Women and Girls Gender-related killing of women and girls, which in some countries is criminalized in national legislation as “femicide” or “feminicide”, is the killing of women and girls on account of their gender, encompassing intimate partner homicide, the targeted killing of women in the context of armed conflict, the killing of women in the context of criminal activity, including: gangs; organized crime; and the trafficking in women and girls. Gender-related killing of women and girls also encompasses the so-called honour killing of women and girls.

12. Key TermsSurvivor/Victim Survivor: A term that is sometimes used (by choice) as a personal descriptor by woman or girl who has been subjected to gender-based violence, who is still alive.   Victim: A person who has suffered harm (including physical, mental or emotional harm or economic loss) directly caused by a criminal offence – regardless of whether an offender is identified, apprehended, prosecuted or convicted, and regardless of the familial relationship between them. Some victims choose to refer to themselves as survivors. This is a matter of personal choice.

13. Topic OneEnding Violence Against Women Violence against women and girls is a global problem, affecting countries in all regions of the world (World Health Organization, 2013). While there is a diversity of different kinds of violence, including: violence inflicted by the State; violence perpetrated in communities and families such as killings, rape, and sexual violence; other physical violence such as female genital mutilation (FGM); and psychological violence such as stalking and trafficking; there are several common factors.

14. Factors common to various forms of violence against women and girls Individuals – mainly men and boys, but also sometimes also women and girls, choose to inflict violence against women and girls. Attitudes and stereotypes relating to masculinity and femininity support the use of violence against women and girls. Laws and customs (particularly normative customs relating to culture and religion) reflect these attitudes and provide a framework in which violence against women is not sanctioned as it should be. Economic inequality is both a facet of gender-based violence against women and girls (in cases of economic abuse, dowry abuse, etc) and a key means of preventing women and girls from accessing justice.

15. The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women For the purposes of the present Convention, the term "discrimination against women" shall mean any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field. Article 1

16. The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women States Parties condemn discrimination against women in all its forms, agree to pursue by all appropriate means and without delay a policy of eliminating discrimination against women and, to this end, undertake: (e) To take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women by any person, organization or enterprise. (f) To take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to modify or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices which constitute discrimination against women. Article 2

17. The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women States Parties shall take in all fields, in particular in the political, social, economic and cultural fields, all appropriate measures, including legislation, to ensure the full development and advancement of women , for the purpose of guaranteeing them the exercise and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms on a basis of equality with men. Article 3

18. Topic TwoHuman Rights Approaches to Violence Against Women To recognize violence against women as a form of discrimination is to recognise it as a violation of women’s human rights. In its ground-breaking General Recommendation 19, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women identified violence against women as “a form of discrimination that seriously inhibits women's ability to enjoy rights and freedoms on a basis of equality with men” (CEDAW Committee, General Recommendation 19, para. 1).

19. Direct and indirect discrimination In describing violence against women as a form of discrimination under Article 1 of the Convention on All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (GA Resolution 34/180), the CEDAW Committee made an important point about direct and indirect discrimination: it includes acts and situations which are created with the purpose of discriminating against women – that is, intentional discrimination which is done with the aim of discrimination – and acts and situations which have the effect of discriminating against women.

20. Violence against women as a breach of human rights When stripped of privatization, sexism and sentimentalism, gender-based violence – which is brutal, systemic and structural – must be seen as no less grave than other forms of inhumane and subordinating violence, the prohibition of which has been recognized as jus cogens [a fundamental rule of international law that binds all States, irrespective of treaty obligations]” Rhonda Copelon, Understanding Domestic Violence as Torture 1990

21. Watch: Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche “We should all be feminists” 12 April 2013, Tedtalk [29:30 minutes].

22. Topic 3 Who has rights in this situation? Prosecuting domestic violence & sexual violence - a human rights approach • This topic is divided into two parts: • A) A comprehensive approach to ending domestic violence • B) Prosecuting the crimes of rape and sexual violence – a human rights approach

23. As with child marriage, the persistence and social acceptance of domestic violence is rooted in the idea that women’s and girls’ priorities and role in life should be their intimate relationships with men, and that these relationships should be sustained whatever the cost to the woman, and no matter how abusive the man is. Topic 3(A) A comprehensive approach to domestic violence

24. In-Class Exercise Given that assaults and killings tend to be crimes in all domestic legal systems, why has domestic violence been so little prosecuted, and remains so prevalent? Students to discuss in pairs, followed by plenary discussion

25. Akayesu case, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, 1998, defined rape as: • “any act of a sexual nature which is committed on a person • under circumstances which are coercive.”  • Coercive circumstances need not be evidenced by a show of physical force. Threats, intimidation, extortion and other forms of duress which prey on fear or desperation may constitute coercion, and coercion may be inherent in certain circumstances, such as armed conflict or the military presence of Interahamwe [armed militia men] among [women displaced by conflict].” Topic 3(B): Prosecuting the crimes of rape & sexual violence - a human rights approach

26. Case Analysis Rape as an act of Torture • Rape of a detainee by an official of the State must be considered to be an especially grave an abhorrent form of ill-treatment given the ease with which the offender can exploit the vulnerability and weakened resistance of his victim. Furthermore, rape leaves deep psychological scars on the victim which do not respond to the passage of time as quickly as other forms of physical and mental violence. The applicant also experienced the acute physical pain of forced penetration, which must have left her feeling debased and violated both physically and emotionally. • The Court is satisfied that the accumulation of acts of physical and mental violence inflicted on the applicant and the especially cruel act of rape to which she was subjected amounted to torture in breach of Article 3 of the Convention. • Aydin v Turkey case, European Court of Human Rights, 25 September 1997, paragraphs 83, 86.

