08.04.05
Statements
UN HR Commission - 61st Session - Item 12 - Oral Statement by the OMCT Violence against Women Programme
Commission on Human Rights
61st Session – 14 March – 22 April 2005
Item 12: Violence against Women
Oral Statement by the OMCT Violence against Women Programme
Mr Chairperson,
The prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment is a peremptory norm of international law (jus cogens). However, the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT) notes on a daily basis that torture and ill-treatment of women persist in many countries around the world. Women have been denied equal protection against torture under both international and national law resulting in widespread impunity for the perpetrators.
Gender often has a determinative impact on the form that torture takes, the circumstances in which it occurs, its consequences, and the availability of and access to remedies for its victims. Women may experience torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in gender-specific ways or for reasons that are related to their gender. OMCT believes that it is essential that such gender-specificities are acknowledged and integrated into relevant United Nations human rights mechanisms and procedures at all levels. For this reason, OMCT urges the Commission to recognise the existing links between gender, torture and ill-treatment by ensuring that gender dimensions of torture and ill-treatment are adequately incorporated into the torture resolution and the resolution on violence against women.
Mr Chairperson,
OMCT would like to draw the attention of the Commission to the fact that in many countries around the world, women human rights defenders form a group that is especially vulnerable to violence. Like their male counterparts, women human rights defenders put themselves on the front line in promoting and protecting human rights, but in comparison they face additional risks related to their gender and the type of human rights they are working for.
In Mexico, Lydia Cacho Ribero, Centro de Crisis para Víctimas – Centro Integral de Atención a las Mujeres (CIAM), has been assisting women and girls victims of violence, on a legal and medical basis, for the last 18 years. However, because of her work Ms. Cacho Ribero has been the victim of threats and intimidation by the aggressors of the women and girls she has been helping. Although several complaints were filed with the police, no action was undertaken in order to protect her and the members of the Centre until international pressure was exerted. OMCT is also particularly concerned about reports of mistreatment and threats carried out by the investigating authorities and faced by women human rights defenders due to their work in favour of the murdered and disappeared women in Cuidad Juarez and Chihuahua.
Mr Chairperson,
OMCT also wishes to draw the attention of the Commission to sexual violence against women in the Democratic Republic of Congo during the five years of armed conflict and the on-going fighting in the eastern part of the country. Women are raped during military operations or raids by government soldiers, armed factions and criminal groups. OMCT is also gravely concerned about allegations of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation by UN peacekeepers. Most cases of rape go unreported due to the social stigma attached to sexual violence. Moreover, if reported, the rape cases are not adequately investigated, prosecuted, punished and repaired because of an incapacitated judicial system, which has favoured a climate of impunity, thus perpetuating sexual violence against women as a method of war.
Mr Chairperson,
Despite recent political changes in the country ushered in by the new political leadership, women in Kenya continue to suffer various forms of violence. In the absence of the much-awaited new constitution, Kenyan women do not benefit from any constitutional guarantees regarding their status, nor from any institutional safeguards of their fundamental human rights. Police officers have been reported to subject women to gender-based torture (including rape). In November 2004, two women explained how they had been arrested by two police officers, who subjected them to repeated physical violence and sexual abuse before raping one of them. Police officers are also on record as down playing and trivialising cases of rape and other forms of violence. OMCT is concerned about the reported impunity for perpetrators of acts of torture and the lack of gender sensitive approaches demonstrated by police officers.
Furthermore, OMCT is gravely concerned about the high numbers of girls who have been raped and subsequent impunity in Sri Lanka. OMCT remains worried by the fact that complaints of rape and other forms of torture have not been effectively investigated and prosecuted. OMCT has been informed of several cases where girls have been raped and even though complaints were filed, the police did not undertake any vigorous investigations and/or threatened the victims to withdraw their complaints. In some cases, the police tried to force the victim to change her statement in order to arrange for her to marry the perpetrator of the crime. OMCT fears that such failures to prosecute reflect a pattern of impunity in Sri Lanka for perpetrators of sexual violence, among other human rights violations.
OMCT would like to recall that States are obliged under international law to exercise due diligence in the prevention, investigation, prosecution and punishment of acts of violence against women. States should also provide reparations to victims of such crimes regardless of whether they were perpetrated by State actors or by private persons.
Mr Chairperson,
Finally, OMCT would like to congratulate the Special Rapporteur on violence against women for her continued efforts to investigate and to draw attention to the causes and consequences of violence against women. The Special Rapporteur was appointed in 1994 and now, more than 10 years later, OMCT insists on the absolute necessity of her mandate.The Commission should ensure that the Rapporteur is provided with adequate resources and should encourage continued co-operation between the Special Rapporteur and other thematic rapporteurs, such as the Special Rapporteur on torture and the Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial killings.
Thank you Mr Chairperson.
