Day 7
Gender Violence, HIV and AIDS
December 1st is World AIDS Day. UNAIDS estimates that there are approximately 33.4 million people living with HIV in the world (2008) [1]. Women represent 50% of the number of adults living with HIV and often experience the impact of HIV more severely than men [2]. Women and girls are at greater risk of contracting HIV than men not only as a result of a greater biological susceptibility to the virus, but also because of gender inequalities. Women and girls often lack educational and economic opportunities, which increases their dependence on men and can decrease their involvement in decisions that have a direct impact on their health and well-being. Social and economic dependence can also limit their power to refuse sex or insist on condom use [3]. Additionally, lack of access to education and information, as well as the impact of illiteracy, mean that women and girls are often unaware of how to "protect themselves against HIV or other sexually transmitted infections, which can increase the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS" [4].
Gender violence also makes women and girls more vulnerable to contracting HIV. Women in abusive relationships are less likely to insist their partners use condoms or to refuse sex for fear of violence. Women who do refuse sex are often beaten and raped by their partners and may receive little to no support from their extended family, their communities, and the police. In many societies, the notion of 'conjugal rights' includes the 'duty' of a spouse to honour their partner's 'right' to sex and the concept of marital rape is rejected as a foreign construct. Support services provided for victims of sexual and other forms of violence, through women's centres and health care facilities, play a pivotal role in treating, assisting and counselling women. Unfortunately, these services are not always available in the areas where they are needed most and, in cases where they are available, service providers may face resistance, threats, or violence from within the communities in which they work.
For more more information, facts, and figures on HIV and AIDS visit: www.unaids.org
Sexual Violence and Conflict
“In no other area is our collective failure to ensure effective protection for civilians more apparent — and by its very nature more shameful — than in terms of the masses of women and girls, but also boys and men, whose lives are destroyed each year by sexual violence perpetrated in conflict.”
United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, 2007 (S/2007/643) [5]
Sexual violence in conflict contributes to the spread of HIV among women and girls and has devastated the lives of thousands of women and their families. Rape is used as a weapon of war to "shame and demoralize women, tear communities apart, and control populations" [6]. Women and girls are brutalized in front of their families and communities, forced to witness the brutalization and murder of their loved ones, and taken by combatants to be used as 'sex slaves'. During the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, between 250'000 and 500'000 women and girls were raped [7] and it is estimated that, of those who survived the genocide, 70% have been infected with HIV [8]. More women and girls are raped every day in conflict zones, such as South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Darfur, Sudan [9]. Those who are infected with HIV face challenges in gaining access to counselling, treatment, and anti-retroviral (ARV) medications.
Increasingly, the United Nations, in collaboration with other organizations and governments around the world, are taking steps to address, respond to, and prevent sexual and other forms of violence during conflict and peace time. Since 2000, the United Nations Security Council has enacted three resolutions that address issues related to women, peace, security, sexual violence and conflict (Resolutions 1325, 1820, and 1888) [10]. It is hoped that these measures, in conjunction with other actions such as the inter-agency initiative UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict (UN Action), will help to fill a long standing gap in the ways in which the UN and member states have responded to conflicts and increase the involvement of women in the peace process. However, much more remains to be done to address the gender inequalities and attitudes which continue to place women and girls at risk of violence, HIV and AIDS both during times of peace and war.
For more more information on sexual violence in conflict, visit the following sites:
The United Nations Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict - Stop Rape Now
The International Campaign to Stop Rape and Gender Violence in Conflict
Sources
Gender violence also makes women and girls more vulnerable to contracting HIV. Women in abusive relationships are less likely to insist their partners use condoms or to refuse sex for fear of violence. Women who do refuse sex are often beaten and raped by their partners and may receive little to no support from their extended family, their communities, and the police. In many societies, the notion of 'conjugal rights' includes the 'duty' of a spouse to honour their partner's 'right' to sex and the concept of marital rape is rejected as a foreign construct. Support services provided for victims of sexual and other forms of violence, through women's centres and health care facilities, play a pivotal role in treating, assisting and counselling women. Unfortunately, these services are not always available in the areas where they are needed most and, in cases where they are available, service providers may face resistance, threats, or violence from within the communities in which they work.
For more more information, facts, and figures on HIV and AIDS visit: www.unaids.org
Sexual Violence and Conflict
“In no other area is our collective failure to ensure effective protection for civilians more apparent — and by its very nature more shameful — than in terms of the masses of women and girls, but also boys and men, whose lives are destroyed each year by sexual violence perpetrated in conflict.”
United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, 2007 (S/2007/643) [5]
Sexual violence in conflict contributes to the spread of HIV among women and girls and has devastated the lives of thousands of women and their families. Rape is used as a weapon of war to "shame and demoralize women, tear communities apart, and control populations" [6]. Women and girls are brutalized in front of their families and communities, forced to witness the brutalization and murder of their loved ones, and taken by combatants to be used as 'sex slaves'. During the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, between 250'000 and 500'000 women and girls were raped [7] and it is estimated that, of those who survived the genocide, 70% have been infected with HIV [8]. More women and girls are raped every day in conflict zones, such as South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Darfur, Sudan [9]. Those who are infected with HIV face challenges in gaining access to counselling, treatment, and anti-retroviral (ARV) medications.
Increasingly, the United Nations, in collaboration with other organizations and governments around the world, are taking steps to address, respond to, and prevent sexual and other forms of violence during conflict and peace time. Since 2000, the United Nations Security Council has enacted three resolutions that address issues related to women, peace, security, sexual violence and conflict (Resolutions 1325, 1820, and 1888) [10]. It is hoped that these measures, in conjunction with other actions such as the inter-agency initiative UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict (UN Action), will help to fill a long standing gap in the ways in which the UN and member states have responded to conflicts and increase the involvement of women in the peace process. However, much more remains to be done to address the gender inequalities and attitudes which continue to place women and girls at risk of violence, HIV and AIDS both during times of peace and war.
For more more information on sexual violence in conflict, visit the following sites:
The United Nations Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict - Stop Rape Now
The International Campaign to Stop Rape and Gender Violence in Conflict
Sources
[1] UNAIDS. Global Facts and Figures 09. [PDF]
[2], [3] UNAIDS. Global Report 2008. [PDF]
[4] UNFPA. Promoting Gender Equality: The Education Factor
[5], [7], [9], [10] United Nations. Words to Action, Newsletter on violence against women, Issue No. 5, October 2009.
[6] United Nations. Stop Rape Now: UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict. Video
[8] Amnesty International. Rwanda: "Marked for Death", Rape survivors living with HIV/AIDS in Rwanda.
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