27. Case Analysis The obligation to prevent, criminalise, and prosecute gender-based violence • “Given the fact that the violence suffered by Maria da Penha is part of a general pattern of negligence and lack of effective action by the State in prosecuting and convicting aggressors… this case involves not only failure to respect to prosecute and convict, but also the obligation to prevent these degrading practices. That general and discriminatory judicial ineffectiveness also creates a climate that is conducive to domestic violence, since society sees no evidence of willingness by the State, as the representative of society, to take effective action to sanction such acts.” • Maria do Penha Maia Fernandes v Brazil, 16 April 2001.

28. Case Analysis Clarity, in cases of competing rights • “Women’s human rights to life and to physical and mental integrity cannot be superseded by other rights, including the right to property and the right to privacy.” • A.T. v Hungary, CEDAW Committee, 2005. • .

29. Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, 2011. • “Consent must be given voluntarily as the result of • the person’s free will assessed in the context of the • surrounding circumstances.” (Article 36(2))

30. Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, 2011 • Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to • ensure that the following intentional conducts are criminalised: • engaging in non-consensual vaginal, anal or oral penetration of a • sexual nature of the body of another person with any bodily part • or object; • b) engaging in other non-consensual acts of a sexual nature with a • person; • c) causing another person to engage in non-consensual acts of a • sexual nature with a third person (Article 36)

31. The International Criminal Court’s Elements of Crimes: “The invasion [of the victim’s body] was committed by force, or by threat of force or coercion, such as that caused by fear of violence, duress, detention, psychological oppression or abuse of power, against such person or another person, or by taking advantage of a coercive environment, or the invasion was committed against a person incapable of giving genuine consent. [A footnote here reads: ‘It is understood that a person may be incapable of giving genuine consent if affected by natural, induced or age-related incapacity.’]15”

32. Topic 5 What about the men? Transforming stereotypes & acting in solidarity to end discrimination and violence for everyone

33. “We need more men who have the courage and the strength to start standing up … and standing with women and not against them and pretending that somehow this is a battle between the sexes and other kinds of nonsense. We live in the world together.” Jackson Katz

34. Watch: “Men need to join the fight to end violence against women.” Eve Ensler, 15 February 2018, Time Magazine [3:38 minutes].

35. Topic 6 Local, regional and global solutions: State obligations to adopt a comprehensive approach to violence against women and gender discrimination

36. INTER-AMERICAN CONVENTION ON THE PREVENTION, PUNISHMENT AND ERADICATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN "CONVENTION OF BELEM DO PARA" • Every woman has the right to be free from violence in both the public and private spheres. (Article 3) • Every woman is entitled to the free and full exercise of her civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, and may rely on the full protection of those rights as embodied in regional and international instruments on human rights. The States Parties recognize that violence against women prevents and nullifies the exercise of these rights. (Article 5) • The right of every woman to be free from violence includes, among others: • a. The right of women to be free from all forms of discrimination; and • b. The right of women to be valued and educated free of stereotyped patterns of behavior and social and cultural practices based on concepts of inferiority or subordination. (Article 6)

37. PROTOCOL TO THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES' RIGHTS ON THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN AFRICA Article 3  - Right to Dignity  Every woman shall have the right to dignity inherent in a human being and to the recognition and protection of her human and legal rights;  Every woman shall have the right to respect as a person and to the free development of her personality;  States Parties shall adopt and implement appropriate measures to prohibit any exploitation or degradation of women;  States Parties shall adopt and implement appropriate measures to ensure the protection of every woman’s right to respect for her dignity and protection of women from all forms of violence, particularly sexual and verbal violence.

38. ISTANBUL CONVENTION The purposes of this Convention are to: protect women against all forms of violence, and prevent, prosecute and eliminate violence against women and domestic violence; b) contribute to the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and promote substantive equality between women and men, including by empowering women; c) design a comprehensive framework, policies and measures for the protection of and assistance to all victims of violence against women and domestic violence; d) promote international co-operation with a view to eliminating violence against women and domestic violence; e) provide support and assistance to organisations and law enforcement agencies to effectively co-operate in order to adopt an integrated approach to eliminating violence against women and domestic violence. (Article 1)

39. More information @DohaDeclaration e4j@unodc.org unodc.org/dohadeclaration unodc.org/e4J