Lynne Featherstone's message for International Women's Day #IWD

 DFID Minister Lynne Featherstone has been in New York this week at the UN working with other countries to tackle violence against women. There's a nifty map which shows exactly where our money is helping women across the world.

This was her message to Scotland - remember DFID head office is here, in East Kilbride - for International Women's Day.

Scottish society has a strong history of supporting International Women's Day by celebrating the achievements of women and girls against the barriers of discrimination and inequality as well as showing solidarity with those who continue to face various forms of oppression.

There are women and girls around the world who are shot at simply for campaigning for girls education; raped while collecting water in a refugee camp; or attacked by their partner after his team lost the match.

I've long been a campaigner for gender equality at home, and as the UK Government's champion for tackling violence against women overseas, it infuriates me that across the world one in three women is beaten or sexually abused in her lifetime. Whilst reading this you will probably think of a friend or family member, a colleague or client who is a victim.

Enough is enough and we must stand up and work together to eliminate violence against women and girls.

The Coalition Government will be stepping up our efforts to tackle gender-based violence. We want to galvanise a global movement, which is why it will be a priority during our Presidency of the G8 throughout 2013. In particular, we are looking to secure new commitments from some of the world's most powerful nations to tackle sexual violence in conflict.

Earlier this week I represented the UK at the annual meeting of the UN Commission on the Status of Women and lobbied other governments to agree a common set of global standards to protect women and girls from discrimination and violence. When CSW ends next week, I hope my efforts will not have been in vain.

The UK's Department for International Development, with a head office in East Kilbride, is working in 21 countries to directly address violence against women. We have launched a new fund for research that will collect evidence of violence against women and girls from ten countries in Africa and Asia to help understand the causes of violence and shape new methods of prevention. In our Afghanistan country plan we have put a greater emphasis on initiatives to tackle violence against women and girls and ensure that the progressive gains for women and girls are not lost but built on.

On Tuesday I announced a new £35 million DFID programme to support an African-led movement to end Female Genital Mutilation. Like foot-binding in China, I believe we can end this harmful practice within a generation.

These are just some of the initiatives the UK Government is leading on, but there is always more we can do.
These are just some of the initiatives the UK Government is leading on, but there is always more we can do.

In memory of Reeva Steenkamp

Yesterday, in South Africa, a young woman was fatally shot. 29 year old Reeva Steenkamp had a successful career as a model, most notably with FHM magazine.

Her Twitter account speaks of someone not only enjoying life, but also aware of the problems of others. One  particularly heartbreaking tweet, from Sunday, says:

I woke up in a safe, happy home this morning. Not everyone does. Speak out against the rape of individuals.

We also know from Twitter that Steenkamp planned to wear black today in support "against rape and woman abuse". South Africa has, to put it mildly, a real problem with violence against women which has been highlighted over the past few weeks. She had previously highlighted the funeral of a 17 year old who had been gang raped and murdered with the words "RIP Princess."

It means a great deal when a role model for women takes these issues seriously.

But we haven't heard much about Reeva in the news. It's all been about the man charged with her murder, Oscar Pistorius,a man deemed fit to have a firearm despite previous police involvement over domestic violence. The biggest loser, in all of this, apparently, according to a man on BBC Breakfast, is the paralympic movement. Err,no. A young woman has been murdered. It's a bit more serious than that. The internet and the media are full of inappropriate plays on words - and the Sun has sunk to its usual depths by putting the most scantily clad photo it could find on its front page. And what's been particularly good to see is that our own George Potter was namechecked by John Prescott for complaining to their newsdesk. It's about time that paper found some respect and decorum.

It's not asking too much to expect that the focus should be on the young woman who lost her life in such horrible circumstances.

Hussein-Ece and Brinton on stalking, under-representation of women and gender based violence

November 25th saw the UN's International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. This occasion was marked by a debate in the House of Lords last Thursday.

Just reading the Hansard account of the debate made me feel sick. There was a former surgeon describe the hours of surgery it took to reconstruct one woman's face after a violent attack by her partner. There were descriptions of how girls as young as 12 were subjected to Female Genital Mutilation in this country despite laws against it. Where is the worst place in the world to be a woman? Reputedly a province in the Democratic Republic of Congo where 40 women are raped every day. In India, 50% of men and women believe that wife-beating is justified if a woman disrespects her in-laws or neglects the house.

