MONDAY November 25 marked the occasion of International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, which has been observed since 1981. However, it received its international approval in 2000 through Resolution 34/134, as the United Nations (UN) gave signal recognition and its adoption.
Arising from this very important observation is the commencement of 16 Days of Activism, during which time gender-based violence against women and girls in all its forms will be highlighted. This has been an annual phase since this seminal observation began; it centres on four key signposts, commencing with the titular date of November 25: Human Rights Defenders Day, November 29; World Aids Day, December 1; and Human Rights Day, December 16, on which date the activism ends.
Significantly, in 2008, the occasion of International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls was further advanced. Then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki moon launched UNITE to End Violence Against Women and Girls; all forms of violence. A sample of some of the latest statistics from the WHO/PAHO illustrates the perilous threat that violence poses to the extant well-being and existence of women and girls; it highlights too, the need for continuous strategies in all forms, and inclusive of every social agency in every region, and in every country to combat and halt this social scourge; a scourge that has become a dangerous and almost uncontrollable international monster.
* Some national studies have shown that 70% of women have experienced both physical and sexual violence in their lifetime.
*Victims of either type of violence are twice likely to have an abortion, depression, HIV, or other STDs, compared to women who have not suffered such an experience.
*35 per cent of women world-wide have been the victims of either physical and/or sexual violence perpetrated by either an intimate partner or non-intimate partner.
*Globally, it is estimated that of all the women who were victims of homicide in 2012, one-half were killed by intimate partners or family members.
*Adult women account for 51 per cent of all trafficking cases; women and girls account for 71 per cent, while girls represent three out of every four victims.
*200 million women and girls have undergone female genitalia mutilation and other horrible nightmare experiences that have been taking place in every region of the world. Instructively, it must be noted that there are a reported 49 countries in which there are no laws that protect women from domestic violence that is now a pandemic.
Guyana is no stranger to the brutal scourge of violence against women and girls. The experiences are unchanging: Of women being mercilessly brutalised and eventually killed by partners; of women sexually harassed and sexually violated, and even killed. If there is any social ill that has been constantly highlighted on a daily basis in Guyana, whether by way of the media in all forms; through social outreaches; social media; youth groups; religious evangelicals; or dissemination by other means, it has been the scourge of gender-based violence in all its forms. In fact, more social organisations in creative ways, inclusive of social media, the arts including drama and public service announcements, have been taking discourses to even the streets, in further attempts to highlight the grim threat that this inhuman behaviour poses to the well-being of women and girls.
It has always been advocated in this column that the battle against gender-based violence must not only be the business of the parties concerned, or the individual victim; it must also be the concern of every Guyanese; every socio-cultural organisation and even organs of the state. This is because of its pervasiveness that is indifferent to race and ethnicity, social class and professional status.
So, as Guyana joins the rest of the world on this 16 Days of Activism, we at the Guyana Chronicle stand with the call for NO MORE violence against women and girls in both words and action, because this scourge affects everyone: Women, men, children, persons with disabilities and people from sexual and gender minorities. It therefore means we must involve and sensitise everyone to support vulnerable individuals, protect survivors of violence, and bring perpetrators to justice.
