WUNRN
European Business Express + European Women’s Lobby
http://europeanbusinessexpress.com/2015/06/02/feminicide-eu-celac-must-act/
Femicide Continues to Be a Serious Reality in Europe & Latin
America
Battered women and relatives of femicide victims demand state action in
Latin America. Credit: Juan Moseinco /IPS
June 2, 2015 - Femicide, the
murder of women because they are women, continues to be a reality in both Latin
America and Europe. Two years after an action plan was adopted during the last
EU-CELAC Summit, including commitments to eliminate all forms of violence
against women, a conference has been held in Brussels on “The duty of due
diligence in eradicating femicide”, with the aim of evaluating progress made on
this issue in recent years. CELAC is the Community of Latin American & Caribbean
States.
The event took
place in the European Parliament and was organised by the Green Group with the
support of the Heinrich Boell Foundation and a number of civil society
organisations, including the European networks CIFCA and Grupo Sur. The
conference analysed the extent to which states have acted with due diligence to
tackle violence against women and femicide. The seminar also assessed whether
progress has been made in meeting the commitments made during EU-CELAC
bi-regional dialogue.
“The EU-CELAC
Summits should not be a mere photo opportunity for politicians: agreed-upon
action plans must be taken seriously. In 2013 we sincerely welcome the creation
of a bi-regional dialogue on gender as part of the biannual Action Plan, however
so far we have no information on what action has been taken”, said Ernest
Urtasun, MEP and host of the event. “This dialogue must be strengthened with
the participation of women’s and feminist organisations from both regions”, the
MEP added.
Meanwhile,
Patricia Jiménez of the Boell Foundation appealed to states, reminding them
that “the entire state structure needs to commit to acting with due diligence
to prevent, investigate and punish all acts of violence against women”.
The Latin
American region includes five of the twelve countries with the highest rate of
femicide in the world; while in the EU 28% of women over 15 years old have
experienced physical and / or sexual violence at the hands of their partners. “Despite
the severity of the problem, public policies fail to address violence against
women as a priority”, said Erika González from Grupo Sur. “It is essential to
create verifiable data banks in both regions that have official, comprehensive
and accessible statistical information”, she added.
That is why “the
new 2015-2017 plan is a unique opportunity for the EU and the CELAC to adopt
measures to promote public policies and assign budget support, to ensure, among
other things, access to effective justice and the eradication of impunity”, said
Marta Ibero from CIFCA.
Liz Meléndez,
from the CLADEM feminist network, stressed that “femicide is a structural
problem that affects millions of women in both continents. Breaking gender
stereotypes in the investigation and prosecution of cases and ending impunity
are paramount to eradicating this crime”.
The Eighth
Conference has tackled for the first time the issue of clandestine abortion as
an act that causes femicide. Every year more than 70 thousand women die from
clandestine abortions in countries with harsh, restrictive laws, where there is
no recognition of reproductive rights for women and where abortion is a crime.
In the case of
Peru, for example, abortion in cases of pregnancy resulting from sexual abuse
is illegal even in teenage pregnancies, despite the fact that “figures show
that 34% of the total number of cases of adolescent sexual abuse result in
pregnancy, and that in 2013 suicide was the main indirect cause of maternal
death in adolescents, accounting for 56% of cases”, Meléndez said.
The Conference
was organised with the support of AIETI, Alliance for Solidarity, CIFCA,
Cooperacció, Feminicidio.net, Flora Tristán, Grupo Sur, European Women’s Lobby,
Intermón Oxfam and Otro Tiempo. All of these organisations have signed a
statement which will be delivered to heads of state and government from the two
regions when they meet next week in Brussels for the II EU-CELAC Summit.