Two Liberal Democrat peers spoke in the Debate. Sal Brinton wrote for Liberal Democrat Voice in 2008 about the awful campaign of intimidation and harassment inflicted on her and other Watford Liberal Democrats by Ian Oakley. In the week the new Anti-Stalking law came into force, she talked about what that would mean for people who had been in her situation:

I give my personal thanks to all Ministers who supported this legislation as it progressed through Parliament, and particularly to Lynne Featherstone, who made it a priority to champion the fight against violence against women in any form. It remains essential that we hear the voices of the victims and assess the risks to them. An anti-stalking law is only as effective as those who enforce it. The culture change proposed in the new law may take a while to implement, but I am sure that now we have a tool that can give women peace of mind and safety from the persistent nightmare of stalkers.

Meral Hussein-Ece made some very important points about the underlying culture. Having laws giving women rights is one thing, but if men still dominate the law enforcement organisations, these laws are unlikely to be implemented as well as they could be. She recounted how she  had been threatened for trying to help women:

 Recently, a high-profile, educated woman from the Indian sub-continent told me of an incident where a senior official casually in conversation talked of how when he beat his wife, she knew what she had done wrong. This is by no means an unusual attitude and is not necessarily confined to poorer communities. I experienced threats of violence myself some years ago, when I set up the first project and centre to support Turkish and Kurdish women who experienced violence in the UK, from the very men who perpetrated that violence against women and their family behind closed doors, or who, often in the name of their so-called honour, which, as we all know, is dishonour, tried to control women by using violent methods.

Having laws in place is not enough. We need those laws to be properly implemented. We know that legislatures and enforcement authorities are usually dominated by men who often do not see this issue as a priority. We must do better to protect women and prevent this pervasive human rights violation.

She went on to add that we hadn't quite got it right in the UK yet either, citing media portrayal of women and its consequences:

Here in the UK, we are still working hard to eliminate and educate people in our society to change behaviour and attitudes, but according to the NSPCC sadly one in three teenage girls experience sexual violence from their boyfriends. We need to look at how women are being portrayed in some sections of the media, particularly in online sites.

If you ever wondered why I go on about this stuff as much as I do, the transcript of the debate will give you a good idea. Every day women are beaten, raped, mutilated or killed, denied education and denied their equal right to power and participation in government. That's not a situation we should tolerate, either here or internationally.

The Independent on Sunday's  Christmas appeal this year is in aid of Refuge, a charity which supports women and children who have been through domestic violence. Yesterday actor Sir Patrick Stewart told of his experience of having to protect his mother from his violent father. A few newspaper articles and a debate on a Thursday evening alone won't change things for the many women whose lives are made intolerable. It will take sustained national and international effort for many years to come. Everyone involved in politics should be working towards the aim of eliminating violence against women.

For heaven's sake, this is about violence against women and children, not breakfast foods, BBC!

The BBC should be ashamed of itself:

Headline 1: Perth man in court for alarming tomato sauce incident

Headline 2: Perth man in court over thrown black pudding incident

You would think, wouldn't you, that the Fair City has somehow been caught up in some massive food fight.

No. Go and read the two stories.

One involves a 10 year old girl being kicked and a really alarming display of violence. The other involves repeated domestic abuse of a woman.

Yet the BBC trivialises shocking incidents of violence against women and children by making it seem all about breakfast food.

When are the media going to take violence against women seriously? All domestic violence is traumatic and destructive and not for making light of. I'd expect this sort of thing from the Daily Fail, not our public service broadcaster.

Thanks to my friend Allan for pointing me in the direction of these stories on Facebook. He's proved that his brain is not made entirely of smut and innuendo by doing so.

MEP McMillan-Scott presses Obama on US aid for rape victims

Last week I wrote on Liberal Democrat Voice about my chat with Liberal Democrat MEP for Yorkshire and the Humber Edward McMillan-Scott. He told me how the EU human rights body he leads has been helping the rebels in Syria with communications equipment for a while.

I was particularly impressed to read this week how he and fellow European Parliament Vice President Alexander Alvaro have written to President Obama to ask him to rescind the US policy of not allowing any US aid to go towards funding abortions, not even when women and girls have been raped in situations of armed conflict.

I can only imagine the immense suffering of the many women and girls who are so brutally violated in this way. For that to end in a pregnancy, and for them to be forced to continue with that pregnancy is physical and psychological torture. Imagine how you would feel in that circumstance. The Global Justice Center has a much more detailed Q & A on the effects of this policy.

