View previous stories
	Peru: Over 300,000 women were forcibly sterilised by UN women’s rights committee   30 Oct. 2024   The policy of forced sterilisation in Peru, which took place during the 1990s’, amounted to sex-based violence and intersectional discrimination, particularly against Indigenous, rural, and economically disadvantaged women, the UN women’s rights committee has found.   The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) today published its Decision after reviewing a joint complaint filed by five victims who were forcibly sterilised between 1996 and 1997 as part of a State-led birth control policy in Peru.   “The victims described a consistent pattern of being coerced, pressured, or deceived into undergoing sterilisations at clinics lacking proper infrastructure or trained personnel,” Committee member Leticia Bonifaz said, adding, “The procedures were carried out without informed consent from these victims, with some of them, especially those from remote areas, unable to read and speak Spanish, or fully understand the nature of the procedure.”   One victim from Pichgas, Huanuco, for example, was stopped on the street by medical practitioners in October 1996. They took her, along with other women, to La Union medical centre, approximately a two-hour walk from her village. She stated that she was illiterate and did not sign anything. She was put to sleep, and when she woke up, nurses told her, “You won’t be having children now, we’ve cured you”.   She felt strong pains in her abdomen but was immediately discharged and had to walk back home without any post-operative care. When her husband found out that she had been sterilised, he abandoned her.   The victims claimed that the forced sterilisations they underwent had severe and permanent consequences for their physical and mental health. They took their case to the Committee in 2020, stating that Peru had violated their rights under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women due to the lack of effective investigations, accountability, and adequate reparations.   While the State party argued that the sterilisation program was part of a broader reproductive health policy and that procedures were also performed on men, the Committee noted the fact that over 300,000 women, primarily rural and Indigenous, as opposed to about 25,000 men, were forcibly sterilised.   The Committee also found that forced sterilisation constituted sex-based violence against women, as male and female sterilisations differ substantially in the nature of the intervention and the surgical risks involved. It noted, in particular, that the victims were sterilised by non-specialised medical staff and in inadequate sanitary conditions.   The Committee also recognised that the sterilisation program was intersectional discrimination, disproportionately targeting Indigenous, economically disadvantaged and rural women.   Victims told the Committee that they were intercepted and forced onto trucks like cattle to temporary health centres, where, as one of them described, “medical practitioners sharpening knives and cutting us like animals.”   “Forced sterilisations were carried out as part of a systematic and generalised attack against rural and Indigenous women, and the policy resulted in the nullification and substitution of their reproductive autonomy,” Bonifaz added.   The Committee also concluded that Peru’s failure to fulfil its obligations to duly investigate these violations and compensate for victims of forced sterilisation are acts of discrimination against women. It urged the State party to accelerate and expand its investigations, provide financial compensation and psychological support, and implement a comprehensive reparation program for victims.   The Committee noted that widespread or systematic forced sterilisation could constitute a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute.   It raised its concern about a law promulgated by the State party in August, which prevents the prosecution of crimes against humanity committed before 2002. The Committee recalled that both the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the UN Human Rights Office had called upon the State party to annul this bill as it contravenes international law.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/10/peru-fujimori-governments-forced-sterilisation-policy-violated-womens-rights
	Gender-based violence: What's being done to protect women? by AP, Le Monde, Deutsche Welle Germany   23 Nov. 2024   80,000 people march in France calling for elimination of violence against women.   In the capital, Paris, large crowds of women and men marched waving purple placards that denounced gender-based violence and defending women’s reproductive rights.   The French newspaper Le Monde reported that roughly 80,000 protesters took to the streets in Paris, with 400 different organisations taking part in demonstrations. It said thousands of people also took to the streets in smaller cities across the nation, including 1,500 in Renne outside Lyon in the southeastern part of France.   France enshrined abortion rights in the constitution in March — a move largely seen as a response to the US move to roll back key reproductive rights protections in 2022 when the Supreme Court overturned decades-old laws protecting abortion rights nationally.   While abortion has been legal since 1975 in France, the constitutional change explicitly guaranteed abortion access. France was the first country in the world to do so.   Demonstrators voiced concerns about a possible rollback on women’s rights in the United States when President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House in January.   Protesters also voiced solidarity with Gisele Pelicot, whose ex-husband Dominique Pelicot and 50 other co-defendants are on trial over allegations that the men drugged and raped her while she was unconscious over a decade. In September, Dominique accepted the charges.   “Unfortunately, anybody can be a perpetrator of violence. It can be our brothers. It can be our fathers. It can be our colleagues. It can be our bosses. I think that’s the big shock for people,” said Maelle Noir, representing the feminist collective Nous Toutes, which translates as All of Us, told The Associated Press news agency at the Paris protest.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/12/mazan-rape-trial-scale-abuse-and-violence-committed-must-serve-wake-call http://www.france24.com/en/europe/20241219-pelicot-mass-rape-trial-feminist-groups-feel-humiliated-defense-accepts-verdicts http://fra.europa.eu/en/news/2024/one-three-women-eu-have-experienced-violence   Oct. 2024   Gender-based violence: What's being done to protect women?, asks Ines Eisele. (Deutsche Welle)   Gender-based violence, defined as violence directed against a person because of their biological or social gender, is omnipresent.   According to estimates by the World Health Organization, almost one in three women worldwide has experienced either physical and/or sexual violence in her lifetime.   