Edoardo Camilli
 |
| Violence against Women: A European Perspective |
In the Article 1 of the
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, the United Nations
defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that
results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or
suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary
deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life."[1]
Violence against women can take different forms, such as: stalking, sexual
harassment, sexual violence and rape, forced marriage, physical, sexual and
psychological abuse, forced sterilisation, genital mutilation and forced
abortion. The consequences of these abuses are traumatic. Women who suffered
any of these forms of violence are more likely to contract HIV and sexual
transmitted infections, to experience low birth rate and prematurity, to make
harmful use of alcohol and drugs and have higher tendency toward depression and
suicide.
Such phenomenon is, unfortunately,
wider than expected. According to a recent study conducted by the World Health
Organization, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the South
African Medical Research Council, about 35% of women across the world have
experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or
non-partner sexual violence[2].
In most of the cases (30%), women have been victims of intimate partner
violence (i.e. violence perpetrated by an intimate partner or ex-partner)[3]
and only in the 7% of cases violence was perpetrated by a man other than a
partner or ex-partner.
Violence against women is a
worldwide problem, although with different regional incidence. South-East Asia[4]
is at the top of the rank with 37.7% of women who have suffered physical and/or
sexual intimate partner violence in their lifetime[5].
South-East Asia is followed by East Mediterranean (37%)[6],
Africa (36.6%)[7],
Americas (29.8%)[8],
Europe (25.4%)[9]
and Western Pacific (24.6%)[10].
The lowest incidence has been registered in high income countries (23.2%)[11],
hence indicating that poverty and lower education are some of the main drivers for
gender violence.
Although the situation in Europe
seems slightly better than in other regions, the 23.2 to 25.4% of cases of physical
and/or sexual intimate partner violence still means that almost one every five
women in Europe have experienced this kind of violence at least once in their
lifetime; a too high number to be accepted by any democratic country that cares
about human rights and the public health of its citizens.
Considering that violence against
women is not different from other forms of violence based on racial, sexual and
religious motivations, some initiatives have been taken to tackle the problem
in European countries. One of the most relevant one is the one promoted by the
Council of Europe (CoE), Europe’s leading organization for the protection of
human right. The CoE has been working on the gender issue since the early
1990s. Nevertheless, it was in 2008 that the Committee of Ministers took the
decision to set up an expert group with the mandate to harmonised
the legal standards of CoE member states. The text of the “Convention on
preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence”, also known
as Istanbul Convention, was adopted in 2011 and it will enter into force
following 10 ratifications out of which 8 from CoE members.
So far, it has been ratified by only 7 states out of the 47 CoE member states[12].
The Istanbul Convention is a
legally-binding instrument that will oblige signatories to prevent violence
against women, to protect victims and to prosecute perpetrators. The prevention
will be carried out through initiatives aimed at eradicating the roots of
gender violence. Wareness-raising campaigns, teaching of gender
equality, educational and media campaigns to eradicate misogynistic attitudes
are only some of the initiatives envisaged by the Convention.
The protection of victims will include measures such
as granting the police the power to remove the perpetrator from the house,
assisting the victim with adequate information, setting up easily accessible
shelters, providing medical counseling centers and making available 24/7 free
of charge telephone helplines.
As
for the prosecution of perpetrator of violence against women, the Convention
will request signatories states to introduces new
offenses in their penal codes if not present already. Therefore, forms of
violence like forced abortion, forced sterilization, forced marriage, stalking,
female genital mutilation, psychological and physical violence and of course
sexual violence and rape will be considered as crimes. Moreover, cultural and
traditional values will no longer be regarded as a justification for perpetrating
any of the above mentioned forms of violence against women.
In conclusion, the Istanbul Convention will be a valid
legal instrument that will oblige state to provide more preventive measures
before the violence occur, more assistance services once the violence has
occurred and more legal tools to prosecute perpetrators. Therefore, it is of
paramount importance that not only 10 but all the CoE will ratify the
Convention as soon as possible. Nevertheless, the Istanbul Convention is
unlikely to eradicate violence against women from one day to another, as gender
inequality, the very origin of gender violence, is embodied in centuries-old
culture of prevalence of men over women. Therefore, to reach the goal of
eradicating gender violence once and for all, societies have to work on
promoting the culture of respect of women among those men who are still
“culturally illiterate” to women rights.
I personally invite all CoE member states to ratify
the Istanbul Convention and all men to respect women’s will and body. Violence
against women is an atrocity and as such we should all stand up against and
fight it.
Edoardo Camilli is the founder and
director of the International Security Observer. Edoardo works as a
freelance security consultant from Brussels, as well as a research
analyst at the Italian Institute of Strategic Studies “Niccolò
Machiavelli” in Rome. His research activities focus on intelligence,
insurgency, organized crime and national security policies. Edoardo
holds a Master in International Relations and a second level Master in
Intelligence and Security. He is fluent in English, French, Spanish and
Italian.
[1] United Nations, Declaration on
the Elimination of Violence against Women, A/RES/48/104, 85th plenary
meeting, 20 December 1993, http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/48/a48r104.htm.
[2] World
Health Organization, London School of Hygiene, Tropical Medicine, South African
Medical Research Council, Global and regional estimates of violence against
women: prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and
non-partner sexual violence, 2013, http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/85239/1/9789241564625_eng.pdf
[3] World Health Organization, Violence against women. Intimate
partner and sexual violence against women, Fact
sheet N°239, Updated October 2013, http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs239/en/
[4] Bangladesh, Timor-Leste (East Timor), India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka,
Thailand.
[6] Egypt, Iran,
Iraq, Jordan, Palestine.
[7] Botswana,
Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia,
Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, United
Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
[8] Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El
Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru,
Plurinational State of Bolivia.
[9] Albania, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Lithuania, Republic of Moldova, Romania,
Russian Federation, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine.
[10] Cambodia, China, Philippines, Samoa, Viet Nam.
[11] Australia, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France,
Germany, Hong Kong,a Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand,
Norway, Poland, South Korea, Spain,Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America.
[12] Up to November 15, 2013, those who have ratified the Istanbul Convention
are: Albania, Austria, Bosnia
and Herzegovina, Italy, Montenegro, Portugal and Turkey. See: http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/ChercheSig.asp?NT=210&CM=1&DF=&CL=ENG