VIOLENCE VS. WOMEN, CHILDREN INCREASING – CWR

EVERY hour, a mother or her child is beaten. Every two hours, a woman or a child is raped. Every five hours, a woman or child is sexually harassed.

This trend has been happening for a decade (2001-2010), according to a study on violence against women and children ( VAWC) by the Center for Women’s Resources (CWR), a research and training institution for women.

The study indicated that victims are get- ting younger, with minors comprising 76.5 percent of rape victims and 63 percent of those who were sexually harassed. Women comprised 61 percent of domestic violence victims.

The CWR also observed that abuses by men in authority are increasing. Re- cently, reported cases of rape and sexual harassment were committed by members of the military, para- military, government officials and even priests, especially those who are in the rural and indigenous communities.

“Despite the existing 37 laws or more for women and children, the relentless violence against them in a span of ten years only mirrors our society where a culture of impunity is prevailing,” said Jojo Guan, executive director of CWR.

“We have yet to see the government’s political will to make justice prevail in this country. The unsolved crimes and abuses only reflect the efficiency or lack of it of the Aquino administration,” he added.

Guan cited the rape and murder of University of the Philippines Los Banos student Given Grace Cebanico in 2011 and the Maguindanao massacre in 2009, as among the many unsolved cases in the country.

To call for justice for Cebanico and victims of Maguindanao massacre and unsolved VAW cases, the CWR, in partnership with the University of the Philippines, organ- ized the Move to Mob (MTM) against VAW.

The MTM was held on Sunday in commemoration of the International Day on the Elimination of Violence Against Women and the start of the International 16 Days of Activism that will culminate on December 10. It is also part of the worldwide campaign on violence against women and children, the One- Billion Rising, which will culminate in an internationally coordinated activity on February 14, 2013.

“We need to move, we need to mobilize against VAWC so that more people will be aware on the prevailing incidences of violence. Awareness results [in] action. And it is only through our united action that we can have a power to end violence against women and children,” Guan said.