Why is gender violence rarely if ever targeted with effective countermeasures such as UN sanctions resolutions or other powerful policy and development decisions?

CCSI recognizes that gender violence is the most prevalent and persistent form of violence inflicted on a group of human beings, most of the time with impunity. As part of CCSI's focus on international peace and security, we have initiated a broad research and publishing effort in order to raise awareness on one of the most egregious unmet promises of international instruments including sanctions. Foremost among these instruments in the global fight against gender rights violations is the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) adopted more than 40 years ago.

 

CCSI collaborators and affiliated researchers from around the world are focusing and writing on themes that illustrate the many forms of gender violence and inequalities that exist in conflict, post-conflict and no-conflict regions.

News

CCSI collaborator Amina Upole Nyna and her Congolese self-help group Mwanamke Mjasiri have just launched the community project via a crowdfunding campaign – go here: MM PowerHouse | Chuffed | Non-profit charity and social enterprise fundraising

The MM Powerhouse will provide the inhabitants of Kashimbi – a sprawling settlement of approximately 30,000 people in South Kivu with no access to any electricity - solar-energy generate supply of power at very low rates for their daily needs such as charging telephones, battery-powered flashlights, and other essential equipment.

With one-third of all women of the world reporting some form of gender violence during their lifetime, why hasn't the UN Security Council invoked sanctions more effectively to address this global scourge?

The rationale for the use of sanctions seems straightforward given the oppressive weight of evidence that gender violence is an eternal war that one part of the global population wages on the other.

CCSI, with an international consortium of gender rights specialists, survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (S/GBV) self-help groups, sanctions practitioners and academics, is developing a unique global research and capacity-building platform.

These pages provide access to the efforts that consortium members are currently pursuing, including:

  • A crowdfunding campaign to establish women-led energy distribution houses in the off-grid community of Kashimibi, located in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, operated by Amina Upole Nyna, who heads Mwanamke Mjasiri (Swahili for Brave women);
  • A campaign to offer vocational training and build job opportunities for the least employable war widows and orphans in Afghanistan;
  • A global analysis of how environmental degradation and global warming contribute to gender violence and whether national laws are being implemented to protect the victims;
  • An evaluation of online gender violence and exploration of potential sanctions responses;
  • Research into existing multilateral measures, including Security Council sanctions or trade-based actions, to protect and promote gender security and empowerment.

WHO- Global map showing regional prevalence rates of intimate partner violence by WHO region* (2010) *

Regional prevalence rates are presented for each WHO region including low- and middle-income countries, with high income countries analyzed separately. See Appendix 1 for list of countries with data available by region.

Lifetime prevalence of non-partner sexual violence by WHO region

Low- and middle-income regions: Prevalence in per cent of population
Africa 11.9
Americas 10.7
Eastern Mediterranean -
Europe 5.2
South-East Asia 4.9
Western Pacific 6.8
High income 12.6

Women's right to live free from violence is upheld by international agreements such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), especially through General Recommendations 12 and 19, and the 1993 UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Despite the pandemic of gender violence, of the $41.5 billion spent on humanitarian responses between 2016 and 2018, just $51.7 million - less than 0.2 percent - was spent on GBV prevention for women and girls. ( The New Humanitarian, 27 November 2019).

No UN sanctions have ever been adopted that are explicitly designed to protect gender rights outside of a conflict.