“Our team is 50% women-led, that’s very important especially in terms of the data and reports that we are able to collate. They understand the nuances of the Afghan context, they understand the hints and the words that women are using, especially in situations where they feel unsafe. In technology we have a grave gap of women technologists. We need to support them, especially in very fragile situations”.
- Ms. Sara Wahedi, CEO and Founder of Ehtesab, an Afghan security alert app
New York, 9 March 2023
As part of the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, on 9 March a side-event on “Breaking the silence on femicide: ending gender-based violence against women and girls” was co-organized by UNODC-NYLO, UN Women, and the Permanent Missions of Malta and Cyprus. The event featured an exchange of legislative and technical ideas to promote the safety of women, as well as victims’ stories as stark reminders of the urgency of this issue.
Legislation is an important step for raising the penalties and also awareness of femicide. The Hon. Rebecca Buttigieg MP, Parliamentary Secretary for Reform and Equality of Malta, shared that her country has already had two convictions under its new law on femicide, noting the need to also include those who self-identify as female who deserve joint protection under the law. With a mind to the preventive power of legislation, she also shared efforts to draft a new law enabling people to check with the police whether their partner has a history of abusive behavior. "Laws also shape a country's cultural framework", according to Cyprus' Commissioner for Gender Equality Ms. Josie Christodoulou. She explained how new laws combined with awareness training for authorities and the public, can challenge stereotypes to prevent femicide.
Another issue hampering the policy and law enforcement response to femicide is limited understanding of the scale and patterns of the issue. The 2022 paper “Gender-related killings of women and girls: Improving data to improve responses to femicide/feminicide” by UNODC and UN Women was introduced by UNODC-NYLO Representative Ms. Delphine Schantz. She noted that globally, 45,000 women and girls or 5 per hour were killed by intimate partners or family in 2021, with an increase visible around the pandemic lockdowns. Adding that 4 in 10 female homicides had no contextual information, this showed the need for better data collection and analysis to gain a true indication of the scale of femicide, and UNODC’s commitment to supporting states in this endeavour. UN Women’s Ms. Kalliopi Mingeirou echoed this call for improved data and research into the root causes of femicide, and shared how UN Women's community-based mobilization which has achieved sustained decreases in femicide in South Africa.
The powerful contribution and potential of non-state and non-UN actors was demonstrated by tech innovator and civil society advocate Ms. Sara Wahedi. Founder of the app ‘Ehteshab’ which sends real-time security alerts to Afghans, she spoke of the need for female-drive solutions to incorporate and prioritize a female security perspective, for them to meet specific needs. The importance of UN-civil society engagement was underscored by her informed agreement on the need for more consistent, quantitative data and her calls to those present to support female innovators.
Any such conversations must give a voice to victims, as was emphasized by government experts and speakers from Cyprus, Malta, Greece, and Israel. In her address, Ms. Ayelet Razin Bet Or from Israel reminded all participants of the importance of the event and overcoming public indifference, by sharing Shira’s story:
“This is Shira. She was baking when her husband and father of her son decided to carry out his threat and kill her. Shira’s attempted murder was foiled by her neighbors. … From the moment she was out of danger, Shira insisted that her name and photograph be published. As soon as it became personal, the indifference was gone. Shira is no longer a statistic. As soon as the entire public is united in the desire to prevent further harm, as soon as it becomes personal, injustices that have gone on for years can be corrected. In the case of Shira, we successfully demanded a new guardianship law in case of abuse or murder by the perpetrator parent".
If you or someone close to you has been affected by gender-based or domestic violence, you can seek support via the NO MORE directory, a UN-World Bank partnership which lists contact information for support services in different countries across the globe.
