[Imc-radio] gender based violence headlines

[dave berliner]

Scott,

Do you want someone there to do the recording?  If 2:00 is good, I 
could have the studio ready then. Sarah, I have our books not bombs 
interview from a while back; I never used it.  I'll include it with 
some of the audio you recorded last week while I was at the mediation 
training, great job.

yeah radio!!

Dave





On Thursday, December 16, 2004, at 10:51 PM, Scott Edwards wrote:

> i tried sending this out once before, but it didn't push through. 
> sorry if this is a repost.
>
> in my gender rights role with CERRV, i come across a good dozen or so 
> reports a week on global women's rights issues. i assembled three here 
> for headlines, if you all like them (see below). if they look good, i 
> can record anytime after 1pm on Sunday, though I havent a clue how.
>
> faithfully,
> scott
>
> Fighters sexually assaulted some two thirds of Liberia's population 
> during more than a decade of war and have not been punished more than 
> a year after the conflict ended, Human Rights organizations have 
> reported.
> The attacks in the West African country mainly targeted women, 
> although the human rights group said in a report that men and boys 
> were also victims.
> ``A preliminary analysis of information collected indicated that 
> between 60 and 70 percent of the population had suffered some form of 
> sexual violence during the conflict,'' a report from Amnesty 
> International says.
> Regional and International human rights groups are calling on 
> Liberia's interim government, which took power last year after former 
> President Charles Taylor was forced into exile under a peace deal, to 
> bring those responsible to justice.
> Liberia, with a population of 3.2 million people founded by freed 
> American slaves, has been plagued with intermittent civil war for 14 
> years until last August's peace deal.
> Women’s advocacy group claim that although the conflict was over, 
> women remained at risk, especially those in refugee camps.
>
> -------
> Barely emerging from years of civil conflict, countries in West Africa 
> are waging a new war – a battle to eradicate all forms of violence 
> against women.
> The authorities in Sierra Leone joined humanitarian organizations like 
> the UN refugee agency and the International Rescue Committee to mark 
> the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women 
> and to launch 16 Days of Activism to Eliminate Violence against Women.
>
> Much has been done to address the problem. UNHCR, in partnership with 
> the International Rescue Committee and local non-governmental 
> organization Network Movement for Justice and Development, has 
> sensitized entire communities on the negative effects of sexual and 
> gender-based violence by hosting awareness raising workshops for both 
> women and men, including the Sierra Leonean police who secure the 
> refugee camps. Refugees have initiated men's and women's action groups 
> to work within the community to combat violence against women.
>
> -----
>
> Armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have 
> raped tens of thousands of women, in systematic attacks marked by 
> extreme brutality, according to Human Rights organizations.
>
> Rape is used in armed conflicts to intimidate, conquer and control 
> women and their communities. It is used as a form of torture to 
> extract information, punish and terrorize.
>
> According to a recently released report by Amnesty International, 
> titled “Women and War,” contempt for the “enemy” and for women finds 
> expression in rape and other forms of sexual violence. Propaganda 
> portrays women as embodying the honor of a community and an attack on 
> women is seen as an attack on an entire community. Women are raped in 
> front of their families to deepen their sense of shame. In violence 
> focused on women’s role as mothers of the next generation, women’s 
> bodies are mutilated and fetuses destroyed. This report is part of 
> Amnesty’s ongoing global campaign to address violence against women.
>
> Abandonment by husbands and discrimination by communities, because of 
> the stigma attached to rape, leave Congolese rape survivors displaced, 
> destitute and isolated.
>
> After years or warfare, the health care system in the east of Congo is 
> in ruins, and despite peace agreements and an improving security 
> situation in many areas, no coordinated effort has been made to begin 
> the rehabilitation of hospitals and health centers. Local women’s and 
> human rights organizations have responded with initiatives to address 
> needs, but receive no government support.
>
> The lack of any comprehensive national and international response 
> means that many thousands of rape survivors are receiving no 
> assistance, and many continue to die needlessly because of this 
> indifference.
>
> Relatedly, renewed fighting between Rwandan-backed forces and the 
> Congolese army has the potential to spread across the region, further 
> exposing women to the potential of gender-based violence, and its 
> destructive aftermath.
>
>
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