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Programme Priorities |
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| Reproductive Health Effects of Gender-based Violence | |
| Reproductive Health, including Family Planning and Sexual Health
Population and Development
Strategies
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One of the major gender-related issues highlighted during 1998 was violence against women. UNFPA issued a programme advisory note that aimed to raise awareness of the pervasiveness of gender-based violence as well as the specific effects it has on reproductive health. The note also pointed to directions that programmes need to take to enable women and girls to live free of violence. The programme advisory note examined the reproductive and sexual health consequences of gender-based violence at various stages of the victim's life cycle. It also analysed the effects of such violence on reproductive health-related choices and decisions. For example, gender-based violence has a direct effect on women's ability to exercise autonomy in the use of reproductive health services. It also limits their ability to protect themselves from HIV infection and STDs. The treatment of the effects of such violence imposes additional demands on health-care systems and thus represents a hidden and costly burden on these systems. The note identified strategic entry points within UNFPA's three core programme areas, using UNFPA projects as innovative examples of ways to meet the major challenges to addressing gender-based violence in each programme area. In the area of reproductive health, for example, the note looked at ways to develop a nationwide, institutionalized approach to the problem. Such an approach would promote partnerships with community constituencies, involve men and youth, and reach out to community-based workers. In the area of population and development strategies, data collection and research stand out as entry points for providing essential support to the work on gender-based violence. So do developing national strategies on gender equality and equity and promoting women's participation in public life. Advocacy is a critical tool in lifting the secrecy and denial that often shroud the problem of gender-based violence; advocacy efforts must therefore focus on building constituencies, effecting legal reform, enforcing laws and fostering empowerment. As part of its series of advocacy booklets, UNFPA produced, and distributed widely, a publication entitled "Violence Against Girls and Women: A Public Health Priority", which was based on the programme advisory note. Country-level initiatives. The experience of Uganda's REACH programme in reducing female genital mutilation in the district of Kapchorwa was highlighted at the Kampala round table. Lessons from the Kapchorwa experience were gleaned for the benefit of other countries. The programme's success, which was accomplished in a mere two years, led to the Sabiny Elders' Association being awarded the 1998 Population Award. Four elements were critical to this success: the prgramme enlisted the support of elders at the beginning of the campaign; it was able to separate FGM from the cultural values it was supposed to serve; it proposed alternative activities to sustain those ideals; and it reached out to the custodians of community ethics. The success of the programme was in dramatic contrast to the results of a 1989 effort to outlaw the practice. The earlier effort had led to an increase in the rate of female circumcision in Kapchorwa District as a reaction to what was perceived as outside interference. In Burkina Faso, on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a campaign was launched to combat violence against women. The campaign included a wide variety of advocacy activities. On 2 December, the Government presented the results of a study on domestic violence against women. The study, which presented evidence regarding the extent of such violence, also analysed its causes and consequences. This followed two previous studies, one on sexual violence against girls in schools and one on forced marriage. In May and June, the Government held five days of seminars with journalists to study communications strategies for combating female genital mutilation. Panama also used the window of opportunity provided by the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to launch an inter-agency campaign entitled "A life free of violence: It's our right". This topic was discussed in meetings with women's NGOs and with the mass media, as well as in the ongoing consultative process to prepare the five-year National Plan of Action for reproductive and sexual health. In the Philippines, the integrated package of reproductive health services in Nueva Vizcaya Province contains a social component to address violence against women. The component, which is being managed by the Provincial Social Welfare Development Office, employs a multisectoral task force involving such agencies as the social welfare office, the provincial health board, the provincial police office and selected local NGOs. In Nepal, the Ministry of Women and Social Welfare drafted a bill to protect women against domestic violence. The bill proposes the establishment of a Family Court to deal with such violence. Violence against women was also the focus of advocacy activities carried out by various women's groups, NGOs and women journalists. Moreover, the Minister for Women and Social Welfare addressed a two-day workshop organized by Tribhuvan University on gender equality and changing society. |