Mary Robinson delivers assessment of Irish initiative to tackle gender based violence.
Ireland has the capacity to make a significant impact in preventing and responding to gender based violence, provided the issue continues to be prioritised at a political and organisational level.
According to the Director of the Ethical Globalisation Initiative, Mary Robinson, “the measures that have been undertaken by Irish Government Agencies and NGOs over the past 12 months to prevent, highlight and respond to gender based violence have been significant and commendable. If Ireland is to become a global leader in tackling this human rights abuse, we need continued support and prioritisation for this work, both within NGOs and at a political level.”
Ms Robinson was delivering her assessment of the work that has been delivered over the past year by the Joint Consortium on Gender Based Violence at an event in Iveagh House today (27.11.06).
The Joint Consortium was officially launched in 2005, with the objective of making Ireland a global leader in tackling gender based violence. The Consortium1, which comprises 13 human rights, humanitarian and development agencies, as well as Irish Aid and the Defence Forces, came together following reports of high instances of rape and abuse of women and children in the conflict in Darfur, Sudan. All of the organisations involved have pledged to prioritise addressing gender based violence in their policies and programmes.
“Over the past year, the members of the Joint Consortium on Gender Based Violence have made significant progress: all members of the Defence Forces who travel on overseas missions now receive training in awareness and responses to violence, particularly against women and children; Most NGOs have appointed personnel to work on response to gender based violence, and Irish Aid have made the issue a priority in its recent White Paper,” said Mary Robinson.
“Research and the establishment of ‘best-practice’ have formed a significant element of the work by the Consortium. In addition, responses to the horrific increase in Gender Based Violence in Darfur, and the work of agencies responding to sexual violence in Ethiopia are being prepared as part of the consortium’s planning for the coming year. This careful, step-by-step approach to providing global leadership and examples of best practice is commendable.
“Up to now, at a global level, gender based violence has always been viewed as a ‘gender equality’ issue, and rarely as a breach of human rights. Ireland has firmly placed this issue on the human rights agenda, and this should mobilise other countries to follow suit,” added Mary Robinson.
Today’s event was also addressed by the Minister of State with responsibility for Irish Aid, Conor Lenihan, TD.
According to Minister Lenihan, “the level of co-operation between organisations in making gender based violence a priority has been outstanding. Larger agencies have committed staff and financial resources, while smaller agencies have made significant contributions to research and the formulation of strategies to prevent and respond to this human rights abuse.
“From Irish Aid’s point of view, we have recognised gender based violence as a critical element of our development and humanitarian work and this has been underlined by the commitment in our recently published White Paper on Irish Aid to advocate for more attention and resources to prevent this human rights abuse at an international level.
“Gender based violence includes sexual violence, sex trafficking, female genital mutilation and forced prostitution. It is an abuse which largely targets women and children, and for too long it has been ignored. Ireland is committed to turning the corner on this. The support and advice that Mary Robinson has provided to the Joint Consortium over the past year has left us well placed to become a global leader in preventing and responding to gender based violence.”
Speaking on behalf of the Joint Consortium on Gender Base Violence, Sean Love, Director of Amnesty, said, “the past year has been spent laying the infrastructure for prevention and responses to gender based violence within organisations. Over the next twelve months, we will be delivering very practical programmes in the field to deal with this human rights abuse. We look forward to regrouping next year to assess the impact that we have made.”
Today’s event was also addressed by Everjoice Win, who is the International Head of Women’s Rights for Action Aid International.
At today event, the Joint Consortium published a ‘guidance note’ which outlines ways in which organisations can address gender based violence in organisational policy and programmes. This is available from www.gbv.ie
Contact: Catherine Heaney, DHR Communications @ 01-488 5808 or 087-2309835
- The Joint Consortium on Gender Based Violence includes: Action Aid Ireland, Amnesty International, Childfund Ireland, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, Department of Defence, Dtalk, GOAL, Irish Aid (Department of Foreign Affairs), Irish Red Cross, Oxfam Ireland, Self Help Development International and Trócaire. [↩]
