At last, International Women's Day can offer hope to the abused and tortured, writes Mary Robinson
A cloak of silence covers one of the world's most widespread and persistent human rights abuses. The perpetrators are seldom brought to justice. In some societies, they are even granted impunity.
The abuse is gender-based violence. The victims are mainly women and children. The root causes lie in the imbalance in power relations and gender inequality.
Today - being International Women's Day - offers an opportunity to reflect on gender-based violence: Why is it that so few want to talk about it? And why does responding to it meet with complacency at all levels in our global society?
The scale of gender-based violence and failure by the international community to respond adequately do not sit comfortably. It is a global crisis. In Thailand, 14 per cent of GDP comes from prostitution and sex trafficking. There are 15,000 dowry deaths in India each year and most are kitchen fires designed to look like accidents. In Liberia, three out of every four women were raped during the conflict. About 50,000 women and children are trafficked into America each year from poorer countries. In Russia, 36,000 women are beaten on a daily basis by their husband or partner.
The fact that women have been absent from positions of power and decision-making for so long has contributed to a failure to prioritise action on gender-based violence.
Even those of us in positions of power have not adequately mobilised the political will necessary to tackle this issue.
Without strong voices willing to tackle this issue - at community and highest political levels - we will never see sight of an end to these human rights violations.
Some months ago, arising from an Amnesty International initiative, a consortium of Irish humanitarian, development and human rights NGOs - in partnership with Irish Aid in the Department of Foreign Affairs - asked me to work with them to help make Ireland a global leader in tackling gender-based violence.
Together we discussed how individual actions will never succeed in ending violations. Instead, co-ordinated and systematic action is needed. The challenge, we agreed, is daunting.
Gender-based violence takes many forms: rape, trafficking, and domestic violence pervade every society in the world. Forced labour and harmful practices - like female genital mutilation - are widespread.
In conflict zones, rape is used as a weapon of war. Apart from the psychological pain of that abuse, many victims have been left with serious health consequences, including HIV infection. As I learned when I visited Rwanda, up to 500,000 women and girls were raped during the 1994 genocide. Of those not subsequently murdered, 67 per cent are now HIV-positive.
In humanitarian situations - even under the "protective" eye of international organisations - women and children are forced to trade sex for safe passage and access to basic necessities such as water, food and shelter.
The perpetrators of these crimes are often in positions of trust and have been found to include teachers, army, police and humanitarian agency staff. In some cases, the abuses are unofficially endorsed and promoted by governments.
While the scale and prevalence of gender-based abuses seem overwhelming, I am hugely optimistic that the organisations who have made this challenge a core objective will make a significant difference. Indeed, since this consortium was launched in November, more organisations have signed up.
There are now 13 Irish organisations working together to lead the global fight against gender-based violence. One of the newest members - I am proud to say - is the Defence Forces.
As part of the ongoing need for awareness raising and education on gender-based violence, the UN special rapporteur on violence against Women, Dr Yakin Erturk, and Minister Conor Lenihan will launch a photographic exhibition and educational CD today.
From here on, aid agency staff, departmental officials and members of the Defence Forces who take part in humanitarian programmes will learn about gender-based violence before they embark on missions.
Over the coming months, the consortium will prioritise investment in programmes that seek to eliminate inequality and discrimination. In the field, there will be greater co-operation among Irish agencies to help identify and tackle abuses.
All the while, a persistent campaign will be mounted at UN, EU, national and local levels to secure acknowledgement that widespread violations are taking place.
This way, real and meaningful response can be developed and implemented.
This year, International Women's Day offers hope to those who are abused and tortured. I am very proud that Ireland is taking this lead in seeking to end gender-based violence, and I feel privileged to be associated with the challenge.
This Women's Day, I urge you to become more aware of gender-based violence by visiting www.gbv.ie or drop by the Broken Bodies, Broken Dreams photographic exhibition at Filmbase in Temple Bar which runs until March 20th.
• Mary Robinson is director of the Ethical Globalisation Initiative. She is special adviser to the Irish Consortium of NGOs and Government Agencies on Gender Based Violence. The consortium includes: Action Aid Ireland, Amnesty International, ChildFund Ireland, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, Defence Forces, Dtalk, Glencree Centre, Goal, Irish Aid (Department of Foreign Affairs), Oxfam Ireland, Self Help Development International, and Trócaire.