End Violence Against Women

Dr Wendi Momen came to Bury St Edmunds tonight to speak out in support of the UNIFEM campaign to End Violence Against Women. Cllr David Chappell hosted the meeting, in his role as Chair of the local UNA association, which took place at the Friends Meeting House, St John's St, Bury St Edmunds.

Wendi Momen holds a BSc in Economics and a Ph.D. in International Relations, both from the London School of Economics. She has been a Justice of the Peace since 1982 and is a founder member of the European Baha'i Business Forum, of which she is Secretary-General.

She has attended UN summits and conferences from 1994 to the present, including the UN Summit on Social Development in 1995 in Copenhagen, the Beijing Fourth Conference on Women in 1995, the Second United Nations

Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) in Istanbul in 1996 and the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002, as well as the annual Commission on the Status of Women in New York over many

years.

She is also secretary and Trustee of the UK National Committee for UNIFEM (UNIFEM NC UK) and Vice President of the Eastern Region of the United Nations Association and immediate past Chair of the One World Trust.

The meeting was full with representatives of many organisations in the town including the Women's Institute. Wendi gave an interesting discussion on her experiences around the world and the problems women face and the steps that the UN were taking to promote and support women, which were leading to direct improvements in communities around the world and helping to end poverty.

David Chappell then chaired a lively question and answer session.

WHAT IS UNIFEM?

UNIFEM is the women's fund at the United Nations. It supports projects that promote women's economic security, human rights and status.

The role of the UK National Committee for UNIFEM (UNIFEM UK), the organisation representing UNIFEM in the UK, is to:

· Raise awareness of women's issues across the world

· Raise money to fund UNIFEM projects

· Lobby the UK Government in support of UNIFEM

Ending Violence Against Women

Violence against women is a universal problem and one of the most widespread violations of human rights. One in three women will suffer some form of violence in her lifetime, becoming part of an epidemic that devastates lives, fractures communities and stalls development. Despite some progress on this issue over the past decade, its horrendous scale remains mostly unacknowledged. New dimensions include the global trafficking of women and girls.

UNIFEM Responds: Strategies That Make a Difference

UNIFEM works on several fronts to interrupt the cycle of violence against women, with an overall objective of linking violence to the source that feeds it: gender inequality. UNIFEM multiplies the power of its groundbreaking strategies through advocacy campaigns and close partnerships with governments, women's groups and other branches of the UN system.

Protective laws and national actions: In a number of countries, UNIFEM works with its partners on establishing legal frameworks to combat violence. Laws must be followed up with plans for specific national actions, which is why UNIFEM is active in this area as well.

Measuring the problem: UNIFEM has been at the forefront of supporting data collection and research on violence against women. Much of this information would otherwise not exist, making it impossible to understand the scope of the problem, or devise the means to stop it.

Prevention: Strategies to stop violence before it starts are essential, but lack resources and visibility. UNIFEM supports prevention initiatives from the local to the international level, including in conflict and post-conflict situations where violence against women is prevalent and horrific.

Support for women's organisations: Women's organisations have developed some of the most creative and effective responses to violence, often in societies where the problem is otherwise largely ignored. UNIFEM helps draw attention and resources to these efforts, and brings the voices of activists together across countries and on to the international stage.

The Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women: Housed within UNIFEM, the Trust Fund offer grants to innovative projects run by community, national and regional organizations. With relatively modest sums, grantees have passed new laws, trained police, and involved men and boys in stopping violence. The Trust Fund also collects and shares information about effective strategies that can be replicated or implemented on a larger scale.

At Work Around the World

Africa

In Somaliland, after UNIFEM distributed advocacy materials and held an intensive three-month judiciary training session, the House of Traditional Leaders countered traditional practice by condemning forced marriages for rape victims. A Trust Fund initiative in Uganda has worked with the police to set up special units for investigating cases of violence, coordinating with civic leaders and sensitizing communities. Trust Fund support across the region to FEMNET has led to the creation of a men's network to combat violence again women and promote gender equality.

Arab States

UNIFEM joined the UN Development Programme and the UN Population Fund to support a national strategy in Morocco to combat gender-based violence. It has resulted in changes to the penal code, with stronger provisions on domestic violence and rape. UN and bilateral donors also use the strategy to coordinate their anti-violence efforts in the country.

Asia and the Pacific

UNIFEM has helped established trauma counselling centres along trafficking corridors in Bangladesh, India and Nepal, as well as anti-trafficking committees in villages. In Lao PDR, after Trust Fund support enabled the Women's Union to compile compelling evidence of the extent of gender-based violence, the government asked the Union to draft a domestic violence bill that was passed into law. Trust Fund grants in China have replicated pilot complaint stations and shelters across several provinces, and encouraged the government to set up a national group for coordinating efforts to protect women and children.

Central and Eastern Europe

A UNIFEM-backed campaign has reached millions of people with messages about violence, and collected the region's first comparable data on violence in nine countries. In Latvia and Russia, UNIFEM has trained anti-trafficking experts, and devised a tool kit for preventing youth trafficking.

Latin America and the Caribbean

UNIFEM, the Pan American Health Organization and other partners have collaborated on a regional project that recommended key components of laws against gender-based violence as a basis for legal reforms. In Peru, UNIFEM's assistance to victims raped during the country's internal conflict included reaching out to men in affected communities to help them respond supportively to victims' emotional trauma.