The article was written by Avi Mor, director of the Hotline, and by Malka Genachowski, director of WIZO’s Janet Burros Center for the Treatment and Prevention of Domestic Violence, in which the Hot Line operates. It showcases how WIZO is on the cutting edge of innovation in the battle against domestic violence, continually initiating new programs and services that bring a holistic and systematic approach to this complex problem, in treatment, prevention, education, advocacy and legislation.

We urge you to read this excellent article and share it widely.

Warm regards,

Anita Friedman                    Ora Korazim
Chairperson                          Chairperson
World WIZO                          WIZO Israel

Read the article from Newsweek

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For the first time this year’s award deals with gender based violence, the most appalling crime against humanity. It is a strong voice condemning rape and other sexual assaults of women particularly as a weapon in military conflict and war. This unspeakably terrible brutality is often systematically used to threaten innocent people and to break the will of resistance of a whole population. Until now unlike other offenses this crime is usually belittled or covered up –the perpetrators get away with impunity, because the victims are just only women and girls…

Therefore the most prestigious award being given to Dr. Denis Mukwege from DR Congo and Nadia Murak from Irak marks a turning point in public awareness and sensibilization. Nadja from the Ezidis minority had been brutally raped and enslaved by the IS terrorists. After her escape as a victimized person she had courageously broken a wide-spread taboo:

Instead of keeping shamefully silent she spoke openly about her unbearable physical and psychological suffering. She accused the perpetrators as criminals to be brought to court for trial. Nadja Murak also strongly pleaded for reintegrating the women and girls within their own community and helping them to get again their self-confidence.

For IAW this award means an important step into the right direction, because the fight against sexual violence on women and girls is one of its most important global goals. Many IAW member organizations face these problems and are adopting strategies to stop these crimes.

But foremost in DR Congo the female population is exposed to these blatantly cruel excesses. For the public seminar in Berlin Anuarite Siirewabo, living in Buvaku DR Congo and coordinator of SOFEDEC, had sent a video-message. She gave a clear and moving description about the life of victims of rape, view her written original speech in French on the IAW-Website and the English summary here.

All of us present in Berlin will not forget Anuarite’s appeal:

“..The work of SOFEDEC is to help these women to forget the consequences of the war, and what they endured. We need funds for them and for the children born after these horrors. It is difficult to speak of all those women who have been raped, who died in the war. There are wounds deep in our hearts…”

 Here Anuarite reports about a brutal incident on February 13^th 2013: While she was at one of their hot-spots in Bisisi (Kalonge) she heard that two women were kept imprisoned and had to endure rape, beatings and torture in a house occupied by armed men. Anuarite having decided to go there, encountered some shepherds and the village-chief. They all warned her of the extreme risks of approaching that place. Despite of that Anuarite went on and got in touch with the chief of the armed groups. As a deal they just wanted a few drinks plus a goat. When Anuarite had fulfilled their demands, both women were released. Then Anuarite asked both husbands to accept the victims again as their spouses instead of abandoning them. Anuarite reassured them about the recovery of their wives after having been medically treated. Then Anuarite brought both women to the Panzi Hospital where Dr. Mukwege  “repaired” them. Today one former victim age 32 is the mother of several children, and the other aged 47 also leads a happy life.

Actually Dr. Mukwege and his team not only provide physical treatment but also psychological help after traumatic experiences. Anuarite and the SOFEDEC members visit the women later on in their homes and try to help them to be accepted again as full members of their families, a difficult job in a country, where rape victims are often ostracized!

No wonder that Anuarite was very happy, when she heard about the Nobel prize of Peace being awarded to Dr. Mukwege! In fact he upholds similar life-goals like Anuarite, which is helping the victims of rape, fighting against impunity of the perpetrators and preventing sexual violence.

Dr. Mukwege in his official speech as Nobel prize winner addresses all of us:

“It is a choice:

– whether or not we stop violence against women,
– whether or not we create a positive masculinity which promotes gender equality,
in times of peace and in times of war.

Taking action means saying ‘no’ to indifference…After twenty years of bloodshed, rape and massive population displacements, the Congolese people are desperately awaiting implementation of the responsibility to protect the civilian population when their government cannot or does not want to do so. The people are waiting to explore the path to a lasting peace…”

Also Anuarite voices the same concerns

“The women of SOFEDEC, Solidarity of women for Development, Environment and Children’s Rights in DRC sound the alarm. They ask for your attention. The support they look for is nowhere else but in your actions, your donations and your strengthening of their capacity to subsist and to resist all the violence they have been victims of…Those brave women are busy looking for a living in their own country, not somewhere else. They are courageous, they do not shrink back, nor give room to fear….”

