Women's Views on News |
| Gender, disarmament and arms control Posted: 01 Apr 2014 07:40 AM PDT
Over the last few years, concern over the use of explosive weapons in populated areas has increased because of the severe harm caused to civilians and the wider community. However, the debate has so far not sufficiently highlighted the specific impact that explosive weapons have on women. A new report by Reaching Critical Will (RCW), 'Women and Explosive Weapons', aims to draw attention to some of the unique impacts on women that explosive weapons have when used in populated areas. We are talking here about bombs, cluster munitions, grenades, improvised explosive devices (IED), mines, missiles, mortars, and rockets, which use explosive force to affect an area around the point of detonation, usually through the effects of blast and fragmentation. And according to data gathered by NGOs, between 80 and 90 per cent of the people injured or killed in incidents where explosive weapons are used in populated areas are civilians. The report is part of Reaching Critical Will's attempt to highlight the impact of weapons on women and the importance of strengthening a gender perspective in disarmament and arms control in order to ensure inclusive security – and prevent human suffering. How is gender relevant for disarmament and arms control? Ideas about gender affect the way people and societies view weapons, war and militarism. Considering gender can help in developing deeper understandings of "gun cultures," armament policies, or obstacles to disarmament. It can also help determine appropriate policy or budgetary responses to particular challenges. For example, there is a strong correlation between carrying guns and notions of masculinity. Inside and outside of armed conflict, so-called "gun culture" is overwhelmingly associated with cultural norms of masculinity, including men as protectors and as warriors. Armed conflict tends to exacerbate views about what qualifies as masculine behaviour: group pressure usually amplifies men's aggressiveness and inclination to treat women as inferior. Armed men perpetrate sexual violence at gunpoint against women and girls with impunity, most famously in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but also in a number of countries that are not necessarily at conflict. Nuclear weapons likewise afford a sense of masculine strength. Possessing and brandishing an extraordinarily destructive capacity is a form of dominance associated with masculine warriors (nuclear weapons possessors are sometimes referred to as the "big boys"). After India's 1998 nuclear weapon tests, for example, a Hindu nationalist leader explained, "We had to prove that we are not eunuchs." When governments act as though their power and security can only be guaranteed by a nuclear arsenal, they create a context in which nuclear weapons become the ultimate necessity for, and symbol of, state security. And when nuclear-armed states then work hard to ensure that other countries do not obtain nuclear weapons, they are perceived as subordinating and emasculating others. Gender analysis can also help us understand how weapons are used – and against whom and why. This in turn can help inform policies and programmes that specifically address these challenges. Irresponsible transfers of weaponry, munitions, armaments, and related equipment across borders have resulted in acts of gender-based violence (GBV) perpetrated by both state and non-state actors. Thus in the recent negotiations of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), civil society organisations and like-minded governments worked together to ensure that the treaty included a legally-binding provision on preventing armed gender-based violence. 'Women and Explosive Weapons' also argues that it is important to ensure that women affected by the use of explosive weapons receive the same assistance and legal protection as men, and that they are seen as active agents of change rather than only as victims. The report also briefly describes explosive weapons and the legal tools available to assess their use, focusing in particular on legal documents that support greater inclusion of gender analysis and women's participation. The second part gives an overview on how explosive weapons specifically affect women and why a gendered analysis of the impact of explosive weapons use in populated areas is needed. The report calls on governments to recognise that the use of explosive weapons in populated areas causes severe humanitarian problems, requiring the development of stronger and more explicit international standards, restrictions, and prohibitions. For a full list of the report's recommendations, please click here. For more information on explosive weapons, click here. Reaching Critical Will is the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom's disarmament programme. The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) was founded in April 1915, in The Hague, Netherlands, by some 1300 women from Europe and North America. Women from countries at war against each other and from neutral ones, who came together at a Congress of Women to protest the killing and destruction of the war raging in Europe at the time. The widespread availability of weapons has been a main concern for WILPF since its founding. WILPF has actively been working towards a strong international Arms Trade Treaty with an extra focus on prohibiting a weapons transfer when there is a risk of them being used to conduct gender based violence since 2006. On 2 April 2013 the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) which prohibits the sale of arms if there is a risk that the weapons could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian or human rights law. The treaty was adopted with the yes-no-abstain vote 154-3-23. It was the first treaty that recognised the link between gender-based violence and the international arms trade.  |
