November 25, 2014 - Not only is violence against women and girls a grave violation of human rights, it is also a significant barrier to achieving equality between women and men, peaceful societies and sustainable development. Sexual and gender-based violence prevents women and girls from reaching their full potential and contributing to their communities and countries. The physical, psychological, economic and social costs of violence against women are devastating: girls drop out school, diseases like HIV/AIDS spread more easily, higher numbers of mothers and children die needlessly, poverty grows. Yet, we live in a world where, according to the World Health Organization, one in three women experiences physical or sexual assault in their lifetime.
At different times in their lives, women and girls are at risk of experiencing different forms of violence: child, early and forced marriage, female genital mutilation, forced prostitution and trafficking, physical, emotional or sexual abuse, and sexual violence and rape. In fragile and conflict-affected communities and where extremism and terrorism fester, women and girls are particularly vulnerable as sexual and gender-based violence is often used as a tactic of war.
We know that violence against women is driven by persistent and intersecting forms of discrimination against women and the unequal social status of women and men and girls and boys. But we also know that women and girls are powerful agents of change. When women and girls are empowered and when gender inequalities are addressed, people are safer and healthier, opportunities for development expand and everyone benefits. We also know that educated girls are less likely to marry early, suffer domestic violence and live in poverty. Promoting equality between women and men has a multiplier effect on advancing all of our development goals.
That’s why the Harper Government takes a comprehensive approach to promoting and protecting the human rights of women and girls in line with the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Gender equality is also integrated in all of Canada’s international development programming and humanitarian assistance efforts because we know that sexual and gender-based violence is ultimately about the status of women in our societies.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, where sexual violence is widespread, Canada supported a comprehensive approach to fighting sexual violence. Since 2006, over 60,000 survivors of sexual and gender-based violence received health and psycho-social support and care, 15,000 survivors acquired new skills to help them earn a decent living, 5,000 survivors received legal assistance, and hundreds of perpetrators were convicted. To build on these results, Canada is now working to increase access to justice in underserved areas, establish appropriate mechanisms to investigate sexual crimes and prosecute offenders, and build the capacity and independence of the judiciary in order to ensure that offenders are brought to justice.
Our government is also supporting a United Nations Population Fund initiative to prevent sexual and gender-based violence during humanitarian crises and emergencies. The project is delivering training on survivor-centred care and working to improve the quality of and women’s access to the services they need to survive sexual violence.
Violence against women and girls is not inevitable. By advancing gender equality and empowering women and girls, we can—with persistence and through collective global efforts—eliminate discrimination and violence against women. By doing this, women and girls will enjoy their full human rights, we will make progress toward sustainable development for all, and we will improve peace and security in the world.
Christian Paradis
Minister of International Development and Minister for La Francophonie
