CSW57, March 6, Day 3

Trafficking and Violence again Women

The event was presented by ZONTA International, a global organization of executives and professionals working together to advance the status of women worldwide though service and advocacy.

The issue addressed in this powerful and interesting event was human trafficking and its relationship with violence and prostitution. All the panelist agreed that human trafficking, prostitution and violence were always interrelated issues. Human trafficking with the purpose of prostitution is a patriarchal lucrative business. A member of the audience quoted that monetary profits made in human trafficking had exceeded that by drug trafficking and was one of the fastest ”man made” business . The ”pimps” operate illegally and endanger a great peril for women, specially those who live in poor areas like the global south and eastern European countries. Women are often recruited from poor or underdeveloped countries and are then transported to rich or northern countries to be sold and/or married to be exploited.

Nora Armani suggested that using social media, videos and in her case documentaries and films is an excellent way to unveil this human atrocity. In her last comment, the panelist said that there still a long way and maybe not easy way to resolve this issue but nevertheless, they are confident that by raising awareness through campaigns, they can get more allies and help these desperate women.

Reported by BKUN delegation at the 57th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York City.

CSW57, March 6, Day 3

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Women’s Right to Freedom from the Violence of Prostitution

The Canadian Federation of University Women hosted this side event.

The message from all the panelist was clear: both violence and prostitution are intrinsically related and that children and women are often the main target.

The panelists focus and inspiration for this event came from the Swedish Evaluation in 1999 when Sweden and eventually other Nordic countries criminalized the act of prostitution. According to the Swedish Evaluation, prostitution denies women and girls human dignity. Young girls very often fall into the allure or the fantasy of a lavish lifestyle but looking at the issue in depth, the evaluation showed that in reality girls surrender their life choices by falling into slavery of their body. Being led to having no control and surrendering themselves to the abuse of their bodies by the quest money, by a choice made to escape from poverty.

The panelists also tackled the issue of decriminalization, which according to the Swedish Evaluation has made matters worse. As a result of this, human trafficking now flourishes more as a very lucrative business. Child trafficking and prostitution are also increasing because of the legalization and as a consequence, so is violence against them. They stated that the Netherlands is currently willing to revise their law and make prostitution illegal again. According to these Canadian feminists, to reform the problem of gender equality and implementing the Nordic model is the best policy solution to the issue of violence against women

Linkages between Violence against Women and Health

This event was held by the Government of Germany in Collaboration with the Government of UK and the World Health Organization and took place at the German UN Mission building and moderated by Karin Nordmerger from the German Gov.

Dr. Claudia Garcia Moreno from the World Health Organization shared some statistics demonstrating the magnitude of health problems related with violence against women. Some of the issues include suicidal thoughts, HIV, and emotional trauma. The studies have also shown that the greatest risk of violence to women comes from partners and that for many women, their first sexual experience was forced.

Dr. Charlotte Watts From Gender Violence and Health Care and Helene Reardon-Bond Government Equalities Office from the UK expressed the same clear idea that violence is preventable if governments take into consideration the risk factors that increase violence against women and girls. Some of these indicators are alcohol use by male companions, lower education by females etc. Recognizing these risk factors demonstrated where actions needed to be taken to tackle them. Some examples were creating intervention points in personal level, community level and societal level.

Both representatives from the UK expressed it worth investing in prevention and research programs because of the promising evidence that suggests that interventions can change social norms, empower women and achieve significant community impacts. Ms. Reardon-Bond remarked that the UK government had invested a substantial amount of money in preventive-awareness campaigns and spotting the signs in oder to ensure services were available in sexual abuse and integrated health care centers in urban areas.

Nicole Zündorf-Hinte from the German government was the last to speak and told the audience about the many initiatives that her government have already implemented to deal with the same issues.