Monique Villa, Thomson Reuters Foundation's CEO, talked to French radio Europe 1 about the Foundation's recent Trust Women Conference and the impact on women's rights of dangerous customs, corruption and trafficking. Here are some extracts:
"The Trust Women Conference's main goal is to help women to know and defend their rights. Women have the right to open a bank account, to get a job. The problem is that in many developing countries women don't even know these rights exist for them. That's why we gathered representatives of 28 countries at the conference, many of whom were coming from developing countries, where customs, bad education or taboos prevent women from acknowledging their basic rights. For example, the belief among some people in Africa that having sex with a virgin can protect you from HIV creates the perfect impetus for the raping of very young girls with total impunity, even when the law forbids it."
''Today there are between 22 and 27 million slaves in the world. Seven hundred thousand people are trafficked for sex – about 100,000 in India alone. That shows you the extent of the issue in India. Human trafficking is a huge business, a $32 billion dollar market – more than the annual profits of Apple and McDonald's combined. Corruption in the police and judiciary allow this' to happen."
"Expert polls we did at Thomson Reuters Foundation on the worst countries to be a woman were a huge shock for India. India is the world's biggest democracy but was ranked fourth most dangerous country in the world due to a combination of violence, dangerous customs, lack of education and poverty. The recent Delhi rape story illustrates perfectly the dangers that women face in the country. Many media and rights defenders used our poll as a tool to denounce the lack of rights for women in India."
To listen the full interview click here
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