NGOs demand say in violence data bank
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But non-governmental organisations (NGOs) at CSW 53 which runs until 13 March have expressed concern that this data base will only house government statistics. Pointing out that this is one area in which data is not only sparse but often unreliable, they say it is essential to draw on NGO resources if an accurate and composite picture is to be assembled.
According to Director of the UN Division on the Advancement of Women (DAW) Carolyn Hannan the data base will ensure easy access to comprehensive and up to date information on all forms of violence against women as well as actions taken to address such violence.
The publicly accessible and searchable database will encourage further collection, use and disseminate of data on violence against women as well as analysis of such data. This can be searched by country page for each Member State with lists of all measures undertaken by that particular country. Contents include legal framework; policies and programmes; institutional mechanisms; domestic, regional and international coordination and collaborative initiatives, services for women, resources, awareness raising, data and statistics and promising practices.
During the launch NGOs lamented the government bias of the data, despite the extensive research that is carried out and used by governments on violence against women by NGOs.
Ulrike Neubert, Director of Development Programmes for the German Foundation for World Population said the UN should in fact commission shadow reports from national coalitions of NGOs for each country. She added: “If I know that the information is from governments who usually give only one side of the story, I will not even go back to that UN website and will not take it seriously.”
Emilia Muchawa, Director of the Zimbabwe Women Lawyer’s Association said in her country, the Anti-Domestic Violence Council, which monitors the Domestic Violence Act and comprises both government and NGOs representatives, could provide the most reliable data for the data base.
Mauma Javed from the Canadian Institute for the Advancement of Women charged that by only considering information from governments, the UN is in violation of international conventions such as the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
Amna Buttar, Member of Parliament from Pinjab in Pakistan added: “the UN should not just collect data from government but also NGOs especially those whose sole role is to collect data on violence against women. Otherwise it will be a farce to just fill in blanks to fulfill a requirement. If you want this data to be meaningful and have prevention programmes come out of it we need to make an honest effort to collect data.”
A pilot project now under way in Southern African to gather baseline data on gender violence is an example of why governments and NGOs need to work together in this critical area. The Southern African Development Community (SACD) Protocol on Gender and Development aims to reduce current rates of gender violence by half by 2015. The question that arises is: what are current levels of GBV, and how will reduction be measured.
The biggest data collection challenge is that the majority of cases of gender violence are never reported and a large number of those that do get reported are withdrawn. The “one in nine campaign” in South Africa takes its name from research conducted by the Medical Research Council (part of the indicators task team) which shows that only one ninth of all cases of gender violence are reported.
As police statistics only cover reported cases, they only tell part of the story. A further complication is that the only specific statistics that most police services have on gender violence concern sexual assault. Statistics on domestic violence are hidden away in such categories as “criminal injuria” and “assault with intent to do bodily harm.” Even femcide (the killing of a woman by an intimate male partner) is not recorded as such. The only way to obtain this information is through docket analysis.
When engaged (as has been happening in South Africa) there is a willingness by police to create categories for domestic violence and femicide so that at least this data can be accurately obtained. Since all deaths must be reported, police data on femicide (referred to in countries such as Botswana as “passion killings” should provide accurate information on at least this form of GBV.
But that still leaves the many cases of sexual and physical assault that do not get reported. It also leaves out the many forms of GBV that seldom enter official statistics, like economic, psychological and verbal abuse. For this, the best way to obtain accurate information is to take a sample of the population and administer a questionnaire on experiences of GBV, over the last year as well as over a lifetime.
A team that includes government representatives from South Africa, Mauritius and Botswana as well as several NGOs coordinated by Johannesburg-based Gender Links plans to conduct three localised pilot projects this year to gather data on the extent, effect and response to gender violence. The aim is to cascade the study nationally and regionally in 2010, to provide baseline data against which the 2015 target can be measured.
Loveness Nyakujarah-Jambaya is the Gender Justice manager and Colleen Lowe Morna Executive Director of Gender Links. More on the gender indicators project can be found on www.genderlinks.org.za. This article is part of the Gender Links Opinion and Commentary Service that provides fresh views on everyday news.
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