100th anniversary of International Women's Day:AS MILLIONS celebrated the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day around the world the British government yesterday backed new EU-wide moves to combat violence against women.
Pensions and the ageing society minister Angela Eagle told talks in Brussels it was essential to work across borders to deal with an “appalling” crime.
The meeting of EU social affairs ministers came as the UK announced new incentives to protect vulnerable women, including a £4.3 million package of support for victims of violence with continued cash help for national helplines. Last week the European Commission launched a “Women’s Charter” on gender equality, setting out an EU commitment to combat all forms of violence against women.
Today’s first ministerial debate on the plan endorsed the move, with Ms Eagle insisting on the right of women “to live in safety and dignity in Europe” and free from the threat of violence. “If we’re to eradicate this appalling crime it’s vital that we work together at the EU level, not only to develop new measures, but also to share best practice,” she said.
Yesterday’s meeting ended with agreement to use EU social fund cash to help boost spending on programmes to combat violence against women.
Formal conclusions included a pledge by ministers to “identify and remedy any shortcomings in the protection of women who are victims of violence in any form, including female genital mutilation, and violence and oppression in the name of so-called honour; and ensure that there is no justification of violence on the grounds of customs, traditions or religious considerations.”
Governments agreed to take “the first steps” towards establishing a European Observatory on Violence Against Women and to consider standardising national legislation on “gender violence and violence against children”, while considering “additional legal instruments” aimed at eradicating violence against women.
Waris Dirie, the Somali nomad turned supermodel and special ambassador to the United Nation for the elimination of female genital mutilation, however, was sceptical about how much governments in Africa cared for the issue.
Speaking ahead of the premiere of a film, Desert Flower, based on her life story, she said: “Governments do not care about that type of thing. They do absolutely nothing to help.” That is why, she said, help needed to come from non-governmental organisations.
Dirie used her fame as a model to get the world to care about and fight against female circumcision. She, herself, underwent genital mutilation at the age of three together with her two sisters, who did not survive.
Yesterday a coalition of campaign groups, including Amnesty International, Save the Children, Mumsnet, White Ribbon Alliance and Oxfam, called on world leaders to give greater priority to maternal and child health. Pregnant women in developing countries face as great a risk of death in childbirth as British mothers-to-be did 100 years ago, they warned.
They noted that in 1910, 355 women per 100,000 live births in England and Wales died in labour or through pregnancy-related problems. The mortality rate for women giving birth today in the developing world is 450 women per 100,000.
In Chad the number of women dying in pregnancy or birth stands at 1,500 per 100,000 live births – around three times the rate for British women in 1910. – (PA)