Politicians have been urged to become ambassadors for Ireland’s global campaign to tackle gender based violence, in an effort to increase global action on this issue.
Addressing an event today (17.12.07) to mark the third-year work programme of the Irish Consortium on Gender Based Violence, former President, Mary Robinson, urged Oireactas members and Irish MEPs to proactively engage in Ireland’s efforts to place tackling gender based violence at the centre of humanitarian and development programmes.
Since 2005, a Consortium of 14 organisations1 – comprising human rights, humanitarian and development organisations, together with Irish Aid and the Defence Forces – have been working to tackle gender based violence in their work. Mrs Robinson acts as a special advisor to this project, and this is her third occasion to offer an assessment of the Consortium’s work.
“Ireland is increasingly demonstrating a mature response towards gender based violence. The work of the Consortium reflects this maturity. It is taking a leading role – at a global level – in constructing responses and offering solutions to dealing with this human rights violation, in development and humanitarian contexts.”
“As a mechanism to increase awareness of this important work, and to mobilise a greater global response to gender based violence, it would be important that Oireachtas members and Irish MEPs engage with the work of the Consortium so that they can become effective ambassadors on the issue,” said Mary Robinson.
During 2007, the Joint Consortium delivered two briefings on its work for Oireachtas members, and intends extending briefings to Irish MEPs in 2008. It is hoped that, through additional briefings, Irish politicians can engage with political leaders at a global level on this issue.
Reviewing the Consortium’s work , Mrs Robinson said that, over the past year, much has been achieved at individual organisational level to increase staff capacity to deal with gender based violence, both at a policy level and in field programmes. Staff are being trained in awareness of gender based violence and are more confident in responding to these abuses. Specific programmes are now being delivered – by Irish Aid and Irish NGOs – to support community groups in developing countries in campaigning against gender based abuses.
“This work to tackle gender based violence is now more imperative than ever. While Ireland is becoming more responsive on the issue, the level of violations occurring in places like Darfur and Eastern Chad is extremely worrying. We have seen the situation worsening dramatically In both of these regions, with women and girls continuing to be subjected to high levels of violence,” said Mrs Robinson.
Earlier this year, Mary Robinson travelled to Eastern Chad, where she witnessed the extent and impact of gender based violence.
“I am also pleased that the Joint Consortium will conduct a piece of research in the New Year to highlight the economic cost of gender based violence, and its impact on poverty and development. Such violence inhibits women’s full participation in the social and economic life of their community. It can also adversely affect health budgets because of resulting physical and mental health problems and the spread of HIV .”
“I look forward to returning to Ireland at the end of 2008 to report on further progress in Ireland’s efforts to tackle gender violence at a global level. This is brave and difficult work, but is critical in saving the lives of women and children in particular,” she added.
During today’s event, the Consortium unveiled a new website www.gbv.ie which will act as a valuable resource to organisations involved in human rights, humanitarian, development and peacekeeping work. As well as the three publications produced by the Consortium over the past 3 years it contains an extensive resource library of other materials on gender-based violence.
According to Pam McHugh, Chairperson of the Consortium, “as well as each of the 14 members taking individual steps to prioritise work on gender violence, we have worked very effectively as a group on areas such as the development of codes of practice for field staff and in creating models for camp safety in humanitarian crisis situations. This website will now become a repository for this type of information, and will act as an important resource for organisations in other counties who may decide to prioritise work on gender based violence.
“As the work of the Consortium enters its third full year, we can demonstrate a range of concrete projects that are now in place which have a specific focus on tackling gender based violence. The Defence Forces now train all personnel on responses to this abuse before they depart on overseas missions; Trocaire addressed gender inequality with a focus on women in conflict in its Lenten campaign in 2007 ; Goal is working with providing aftercare support to children who have been sexually abused in Kenya, while Childfund Ireland is supporting a programme in Liberia to help women and girls overcome the effects of rape and violence inflicted on them during the recent conflict.
“As we continue to prioritise tackling gender based violence, we will increase the number of programmes and policy responses available on the issue,” she added.
Also addressing the event was the Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Dr Michael Woods TD. He said, “Government spending on tackling gender violence has increased substantially over the past three years. In 2007, Irish Aid allocated over Euro 2.6 million for specific activities on gender based violence, increasing from Euro 110,000 in 2005 and Euro 1.245 million in 2006.
“Funding guidelines have been revised to include references to gender based violence and its priority for Irish Aid. Bilateral agreements with UN and other agencies include explicit references to commitments to addressing such violence,” he said.
Some of the specific activities funded by Irish Aid in 2007 included:
- Contributions to two UN funds, one aimed at Eliminating Violence Against Women and a new fund dedicated to the eradication of Female Genital Mutilation.
- Funding for health, psychological and legal support for survivors of and strengthening of national support systems in West Africa, Sudan and Malawi.
- Printing and dissemination of Guidelines on Interventions in Humanitarian Settings.
- Research on best practice on preventing gender based violence in communities in Uganda.
- Participation in anti-gender based violence campaigns in Tanzania, Ethiopia and South Africa and support for local organisations working in this area.
“In addition, Irish Aid supports many other programmes and organisations which address gender based violence as an integral part of their work. For example, in South Africa, which has one of the world’s highest levels of sexual and domestic violence (research has shown that one woman is killed by her intimate partner every six hours and police statistics record 55,000 reported rapes in a single year), Irish Aid has allocated €10.6 million over five years towards the prevention of gender based violence and the reduction of its impact,” said Dr Woods.
The special guest at today’s event was Mahdere Paulos, Chief Executive of the Ethiopian Women Lawyer’s Association. According to Ms Mahdere, “our network has benefited hugely from the Irish Gender Based Violence Initiative. Through working with Irish Aid and Irish NGOs, we have increased our capacity to advocate for women’s rights, and highlight harmful practices such as female genital mutilation and early marriage.”
ENDS
Contact: Catherine Heaney, DHR Communications @ 01-488 5804 or 087-2309835
Martina Quinn, DHR Communications @ 01-488 5808 or 087-6522033
- 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, Trócaire and World Vision. [↩]
