Women against Violence: Breaking the Silence (UNIFEM, 1997, 116 p.): Introduction: Violence Against Women: Violence Against Women: The International Context

Women against Violence: Breaking the Silence (UNIFEM, 1997, 116 p.)

(introduction...)

Acknowledgements

Preface

Introduction: Violence Against Women

(introduction...)

Violence Against Women: The International Context

Organizing Against Gender-Based Violence

Key Challenges for the Elimination of Gender-Based Violence

Deconstructing Traditional Power Structures and Cultural Assumptions

Violence Against Women: A Regional Crisis

(introduction...)

The Latin American and Caribbean Network Against Sexual and Domestic Violence

Research, Documentation and Communication

What Difference Has the Network Made?

Exchanges and Evaluations

Obstacles and Reflections

Looking Towards the Future

Women's Human Rights and Latin American Criminal Law

(introduction...)

Integrating Gender into the Democratization Process

International Discourse on Specific, Concrete Rights

Women in Latin America's Criminal-Law Codes

Abortion and Infanticide

Lack of Protection for Sexual Freedom

Criminalization of Extramarital Relations

Domestic Violence

Economic Conditions

Guidelines for Criminal Law Reform with a Gender Perspective

Decriminalization of Behaviour Grounded in Reproductive Freedom

Repeal of ''Extenuating Circumstances'' Based on Women's Biology

Treatment to Protect Motherhood During Prison Terms

Protection for Sexual Freedom as Part of Personal Prerogative

Redefinition of the Crime of Family Abuse

Protection for Women in Prostitution

Greater Guarantees for the Enforcement of Support Obligations

Combatting Violence Against Women in the Caribbean

(introduction...)

Sexual Offences

Domestic Violence

Sexual Harassment

Other Responses

Conclusions and Recommendations

Unequal Status, Unequal Development: Gender Violence in Mexico

(introduction...)

Rape Crisis Brochures: A COVAC Study

The Institutionalization of Gender Awareness

Constructing an Alternative Discourse

Democracy and Citizenry: Preventing Gender Violence

From Victimization to Empowerment

The Power Axis: Gender Violence in Brazil

(introduction...)

Domestic Violence

''Safe Spaces'' for Women

Conclusions

Beyond the Conventions: Violence Prevention in the Andean Region

(introduction...)

Prevention for Empowerment

Participatory Methodology and Multiplier Effects

Filling Information Gaps

Training: Targeting Strategic Players

Research and Analysis of Laws

Gender Training with a Long-Term Outlook

Reflections

Taking Action Against Violence: A Case Study of Trinidad and Tobago

(introduction...)

The Rape Crisis Society

Where Does Violence Come From?

Taking Action Against Violence

A Wider View

The Funding Dilemma

Lessons Learned

Violence Against Women: Obstacle to Development

Notes on Contributors

Violence Against Women: The International Context

Understanding of the issue of violence against women has improved dramatically in the last 25 years. In 1975, at the UN International Women's Year Conference in Mexico City, violence against women was considered very much a family matter: policy recommendations emphasized the benefits of family counselling and the need for more responsive family courts. As the international women's movement gathered strength, understanding and public awareness gained both force and complexity. At the Second World Conference on Women in Copenhagen in 1980 and five years later at Nairobi, domestic violence was recognized as an obstacle to equality and an intolerable offence to human dignity. In 1985, the UN General Assembly passed its first resolution on violence against women, calling for concerted and multi-disciplinary action to combat domestic violence in all nations.

A few years later, the Committee which oversees the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) issued a recommendation extending the scope of discrimination to include gender-based violence, omitted in the 1979 original text. And in 1993, the General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, further defining this phenomenon and recommending measures to combat it. This was a landmark document in three ways:

· It situated violence against women squarely within the discourse on human rights, affirming that women are entitled to equal enjoyment and protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including liberty and security of person, and freedom from torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
· It enlarged the concept of violence against women to reflect the real conditions of women's lives, recognizing not only physical, sexual and psychological violence but also threats of such harm; it addressed violence against women within the family setting as well as within the community, and confronted the issue of violence perpetrated and condoned by the state;
· It pointed to the gender-based roots of violence, reflecting the fact that gender-based violence is not random violence in which the victims happen to be women and girls; the risk factor is being female.

According to the Declaration, violence against women encompasses but is not limited to:

· Physical, sexual, and psychological violence occurring in the family, including battering, sexual abuse of female children, dowry-related violence, marital rape, female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women, non-spousal violence and violence related to exploitation;
· Physical, sexual, and psychological violence occurring within the community, including rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in educational institutions and elsewhere, trafficking in women and forced prostitution;
· Physical, sexual and psychological violence perpetrated or condoned by the state wherever it occurs.

Other forms of violence include violations of the rights of women in situations of armed conflict, in particular murder, systematic rape, sexual slavery and forced pregnancy, forced sterilization and forced abortion, coercive use of contraceptives, female infanticide and prenatal sex-selection.