16 suggestions for the elimination of violence against women [Pulse Contributor's Opinion]

Babajide Michael Olusegun 13:28 - 15 December 2020

A survivor of gender based violence

On December 17, 1999, the United Nations General Assembly designated November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. One of the strategies that has since been adopted to achieve the aim of this day is the launch of a 16 days of activism against gender based violence which starts from November 25 of every year and climaxes on the 10th of December, the International Day for Human Rights.

Here are sixteen suggestions on how the goal to eliminate violence against women can be achieved:

Suggestion 1: All acts that constitute VAW must be known and criminalized. Articles 1 and 2 of the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (DEVAW) define VAW in broad and open ended terms some of which are: physical, sexual and psychological harm, acts or threats of coercion, arbitrary deprivation of liberty, battering, dowry-related violence, marital rape, female genital mutilation, traditional practices harmful to women, sexual abuse of female children in the households etc. whether in private or public life, in the family or community or those perpetrated and condoned by the state.
Suggestion 2: Efforts must be made to ensure that these acts of VAW which are known are prevented.
Suggestion 3: Acts of VAW which could not be prevented must be swiftly prosecuted.
Suggestion 4: There must be a recognition of the fact that an "effective implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of discrimination against Women would contribute to the elimination of violence against women". (See recital 3 of DEVAW)
Suggestion 5: The most vulnerable categories of women must be known and protected against violence. According to recital 7 of DEVAW, there are 11 groups of women who are most vulnerable to violence and they are: women belonging to minority groups, indigenous women, refugee women, migrant women, women living in rural and remote communities, destitute women, women in institutions or in detention, female children, women with disabilities, elderly women, women in situations of armed conflict".
Suggestion 6: The general society must be enlightened enough to know that a woman's sexual orientation must be respected and cannot be "corrected through corrective rape" or any other means.
Suggestion 7: Data and information on VAW must be correctly collected and analysed.
Suggestion 8: Essential services should be readily available to facilitate swift response to occurrences of VAW.
Suggestion 9: First responders to VAW should be well trained, equipped, and funded to make their work effective.
Suggestion 10: Survivors of gender based violence should be listened to, supported, rehabilitated and not shushed.
Suggestion 11: Conversations on VAW should be open, sincere and accountable.
Suggestion 12: Cultural practices and religious beliefs that perpetuate VAW should be abandoned or annihilated.
Suggestion 13: Discrimination against women should stop and men must accept the facty that women are human beings entitled to all rights and privileges men are entitled to.
Suggestion 14: Men and boys should be taught the importance of consent in sexual relations with women. They should be made to understand that there are no blurred lines.
Suggestion 15: Men and boys should know when a woman can be said to have consented to sex. According to UN Women, consent is YES when it is "enthusiastic, informed, specific, given freely, and not reversed".
Suggestion 16: Women should be empowered, educated and given equal opportunities as men.

PS: EVAW is the abbreviation for Elimination of Violence Against Women; VAW is the abbreviation for Violence Against Women.

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About the author: Babajide Michael Olusegun is a final year student of law at University of Lagos.