(February 1, 2023) A new report today documents a rapid rise in violence against women and girls worldwide and current gaps in international law to address this crisis.
The “Safer Now” report was released by the Every Woman Treaty, a coalition of over 2,000 women’s rights activists from 128 countries, including Libya, advocating for a new global treaty to address this issue.
According to the report, the Coalition attributed the causes of the rise in violence to conflict, climate change, cyber violence, and the lockdowns associated with COVID-19.
They believe that although there are regional treaties to protect women from violence and international law against discrimination against women, there is no specific, overarching framework to protect women and girls from violence worldwide.
Every Woman’s Treaty is urging the UN and nations to adopt a global treaty to fill this legal gap and begin to address this growing crisis systematically.
“Women and girls are dying.” The activists defending them are being hunted. The violence is rising. This begs a single question. Are the needs of women and girls being met under the current system? “The indisputable answer is no,” says Najla Ayonbi, co-founder of Every Woman Treaty, in the report.
“Najla was the first female judge in her province of Afghanistan who paid the price defending women’s rights with the assassination of her father and brother before she was forced to flee”.
According to the World Health Organization, violence against women is “devastatingly pervasive,” impacting 1 in 3 women worldwide, with younger women most at risk. “Safer Now” highlights some of the reasons for the current worldwide escalation.
It includes Conflict During conflicts, such as the war in Ukraine and the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, violence, particularly sexual violence, is used as an intentional tactic.
New Global Treaty Essential to Address Rising Incidents of Violence Against Women in LIBERIA and Worldwide of war, with women and girls as the primary targets of widespread rape, sexual slavery, forced marriage, and torture Regional Treaties The Belém do Pará Convention in Latin America, the Maputo Protocol in Africa and the Istanbul Convention in Europe are effective locally but leave nearly 75 percent of the world’s women without protection from a legally binding instrument specific to violence against women.
Climate Change, the impacts of climate change exacerbate drivers of violence against women and children, including economic instability, food insecurity, mental stress, disrupted infrastructure, displacement, human trafficking, and forced marriage as an exchange for goods.
Cyber-violence, As many as 73 percent of the world’s women have experienced some form of online violence, such as sexual harassment, threats of rape, death, or stalking.
and the distribution of sexually explicit images and videos of unsuspecting women without their consent, making cyber violence one of the most prevalent forms of violence against women.
In COVID-19, one in two women reports that they or a woman they know have experienced violence since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since COVID-19, women report feeling less safe because of increased physical violence, threats of violence at home, or because other women in the household have been hurt.
The report also details that while current international law has made extraordinary progress on women’s safety, it does not go nearly far enough to protect women’s right to live free from violence.
“Conference on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)”: “CEDAW is an anti-discrimination human rights treaty designed to improve gender equality, such as education and employment opportunities for girls, but it falls short in addressing violence against women and girls.”
It continues, “For example, there is no mention of “rape,” “assault,” or “violence” in its texts, leaving its interpretation vague and without legal obligation.”
A new treaty would make state obligations clear, specific, and legally binding and provide adequate attention to the problem’s scope and complexity.
A new global treaty to end violence against women and girls would work in concert with CEDAW and build on existing regional treaties, bringing awareness to the rising violence against women and girls, providing an actionable advocacy tool that protects activists from threats and retaliations, providing a specific, metrics-based reporting framework, establishing an international monitoring body specific to violence against women and girls, requiring training and accountability for police officers, judges, and health professionals, increasing funding for survivor services such as shelters, hotlines, and legal aid, and prioritizing violence prevention education.
For 30 years, experts—from the Commission on the Status of Women to Special Rapporteurs on violence against women to frontline advocates—have repeatedly called for a global treaty to eliminate violence against women and girls. Now, the treaty is closer than ever to becoming a reality.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Costa Rica, and Sierra Leone have formed a state-led group to advance the treaty among UN Member States.
“Women and girls cannot wait any longer.” “The rise in violence against women and girls demands that we protect them with the highest level of global commitment—a treaty,” says Every Woman CEO and co-founder, Lisa Shannon.
