| PROMOTING THE
REALIZATION OF WOMEN'S HUMAN RIGHTS THROUGH THE ELIMINATION OF
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN (EVAW) |
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Women's human rights in the countries of
East and Southeast Asia continue to be obstructed due to the persistence
of a culture of violence against women, lack of awareness about women's
human rights and inadequate resource allocations to combat abuses,
including VAW at national and local levels. This continues in almost all
countries of the region, despite Governments' international commitments to
uphold women's human rights and eliminate violence against women.
Action is required at the regional,
national and local levels to hold Governments to account to take effective
actions to implement the commitments they have made under international
Conventions, such as CEDAW, and in international fora such as the Fourth
World Conference on Women.
Through this regional programme UNIFEM
seeks to build on its strategic role at the regional level in the thematic
area of women's human rights and in line with the strategic objective of
increasing options and opportunities for women, especially those living in
poverty.
The programme will cover Cambodia, China,
Indonesia, Lao PDR, Mongolia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam in the East
and Southeast Asia Sub region, and will be implemented over a three year
period from 2001-2003.
The programme aims to promote women's
human rights in order to eliminate all forms of violence against women and
transform development into a more peaceful, equitable and sustainable
process.
The programme also aims to:
-
Strengthen the capacity of civil
society organizations and institutions to collaborate, advocate and
educate citizens about violence against women;
-
Place the issue of violence against
women on the policy agenda of governments at all levels;
-
Increase the effectiveness and
sustainability of existing strategies and activities to eliminate
violence against women;
-
Utilize global public campaigns such
as the 16 Days of Activism as catalysts to ensure that violence against
women issues are continually brought to public attention and given
increased priority by governments at all levels;
-
Promote self-help and integrated
approaches to the elimination of violence against women in local
communities.
Creating National and Regional EVAW
Action Networks of government organizations, NGOs and international
developing agencies.
The specific objective is to use
networking to place EVAW on the policy agenda at the local, provincial and
national levels in the participating countries and link these activities
at the regional level to increase the pressure on governments to take
effective policy action.
The component will be initiated in Cambodia, Philippines and Thailand, and
later extended to other countries in the region.
Supporting EVAW Campaigns in the
Region
Utilize global public campaigns such as
the 16 Days of Activism as catalyst to ensure that EVAW issues are
continually brought to public attention and given increased priority by
governments at all levels. The principal strategy is to strengthen
national activities and develop a regional dimension through networking
and advocacy.
Activities
In 2001, the Programme supported
activities for the 16 Days of Activism Campaign to Eliminate Violence
Against Women in eight countries, including
Cambodia,
PR China, the
Philippines and
Viet Nam.
Awareness raising among the youth
One activity under this component will
use theatre-in-education to create awareness among youth of the causes and
consequences of violence against women, including the linkage between VAW
and HIV/AIDS. Mai Khit Fai (Thailand), a youth theatre group, will use
drama to make students and schools more aware of VAW.
Promote self-help to the
elimination of VAW in local communities
This component will use a community-based
approach to combat violence against women.
One activity under the component aims to involve members of communities -
students, families, women's groups, youth groups and local government
officials - to help women survivors of violence, prevent such violence and
better understand the issue.
Putting EVAW on the political
agenda
Putting EVAW on the national political
agenda will involve lobbying members of parliament, senators, political
parties and women's wings of political parties. At local levels,
activities will include lobbying with provincial and district authorities.
Activities
In Phnom Penh on 4-6 December, 2001 the
Programme supported a
Workshop on National Legislation on
Domestic Violence in the Mekong Basin Sub-region.
Forty-eight 48 NGO and government participants from four countries in the
Mekong Basin Sub-region, supported by six resource persons, gathered in
Phnom Penh to discuss legislation on domestic violence. A full report is attached.
Updated: 10 Feb
2002
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