A universal approach to gender-based violence
AS part of the push to end violence against women and to ‘Orange the World’ in the 16 days of activism which began on November 25, Taitu Heron, national programme coordinator at the UN Women Jamaica Programme Office, says a more holistic and multisectoral approach to deal with violence against women is key on the agenda.
“There are so many different aspects to gender-based violence — it’s a public health issue; it’s a legal issue; it’s a political issue; it’s a sexual reproductive health issue, which has implications for HIV and other implications for major aspects of development,” she said.
She was presenting at a public forum held at the University of the West Indies School of Nursing lecture theatre on November 26, the brainchild of Cynthia Pitter, lecturer in the UWI School of Nursing and doctoral student at the Institute for Gender and Development Studies.
Heron said there is a pressing need to speak about gender-based violence and constantly reinforce it as it is embedded in society and needs to be uprooted.
“One of the things we recognised was the embedded nature of gender-based violence, particularly the aspect of violence against women and girls, [which] is so embedded that we need to lift it out of this ’embeddedness’ and reinforce the value of humanity of women and girls. Also, do so in a manner that acknowledges that violence against women is a crime and do so in a manner that acknowledges violence against women and girls as a public health issue as well,” she said.
She explained that the National Strategic Action Plan to Eliminate Gender-Based Violence in Jamaica focuses on the issue in a very holistic manner that includes acknowledging the peculiarities and the need for specificities.
“By that we mean a universal approach to gender-based violence where we capture all women in law, or boys in law, or men in the law and pay attention to the specific needs of vulnerable groups,” she said.
Heron further added that in addition to using the international standards on gender-based violence relied upon by the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women as well as the Convention on the Rights of the Child and domestic legislations by which Jamaica is guided, the definition includes a general focus on population, but also highlights vulnerable groups covered.
She said the plan also looks at an integrated multisectoral and structural approach to addressing the key issues and challenges as it relates to victims, perpetrators, and the witnesses of acts of violence.
November 25 was recognised as International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, which kicked off a 16-day campaign of global activism until December 10, Human Rights Day, to halt the gross violation of women’s human rights affecting at least one in three women and girls worldwide.
The global initiative, Orange the World, End Violence Against Women and Girls, is led by UN Women on behalf of the UN Secretary General’s global campaign UNITE to End Violence Against Women.
The colour orange has been chosen for the issues to symbolise a brighter future without violence against women. During the 16 days of activism, events are being organised in all parts of the world, and landmarks in towns and cities will be lit up in orange to draw global attention to the issue and stimulate action.
–Kimberley Hibbert
