UN human rights chief calls for time on ‘economic violence’ against women and girls
In his opening remarks at a full-day session dedicated to women and human rights, Mr. Türk said there had been “extraordinary progress” thanks to the women’s movement around the world.
But the fact that a separate council on gender-based violence needed to be convened showed that progress was “hard-won and fragile”, he added.
The meeting focused on the so-called economic violence as part of a broader pattern of gender-based violence occurs when a woman or girl is denied access to financial resources as a form of abuse or control.
Mr. Türk noted that one in three women have experienced some form of violence – physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence – at least once in their lives.
“If one in three men globally were to suffer such devastating and widespread harm, an emergency summit would be convened.“, he say.
Unseen, uncontrolled
The High Commissioner said economic violence often goes undetected or unchecked but can be as harmful as physical violence because it often involves forms of control, exploitation and destruction.
“While economic violence often occurs in the home, it can also be enabled and implemented by the State through discriminatory legal frameworks This limits women’s access to credit, employment, social protection or property and land ownership,” he said.
Mr. Türk stated that global efforts to achieve gender equality have so far failed, pointing out that 3.9 billion women worldwide face legal barriers that affect their economic participation and that women earn only 77 cents for every dollar paid to men, among other inequalities.
It’s time to start over
Mr. Türk said that a thorough overhaul of discriminatory laws and practices is needed to end economic violence.
“Gender equality needs to be actively promoted through laws governing all areas of life, and policy measures are needed to ensure these laws are applied,” he said.
Furthermore, he said stronger efforts were needed to ensure that survivors of economic violence could seek justice and assistance.
“There needs to be better complaints mechanisms and economic and social support systemspsychological support is made more widely available and offenders are brought to justice,” the High Commissioner said.
He emphasized that violence against women and girls is “abhorrent and inexcusable”.
Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, speaks at the United Nations Human Rights Council (OHCHR) debate on women’s rights in Geneva.
Civil
At the forum, members of civil society also weighed in on the harm caused by economic violence.
Esther Waweru, Senior Legal Adviser at Equality Now, said inequality within families was one of the main reasons for economic violence, along with “patriarchal gender norms degenerate.”
She said 1.4 billion women globally live in countries where economic violence is unrecognized and unprotected; a reality she believes could leave more women and girls vulnerable to exploitation.
Ms. Waweru recommended that member states enact comprehensive legislation to criminalize sexual violence, gender-based violence and violence against intimate partners – along with economic violence.
She called for the law to “repeal and repeal the matrimonial power provisions that designate the husband as head of household” to “ensure equitable sharing of common property arising from marriage” and equal labor rights.
