Shaping the Gender Violence and HIV Agendas

1. Shaping the Gender Violence and HIV Agendas Dispatches from the Frontlines of the Global Women’s Movement Lori Heise Gender Violence and Health Centre, LSHTM

2. Overview A bit of my story Some historical perspective Reflections on using research to affect policy

3. Putting Violence against Women on the Global Agenda VAW

4. Elevating Women’s Prevention Needs in HIV Discourse Global Campaign for Microbicides

5. Key Themes • Synergy of numbers and stories • Power of paradigms • Risks and benefits of co-opting large institutions • Key role of bridge leaders and knowledge brokers • Importance of activism & insider/outsider strategies

6. My story Heeding the unexpected

7. Into the Garhwal Himalayas… On the road to visit the Chipko Movement

8. Chipko Movement Despite many competing challenges, these women nonetheless considered alcohol and violence as one of their most pressing issues

9. San Pedro La Laguna Guatemalan Health Project,1988

10. Maternal & Child Health Promotion Domestic violence was a daily occurrence in this village

11. Asking for Help Or….the power of a grandmother’s faith

12. Human Rights Watch The mandate debate Dorothy Thomas Founding director of HRW Women’s Rights program Do human rights include violations by non-state actors? Why does HRW privilege civil & political rights over economic and social rights? Does the state have an affirmative duty to protect women from violence?

13. Human Rights Watch 105 reports since 1991 on violence and other abuses of women’s human rights

14. Human Rights Public Health Advantages Rhetorical power of rights language Recourse to international law UN Human rights machinery Fact finding capacity of HR groups Limitations Linked to state accountability Violations addressed after the fact Little recourse beyond courts and public shaming Testimony can be discounted as “not typical” Advantages Focused on prevention Experience with implementing and evaluating interventions Linked to health services that treat consequences of abuse Research methods to quantify prevalence Longstanding focus on changing norms and behavior

15. Invisibility of VAW on the Global Health Agenda

16. Women’ s Rights are Human Rights Campaign Charlotte Bunch, Founding Director

17. First Center for Women’s Global Leadership Institute Founding mothers of the 16 Days of Activism

18. 2nd World Conference on Human Rights Vienna, 1993 Global Tribunal on Women’s Human Rights 500,000 petition signatures delivered by shopping cart Over 950 separate women’s groups attended

19. IRNVAW Community • I felt so alone. People didn’t want me to be researching wife beating. I can’t believe I am in a room of people who don’t think I’m crazy. --Young researcher/activist from China • We were so naïve. When we first added questions on violence into our survey on contraceptive use we did nothing special…it never occurred to us that we would have problems. Later we found out that three women had been severely beaten for participating in our survey. We felt awful and realized then that we were in over our heads. -- Mexican researcher

20. Insider/Outsider Strategies Co-opting the legitimacy of large institutions

21. WHO study interviewing 24,000 women in 10 countries

22. Partner violence increases risk of suicidal thoughts and attempts I don’t feel well and I just cry. There are times that I want to be dead. I even thought of killing myself or poisoning myself and my kids, because I think if I have suffered that much, how much would my kids suffer if I am no longer there… Woman interviewed in Peru

23. Further efforts to expand the research base Manual for Researchers DHS module on IPV Data now available from more than 30 countries Repeat surveys now available in some countries

24. The power of paradigms Shaping the global discourse

25. Injury Prevention Paradigm Violence

26. Revised WHO typology

27. Host Prevention Agent Environment Traditional “Injury Triangle”

28. Social ecological model Adopted by WHO and CDC Individual Relationship Community Societal

29. Synergies of numbers and stories Penetrating the HIV discourse

30. Global Campaign for Microbicides Bridging the worlds of activism, community and clinical research

31. With Primary Partner With Casual or Outside Partner

34. European Union petition demonstration Dublin, 2006

35. Reflecting on how far we have come Evidence intersecting with activism

36. Potential first generation microbicide on the horizon • 2nd and 3rd generation candidates already in human clinical trials

37. Growth in Microbicide R&D

38. Exponential Growth in IPV Research

39. 16 Days of Activism Ireland Tanzania

40. 16 Days of Activism Nepal Pakistan

41. 16 Days of Activism - Hungary

42. 16 Days of Activism Cameroon Demonstration

43. 16 Days of Activism Iraq Trinidad

44. 16 Days of Activism Irish Women’s Aid

45. Thank you For more information on microbicides: www.global-campaign.org For more information on the WHO Multi-country Study on Domestic Violence www.who.int/gender