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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 11:45 pm
Time: 11:45 pm
Results for violence against girls
7 results foundAuthor: United States Agency for International Development Title: United States Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence Globally Summary: Under the leadership of President Obama and Secretary Clinton, the United States has put gender equality and the advancement of women and girls at the forefront of the three pillars of U.S. foreign policy–diplomacy, development, and defense. This is embodied in the President’s National Security Strategy, the Presidential Policy Directive on Global Development, and the 2010 U.S. Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR). Evidence demonstrates that women’s empowerment is critical to building stable, democratic societies; to supporting open and accountable governance; to furthering international peace and security; to growing vibrant market economies; and to addressing pressing health and education challenges. Preventing and responding to gender-based violence is a cornerstone of the Administration’s commitment to advancing gender equality. Such violence significantly hinders the ability of individuals to fully participate in and contribute to their families and communities–economically, politically, and socially. Vice President Biden, who authored the Violence Against Women Act while in the Senate, has been a leader in efforts to end violence against women and girls for two decades. Secretary of State Clinton and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Rajiv Shah also have been tireless advocates for ending gender-based violence, and have elevated this issue as a foreign policy priority. To further advance its commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment, the Obama Administration has developed this new strategy to prevent and respond more effectively to genderbased violence globally. The purpose of the strategy is to establish a government-wide approach that identifies, coordinates, integrates, and leverages current efforts and resources. The strategy provides Federal agencies with a set of concrete goals and actions to be implemented and monitored over the course of the next three years with an evaluation of progress midway through this period. At the end of the three-year timeframe, the agencies will evaluate the progress made and chart a course forward. To ensure a government-wide perspective in developing this strategy, the White House, at the request of the U.S. Department of State and USAID, convened representatives from the U.S. Departments of State, the Treasury, Defense, Justice, Labor, Health and Human Services (including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. National Institutes of Health), and Homeland Security, as well as from the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, USAID, the Peace Corps, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation. These included representatives working on the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Global Health Initiative (GHI), and the Office of the United States Government Special Advisor and Senior Coordinator for Children in Adversity. Additionally, the White House, the Department of State, and USAID held multiple consultations with civil society organizations to ensure that their perspectives informed the development of the strategy. Details: Washington, DC: USAID, 2012. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 17, 2012 at: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/196468.pdf Year: 2012 Country: International URL: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/196468.pdf Shelf Number: 126057 Keywords: Domestic ViolenceFamily ViolenceGender-Based ViolenceSexual ViolenceViolence Against GirlsViolence Against Women |
Author: Fergus, Lara Title: Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls Summary: Ending violence against women and girls remains one of the most serious and ongoing challenges for the international system, Governments and civil society worldwide. The long-term efforts and advocacy of women’s and children’s organisations have helped place the issue high on national and international human rights and development agendas, and considerable progress has been made worldwide over recent years, particularly on improving justice and service responses for survivors. However interventions focussed on the aftermath of violence against women and girls, while essential, can only have limited impact on reducing violence itself – strategies are also urgently needed to stop such violence from occurring in the first place. Preventing such violence is a human rights obligation and an achievable goal, but one which requires sustained, coordinated and systematic action by Governments, the international community and civil society. This Background Paper was prepared to inform discussions at an Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on prevention of violence against women and girls, convened for 17–20 September 2012 in Bangkok, as part of the preparations for the fifty-seventh session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). It analyses global progress, challenges and gaps in prevention of violence against women and girls, and identifies key guiding principles and promising practice examples. It makes initial indicative recommendations for international, regional and national stakeholders – particularly Governments as they have the primary responsibility for prevention of violence against women and girls – for further discussion and finalisation at the EGM itself. The Paper focuses on emerging evidence and practice for the development of holistic, multidimensional and long-term approaches to prevention, and highlights the responsibility of States to strengthen and invest in such approaches as part of their human rights obligations towards women and girls. Strategies for prevention of violence against women and girls in situations where States are not functioning effectively, are fragile or are in transition, including conflict, post-conflict and humanitarian settings – while having some commonalities with the practices referred to here – will necessarily be of a different order, and may be driven by different actors (e.g. humanitarian relief agencies). There is very little research and practice to draw upon regarding effective prevention of violence against women and girls in such settings, and the need for further work in this area is identified as a key gap in this Paper. Therefore, the bulk of the practice, evidence and recommendations referred to here is for stable situations where the State is in a position to lead long-term, multi-sectoral policy and programming. Details: Bangkok, Thailand: United Nations Women, In cooperation with ESCAP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and WHO, 2012. