Guide lines for Gender – Based violence interventions

Guide lines for Gender – Based violence interventions:

Terms and definitions:

The following are the terms and definitions used in this Guide lines to clarify meaning of the terms used.

Gender based violence:

GBV is an umbrella terms for any harmful act that is perpetrated against a persons will and that is based on socially ascribed differences between males and females. Around the world GBV has a grater impact on women and girls than on men and boys. The terms GBV highlights the gender dimensions of these types of acts – the relationship between females subordinate status in society and their increased vulnerability to violence. It is important to note, that men and boys may also be victims of GBV, especially sexual violence.

Sexual violence includes

·         sexual exploitation, abuse and forced prostitution.

·         Domestic violence

·         trafficking

·         Forced/ early  marriage

·         Harmful traditional practices such honor killings, etc.

Gender – refers to the social differences between male and females that are learned and though deeply rooted in every culture, are changeable over time, and have wide variations both within and between cultures. ‘Gender’ determines the roles responsibilities and limitations for male and for females in any culture.

Perpetrator – Person, group or Institution that directly inflicts or supports violence or other abuse inflicted on another against her / his will.

Rape / Attempted rape:

 It is an act of non consensual sexual intercourse. Rape and attempted rape involve the use of force, threat of force and  / or coercion. Any penetration is considered as rape.

Rape of women and of men is often used as a weapon of war, as a form of attack on enemy or enjoying the victory and degradation of its women.

Rape / Attempted rape includes

·         Rape of an adult female.

·         Rape of a minor (male or female)

·         Gang rape

·         Marital rape between husband and wife.

·         Male rape known as sodomy.

Sexual abuse:

is a threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature. whether by force or coercive conditions.

Survivor Victim:

is a person who has experienced gender based violence. The terms victim and survivor can be used interchangeably. Victim is a term often used in the legal and medical sectors. Survivor is the term generally used in the psychological and social support sectors.

Humanitarian workers.

It includes all workers engaged by humanitarian Agencies, to conduct the activity of that Agency.

GBV working group:

 A group of multi’ sector actors that meets regularly to design, establish, coordinate, monitor and evaluate action to prevent and respond to sexual violence. Working group should include multi sector actors from the community, government, UN, INGO / Local NGO’s.

Child / Minor:

Person under the age of 18 evaluate and understand the consequences of their choices and give consent for sexual acts.

Femnet 2

Violence Against Women

Visible wars and invisible girls

In a war children constituted a major percentage of war death in the contemporary world. Children ore maimed tortured  and , forced to fight and killed in numbers that rival adult civilian casualties and outnumber those of soldiers. These youthful causalities were Longley invisible as in the case  always attention is given to Boys

The invisibility of children in war is not at first appointment. Every war has the harrow image of the child victim. The gaunt eyed child looking out from behind the looked wire force. I conducted field research in 2009, 2010 in the post war gears. During this time I have listened to hundreds of girls on their experiences of war, and seen hundreds more survive or die on the fronts of violence.

The girls are raped in war and prostituted in peace time. I have cost the clear distinction dividing war and peace. It is a step that reach us  into questions of who benefits from war.

The vast majority of child sexual abuse involves order men abusing young girls. Those who are encouraged to use sexual violence in war have females and personal lives themselves and a number carry these kinds of abusive actives back into this communities  with them. Studies shows that domestic violence increase dramatically during war and that people in uniform show listen roles of domestic and sexual violence both in war and out. The legal systems have so rarely prosecuted violators of children rights.

When girls are raped, starved, overworked and killed across wars. There are several reasons and explanations given.

Militarizes use of dirty war terror tactics against civilians in an effort to control populations  through intimidate and fear war tactics have become increasingly common to wars in general.

the message transmitted is that if a state is so weak as to allow this to happen to its children and girls, how can it possibly have the political and moral strength to  govern the people.

Children must only depend  on adults to protect these risks. They do not have direct access to UN forums and decision making  Bodies   to directly represent themselves in courts of law. They even do not know   what their rights are.

·         A law cannot enforce itself. Laws, charters, protocols and conventions exist prescribing each and every HR abuse.

UN Women’s 10 Recommendation

1.       Support women’s legal organization:

 In many countries where government – funded, legal aid is limited. Women’s legal organizations are one of the only source women have to get legal advice and to use the legal system to protect themselves and their rights. Women’s legal organizations are also transforming the legal landscape, by pushing reform efforts and championing strategic litigation cases.

2.       Implement gender  sensitive law reform;

  Gender-sensitive law reform demands that action is taken to repeal laws that explicitly discriminate against women, to extend the rule of law to the private domain, and to address the actual impact of law on women’s lives. The reports cites the convention on the Elimination of all forms of discrimination against Women (CEDAW) as a gold standard for gender – sensitive legal reform, but highlights that it remains one of reservations. The report calls on U.N member states to accept all provisions of the convention, especially Article 16, which guarantees women’s rights within marriage and the family.

3.       Bring vital services under one roof:

 To avoid cases from being dropped, Governments should improve the justice chain. It must make known the series of steps that a women must take to seek justice else we will continue to see high levels of cases being dropped, as they move along the justice system. One way to reduce attrition is to create one – stop shops, where vital services are also provided. For example: Thuthuzela care centers in south Africa aim to address the medical and social needs of assault survivors, reduce secondary victimization and improve conviction rates by providing emergency medical care, counseling, and  court preparation.

4.       Put women on the frontline of law enforcement:

 Employing more women on the front of the justice service delivery is necessary to help increase women’s access to the justice system. In particular it is an essential investment to employ more women police officers and create well – staffed and resourced gender desks.

5.       Invest in women’s access to justice:

 Making justice systems work for women, requires reversing the trend of low targeted funding or aid for legal programs focusing on gender equality.

6.       Train judges and monitor decision:

 Track judicial decision making at the national level to ensure accountability to women seeking justice and enable civil society organization to monitor the applications of laws. offering specialized training to judges can also build commitment to gender equality.

7.       Increase women’s access to courts and truth commissions during and after conflict:

 International courts should prioritize gender – based crimes in their prosecution strategies . In addition, women should play a central role in defining the scope and purpose of all post conflict justice mechanism such as truth commissions.

8.       Implement gender – responsive – reparations programs:

 Governments and the international community should establish reparations programs that account for all forms of sexual and gender based violence. They should also include reparations at the individual community and symbolic level to help victims recover losses and have their sufferings recognized.

9.       Use quotas to boost the number of women legislators:

 The report states that quotas for boosting the number of women legislators are often correlated with the passage of progressive laws on land rights, violence against women, health care and employment.

10.   Put gender equality at the heart of millennium Development Goals: Governments should  scale up investment and action on the eight MDGs to reduce widespread inequality and accelerate progress towards the goals.