{"id":6176,"date":"2020-12-08T18:56:37","date_gmt":"2020-12-08T09:56:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neonmetin.info\/buletin\/?p=6176"},"modified":"2020-12-08T18:56:44","modified_gmt":"2020-12-08T09:56:44","slug":"op-ed-the-countdown-to-an-end-to-the-16-days-of-activism-and-an-end-to-gender-based-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neonmetin.info\/buletin\/2020\/12\/08\/op-ed-the-countdown-to-an-end-to-the-16-days-of-activism-and-an-end-to-gender-based-violence\/","title":{"rendered":"Op-Ed: The Countdown to an End to the 16 Days of Activism and an End to Gender-based Violence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by United Nations Country Team in Timor-Leste <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine if we no longer needed the 16 Days of Activism to draw attention to gender-based violence – one of the most widespread human rights violations around the world. Imagine if in 2030, the deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals and its Goal 5 target on the elimination of violence against women and girls (VAWG), we could commemorate an end to the 16 Days Campaign. Imagine the 25th<\/sup> of November (the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls) becoming a day to celebrate the milestones achieved to make homes, streets and all spaces safe for all women and girls – regardless of their age, their location, their abilities, sexual orientation or gender identities. Imagine if activism countering discrimination against women and gender inequality (the root causes of VAWG) would be the norm, with visible action and investment 365 days a year. Imagine if the struggle for women and girls to enjoy their right to live free of violence became part of history, in the same way that Timor-Leste\u2019s struggle for independence has now become a memory of times in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What will it take to move these ideas\nfrom our imagination into a reality? With more than 1 in 3 married women (37%)\nin Timor-Leste experiencing violence from their partners in the past year, and\nmore than half of women and men believing such violence is justified,\neliminating violence against women and girls by 2030 often seems impossible and\nunlikely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Timor-Leste\u2019s history of\nresistance and solidarity teach us that with a clear vision and path forward,\nthere is a way to overcome barriers that seem impossible and unlikely. The\njourney to independence required leadership that is accountable to its people,\ncommitment to invest in the winding and sometimes unpopular resistance, and\nspace for all people \u2013 with their diverse identities, to engage and be part of\nthe movement for independence. As with the vision for Timor-Leste\u2019s\nindependence, we must start with the vision that an end to VAWG is possible by\n2030. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This vision can be turned into a\nreality if we all take individual and collective action. It requires\neach of us to use our power and our voices, even if we have not felt the deep\nand complex consequences of VAWG in our own lives. We must do more than just\ncommit to non-violence; we must actively take steps to take apart the\nstructures and practices which allow VAWG to continue. Violence against women\nand girls is growing as a shadow pandemic, made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.\nIt is all around us and up to each of us to choose to identify it and put a\nstop to it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similar to the three fronts of\nTimor-Leste\u2019s independence struggle, there are four areas of action that can\nhelp us put an end to VAWG by 2030 identified in the 2020 theme of the United\nNations Secretary-General\u2019s UNiTE Campaign for the 16 Days of Activism:\n“Fund, Prevent, Respond and Collect.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, we must fund efforts to prevent\nand respond to VAWG and the women\u2019s organizations and movements that have been\nworking on the frontlines of this struggle for decades. We need to ensure that\nthe 2021 Timor-Leste State Budget allocations for preventing VAWG and providing\nessential response services can cover the range of commitments in the National\nAction Plan on Gender-Based Violence. Development partner investments\nimportantly complement State and civil society efforts, such as the KOICA-UN\nTogether for Equality Programme, the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative, the Government\nof Australia\u2019s Nabilan Programme, USAID and other partners\u2019 work. However,\nefforts to end VAWG must begin with adequate investments by the State at\nnational and municipal levels given that VAWG is a barrier to women\u2019s equal rights\nand the country\u2019s sustainable development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, we must prevent VAWG from\nhappening in the first place. This involves teaching children that boys and\ngirls have equal value in families, that each child has power over their own\nbody and has the right to feel safe wherever they are. It means supporting\nyoung people and couples to build healthy relationships based on respect, where\npower is shared, and communication is non-violent. It means supporting women to\nbe economically empowered, and socially accepted as income-earners and\ndecision-makers in their homes, communities, and institutions. It means\nexpecting community members and leaders to stand up and speak out against\nviolence against women and girls; and stopping harmful stereotypes that blame\nwomen and girls for their experiences of violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third, we must respond to the\nwidespread violence by making sure that quality and essential health, social\nand justice services for survivors of GBV are maintained and adapted as needed\nduring COVID-19. This means VAWG services (shelters, legal assistance,\ncounselling, health responses) are funded, accessible to young women, women and\ngirls with disabilities, LGBTIQ persons, and adapted to reach women and girls\nwho might not be able to seek support. It also requires key institutions\nincluding all Ministries, Universities, companies and corporations working\ntogether to support action to prevent and create an environment in which\nviolence against women and girls is not tolerated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourth, we must collect and analyze\ndata that already exists to inform all efforts for EVAWG. This means making\nsure that crime data is disaggregated by sex, age and disability. It means\nusing data on VAWG reported to health workers, police, women\u2019s organizations\nand other service providers to allocate enough funds for programmes and support\nservices to operate. This also means that we do not need to collect new data on\nwomen\u2019s experiences of VAWG during the pandemic to know that violence is a\nproblem. We must remember that only 20% of women report their incidents of\nviolence to service providers and recognize that the problem is much larger\nthan the numbers reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similar to the struggle for\nindependence working across the three fronts of action, Timor-Leste can make\nhistory again by advancing these four areas for a future free of violence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, let us not only imagine this\nfuture, but invest in change. As individuals, we must call on our leaders to\nkeep this vision high on the national agenda. It must remain central to the\ncountry\u2019s development and cannot be moved to the margins of the COVID-19\nrecovery. As institutions, whether State bodies, the UN or other development\npartners, we must listen to women and girl survivors, individual advocates and\nfeminist movements. Their experiences are the realities that should guide our\npolicies and programmatic support. Within our communities and across society,\nwe must use our individual and collective positions of power and our space at\ndecision-making tables to work in solidarity for gender equality. A Timor-Leste\nfree of violence against women and girls can become a reality by 2030 and turn\ngender-based violence into a problem of the past. It requires all of us working\ntogether to make this vision a reality for all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

*United Nations Country Team in Timor-Leste (December 2020)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by United Nations Country Team in Timor-Leste Imagine if we no longer needed the 16 Days of Activism to draw attention to gender-based violence – one of the most widespread human rights violations around the world. Imagine if in 2030, the deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals and its Goal 5 target on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"amp_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analisa"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neonmetin.info\/buletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neonmetin.info\/buletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neonmetin.info\/buletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neonmetin.info\/buletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neonmetin.info\/buletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6176"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/neonmetin.info\/buletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6177,"href":"https:\/\/neonmetin.info\/buletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6176\/revisions\/6177"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neonmetin.info\/buletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neonmetin.info\/buletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neonmetin.info\/buletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neonmetin.info\/buletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}