Gender based violence

When she was four years old, Selokela Molamodi’s teacher asked the class what they wanted to be when they grew up. While her classmates volunteered more conventional professions, such as nurses, doctors and lawyers, Ms Molamodi’s answer, given with a fiery determination, was, “I want to be Minister of Education.”

Her love for education, and her characteristic fieriness, has stood 19-year-old Ms Molamodi in good stead. Last year she graduated top of her class, having been head girl in both primary school and high school. Armed with an unshakeable self-confidence and her core principles of transparency, honesty and humility, Ms Molamodi has avoided the fate of many young South African women—HIV infection, unintended pregnancy and an abandoned high school education.

She says she has had to deal with the same harsh realities as other young women—financial difficulties, crime, violence, peer pressure, the temptation of “blessers” [older men] and drug and alcohol abuse. Staying in school kept her focused, she explained.

“There are still a lot of misconceptions about HIV among young people. Sex is not talked about openly. Young people are given knowledge about sexual and reproductive health, but they are not given knowledge on how to make a decision about sex,” she says.

In South Africa, 1500 young women and adolescent girls between the ages of 15 and 24 are infected with HIV every week. They accounted for 29% of all new HIV infections in the country in 2017. Research has shown that older men, generally five to eight years older, are mostly responsible for passing on HIV to younger women; once women reach their mid-twenties, they pass on the virus to men their own age.

“There is a perception among young women that we should have a high number of sexual partners when we are young because that is what it means to be free. Then, when we reach our mid-twenties we will leave that life behind and settle down. But girls don’t understand that they don’t have control over these sexual relationships, that their consent doesn’t count,” she says.

To start a dialogue about these and many other issues facing young women, Ms Molamodi started You for You while she was in her final year of school.

“I call it a movement, not an organization,” says Ms Molamodi. “It is about accepting and loving yourself for you. While we can exist as a community and a collective, we must first love ourselves as individuals,” she says.

Ms Molamodi, along with two friends who started the movement with her, have one-on-one mentoring sessions with other young women on issues such as self-esteem, body positivity, sexual and reproductive health and drug and alcohol abuse. She has also organized two events that focused on empowering young women as leaders “so we can rise as young women and stand up against discrimination, together.”

She looks at DREAMS—the initiative led by the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief—as the matriarch of a family of young women like her. In South Africa, DREAMS works closely with She Conquers, a government-led national campaign aimed at empowering young women and adolescent girls to take responsibility for their health.

“DREAMS/She Conquers has provided us with a space to have natural conversations about things that affect us as young women with other young women. It gives us a voice and brings enlightenment to us. For instance, most of the girls I know have tested for HIV, but none of them ever got to talk about it, until DREAMS/She Conquers came to our school,” she says.

“These are the kinds of initiatives that increase the effectiveness of what UNAIDS is trying to achieve,” says Ms Molamodi. “Yes, give girls access to discrimination-free HIV prevention and treatment services and family planning, but also ask for our feedback. Give us education and information and teach us that actions have consequences which are responsible for our progress or regress.”

She says she would like to see conversations about HIV prevention and sexual and reproductive health being brought together more often with those about careers, empowerment and entrepreneurship.

As for her ambition for You for You, “I want to help grow a continent of young women who are confident enough to speak out; who are able to stand up for each other and empower each other. If I have someone say, “I did not give up” then I know I had a purpose; that I was someone’s reason not to give up.”

GENEVA, 7 December 2018—UNAIDS condemns the rapes of 150 women and girls while collecting food for their families near Bentiu, a government-controlled area in South Sudan, during a 10-day period in November.

Echoing a statement made by the United Nations Special Representatives on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, and for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, and the Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng, who spoke out against the rapes earlier this week, Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS, said, “No one should live in fear of sexual violence, no matter where they live. We must protect women and girls from one of the grossest human rights violations—rape. We must end gender-based violence for good.”

The world is commemorating the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence from 25 November until 10 December to highlight the commitments made to end all forms of gender-based violence. UNAIDS is committed to working with its partners to prevent and mitigate the effects of rape and other forms of gender-based violence.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

As we mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we commemorate and renew our global commitment to ending violence against women and other forms of gender-based violence. 

Violence against women remains one of the most persistent violations of human rights across the globe, undermining the health, dignity, security and autonomy of women and girls. Women who have been physically or sexually abused by their partners report higher rates of mental health issues, including depression and anxiety, higher use of alcohol and less control over sexual decision-making.

There is an undeniable link between violence against women and HIV. Studies show clearly that women living with HIV are more likely to have experienced violence, and women who have experienced violence are more likely to be living with HIV. In some regions, women who experience physical or sexual intimate partner violence are 1.5 times more likely to acquire HIV than women who have not experienced violence. Among marginalized populations, a high prevalence of violence is linked to higher rates of HIV infection, in particular among transgender women.

