25 November, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, little to celebrate
In 2021, about 45,000 women and girls all around the world—five an hour— died by the hand of their partner or another family member. A third of the worldwide female population have experience gender-based violence during their lifetimes.
In Central America and the Dominican Republic, according to InfoSegura data, 9 in 10 victims of sexual crimes were women and girls. Fewer than 40 per cent seek any kind of help. 862 were victims of feminicide in 2022. On the positive side, intrafamily violence offences dropped by more than 30 per cent over the course of a year, from 10,178 in 2021 to 7,019 in 2022.
We can continue to list more striking figures on violence against women and Girls Data is often better at explaining reality than words, but they are cold. "Behind each of these numbers, there is a person," notes Marcela Smutt, Coordinator of InfoSegura Regional Project. "Women and girls whose rights are being violated, whose lives are affected. Women and girls who live in fear of becoming victims of violence. Survivors. The impact of this violence persists and transcends. It has an impact on their lives, on the community and in society."
Raising our voices against this pandemic is what it is all about every 25 November, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. This date also marks the start of a global campaign, the 16 Days of Activism to culminate on 10 December, International Human Rights Day.
The 2023 theme is “UNITE! Invest to prevent violence against women and girls”. Civil society and all UN agencies continue the fight against a scourge that was exacerbated after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Foto: IOM 2022 / Ramiro Aguilar Villamarín.
In the struggle against gender-based violence in Central America and the Dominican Republic, the InfoSegura Regional Project, an initiative of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has been working for years to mainstream gender and human rights in citizen security policies throughout the region.
"Gender-based violence is a human rights violation and a security issue that must be fully understood and addressed in public policy," asserts Marcela Smutt.
That is the reason we work with institutions in charge of security and justice in Central America and the Dominican Republic, "seeking to advance in gathering information and promoting its use to inform public policies that help to prevent, address, punish and eradicate the multiple forms of violence, and not leave women and girls behind.
The InfoSegura approach goes further than raising awareness. Since InfoSegura was created nearly ten years ago, it has carried out numerous projects for generating data and analysis to help improve our understanding of the issue. In countries like El Salvador and Honduras, it has coordinated with national authorities to administer surveys on prevalence of violence against women. These have provided valuable information for evidence-based policymaking. In Guatemala and Honduras, InfoSegura promoted the Territorial Prioritization Index of Violence against Women and Girls. These tools help focus efforts on the most critical areas. These are just a few examples.
Another is SARA Chatbot, a digital assistant InfoSegura developed to provide information and guidance on the risk of experiencing violence against women, girls and adolescents.
"As noted in the study on The Hidden Side of Insecurity in Central America and the Dominican Republic," Smutt continues, "a biased view has led to practices whereby government areas that are responsible for public safety or citizen security are in charge of 'social violence' and 'high impact violence,' while the institutions that work on women’s rights are responsible for preventing and addressing gender-based violence against women, primarily domestic violence."
The InfoSegura coordinator notes that this approach, "must be discarded, not just because gender-based violence against women takes place in multiple and different areas, and it is closely tied to other kinds of violence and citizen security issues, but additionally, above all, because behind every case there is a woman or a girl whose rights are being violated, whose lives are being affected. A woman or a girl living in fear of becoming a victim of violence. A survivor."
Gender-based violence affects women and girls in more ways than their health and their economic, education, social and cultural opportunities. It also undermines their independence and access to opportunities. An effective gender-based response is indispensable so that no one is left behind.
The 16 days of activism against gender-based violence raises the clear call: everyone has a role to play and has something to contribute. From giving voice to survivors and activists to helping women's organizations or strengthening feminist movements.
As a contribution to the 16 Days of Activism, InfoSegura is carrying out a series of regional initiatives focused on the struggle against violence against women and girls. In Belize, for instance, a forum will be held on the importance of data in decision making and providing information and guidance to victims of domestic violence. In Honduras, the results of the National Specialized Survey on Violence against Women and Girls will be launched along with an awareness campaign in social media and digital news outlets, as well as in the Dominican Republic and Guatemala.
In Costa Rica, different activities are under way, from a discussion about social autopsies as a technical and methodological approach to feminicide prevention, through unveiling memorial artwork in remembrance of women and girls who were victims of femicide as part of the national “Those no longer here” campaign, or presentation of the results of the technical analysis of indicators for the Unified System for the Statistical Measurement of Gender-Based Violence (SUMEVIG).
No one enjoys full citizen security as long as women and girls—because of their gender—are continually subjected to physical, sexual and emotional violence in the home, on the street, on public transportation, in parks and public squares.
Gender-based violence prevention calls for the engagement of men and boys of all ages and social strata, in order to achieve gender solidarity. "It is important to help break the silence around violence against women, because silence is lethal," concludes Smutt.
State commitment to counting, understanding and acting in the face of violence that affects women and girls is an indispensable condition to advance development and security. The commitment is for each one of us to raise our voices against gender-based violence. One more time: UNiTE!
Source: UNODC, UN Women, WHO Infosegura and UNICEF.
