Global Action Needed To Reduce Violence Against Women, UNFPA Executive Director Obaid Says At Campaign Launch

November 30, 2006 – 11:12 pm | posted in Women's Health / OBGYN

U.N. Population Fund Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid on Friday ahead of Saturday’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women called for worldwide action to protect women from all forms of gender-based violence, AFP/Yahoo! News reports. Obaid made the comments ahead of the launch on Saturday of a 16-day U.N.-backed campaign against gender-based violence. According to UNFPA, thousands of girls and women annually are the victims of so-called “honor” killings in Asia and Africa, and 60 million girls in many countries are “missing” because of sex-selective abortions or neglect. In addition, at least 130 million women have undergone female genital mutilation against their will, and an additional two million women might be at risk of undergoing genital mutilation annually, according to UNFPA. The agency during the campaign plans to join with women’s rights organizations to boost efforts to address human rights violations and make recommendations on legislative reforms and providing safe havens for girls escaping forced marriages and other forms of gender violence. “We are working with partners to end impunity, to promote and protect the rights of women, including the right to sexual and reproductive health, and to foster equal opportunity, participation and decision-making,” Obaid said (AFP/Yahoo! News, 11/25). Highlighted Issues
UNFPA released fact sheets on five gender violence-related issues the agency says are underreported:

  • Bridenapping: The abduction, rape and forced marriage of young women throughout Central Asia;
  • Breast-ironing: A traditional practice in several West African countries that involves crushing the breasts of young girls to discourage male attention;
  • Child marriage: The forced marriage of young girls usually to older men, which puts such girls at increased risk of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted infections;
  • Femicide: The “wholesale murder and mutilation” of Guatemalan women, according to UNFPA; and
  • Traumatic fistula: The tearing of tissues between the birth canal and the bowel or bladder that often is caused by gang rape. The experience can leave girls and women emotionally traumatized, incontinent and ostracized, according to UNFPA (UNFPA release, 11/23).

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