Violence or the fear of violence can it make very difficult for women to insist on safer sex and to use and benefit from HIV and sexual and reproductive health services. The fear of intimate partner violence is also an important barrier to the uptake of HIV testing and counselling, to the disclosure of HIV-positive status and to treatment uptake and adherence, including among pregnant women living with HIV. Violence against women living with HIV also manifests in health-care settings—women have even reported being sterilized against their will. 

Programmes that empower women and girls through integrated approaches that transform social and cultural norms and promote and implement laws and policies on violence against women, gender equality and HIV are incredibly effective. The uptake of such programmes, combined with political will to promote gender equality and end discrimination against women, are critical to addressing violence against women. UNAIDS remains committed to continuing to act urgently against violence against women as a human rights imperative and as a cause and consequence of HIV.

On 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women kicks off the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, ending on 10 December, Human Rights Day. It is a time to commemorate and renew our commitment to ending violence against women and other forms of gender-based violence.

25 November 2018

Michel Sidibé

Executive Director of UNAIDS

Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

In order to highlight the need for sustainable and affordable access to quality medicines, the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé, spoke about the necessity of implementing the African Union Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan. Speaking at the opening ceremony of Africa Industrialization Week 2018 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, he called for close cooperation with regional economic communities in order to build production cooperation hubs and lead pharmaceutical regulatory harmonization in Africa.

Commitments on gender-based violence and the rights of women made at an event held on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in September entitled Eliminating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence and Protecting the Health and Rights of Women and Children in Humanitarian Settings were discussed during meetings Mr Sidibé held with Smail Chergui, the Africa Union Commissioner for Peace and Security, and the African Union Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security, Bineta Diop.

During the meetings, discussions were held on how to increase efforts in responding to HIV in conflict and humanitarian settings and the need to increase awareness on HIV testing and on sexual and gender-based violence. Mr Sidibé and Mr Chergui agreed to conduct a high-level joint mission to South Sudan to highlight the needs of people facing a higher risk of HIV in the country owing to gender-based violence and the protracted conflict.

Also during his visit to Ethiopia, which took place from 17 to 20 November, Mr Sidibe’s met with Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, who said, “I am committed to change the narrative of Africa and Ethiopia through ongoing reforms and agree to strengthen efforts on people-centred health development for Ethiopia.”

“Thank you for agreeing to champion ending AIDS in Ethiopia and across the continent,” said Mr Sidibé.

The President of Ethiopia’s agenda on gender and peace and the rehabilitation of street children was the topic of conversation in a meeting between the President, Sahle-Work Zewde, and Mr Sidibé.

During a discussion Mr Sidibé had with the Minister of Health of Ethiopia, Amir Aman, a collaborative project was developed that will be centred around strengthening resource mobilization, enhancing and sustaining a multisectoral response across all sectors, engaging young people and enhancing HIV programmes following the location–population approach.

Action-based partnership to support women and girls announced by health and political leaders at a high-level event at the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly

GENEVA, 24 September 2018—UNAIDS, the Chair of the H6 partnership (six United Nations bodies working on health-related issues), and the African Union have pledged to enhance their collaboration to eliminate sexual and gender-based violence, prevent HIV and protect women’s health and rights in humanitarian settings.

A new programme of work on this common agenda was announced at a special high-level event held in New York, United States of America, on the margins of the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

“We are gathered here to coordinate our efforts among the African Union and the United Nations to plan and intervene so that people's rights are protected, HIV is prevented and the right to health is promoted,” said Faustin-Archange Touadéra, the President of the Central African Republic, who chaired the meeting.

The rise in the frequency and scale of humanitarian crises is having a devastating impact, particularly on women and children. In 2017, around 68 million people were forcibly displaced globally as a result of persecution, conflict or generalized violence—an increase of 2.9 million from 2016 and a new record high.

“We know that it is time to act. More than 2 billion people live in countries affected by fragility, violence and conflict—most are women and girls. This is unacceptable. We need political visibility and intensified international cooperation to eliminate gender-based violence and protect the health of women and children in humanitarian settings,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS and H6 Chair.

UNAIDS will support the African Union in developing a joint African Union–United Nations plan of action. The plan will include developing training and awareness tools for uniformed personnel in peacekeeping operations and ensuring better reporting rates on sexual exploitation and violence against women and girls.

“The partnership between the United Nations and the African Union provides an opportunity to reinforce each other’s work and employ joint and comprehensive responses to the needs of vulnerable populations in crisis situations,” said Smail Chergui, African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security.

Protecting the health and rights of women and young people will be critical to mitigating fragility, conflict and disaster. It is estimated that 60% of all preventable maternal deaths occur in humanitarian and conflict settings, which equates to nearly 500 deaths each day.

