We are determined to end this abuse

WHAT has been called “one of the most prevalent abuses of human rights in the world”? Treatment of refugees? Suffering of torture victims? No. Think again. What has been given this unenviable world title is the easily overlooked violence against women and girls. It even has its own widely-recognised acronym – VAWG. And the 4,000-odd women who gathered from all over the world – including Wales – for the recent United Nations conference of the Commission on the Status of Women (UN-CSW), the principal global body dedicated to gender equality, were determined to do something about it.

It was a previous meeting of UN-CSW that identified VAWG as the most prevalent abuse of human rights in the world and a strong call went out from this year’s vast array of meetings, held in and around UN Headquarters in New York, for a legally binding global UN Treaty to combat violence against women and girls. I was part of a delegation from Wales Assembly of Women, an independent campaigning NGO, that was led by Professor Jackie Jones (chair), an internationally recognised expert in gender equality law, and included Dr Eleri Evans (vice-chair).

Professor Jackie Jones is a leading voice in international pressure to introduce a legally binding UN Treaty to combat violence against women. She stressed that existing UN treaties do not refer directly to violence against women and urged that a legally binding treaty would make it possible to hold countries

accountable for their actions.

Dr Eleri Evans said Wales could be proud of its record in VAWG. First Minister Carwyn Jones had called for Wales to be “the safest place in Europe for women”. The 2015 Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act was the first legislation of its kind in the UK and was still the only law in Europe to focus specifically on women.

“Even so”, she continued, “one in three women in Wales will experience violence and abuse at some point. World figures from Spotlight, a joint UN-EU initiative working to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls, estimate 35% of women have experienced physical or sexual violence, either by their partner or a stranger.”

Professor Jones said that, in the absence of a global, legally binding treaty at UN level, some regions had taken matters into their own hands and the Council of Europe had adopted a Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, known as the Istanbul Convention, in 2011, that covered issues such as forced marriage, stalking, psychological violence and forced abortion.

Wales Assembly of Women will return to the issue of violence against women at its annual conference in Cardiff at the end of April, when a range of experts will discuss how the Convention, now signed by almost 40 countries, can be embraced in Wales. The Great Leap Forward: Embracing the Istanbul Convention in Wales will be held at Cardiff University on Saturday April 28. For info email: eleri.evans@talk21.com or info@ walesassemblyofwomen.co.uk. Jean Silvan Evans Peterston-super-Ely