This Thursday (November 25), many buildings in Brussels are lit up in orange to start the international #OrangeTheWorld A campaign led by UN Women. The 16-day campaign started with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and aims to encourage people around the world to stand up and take action against gender-based violence.
Dagmar Schumacher, director of the UN Women’s Agency in Brussels, said that the orange building “sends a positive signal, yes, women do have a bright future, so the orange building is orange.”
research shows One-third of women will experience physical or sexual violence during their lifetime, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these numbers.
Experts call it a “shadow pandemic”, but a single dose of vaccine cannot solve the problem of gender-based violence.
“This kind of behavior can indeed be changed by everyone who abuses women,” Schumacher explained. “If there is a real will to make it happen, this thing can stop tomorrow.”
The campaign aims to mobilize organizations around the world to speak out for victims of gender discrimination and gender-based violence.
The European Women’s Lobby (EWL), the umbrella network of the European Women’s Association in Brussels, has issued a call to the European Commission for the formulation of “a bold horizontal directive on combating and preventing violence against women and girls.”
telephone It has the support of more than 60 EU legislators, and it continues to increase. EWL leaders emphasized that the directive must be adopted Istanbul Convention About gender-based violence. It must also address all forms of violence against women and girls, including work-related violence and online violence, and explicitly address the issue of sexual exploitation.
EWL will send the list of signatories to the committee on Human Rights Day on December 10.
Political leaders also support these organizations, Call for “Immediate Action” Protect women and girls. The chairperson of the committee, Ursula von der Leyen, promised to introduce a law against violence against women in early 2022.
Violence against one of us is violence against all of us.
At this #IDEVAW, I want to say from the bottom of my heart: ⁰
Just enough.
We are united.
Let’s do it ⁰
Early next year, I will propose a law to combat violence against women.
#OrangeTheWorld pic.twitter.com/3IwGNKkANK-Ursula von der Lein (@vonderleyen) November 25, 2021
The root of the problem
“Violence against women and girls is a form of discrimination against women,” said Claire Fourçans, EWL policy director. “Our patriarchal society has this kind of power imbalance; there are villains, and men are using violence to silence women.”
Fourçans explained that in terms of threats of violence, gender-based violence affects women even before they experience them.
She said that women must ask themselves questions like: “Will I walk alone at night in a specific area where I am afraid of being attacked and violent? Will I expose myself to a specific work environment that I know is dominated by men?”
MeTooEP is an organization calling for an end to sexual harassment in the European Parliament and other regions. It sent a column to members of the European Parliament on the resolution of the consequences of the #MeToo movement and anti-sexual harassment measures. The resolution will be voted on next month.
MeTooEP reported that nearly 300 lawmakers expressed support for the resolution.
But according to UN Women’s data, only 40% of women who experience violence report or seek help. This stems from the lack of institutional support and social norms to blame the victims.
Specific solution
Schumacher said that violence against women cannot end unless the world is changed.
“Most of the perpetrators [of gender-based violence] It’s men, so we really need to see social change, men really feel that they need to change their behavior, we solve gender stereotypes,” she said.
Anouk Bonte, a gender expert at the Belgian International Plan, works to eliminate gender-based violence in partner countries in Africa and Latin America.
In countries such as Niger, the International Plan worked with teachers to detect violence against young women.
“If teachers see a lot of dropouts, then we go and talk to their families,” Bond said.
Girls in Niger often face issues such as female genital mutilation, early and forced child marriage, and sexual abuse. For these reasons, they are often dropped out of school.
“If a girl cannot go to school because she is forced to get married, it will not only affect her development as a young man, but also affect her skills and abilities to become a leader or find a leader one day. Decent work in the future,” Bundt explained Say.
“It’s not just our staff talking to parents, because this is an endless task,” said Jorn Vennekens, press officer of the Belgian International Project. “But this tells those who are actually in an influential position [stop gender-based violence] they themselves. “
[Edited by Benjamin Fox]