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 29, 2012 at: http://www.unwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/cs557-EGM-prevention-background-paper.pdf Year: 2012 Country: International URL: http://www.unwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/cs557-EGM-prevention-background-paper.pdf Shelf Number: 126493 Keywords: Violence Against GirlsViolence Against Women, ChildrenViolence Prevention |
Author: Greene, Margaret Eleanor Title: A Girl's Right to Learn Without Fear: Working to End-Gender-Based Violence at School Summary: Education is a fundamental human right for every child but it is too often denied, especially to girls. Plan Canada's latest report, A Girl's Right to Learn Without Fear, produced in partnership with the University of Toronto's International Human Rights Program, and in collaboration with the Canadian Women's Foundation, Native Women's Association of Canada, and White Ribbon Campaign, finds that gender-based violence is a major and critical factor threatening the education of children, and particularly girls, in many countries of the world, including Canada. School-related gender-based violence School-related gender-based violence refers to acts of sexual, physical or psychological violence inflicted on children in and around schools because of stereotypes and roles or norms attributed to or expected of them because of their sex or gender identity. There are immediate and long-term consequences of school-related gender-based violence including health consequences (STDs, HIV infection, unwanted early pregnancies); psychological suffering; poor performance at school; absenteeism; and high dropout rates. - Between 500 million and 1.5 billion children experience violence every year, many in and around the institutions we trust most: our schools. - The World Health Organization ranked Canada as one of the worst countries for its bullying victimization rates. Canada was ranked 27th out of 35 comparable countries - Nearly a quarter of Canadian girls and, at least 15% of boys, have experienced sexual violence before they reach 16. - Female victims of sexual harassment report a loss of interest in school activities, increased absenteeism, lower grades, and increased tardiness and truancy. Ending the violence While violence against children is unjustifiable, it is also preventable. Therefore, the report also focuses on solutions with recommendations for all governments, including Canada's, to put an end to violence against children, with a special focus on girls. The report does not just highlight problems, but is focused on solutions drawn from the experiences of countries leading on these issues. It includes specific recommendations for the Canadian government that are consistent with recent observations on Canada made by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. Details: Toronto: Plan Canada, 2012. 94p. Source: Internet Resource: accessed October 20, 2014 at: https://plancanada.ca/document.doc?id=325 Year: 2012 Country: Canada URL: https://plancanada.ca/document.doc?id=325 Shelf Number: 133781 Keywords: Gender-Based Violence (Canada)School Based ViolenceSchool BullyingSchool CrimeSchool ViolenceSexual HarassmentSexual ViolenceViolence Against Girls |
Author: Human Rights Watch Title: "Those Terrible Weeks in their Camp". Boko Haram Violence against Women and Girls in Northeast Nigeria Summary: In April 2014, the Islamist group Boko Haram abducted 276 female students from a secondary school in Chibok, Borno State, in Nigeria's northeast. The group has abducted more than 500 women and girls from Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa States since 2009. Based field research in northeast Nigeria and Abuja, the capital city, including interviews with women and girls who escaped abduction or were freed from captivity, social workers, journalists, religious leaders, civil society workers, state and federal government officials, and witnesses of abductions, "Those Terrible Weeks in their Camp" documents how Boko Haram targets women and girls. The report highlights the harrowing experiences of some of the abducted women and girls, many of whom have endured physical and psychological abuse, forced conversions, coerced marriages, forced labor, sexual violence and rape. To ensure accountability, the report calls on Nigerian authorities to investigate and prosecute, based on international fair trial standards, those who committed serious crimes in violation of international law, including Boko Haram, members of the security forces and pro-government vigilante groups. In addition, the government should provide adequate measures to protect schools and the right to education, and ensure access to medical and mental health services to victims of abduction and other violence. The government should also ensure that hospitals and clinics treating civilian victims of Boko Haram atrocities are equipped with medical supplies to treat survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. Details: New York: HRW, 2014. 69p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 30, 2014 at: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/nigeria1014web.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Nigeria URL: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/nigeria1014web.pdf Shelf Number: 133881 Keywords: AbductionBoko HaramGender-Based ViolenceKidnappingRapeSexual ViolenceViolence Against GirlsViolence Against Women (Nigeria) |