 There were national elections on December 30, 2018 in DR Congo. Anuarite hopes that under the new opposition president Felix Chisekedi there will be some positive changes. Actually also Anuarite was a candidate in her home-prefecture, but she realized that generally women were not elected in large numbers. Anuarite points out that they are lacking the necessary resources for raising awareness about their issues during the election campaigns. One of the problems is also the poverty of women. Therefore women don’t have easy access to power. Nevertheless Anuarite feels that the Congolese women are strong and tenacious and will never abandon their goal halfway through.

The post Nobel Prize for Peace 2018 – Hope for raped women and girls in DR Congo appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

 Women Empowerment and Human Resource Development Centre of India (WHI)

The celebration included a peace rally where women were carrying carrying placards with captions such as ‘stop violence against women’,’ stop female foeticide’,’ treat children well’, ‘be a man not a beggar to ask dowry’,   ‘bruises fade, but the pain lasts forever’, ‘not all wounds are visible’ , ‘be bold’ etc.

Report sent by Dr. Vijaya Lakshmi, chair of WHI.

Read the whole report: March 8 WHI

The post Celebrating International Women’s Day : Peace rally in India appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

She explains that  60% of Nigerians are living in extreme poverty, lacking water and economic livelihoods; 70% of this demographic are women and girls and over 2 million Nigerians have been forced to flee their homes.

In Northern Nigeria the Boko Haram terrorist group have been responsible for  the destruction of property and lands and crop cultivation, with many farmers having to flee their homes. People remain unwilling to return home due to the fear of violence.  Coupled with the high rates of poverty in the region, this has resulted in food insecurity and low food production.

Buki Adenekan writes that, ‘the effects of both ongoing violence and ecological destruction in the region have revealed gendered dimensions. Women have been deeply affected by the violent crisis in northern Nigeria and constitute a large portion of displaced persons (53%) across the region.’

She maintains that, ‘despite the patriarchal nature of societies across northern Nigeria, women in the region have played an active role in the campaign and fight against Boko Haram. They have positioned themselves at the forefront of protests against the insurgent group, especially in Abuja and Borno, where they have played an important role as vocal agents of change through political action and protests.’

Women have been placed in situations where they have no choice but to demonstrate their capacity for adaption in times of severe insecurity. When their husbands, brothers and fathers are killed they are forced to adopt leadership roles in the family and community and make difficult, painful decisions after burying their relations.

Sadly, many women, especially those who have returned from the captivity of Boko Haram, are stigmatised and their children – born as a result of their forced marriage to insurgents – are unwelcome in their home communities. In addition, many of these former captives are suffering from psychological distress resulting from the physical, sexual and mental abuse they experienced in captivity.

However, women as victims and survivors of violence is only one side of the story. They are also active participants in war, and it is important to understand the roles women play in the violence itself. Women in Boko Haram are capable of being conscious political-religious activists as well. They have been instrumental in Boko Haram tactics, which have been effective in advancing strikes across the region. Women are rarely suspected and can easily get away with concealing weapons in their clothing. This cooperation may be a way of escaping some of the sexual abuse experienced in captivity.

Adenekan concludes that, ‘women’s voices are being heard as protesters and proponents of peace against the conflict, but there is an absence of advocacy for female returnees from Boko Haram and a lack of livelihood opportunities for the internally-displaced who are living in camps. The faces and voices of returnees have been blurred by the societal stigma associated with the terrorist group. This could place women in more vulnerable situations and induce local grievances amongst them, leading to more violence.’

She maintains that, ‘it is important for the international community, the Nigerian government and relevant stakeholders to decisively focus on women as valuable agents of change and social mobilisers, with the ability to curb the impacts of violence and also environmental degradation. Women’s plights in displacement must be analysed and addressed with urgency, and women must be included in strategising, designing and implementation of interventions.’

https://www.opendemocracy.net/buki-adenekan/gendered-realities-of-peace-and-security-in-northern-nigeria

The post The gendered realities of peace and security in northern Nigeria appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

Femicide is far more than murder. In general killing is done by men. One man kills another. This is statistical evidence. As we also know, men kill women, women kill women and women also kill men.

