CHAD:Mary Robinson tells Ruadhán Mac Cormaicthat violence against women in Darfur and eastern Chad is worsening dramatically
Levels of violence against women in Darfur and eastern Chad show that global efforts to address gender-based violence are more imperative than ever, former president Mary Robinson said yesterday.
Mrs Robinson, who is special adviser to the Irish Consortium on Gender Based Violence, a group that unites Irish Aid, the Defence Forces and NGOs, said it was "extremely worrying" that women were persistently targeted in such conflicts. "We have seen the situation worsening dramatically in both of these regions, with women and girls continuing to be subjected to high levels of violence," she said.
Addressing an event to launch the consortium's third-year programme, the former UN high commissioner for human rights praised the efforts made by the Government, Defence Forces and NGOs to incorporate issues such as discrimination at birth, domestic violence and sexual assault into their work in the developing world. She suggested the Government should encourage other countries to bring these issues into the wider development discourse.
Referring to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's planned visit to three African countries in January, she said it would be a very good idea if the Taoiseach were to speak out and highlight that this issue needed to be tackled. Rather than lecturing South Africa and Tanzania, we should say, "We take this seriously - we recognise it for ourselves, and we hope you find it useful that we do." she said.
Salome Mbugua of the African Women's Network said there were women in Ireland who suffered gender-based violence and asked that groups working to support them be included in the consortium, which currently comprises Irish Aid, the Defence Forces and 14 human rights and development groups.
On migration issues, which had a "direct link" with gender-based violence, Mrs Robinson said: "It is very evident that you need to have a strong gender approach to issues of migration, meaning looking at the differential impacts on men and women. Women are migrating more, they're migrating more on their own and they have much more experience of violence."
Trafficking was another issue that required close attention. "It's going to continue, unless there are much more opportunities for legal migration. The abuses of undocumented migration are just going to get worse and worse," she added.
Pam McHugh, the consortium's chairwoman, pointed to progress made by member organisations in prioritising gender-based violence at policy level and in field programmes. The Defence Forces now train all personnel on responses to these abuses before they leave on overseas missions, while Irish NGOs had in the past year focused on gender inequality, sexual abuse and rape in conflict areas, she said.
The meeting also heard from Mahdere Paulos, executive director of the Ethiopian Women Lawyers' Association, an advocacy group that has benefited from Irish Aid funding to support clients and highlight practices such as female genital mutilation and early marriage.