On the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture - Why stand up to violence against women?

Sex matters

Even in progressive societies equipped withlegislation promoting gender equality, women are under-represented amongcorporate or political decision-makers.

Glass ceilings quash their voices.

Women maintain a weaker position of power at home, as80% of them worldwide perform household chores even when working full-time.

Some patriarchal societies overtly consider them assecond-class citizens: cultural prejudices and religious traditions oftenlegalize violence against them. From genital mutilation, to forced pregnancies,to beatings and traditional practices such as dowry violence, forced or childmarriages to honour killings are tolerated or silenced.

Rapevictims’ family members punish them for having been raped. When they file acomplaint, police officers and courts consider rape victims partly responsible,re-victimizing them.

Violenceagainst women (VAW) is commonplace and seems nowhere near being eradicated.Women’s suffering is therefore invisible, silenced, tolerated or condoned.Globally, one in three womenhas experienced domestic or sexual violence in their lifetime, according to theWorld Health Organization.

Womenare unlikely to speak up and seek justice; perpetrators of violence againstwomen continue hurting them unhindered.

Lawsare not made to help victims seek justice.

ButStates have a duty to protect all citizens, or else they become complicit ofthe violence.

Gender-basedviolence constitutes torture when carried out by, or at the instigation of, orwith the consent or acquiescence of public officials.

In armed conflict it is a crime against humanity whenit is a widespread and systematic attack on civilian population.

We must provide survivors with medical, professional,legal and psychosocial assistance to recover from their trauma. We must alsoprevent discrimination and violence against women by educating communities andholding perpetrators accountable

Our ask

To you

• Bea positive role model and educate young boys and girls of the importance ofrespectful relationships and gender equality.
• Beaware of the signs and consequences of GBV, and denounce it when you see orhear of it.
• Raiseawareness and mobilize your community to stigmatize and condemn those who arethe perpetrators, not the victims.
• Givemoney now to OMCT’s Victims fund – all collections from today until June 27will be dedicated to female victims of torture. We aim to raise 5,000 Swissfrancs to assist victims of sexual violence: (https://goo.gl/77hkd7)
• Share,tweet, talk about this campaign around you. Get everyone involved. The more themerrier.

To female victims of rape and violence:

• Havethe courage to denounce all violations – both in court and within yourcommunities.
• Understandyou have no shame to feel – they do.

To Governments:

• Educateagainst gender-based discrimination and violence:
• Statesmust ensure that everyone, both girls and boys access education, and implementmechanisms such as equality enhancing programs to prevent and respond toviolence. This will go a long way to reducing gender norms and stigmas.
• Statescan encourage women to stay in the education system longer. Education ispositively correlated with women's employment opportunities and socioeconomicstatus, which will reduce power relationship differences between males andfemales.
• Educatestate officials and citizens to eradicate gender discrimination and raiseawareness about VAW.
• Providewomen equal economic access:
• Ensurewomen have the opportunity to find a space in key sectors of the economy toreduce their dependency on their male counterparts and hold important positionsin the progress of societies.
• Inlow-income settings, strategies to increase women’s economic and socialempowerment, such as micro-finance combined with gender equality training andcommunity-based initiatives have shown some effectiveness in reducing intimatepartner violence.
• Use/changethe legislation to better protect women:
• Actto stop violations against women by punishing culprits of VAW
• Allowvictims of rape to be able to file complaints without limit of time: Reviewstatutes of limitation to allow victims of violence to speak up against theirabusers in their own time, when they feel comfortable, protected and confident.
• Introducegender mainstreaming in national legislation and in particular enforcestandards against torture to better take into consideration the discriminatorynature of violence against women. More systematically pick up on rape as a formof torture or ill treatment.
• Betteraddress the reparation needs of victims of sexual and gender-based violence.
• Betterprotect victims of violence from their own families and communities to ensurethey can recover and denounce culprits.

To the International Criminal Court:

• Considersexual violence and rape as violations of international law
• Systematicallypursue all perpetrators around the world of acts of sexual violence as a weaponof war as crimes against humanity

To the European Union:

• Bemore receptive of women's rights in legislation. At the EU level, there is nogender-based legislation to prevent gender-based violence, other than theprotection of women framed under non-discrimination.
• Improvedata collection on VAW.