As the letter from McMillan Scott and Alvaro says:

The rights of the “wounded and sick” to comprehensive medical care are guaranteed by common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, Articles 10 & 16 of Additional Protocol I, Articles 7 & 10 of Additional Protocol II, Article 14 of the Convention against Torture, and customary international law. Yet, despite these clear mandates, girls and women impregnated by rape in armed conflict are being routinely denied abortions in humanitarian medical settings. Many believe this is due to the global effect of the US prohibitions. Rape victims are the only category of war victims who are systematically denied their rights to complete medical care.

The failure to provide abortions to rape victims, who are also considered torture victims, can itself constitute torture and/or cruel and inhuman treatment, imposing serious consequences for these victims, including forcing continued pregnancy and dangerous child bearing, suicide, or unsafe abortions. The US prohibition contains no life or rape exceptions. 

They call on Obama to issue an Executive Order explicitly lifting the restrictions on these funds being used for abortions, thus giving these women access to total medical care.

Often the only people shouting about human rights for women and girls are female politicians. Hillary Clinton has been very good as Secretary of State and for decades before on these issues, but you rarely hear Obama, David Cameron, William Hague or even Nick Clegg mentioning them. I'm glad, therefore, to see these prominent MEPs taking such a strong line.

The letter in full is published below for the sake of completeness.

We write to you as concerned Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament, who share a common view that ensuring the rights of persons “wounded and sick” in armed conflict under the Geneva Conventions is critical to our international legal order. We echo the concerns of those signatories to the amicus brief filed by the UK and European parliamentarians in the Hamdan v. Rumsfeld case, urging the US Supreme Court to apply common Article 3 to review the US military commissions and indeed are some of the same signatories. We applaud the United States’ commitment to advancing global implementation of the laws of war, a key example being your Executive Order revoking the “torture memos” to ensure that the US is in compliance with its obligations under the Geneva Conventions and the Convention Against Torture (CAT).

We urge you to reaffirm this commitment by lifting the US “no abortion” clause put on all US foreign aid, including humanitarian medical aid directed for girls and women raped in conflict. This violates the rights of girls and women impregnated by rape in armed conflict who are “wounded and sick” persons entitled to non-discriminatory and comprehensive medical care, including abortions, under international humanitarian law (IHL). The ongoing and systemic use of rape as a weapon of war is a matter of global concern; ensuring that the laws of war are fully enforced to guarantee the rights of victims of rape in conflict is of paramount importance.

The rights of the “wounded and sick” to comprehensive medical care are guaranteed by common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, Articles 10 & 16 of Additional Protocol I, Articles 7 & 10 of Additional Protocol II, Article 14 of the Convention against Torture, and customary international law. Yet, despite these clear mandates, girls and women impregnated by rape in armed conflict are being routinely denied abortions in humanitarian medical settings. Many believe this is due to the global effect of the US prohibitions. Rape victims are the only category of war victims who are systematically denied their rights to complete medical care.

The failure to provide abortions to rape victims, who are also considered torture victims, can itself constitute torture and/or cruel and inhuman treatment, imposing serious consequences for these victims, including forcing continued pregnancy and dangerous child bearing, suicide, or unsafe abortions. The US prohibition contains no life or rape exceptions.

Although States in armed conflict have the primary obligation to provide care for war victims, common Article 1 of the Geneva Conventions mandates all states to “respect” and “ensure respect” for the Geneva Conventions in all circumstances, including with respect to the provision of humanitarian aid. Further, all states have positive obligations to address violations of the Geneva Conventions.

The European Union's focus on women's rights within the "EU guidelines on violence against women and girls and combating all forms of discrimination against them", which aims at the particular support of female victims.

Additionally, we support the recommendation made by Norway during the Universal Periodic Review of the US at the Human Rights Council in November 2010 that the US “remov[e] blanket abortion restrictions on humanitarian aid covering medical care given women and girls who are raped and impregnated in situations of armed conflict.”

Further, we urge you to issue an executive order explicitly lifting the restrictions on abortion services for victims of war, thereby ensuring that US humanitarian aid relieves human suffering. We note that this is a letter in formation as we are seeking further support from our colleagues in the European Parliament.

Yours sincerely,

Alexander Alvaro, MEP                                              Edward McMillan-Scott, MEP

Vice-President of the European Parliament                                  Vice-President of the European Parliament

Panorama shows plight of Afghan Women

Last night I settled down to watch Panorama, knowing that I'd find it absolutely horrendous to see its depiction of the terrible repression in Afghanistan.

