Eliminating Violence against Women: if not now, when?

International

On 17 December 1999, through Resolution 54/134 1 , the United Nations adopted the 25th of November as International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Every year, on this date, UN Women begin 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence that runs until the 10th of December, which celebrates Human Rights Day 2 .

The 25th of November was specifically chosen, because on that date in 1960, three Mirabal Sisters (Patria, Minerva, and María Teresa) 3 were murdered on the orders of the Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo (1930-1961). Better known as “Las Mariposas”, or “The Butterflies”, the Mirabal Sisters were four sisters – Patria, Minerva, Maria Teresa and Dede – who actively opposed the brutal dictatorship of Trujillo 4 . The remaining sister, Dedé, died of natural causes on 1 February 2014 5 .

The eldest sister, Patria, left school to marry a farmer, Pedro Gonzales, who later aided and supported her in challenging the Trujillo regime 6 . The third daughter, Minerva, enrolled at the University of Santo Domingo to study law but because she had declined Trujillo’s sexual advances, she was denied a licence to practice 7 . The youngest sister, María Teresa, also enrolled at the University of Santo Domingo where she studied mathematics. Two of the sisters, Minerva and María Teresa, were incarcerated, raped and tortured in clandestine prisons on several occasions 8 . On 25th November 1960, Minerva, Maria and Patria were returning from a visit to their husbands, who were in Puerto Plata prison, when Trujillo supporters beat them to death with sticks, shoved them into the back of a car and threw them off a cliff. The Trujillo government declared afterwards that their deaths had been caused by a road-traffic accident 9 . Trujillo’s plan to silence the Mirabal Sisters ultimately failed as their deaths caused mass public outrage and only resulted in highlighting their cause and the regime’s brutality. The Mirabal Sisters became symbols of feminist resistance and women’s rights activism.

Sadly, gender-based violence is still a scourge that has yet to be eliminated. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) 10 , a total of 87,000 women around the world were intentionally killed in 2017. Their report states that 58% were killed by intimate partners or family members which equates to 137 women being murdered every single day. The regions with the largest number of women killed by intimate partners (not including other family members) were Asia and Africa (11,000 each), followed by the Americas (6,000), Europe (2,000) and Oceania (200).

Gender-based violence or violence against women and girls is a global pandemic that affects 1 in 3 women in their lifetime 11 . This problem is not only devastating for the survivors of violence and their families, but it also carries significant social and economic costs. According to the World Bank, in some countries, it is estimated that violence against women costs up to 3.7% of their GDP which is more than double what most governments spend on education 12 .

In May 2020, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new joint report Justice for Women Amidst COVID-19 13 stated that curtailed access to justice institutions, rising intimate partner violence, growing injustice against female workers – including those on the front lines of the crisis – and discriminatory laws are some of the major risks to women’s lives and their livelihoods associated with COVID-19. The report suggests that roughly 2.73 billion women around the world live in countries where stay-at-home orders are in place which increases the risk of intimate partner violence.

Moreover, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), in its May 2020 report, also confirmed that whilst the contribution of women to the design and implementation of responses to COVID-19 is essential, women continue to be absent from decision-making and leadership positions 14 . Additionally in her report of September 2020, the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Dubravka Šimonovic, highlighted that the intersection between the COVID-19 pandemic, its lockdown measures and the epidemic of violence against women, has exposed pre-existing gaps and shortcomings in the prevention of violence against women. This is a human rights violation that had not been sufficiently addressed by many States even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic 15 . The United Nations Office of the High Commission of Human Rights (OHCHR) has called on the global community to take urgent steps to end the epidemic of gender-based violence 16 .

In this context, law societies, bar associations, and lawyers can play a significant role in ensuring access to justice without discrimination. On 25 September 2020, the Law Society of England and Wales released a report “Law under lockdown: COVID-19 measures, access to justice and vulnerable people” 17 . The report highlighted that the Coronavirus crisis has had a disproportionate impact on some of the most vulnerable in society. The report also analyses the impact of emergency measures and the resulting ability of vulnerable people to access justice and legal advice.

To mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the Law Society joined forces with the Inter- American Bar Association (IABA), the ILO and The Bridge Project at an event entitled “Gender violence and Administration of Justice: Progress and Setbacks”. Speakers from Argentina, Peru and the United Kingdom reflected on gender-based violence and the role that the administration of justice plays in offering effective judicial protection and guarantees to equitable treatment before the law. Panellists sought to identify the risks that have been exacerbated during the pandemic and discussed potential measures to resolve these issues.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been an especially dangerous time for female victims of domestic violence because lockdown measures make it even more difficult to escape from their perpetrators. COVID-19 has highlighted that there is still a long way to go in terms of protecting women and it is a sad reminder that gender equality remains an aspiration.

In the context of a double pandemic – COVID-19 and genderbased violence – added to the threat of a global economic downturn, gender equality is not only an urgent moral and social imperative but a critical economic challenge. Both men and women must work hand in hand with inclusion, respect, and mutual recognition of each other to achieve it. If not now, then when? ■

1. International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women https://undocs.org/en/A/RES/54/134

2. 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/endingviolence-against-women/take-action/16-days-of-activism

3. “Las Mariposas: The Mirabal Sisters’ Role as Heroines of the Dominican Republic”, Victoria Sanchez https://stmuhistorymedia.org/las-mariposas-themirabal-sisters-role-as-heroines-of-the-dominicanrepublic/#marker-73049-5

4. ‘I shot the cruellest dictator in the Americas’, 27 May 2011, BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latinamerica-13560512

5. “Last Surviving Mirabal Sister Died at the age of 88”, 04 February 2014, LatinTrends https://latintrends.com/lastsurviving-mirabal-sister-died-at-the-age-of-88/

6. The Mirabal Sisters: The three “butterflies” who were killed because of their activities against the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo, 19 April 2017, The Vintage News https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/04/19/themirabal-sisters-the-three-butterflies-who-were-killedbecause-of-their-activities-against-the-dictatorship-ofrafael-trujillo/

7. “Assassination Of The Mirabal Sisters Of The Dominican Republic”, 25 November 2014, ISIS International http://www.isiswomen.org/index.php?option=com_ content&view=article&id=1744:history-of-theinternational-day-for-the-elimination-of-violence-againstwomen-november-25

8. Conference “Under the Wings of the Butterflies", UNESCO http://www.unesco.org/new/en/ unesco/events/major-events/?tx_browser_ pi1%5BshowUid%5D=2482&cHash=5acea5e644

9. “Three women who defeated a Dictator: The Mirabal Sisters”, 25th November 2015, by Dilara Gürcü, Young Feminist Europe https://www.youngfeminist.eu/2015/11/threewomen-who-defeated-a-dictator-the-mirabal-sisters/

10. Global Study on Homicide: Gender-related killing of women and girls (2018) https://www.unodc.org/documents/dataand-analysis/GSH2018/GSH18_Gender-related_killing_ of_women_and_girls.pdf

11. Violence against women: Key Facts, 29 November 2017, World Health Organisation https://www.who.int/news-room/ fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-women

12. Gender-Based Violence (Violence Against Women and Girls), 25 September 2019, The World Bank https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/socialsustainability/ brief/violence-against-women-and-girls

13. Justice for Women Amidst COVID-19, May 2020, UN Women, IDLO, UNDP, UNODC, The World Bank and Pathfinders for Justice, and supported by The Elders https://www. unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2020/5/press-releasecovid-19-sparks-urgency-around-justice-for-women

14. COVID-19: G7 nations need to get gender equality right for a better future for women at work, 14 May 2020, International Labour Organisation https://www.ilo.org/global/about-theilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_744753/lang--en/index.htm

15. Violence against women, its causes and consequences, 24 July 2020 file:///C:/Users/012862/Downloads/A_75_144-EN.pdf

16. “Urgent action needed to end pandemic of genderbased violence”, 14 July 2020, OHCHR https://www. ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews. aspx?NewsID=26085&LangID=E

17. “Law under lockdown: COVID-19 measures, access to justice and vulnerable people”, 25 September 2020, The Law Society https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/en/contact-or-visit-us/ press-office/press-releases/law-under-lockdown-covid- 19-measures-access-to-justice-and-vulnerable-people

Lizzette Robleto de Howarth

International Programmes Manager The Law Society of England and Wales