And then, there is “femicide”, a term, a combination of “femina” and “caedere” – meaning “woman killing”. It is used whenever a woman is killed because of her sex. It’s the murder by a partner or family member (family honour), or criminal gangs as a power demonstration (humiliation of the enemy), and as a weapon of war.

It’s the definition seen through the gender aspect that makes the difference, because it reflects the reasons behind femicide.:  Violence against women is rooted in inequalities and discrimination against women and its prevention and eradication must be grounded in gender equality and empowerment of women.

In 2012 the United Nations counted  approximately 43.000 cases of femicide (killings within relationship). This is four times the number of persons killed in terrorist attacks, as stated by Paul Bekkers, director of OSCE and  General Secretary Lamberto Zannier. (Approximately, because of the lack of reliable data on femicide). This is why Duvravka Simonovic, UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences, once again requested collection of data as an important first step towards creating awareness as a precondition for requesting concrete measures to prevent femicide. In consequence she promoted the establishment of Femicide Watches at the national level, the systematic collection and documentation of data, allowing an analysis of victims’ profiles and perpetrators’ profiles – and, therefore, address the root causes.

Representatives of the Georgian Young Lawyers Association, of the Serbian Department of Gender Equality, of the Armenian Coalition to stop violence against women, of the Femicide Census, in partnership with Women’s Aid Federation England, of the Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Second University of Naples and COST Action “Femicide across Europe” and the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence participated in two plenary sessions in a panel format.

Suggestions put forward: training of police officers, encouragement of women to bring violent cases to the courts, awareness-raising within the judiciary, the administration. One very important request came from Ms. Anna Costanza Baldry, Professor in criminal and law psychology, representative of the Second Universit of Naples calling for help for the orphans of inter-family femicide.

According to Aldo Lale-Demos, Vice-Director of UNODC (the Office of the United Nations on Drugs and Crime Prevention, with its headquarters in Vienna) 78 per cent of the victims killed by partners are women – with regional differences. Considering all regional differences all these cases Had one  aspect in common: “it represents the most extreme, ultimate form of inequality between women and men”. 

Monitoring at both global and regional levels has shown that:

• Femicide or gender related killings of women, and sexual and other forms of gender based violence against women and girls are widespread and persistent human rights violations,
• There is widespread impunity due to the lack of implementation of the global and regional instruments on women’s rights and violence against women and the failure to turn these into real pr4oteftiuonof every woman and girl,
• There are significant gaps and shortcomings in national legislation and prevention systems often combined with tolerance of such violence, exacerbated by a lack of reliable and disaggregated ate, the absence of adequate risk assessments, and concealment and underreporting of gender-related killings, rapes and other form of gender based violence against women.

The symposium had been jointly called by the UN Rapporteur on Violence against Women and all other global and regional mechanisms to end femicide and gender-based violence ( The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (Cedaw), the Inter-American Special Rapporteur on violence against women, the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) , the UN Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice, the Committee of Experts of the Follow-up Mechanisms to the Belém de Pará Convention (MESECVI) and the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence of the Council of Europe (GREVIO). 

Suggestion for IAW: creation of an IAW observatory on national femicide data on the basis of a questionnaire to be sent to member organizations and individual members.

Some useful e-addresses;

http://:www.ohchr.org

http://coe.int/en/web/istanbul-convention/grevio

http://www.oas.org/en/mesecvi/about.asp

The post Fighting Deadly Togetherness appeared first on International Alliance of Women.

Text of emergency motion
Violence against women (VAW) is the most widespread violation of women’s human rights: one out of three women is a victim of sexual and/or physical violence in the EU. VAW is both a cause and a consequence of gender inequality. The most unsafe place for women and girls is at home.Small arms like knives, pistols and rifles are easy to buy and conceal. 1 They give a sense of power to a partner, ex-partner, family member or acquaintance and are great threats to the safety of women and girls. Preventive measures saves states and civil society a great deal of money!

The EU Commission is called upon to establish 2016 as the EU Year to End Violence Against Women, with substantial resources to raise more awareness about prevention of VAW especially caused by the use of small arms like knives, pistols and rifles and support actions at all levels. 2

Note 1. FRA – European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 2014

Note 2. EWL demands A Europe free from violence against women in From Words to Action 1995-2015, p 15 

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