Reporter Jane Corbin had been to Afghanistan and had interviewed women who had suffered terrible brutality, who showed incredible bravery in speaking out about their ordeals. My 10 year old daughter came in to the room just as 17 year old Saida was explaining how she'd been married off at the age of 9, sold by her brothers to a 60 year old man who beat her and forced her into prostitution. It took her 7 years to excape this vile creature. Anna was quite shocked by the contrast between her carefree life, reflecting on the fun we'd had altogether at a fruit picking farm, where the most taxing thing she had to do was help her daddy find a way through the maze, and the lives of these young girls her age thousands of miles away.

Then there was Zeinab, who had set herself alight after years of beatings from her husband and who saw no alternative but to return to him after she recovered.

We heard that despite the law, the majority of marriages are forced, that 80% of women face domestic violence, and, not at all coincidentally, the same proportion is illiterate, yet in this climate of oppression, courageous and inspiring women look to the future. There's the lawyer, Maria, who has armed guards outside her house after the Taleban tried to blow her up to stop her working. There's Maryam, driven out of her village after winning second prize in the Afghan version of Dragon's Den and who plans to use her winnings to build a factory and employ women - which she can only do if their husbands consent but which will show women that there's another way to live where they can have a say in their own destiny. There's the young MP, frustrated at the Government's failure to make progress on women's rights.

I was particularly moved by the 13 year old girl who was determined to continue her education and become a doctor. When asked what would happen if she was forced into marriage, she said that her husband would just have to let her continue her studies. I hope her idealism is not in vain and she gets the chance to do that.

Depressingly, there was also the only woman remaining in President Hamid Karzai's cabinet. She looked resigned and almost uncomfortable as she spouted the Party line -that cultural change doesn't happen overnight and could take decades. I suspect it'll take a good bit longer than that if men can get away with beating and raping their wives, never having to fear prosecution because they'll likely be able to bribe their way out of it. Presumably the Minister's willingness to comply was the reason she was the sole woman in office.

We also heard that President Karzai's wife is herself a doctor, who could show an example to other women - remember these powerful images of Mousavi's wife in Iran and how that turned the election - but who is not allowed by her husband to appear in public.

I think what made me most uncomfortable, though, was the fact that they were showing the footage of women's situation to the mother of a soldier who died there. At the end, Jane Corbin asked her more than once whether she thought her son had died in vain given the treatment of women in Afghanistan. It looked like they were pushing her to say that he had, which I felt was a bit insensitive and unfair.

I think what the programme showed was that the Afghan Government, despite having the benefit of thousands of international forces to help them, is only able to pay lip service to the laws guaranteeing equality and fairness to all. It's surely time for President Obama and Gordon Brown to put more pressure on whoever the President is after the elections to put its words into actions and stop the terrible abuses faced by most Afghan women.

Britain's Got Talent Shame - When did stripping become mainstream family entertainment?

I know that I can usually be trusted to watch every reality show known to man, but I've never quite got Britain's Got Talent. My daughter loves it, though, especially the acts that, predictably, involve cute animals.

What I wasn't prepared for in last night's opening show of the new series was the final act they showed. Effectively, the woman gyrating on the stage in red stockings, suspenders and basque with strategically placed Union Jacks round her bum and bosom was a stripper. For all that people use the term "burlesque" to make this sort of activity sound exotic, in the end of the say, it still represents a massive disrespect to women.

I want my daughter to grow up with an idea that there are no barriers to what she can achieve based on her gender. It makes it all the more difficult if her future male partners or employers are being raised on the idea that women are merely there to be men's sexual playthings.

I am halfway through watching a series channel 4 did last week on the effects of pornography on secondary school students' perception of sex. It's very, very scary stuff although it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to work out the effects of the almost universal access to porn on the internet.

Predictably, girls felt pressure to have come up to the image and behaviour of female porn stars. Given that the entire porn industry pretty much is targetted at straight men, then a whole generation of boys is being taught that women are there to perform a subjugated rather than an equal role in a sexual relationship.

Not only that, but the boys who are watching porn will presumably go to work one day. How are they going to respect their female colleagues as equals if they have been brought up to see them as subservient architects of their sexual gratification?

When I was a student, and first got interested in these issues, porn was limited to some dodgy under the counter videos and top shelf magazines and to get anything really explicit you had to go to a sex shop. Now, for most of our kids, it's a few clicks away.

The inclusion of these acts in a family entertainment show brings the seedy world of the lapdancing club into our living rooms. I leave you with some thoughts on why that is not a good idea. If you haven't got time to look at those links, then the edited version is that reports of rape in the vicinity of lapdancing clubs are up by a third and of indecent assault are up by over 50%.

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