Author: Saar, Malika Saada Title: The Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline: The Girls' Story Summary: "The Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline: The Girls' Story", a report that exposes how girls, specifically girls of color, are arrested and incarcerated as a result of sexual abuse. One in 3 juveniles arrested is a girl. Girls tend to be arrested at younger ages than boys, usually entering the system at age 13 or 14. And while girls are only 14 percent of incarcerated youths, they make up the fastest-growing segment of the juvenile-justice system. Sexual abuse is one of the primary predictors of girls' detention. Girls are rarely arrested for violent crimes. They are arrested for nonviolent behaviors that are correlative with enduring and escaping from abusive environments-offenses such as truancy and running away. Many girls run away from abusive homes or foster-care placements, only to then be arrested for the status offense of running away. Whereas abused women are told to run from their batterers, when girls run from abuse, they are locked up. There is also the grim example of how girls are criminalized when they are trafficked for sex as children. When poor black and brown girls are bought and sold for sex, they are rarely regarded or treated as victims of trafficking. Instead, they are children jailed for prostitution. According to the FBI, African-American children make up 59 percent of all prostitution-related arrests under the age of 18 in the U.S., and girls make up 76 percent of all prostitution-related arrests under the age of 18 in the U.S. Another lens through which to understand the degree of sexual violence and trauma endured by justice-involved girls is their own histories. The younger a girl's age when she enters the juvenile-justice system, the more likely she is to have been sexually assaulted and/or seriously physically injured. One California study found that 60 percent of girls in the state's jails had been raped or were in danger of being raped at some point in their lives. Similarly, a study of delinquent girls in South Carolina found that 81 percent reported a history of sexual violence: Sixty-nine percent had experienced violence by their caregiver, and 42 percent reported dating violence. It has to be pointed out, as the "Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline" report does, that this is, distinctly, a pipeline for girls of color. Youths of color account for 45 percent of the general youth population, but girls of color-who are approximately half of all youths of color-make up approximately two-thirds of girls who are incarcerated. Details: Washington, DC: George Law Center on Poverty and Inequality, 2015. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 13, 2015 at: http://rights4girls.org/wp-content/uploads/r4g/2015/02/2015_COP_sexual-abuse_layout_web-1.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://rights4girls.org/wp-content/uploads/r4g/2015/02/2015_COP_sexual-abuse_layout_web-1.pdf Shelf Number: 136019 Keywords: Child Sexual AbuseDisproportionate Minority ConfinementFemale DetentionFemale Juvenile OffendersMinority GroupsViolence Against Girls |
Author: Parkes, Jenny Title: A Rigorous Review of Global Research Evidence on Policy Summary: This rigorous literature review was commissioned by UNICEF, with the aim of examining research evidence on approaches to addressing school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV). While the scope of the review was global, an emphasis was placed on research in low- and middle-income countries. The review addressed the following questions: 1. What does research evidence tell us about the kinds of policies and practices being used to address SRGBV, and in what contexts, around the world? What concepts and ideas underpin these interventions, and what are the implications for addressing SRGBV? 2. What is the evidence on how interventions on SRGBV engage with education policy processes at and across national, district and local levels, and with contextual features, including political, economic and social conditions? 3. How can research evidence and data-gathering tools be used effectively to inform policy and practice on SRGBV across a range of settings? The conceptual approach taken viewed SRGBV as multi-dimensional, including physical, sexual and psychological acts of violence that are underpinned by norms, stereotypes and inequalities and shaped by institutions. Details: London: University College London, Institute of Education, 2016. 80p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 13, 2016 at: http://www.unicef.org/education/files/SRGBV_review_FINAL_V1_web_version.pdf Year: 2016 Country: International URL: http://www.unicef.org/education/files/SRGBV_review_FINAL_V1_web_version.pdf Shelf Number: 145893 Keywords: Gender-Related ViolenceSchool ViolenceSexual ViolenceViolence Against Girls |