For further information concerning OMCT’s Violence Against Programme please contact the women’s desk at: cbb@omct.org or ak@omct.org.
61st Session – 14 March – 22 April 2005
Item 12: Violence against Women
Oral Statement by the OMCT Violence against Women Programme
Mr Chairperson,
The prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment is a peremptory norm of international law (jus cogens). However, the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT) notes on a daily basis that torture and ill-treatment of women persist in many countries around the world. Women have been denied equal protection against torture under both international and national law resulting in widespread impunity for the perpetrators.
Gender often has a determinative impact on the form that torture takes, the circumstances in which it occurs, its consequences, and the availability of and access to remedies for its victims. Women may experience torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in gender-specific ways or for reasons that are related to their gender. OMCT believes that it is essential that such gender-specificities are acknowledged and integrated into relevant United Nations human rights mechanisms and procedures at all levels. For this reason, OMCT urges the Commission to recognise the existing links between gender, torture and ill-treatment by ensuring that gender dimensions of torture and ill-treatment are adequately incorporated into the torture resolution and the resolution on violence against women.
Mr Chairperson,
OMCT would like to draw the attention of the Commission to the fact that in many countries around the world, women human rights defenders form a group that is especially vulnerable to violence. Like their male counterparts, women human rights defenders put themselves on the front line in promoting and protecting human rights, but in comparison they face additional risks related to their gender and the type of human rights they are working for.
In Mexico, Lydia Cacho Ribero, Centro de Crisis para Víctimas – Centro Integral de Atención a las Mujeres (CIAM), has been assisting women and girls victims of violence, on a legal and medical basis, for the last 18 years. However, because of her work Ms. Cacho Ribero has been the victim of threats and intimidation by the aggressors of the women and girls she has been helping. Although several complaints were filed with the police, no action was undertaken in order to protect her and the members of the Centre until international pressure was exerted. OMCT is also particularly concerned about reports of mistreatment and threats carried out by the investigating authorities and faced by women human rights defenders due to their work in favour of the murdered and disappeared women in Cuidad Juarez and Chihuahua.
Mr Chairperson,
OMCT also wishes to draw the attention of the Commission to sexual violence against women in the Democratic Republic of Congo during the five years of armed conflict and the on-going fighting in the eastern part of the country. Women are raped during military operations or raids by government soldiers, armed factions and criminal groups. OMCT is also gravely concerned about allegations of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation by UN peacekeepers. Most cases of rape go unreported due to the social stigma attached to sexual violence. Moreover, if reported, the rape cases are not adequately investigated, prosecuted, punished and repaired because of an incapacitated judicial system, which has favoured a climate of impunity, thus perpetuating sexual violence against women as a method of war.
Mr Chairperson,
Despite recent political changes in the country ushered in by the new political leadership, women in Kenya continue to suffer various forms of violence. In the absence of the much-awaited new constitution, Kenyan women do not benefit from any constitutional guarantees regarding their status, nor from any institutional safeguards of their fundamental human rights. Police officers have been reported to subject women to gender-based torture (including rape). In November 2004, two women explained how they had been arrested by two police officers, who subjected them to repeated physical violence and sexual abuse before raping one of them. Police officers are also on record as down playing and trivialising cases of rape and other forms of violence. OMCT is concerned about the reported impunity for perpetrators of acts of torture and the lack of gender sensitive approaches demonstrated by police officers.
Furthermore, OMCT is gravely concerned about the high numbers of girls who have been raped and subsequent impunity in Sri Lanka. OMCT remains worried by the fact that complaints of rape and other forms of torture have not been effectively investigated and prosecuted. OMCT has been informed of several cases where girls have been raped and even though complaints were filed, the police did not undertake any vigorous investigations and/or threatened the victims to withdraw their complaints. In some cases, the police tried to force the victim to change her statement in order to arrange for her to marry the perpetrator of the crime. OMCT fears that such failures to prosecute reflect a pattern of impunity in Sri Lanka for perpetrators of sexual violence, among other human rights violations.
OMCT would like to recall that States are obliged under international law to exercise due diligence in the prevention, investigation, prosecution and punishment of acts of violence against women. States should also provide reparations to victims of such crimes regardless of whether they were perpetrated by State actors or by private persons.
Mr Chairperson,
Finally, OMCT would like to congratulate the Special Rapporteur on violence against women for her continued efforts to investigate and to draw attention to the causes and consequences of violence against women. The Special Rapporteur was appointed in 1994 and now, more than 10 years later, OMCT insists on the absolute necessity of her mandate.The Commission should ensure that the Rapporteur is provided with adequate resources and should encourage continued co-operation between the Special Rapporteur and other thematic rapporteurs, such as the Special Rapporteur on torture and the Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial killings.
Thank you Mr Chairperson.
For further information concerning OMCT’s Violence Against Programme please contact the women’s desk at: cbb@omct.org or ak@omct.org.