In addition to the highly publicized #MeToo movement in the United States, campaigns such as #aufschrei in Germany, mass protests in Mexico and India against rape and femicide or, most recently, the case of Gisele Pelicot in France can raise awareness, but change happens only if politicians and the judiciary follow suit.   The case of Gisele Pelicot has shocked France and the entire world. The 72-year-old was drugged by her husband for years and abused by him and other men. Her husband filmed 200 incidents, footage that is now serving as evidence in the ongoing trial against him and 50 other men.   A key aspect of the case is that Gisele Pelicot explicitly campaigned for the trial to take place publicly, "so that the shame changes sides."   To show their support for Pelicot and other victims of sexualized violence, several thousand people took to the streets in cities across France in September, chanting, among other things: "We are all Gisele!"   While this has brought fundamental aspects of violence against women back into focus in France, it's not nearly enough, said Elke Ferner, chairwoman of the UN Women organization in Germany. The politician and long-standing expert on women's rights believes that changes to French criminal law are needed.   "There is not even a 'no means no' rule, according to which sexual acts against the recognizable will of the other person would be punishable," she said. "Instead, in France, active resistance must have taken place for it to be considered rape in court."   India: Discrimination and misogyny persist   The rape and murder of a female assistant doctor recently caused outrage in India. In early August, the 31-year-old was found dead in a state hospital in Kolkata, the capital of the state of West Bengal. The latest of many rape cases in the world's most populous country sparked massive protests. State hospital workers went on strike and West Bengal tightened the penalties for rape.   For many Indians, the crime brings back memories of the brutal gang rape of a student on a bus in the capital New Delhi in 2012. The 23-year-old died due to severe internal injuries. Back then, the protests and public outrage were even greater than now, Indian women's rights activist Ranjana Kumari told DW.   The situation is sobering, said Kumari, the director of the Centre for Social Research in New Delhi and chairwoman of Women Power Connect, a coalition of women's organizations. "When you look at the data, the crime has increased. Not just the domestic violence but also the public space crime in terms of rape and also bullying and harassing women on the streets," she said.   "And what is very shocking and upsetting is that more crime is happening with the women coming from the minority community. And from the underprivileged Dalit," she added, referring to the group lowest in the Indian caste system.   The sexual violence reflects the patriarchal and misogynistic structures of Indian society, in which change to social norms is sluggish, said Kumari. Although laws have been tightened and new programs launched in recent years, much of this remains theory rather than practice, she added.   There have been repeated cases of authorities trying to cover things up, with officials sometimes refusing to accept reports from women. "Cases take 10 to 15 years to come to any kind of justice. So what is failing are these institutions.You must start delivering justice, otherwise the the criminals get emboldened," she said.   Mexico: Women rise up against femicide   In Mexico, hundreds of women are victims of femicide every year — murdered because they are female, usually by their current or former partner. According to official data, there were 827 femicides in 2023, with the number of unreported cases likely to be significantly higher.   Experts attribute Mexico's high rates of femicide to deeply rooted cultural machismo and a problematic justice system that offers little protection for women. The alarming extent of deadly misogyny has led to a feminist movement that has gained momentum in recent years, developing into a social uprising.   "Mass protests against femicides and other forms of gender violence play an important role in advancing public awareness and in holding officials to account," US lawyer Julie Goldscheid, an expert on gender-based violence, told DW.   The high level of public attention has increasingly led to the judiciary and politicians to address the issue, but far-reaching and effective measures have so far failed to materialize. Many Mexicans are now focused on Claudia Sheinbaum, who was elected as the country's first female president in June, and has already announced her intention to provide better protection for women.   Germany: More reforms needed   In 2013, German women began using the hashtag #aufschrei, or "outcry," on social media to report their experiences of sexism and violence. The subsequent news coverage led to a broader discussion of the topic in Germany.   This likely encouraged some changes in the years that followed: the morning-after pill has been available over the counter since 2015, and the law on sexual offenses was reformed in 2016.   Elke Ferner, of UN Women Germany, explains: "The principle of 'no means no' means that crimes that were not previously considered rape are now punished as such. Previously, if a woman did not explicitly say no because she was in a state of shock or did not want to endanger the children in the next room, it was more difficult to classify it as rape." The 'yes means yes' principle, which was also discussed at the time, would have been even clearer, assuming clear consent rather than clear refusal, she added.   Ferner believes the most pressing task in terms of women's rights and protection against violence is the planned Violence Assistance Act, which she said is sorely needed. This would give those affected by domestic violence a legal right to counselling and protection, in addition to setting the first uniform guidelines for the funding of women's shelters and counseling centers.   According to official figures, 250,000 people in Germany were affected by domestic violence last year, and every second to third day a woman dies as a result of intimate partner violence.   http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/facts-and-figures http://www.unwomen.org/en/get-involved/16-days-of-activism http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/unite/theme http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2024/11/femicides-in-2023-global-estimates-of-intimate-partner-family-member-femicides http://www.unhcr.org/us/news/briefing-notes/unhcr-warns-devastating-spike-risk-gender-based-violence-women-and-girls-forced http://www.developmentpathways.co.uk/blog/9-ways-social-protection-can-address-gender-based-violence/ http://www.hrw.org/news/2024/11/19/overlooked-crisis-domestic-violence-workforce http://rsf.org/en/voices-heard-repressed-rsf-s-new-report-journalism-metoo-era-calls-increased-support-journalists Visit the related web page
	View more stories