Author: International Justice Mission Title: Guatemalan Criminal Justice System Performance Study, 2008-2012: Indicators of Practice, Process and Resolution within Cases of Child Sexual Assault Summary: This study analyzes the performance of Guatemala's criminal justice system (CJS) in cases of sexual assault. The main goal of this study is to contribute to the efforts of the CJS in improving the response of the system to cases of child sexual assault (CSA). This study uses database reports from the Public Ministry's (MP) Information Control System (SICOMP) from 2008 to 2012. These reports included information about complaints filed, accusations, sentences, pre-trial testimonies, victims, and the status of cases at the national level. Moreover, reports from the Judicial System's National Center of Analysis and Documentation (CENADOJ) of terminated processes during the years 2008-2010 were also used. The CENADOJ reports consisted of data pertaining to child sexual abuse crimes in the departments of Quezaltenango, Guatemala, and Alta Verapaz. These departments have the highest rates of child sexual abuse complaints in all of Guatemala. From this data, 182 records were selected and this information provided first-hand accounts of judicial practices. In addition to the quantitative data provided by SICOMP, such as the data collected from the judicial records with a final sentence between 2008 and 2010, 75 officials from the CJS who intervene in CSA cases and 22 officials from social agencies were interviewed. These interviews captured their perspective on the development of the Guatemalan CJS. 60 prosecutors and assistant prosecutors from the MP were also interviewed to capture their experience with procedural outcomes in the cases of sexual crimes committed against children. The methodology also was validated before a panel of experts and criminal law scholars. The majority of their contributions are included in this study's analysis. The data was discussed with MP officials from SICOMP, with whom the numbers and interpretation of data were clarified. Lastly, the report was presented to high-level officials from the MP and the Judicial Branch (OJ). All these activities allowed for a wide validation of, and transparency in this study. One of the main findings of the study was that Guatemala has adapted the internal regulations to international standards (2009), but the main problem lies in the effective implementation of the regulatory framework. However, the system has made significant progress as new best practices for the protection and holistic attention of children begin to be applied in cases of CSA. Despite changes in the law and the introduction of Decree 9-2009, the Law Against Sexual Violence, Exploitation, and Trafficking of Persons, Guatemala continues to have high numbers of complaints of sexual assault. In the last five years, 36,166 cases were reported, making it the seventh mostreported crime within the Public Ministry in 20144. Of these complaints, 44% of victims were minors and the majority, female. Based on the analysis of the sample, nearly 90% of the perpetrators were individuals known to the child. Nationally, the Public Prosecutor's Office reported 9.4% complaints of assault between 2008 and 2012. Of these complaints, only 5.86% ended in a verdict. Of these verdicts (182 cases), 80% resulted in a conviction and 20% ended in an acquittal. The study also found that child victims were required to recount their story to approximately eight different professionals, each from a different criminal justice system institution. The sample showed that the mechanisms to avoid the re-traumatization of minors in the criminal process are under-utilized. Only 1.52% of CSA cases between 2008 and 2012 applied pre-trial testimony procedures. In very few instances were adequate locations used to hear the testimonies of child victims, or screens used at trial to protect the victim from the view of the perpetrator. During the years of this study, training for CJS officials was insufficient and sporadic. Official training procedures lacked both consistency and the capacity to monitor the implementation of training content. The study makes it possible to examine the situation of child victims in cases of sexual assault and to establish a baseline of indicators in the attention, processing and resolution of these cases. The main recommendations of this study are: -Public policy should be designed to strengthen deterrence, in order to prevent minors from becoming victims of sexual crimes. -Policies that adopt mechanisms to provide proper treatment for minors who have been victims of sexual assault crimes should be implemented within the different institutions of the CJS, such as the Public Ministry's Model for Holistic Attention. -CJS institutions should develop reliable systems that permit the interconnection and exchange of information for strategic decision making, in order to avoid sub-records or inconsistent records. -There is an urgent need for the implementation of coordination mechanisms between the Public Ministry - as the directing unit of the investigation- and the National Civil Police, to conduct key investigations in the least amount of time possible. -The CJS should not support the application of alternative conclusions to the criminal process in cases of rape or other crimes of sexual assault against minors. -Inter-institutional coordination should be promoted within the CJS to avoid an excess of testimonies from the child. -Judges, prosecutors and other officials from the CJS should be aware of the traumatic effects of the criminal process and what methods they can use to reduce them. This includes the use of the pre-trial testimony in the case of minor victims of sexual crimes. Proper locations should be sought out to create better conditions for children to give their testimonies, and the recording of these testimonies should consistently apply the attention/care protocols. -The training units from the different institutions of the legal sector should develop and implement a training process on the issues of protection, investigation, sanction and restitution of damages for minors who have been victims of sexual assault crimes. This process should include methodology to evaluate the incorporation of the acquired knowledge when delivering services. Details: Guatemala City, Guatemala: International Justice Mission, 2013. 149p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 19, 2019 at: https://www.ijm.org/documents/studies/Guatemala-Public-Justice-System-Performance-Study.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Guatemala URL: https://www.ijm.org/studies/guatemalan-criminal-justice-system-performance-study-2008-2012 Shelf Number: 156546 Keywords: Child Sexual AssaultChild VictimsGuatemalaSentencesSexual AbuseSexual AssaultSexual CrimesTrafficking of PersonsViolence Against Girls |