| Posted: 01 Apr 2014 01:25 AM PDT
The UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Rashida Manjoo, is starting her first ever official visit to the UK this week, to assess the UK's performance in tackling and preventing abuse of women and girls. She is to study the main manifestations of violence perpetrated in the family and in the community, such as domestic and sexual violence, sexual bullying and harassment, forced and early marriages, and female genital mutilation. She will also look at violence that is perpetrated or condoned by State authorities, and violence encountered by women facing new vulnerabilities due to the increased influx of immigrant women, asylum seekers and refugees. "Violence against women continues to be one of the most pervasive human rights violations globally, affecting every country in the world," she said. "During my mission I will meet with individuals and organisations involved in fighting all aspects related to violence against women, its causes and consequences with a view to assessing the phenomenon in the country." Manjoo's comes at the invitation of the UK government, and her mission is to investigate the prevalence of violence against women and girls in the UK and what is being done to tackle it. At the end of her visit, on 15 April, she will give a press conference in London and make recommendations to the UK government. The EVAW Coalition's many expert members and frontline service providers have prepared an authoritative 80-page dossier for Manjoo in advance of her visit documenting the key issues they hope she will assess during her visit. In the UK: In 2012, around 1.2 million women in the UK suffered domestic abuse; domestic violence accounts for 10 per cent of emergency calls; In 2012, 85,000 women in the UK were raped and over 400,000 women were sexually assaulted; In 2013, the UK government's Forced Marriage Unit dealt with more than 1,300 cases, more than 80 per cent of which were female victims; At least 66,000 women in England and Wales have been subject to female genital mutilation; Sexual bullying and harassment are routine in UK schools; almost one in three 16-18 year-old girls have experienced 'groping' or other unwanted sexual touching at school. The dossier compiled by EVAW Coaliton members highlights that: Specialist women's services all over the country, including refuges, helplines, black and ethnic minority women's services, are being hit hard by the so-called 'austerity' cuts and questionable tendering and commissioning regimes used by local councils and others Asylum seeking women arriving in the UK face an asylum decision-making system which routinely disbelieves their accounts of gender based violence, and are also routinely detained in a manner which contravenes the UK's human rights obligations Legal aid cuts are making it more difficult for women to have access to legal advice and representation when they are at risk from an abusive partner In our schools we are failing to take the necessary steps to challenge the attitudes that excuse and condone abuse of women from an early age; such preventative work with young people is recommended by every expert in this field. This is despite excellent Home Office work targeting young people with messages about consent and respect in the 'thisisabuse' campaign. Liz McKean, co-director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), said: "The UK has a lot to be proud of in progress in this area. "Our national action plan on violence against women and girls recognises the gendered nature of abuse and the many forms it can take as well as having targets for addressing it. "Individual agencies like the CPS stand out for their progressive, determined and creative ways of improving access to justice for women and girls who are abused. The ring-fenced direct funding of rape support services is very welcome. "But, our submission to Ms Manjoo shows that while there has been progress in the UK, there are many critical areas where the UK is failing. These include the decimation of women's specialist support services at the local level, and legal aid cuts. "The way the UK treats asylum-seeking women is shameful and we are hardly anywhere on actually aiming to prevent abuse in the long-term by working with young people. "To some extent you could say there is a disconnect opening up between what the UK promises and delivers on the international stage and what is happening here at home. "The UK should be proud of the work William Hague is doing to tackle rape in conflict, and the Department for International Development is also putting abuse of women and girls at the heart of its programmes. "But at home the work is piecemeal and cuts to services are actually sending us backwards."  |
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