WILPF has the honour of delivering this statement on behalf of 27 CSOs. We applaud the ambitious and complementary thematic priorities proposed by the Special Rapporteur in her first annual report to the Council and we congratulate her in her appointment.
We welcome the Special Rapporteur’s attention to:
1) closing the implementation gap on violence against women under the aegis of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and;
2) the use of data as a tool for prevention through the establishment of “femicide watch”.
Femicide is the most heinous manifestation of patriarchy and violent masculinities. The creation of a femicide watch could, for example, further analyse the correlation between widespread possession of firearms and femicide rates.
To end with this scourge, multi-sectorial policies and norms need to be adopted, including in the area of the regulation of the possession and use of firearms.
To address the intersecting concerns of civic space, violence and systematic gender based discrimination against women, we encourage the Special Rapporteur to strengthen her engagement with mandate holders dedicated to promoting and protecting rights critical to civil society, including the special rapporteurs on human rights defenders, expression and association and assembly, as well as interlinking Goal 5 and Goal 16 of the 2030 Agenda. We encourage the Special Rapporteur to prioritise citizen-generated data.
We also commemorate the loss and celebrate the pioneering activism of Berta Cáceres from Honduras, whose murder on 2nd March 2016 is emblematic of the severe violations WHRDs face due to their identity and work.
Finally, Mr President, we remain firmly committed to supporting the implementation of the crucial initiatives set forth by the Special Rapporteur and urge all Member States to pledge their explicit support to her mandate with resources, country visit facilitation, by responding timely to all communications and putting into action her recommendation on the creation of a Femicide Watch. We further encourage the Special Rapporteur to look deeper into how violence against women may be prevented by increasing the control of weapons.
Supported by:
- ActionAid
- All Girls Foundation for Development (Yemen)
- Alliance to End Early Child and Forced Marriages (Pakistan)
- Association of Development Agencies (Jamaica)
- AWAZ Center for Development Services (Pakistan)
- Alliance of Women in Development (AWID)
- Blue Veins (Pakistan)
- Center for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance (Egypt)
- CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
- Consorcio para el Diálogo Parlamentario y la Equidad Oaxaca A.C (Mexico)
- FATA Comssion for Human Rights (Pakistan)
- FATA NGOs Consortium (Pakistan)
- Forum Mulher (Mozambique)
- HURISA (South Africa)
- International Civil Society Network
- International Service for Human Rights
- International Solidarity Committee, MINBYUN-Lawyers for a Democratic Society
- Mawjoudin (Tunisia)
- MEN UNiTE, Pakistan
- National Action Coordination Group (NACG KP/FATA)
- Pakhtunkhwa Civil Society Network (PCSN)
- People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy
- Strategic Advocacy for Human Rights
- Sisters’ Arab Forum for Human Rights (SAF), Yemen
- TransAction Alliance
- WILPF
- Women Action Forum