FAWCO joined the undersigned non-governmental organizations in consultative status with ECOSOC, members of the Vienna NGO Committee on the Status of Women, present for the information of and consideration by the participants of the 57th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (March 4th-15th, 2013) the following statement on
Elimination and Prevention of All Forms of Violence against Women and Girls
Referring to the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women;
Recalling the HR Conference Vienna 1993 outcome documents of the HR Conference, Vienna 1993, recognizing women’s rights as Human Rights;
Referring to the Beijing Platform for Action;
Considering Security Council Resolutions 1325, 1820, 1888, 1889 and 1960;
Recalling the 2008 WHO Statement on female genital mutilation (FGM);
Recognizing that for centuries, during and after armed conflicts, women and girls have been exposed to systematic rape and sexual violence;
Deploring domestic violence and traditions that regard female members of a household as property of male members;
Considering that sexual harassment happens at the workplace, in schools and other institutions, often taking advantage of dependency status;
Emphasizing that violence against women often goes hand in hand with discrimination, violence inducing rhetorics and harassment of women and girls who do not conform to “norms”;
Referring to discrimination and violations of women`s Human Rights, often disguised as religious or traditional practices, such as honor crimes, forced marriage, FGM and others;
Considering that governments enforce legislation and implement programmes, that include forms of structural violence against women and girls, such as limiting access to education and public health, including reproductive health and heritage legislation;
Deploring the continuing stereotyped presentation of women and girls in public communications, media, teaching materials and everyday language;
The undersigned NGOs
* Stress the importance of
- giving comprehensive support to victims of sexual violence/domestic violence/stalking;
- removing the statute of limitations for sex crimes;
- providing adequate funding for shelters, other protective measures, counseling and treatment, and legally banning the perpetrator from approaching the victim and her children, and sanctioning all forms of intimidation;
* Emphasize the importance of empowering girls and women through access to education and training for jobs, so that they can earn a decent living and determine their own way of life;
* Underline the necessity for all sectors of society to design, promote and implement programmes teaching equality between men and women in order to promote non-stereotyped gender roles;
* Urge governments to ratify and implement international instruments for the protection of female victims of violence in international organized crimes;
* Call on national governments to adapt and implement legislation to abolish any form of structural violence and
- inform women and girls about their citizen`s rights and grant them individual rights independent of their(marital) status;
- guarantee health care;
- respect the Human Rights of children;
- protect domestic workers irrespective of the social status of their employers;
*Urge governments and international organizations to
- condemn the use of sexual violence against women and girls as a tactic and weapon in armed conflicts;
- provide adequate funding to sustainably support female victims of armed conflicts;
- Establish rules guaranteeing the participation of women in peace-building and re-conciliation programmes;
*Call on governments and international organizations to comply with all commitments made in International Conventions, Treaties and Conference Resolutions on Human Rights of women;
* Call on the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to consider violations of women’s Human Rights through religious and traditional practices, such as FGM, in the framework of General Recommendations 12,14 and 19.
November 2012