By REBECCA TORR
Published: 7th March 2007
BAHRAIN is marking the International Women’s Day under the theme putting an end to violence against women.
A roundtable discussion will be held at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Manama tomorrow.
An all-female group of Shura Council members, former parliamentary candidates and activists from non-governmental organisations will be participating, which will discuss the challenges facing women in Bahrain this year and what women expect to gain.
Speeches from UN officials on the International Women’s Day theme – Ending Impunity For Violence Against Women And Girls, will also be presented at the event.
By REBECCA TORR
Published: 7th March 2007
BAHRAIN is marking the International Women’s Day under the theme putting an end to violence against women.
A roundtable discussion will be held at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Manama tomorrow.
An all-female group of Shura Council members, former parliamentary candidates and activists from non-governmental organisations will be participating, which will discuss the challenges facing women in Bahrain this year and what women expect to gain.
Speeches from UN officials on the International Women’s Day theme – Ending Impunity For Violence Against Women And Girls, will also be presented at the event.
UNDP programme analyst Ali Salman said existing research, data and testimonials from women and girls showed that violence against them still remained a devastating reality in all parts of the world.
He said violence against women and girls was a pervasive violation of human rights and a major impediment to achieving gender equality, development and peace.
“Such violence is unacceptable, whether perpetrated by the state and its agents or by family members or strangers, in the public or private sphere, in peacetime or in times of conflict,” explained Mr Salman.
“International, regional and national legal and policy frameworks have been established, covering many different forms of violence in public as well as in private settings.
“However, progress in the development of such legal norms, standards and policies has not been accompanied by comparable progress in their implementation.
“It remains insufficient and inconsistent in all parts of the world.
“States have an obligation to protect women and girls from violence, to hold perpetrators accountable and to provide justice and remedies to victims.
“The failure to meet these obligations is unacceptable.”
Mr Salman said eliminating violence against women remained one of the most serious and urgent challenges of the modern world and he called on everyone to take up the responsibility to act when confronted with violence.
“Each one of us has a duty to support and sustain a political and social environment where violence against women and girls is not tolerated; where friends, family members, neighbours, men and women, intervene to prevent perpetrators to go unpunished,” he added.
According to the UN Secretary-General’s in-depth study on violence against women (2006), globally, women between the age of 15 and 44 years are more likely to be maimed or die as a result of male violence, than through cancer, malaria, traffic accidents or war combined.
At least one out of every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime.
Usually, the abuser is a member of her own family or someone known to her. Domestic violence is the largest form of abuse of women worldwide, irrespective of region, culture, ethnicity, education, class and religion.
Violence against women is the most common but least punished crime in the world, revealed the study.
© Gulf Daily News
