* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
From November 25 – December 10, 2011, women’s and human rights activists and groups around the world celebrate the global 16 Days campaign to end gender violence. Developed and championed by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership at Rutgers University, the 16 Days Campaign is an annual, global effort promote women's rights to peace and freedom from violence. The campaign symbolically links these two days--the International Day Against Violence Against Women and International Human Rights Day--as a testament to violence against women as a fundamental human rights violation. As then-First Lady Clinton so perfectly put it all those years ago at Beijing, “women’s rights are human rights and human rights are women’s rights.”
This year's theme--From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World: Let’s Challenge Militarism and End Violence Against Women-- highlights the link between militarism and gender violence, as well as the role of women as peacemakers in their own homes and nations. Although this is a topic that has received much recent attention in light of the Arab Spring and the decision by the U.S. government to launch a National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, it is by no means new and by no means limited to one geographic area. When it comes to war, it is universally women who pay the highest price.
Women and War
Women and girls are uniquely and disproportionately affected by armed conflict. In modern warfare, an estimated 90% of the casualties are civilians, and 75% of these are women and children. Women are 80% of all refugees and displaced persons. Rape and sexual violence targeting women and girls are routinely used not only to terrorize women, but as strategic tools of war and instruments of genocide.
Importantly, women and girls are not only victims of war; they are also powerful peace-builders whose efforts to prevent conflict and secure peace have been critical, yet largely unrecognized, under-resourced, and not integrated into formal peace processes. For instance, only 1 in 13 participants in peace negotiations since 1992 has been women. Women have served as only 6% of negotiators to formalized peace talks and have never been appointed as chief mediators in UN-brokered talks. Lack of women’s participation often means crimes against women go unaddressed and peace agreements do not ultimately reflect popular needs. Small wonder, then, that half of peace agreements fail within the first 10 years, spelling more violence and insecurity for everyone.
Beyond the Battlefield: Militarism and Gender-Based Violence
For women, the end of war does not predicate the end of violence. Indeed, much of the time, violence against women actually escalates after the fighting is officially declared to be over. This year’s 16 Days focus on militarism broadens the platform for us to explore the imprint of conflict on women, including and beyond the battlefield. Militarism is a process whereby military values, institutions and patterns of behavior have a dominant influence over society. It is an ideology that creates a culture of fear and supports the use of violence, aggression, or military interventions for settling disputes and enforcing economic and political interests. Militarization often precedes conflict, almost always accompanies it, and can remain a part of its legacy. Unfortunately the examples of militarism’s impact on violence against women--which can include domestic violence, sexual abuse, rape, sexual harassment, trafficking of women, forced prostitution, harmful social practices, and more--are as numerous as they are global.
To explore the broad trends and the many nuances within this issue, this year Amnesty USA is featuring an ambitious effort to promote research and action on a country a day for each of the sixteen days, incorporating a thematically diverse, truly global exploration of the topic. The campaign highlights relevant information on militarism and violence in the context of 16 different countries, showcasing key reports documenting these abuses, and promoting actions activists can take to make a difference in the fight to end gender-violence. On the Amnesty USA website, activists can access sixteen in-depth country issue briefs, outlining abuses and recommending action to address the outrageous abridgment of justice suffered by women around the world. Activists can take action to, for example, urge the Japanese government to provide justice for the so-called “comfort women” who were sexually enslaved for the Japanese Imperial Army in World War II and have still yet to see an admission, apology or reparations; call on the Afghan and U.S. governments to protect women’s rights and participation in the ongoing peace process; advocate that the Egyptian women who were on the frontlines of that revolution are not sidelined in the political process; and demand justice for Congolese women who continue to be victimized by a brutal and strategic campaign of rape, despite the presence of the world’s largest peacekeeping force.
Amnesty USA’s blog, Human Rights Now, is also running a four-part series that draws on these country examples as it explores various crosscutting thematic ties, including such issues as small arms proliferation and its impact on violence against women; patterns and themes in violence directed against women’s human rights defenders around the world; violence against women throughout this year’s uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa; and enduring patterns of gender violence in post-conflict situations.