“In South Sudan, 52% of our young sisters are married before their 18th birthday. I urge leaders not to remain loudly quiet. We call for the inclusion of women in political processes. It is our bodies, our lives and our futures at stake. We have the right to the highest attainable standard of health, whether in conflict or not,” said Riya William Yuyada, Executive Director, Crown the Woman, South Sudan.

There are currently too few successful programmes to prevent gender-based violence during conflict and against refugee populations. Studies have shown that violence against women and girls increases during periods of conflict, with rape and other forms of sexual violence often being a common practice of war.

“It’s not about silencing the guns, we must recognize that women and children have a right to life and a right to health and a right to peace. This is where we should put our energies and time to make sure women and girls are protected,” said Bience Gawanas, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Africa.

The United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union’s Agenda 2063 have created an important political window. The new commitments provide a timely opportunity to enhance collaboration on human security and humanitarian health, in the context of the recently adopted Joint United Nations–African Union Framework for Enhanced Partnership in Peace and Security.

“We must not explain why we are partnering, but why we are not partnering to eliminate sexual and gender-based violence and protect the health and rights of women and children in humanitarian settings. If we care about addressing the root causes of deprivation and poverty and abuse, women and girls are the heart of the matter,” said Sigrid Kaag, Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Netherlands.

Among the commitments made by UNAIDS and the African Union is to work to ensure that there is adequate funding to strengthen coordinated programme implementation for the responses to sexual exploitation and abuse and HIV in humanitarian settings. This enhanced cooperation between the African Union and the United Nations will be paramount to ensuring sustainable people-centred peace, security and development.

For more information on the new partnership between UNAIDS and the African Union, go to unaids.org

ADDITIONAL QUOTES

Deborah Birx, United States Global AIDS Coordinator and Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy

It’s not just about the funds, it’s also about policies, laws and justice for girls and children, especially considering that 60% of the African continent is under 20 years old.

Elhadj As Sy, Secretary-General, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

They need peace, they cry for peace, yearn for hope and try to retain the human dignity that they have lost along the way. It is the last piece of cloth, as we say in Africa, that is torn apart by gender- and sexual-based violence. Protection should not come as an afterthought.

Michaëlle Jean, Secretary-General, Organisation internationale de la Francophonie

Violence, rape, assault against women and young girls and boys is worldwide and can be likened to a weapon of mass destruction. We are here to do more against all forms of discrimination and crimes committed against women.

Pramilla Patten, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict

Shame, stigma and the risk of reprisals and lack of access to services lead to chronic underreporting. By isolating victims and cutting them off from medical care and support, stigma facilitates the spread of HIV.

Armed conflict creates conditions that allow HIV to flourish, including through rape, sexual slavery, and trafficking and exploitation, in environments where the rule of law and public health services may have collapsed.

Bintou Keita, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations

Female peacekeepers are now being deployed to facilitate dialogue as well as women protection advisers for a more comprehensive approach to peacekeeping. Peacekeepers are also the ones who provide civilian peace and security, men and women who are committed to provide the best peace they can.

Lorena Castillo de Varela, First Lady of Panama

Since I started this journey with UNAIDS and the United Nations, two powerful words have guided me: zero discrimination. The challenges faced by women and children—particularly in humanitarian settings—are fuelled by stigma and discrimination, creating obstacles that block access to vital health services, such as HIV testing and life-saving medicines. Zero discrimination should fill every space in the world.

Martine Moise, First Lady of Haiti

Haiti has known its fair share of natural catastrophes, from earthquakes to hurricanes, making women and girls particularly vulnerable. In Haiti, gender-based violence is also all too common. I support fully the fight against violence against women and gender-based violence. This is a fight that must involve all.

Laure-Marie Kitanu, Coordinator of the Network of Women Living with HIV, Democratic Republic of the Congo

We have cried out to the international community for help in regard to HIV testing and prevention and we implore you to maintain the priority of peace and stability so that we have a long-lasting solution. We commend this African Union and UNAIDS initiative.

Written contribution from Ashraf El Nour, Director, International Organization of Migration Office to the United Nations, New York

The International Organization of Migration calls upon African Union governments and partners to ensure the fulfilment of the right to health for migrants, regardless of their status, in order to enhance the resilience of populations living in vulnerable conditions. The failure to do so not only jeopardizes the public health safety of vulnerable groups, but also that of entire communities where they reside.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Worldwide every year, 12 million girls under the age of 18 years are married—that's equivalent to 23 girls every minute. Married too soon. Their personal growth, health and fundamental rights and freedoms denied. Gender inequalities and gender-based violence force thousands of girls into marriage and motherhood. Girls with no education are three times as likely to marry by the age of 18 years as those with a secondary or higher education. And girls who marry before they are 15 years old are 50% more likely to face physical or sexual violence from a partner.

Child marriage often means that girls find it difficult to negotiate safer sex with their husbands, who are commonly older and more sexually experienced, making the girls especially vulnerable to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

UNAIDS’ latest report, Miles to go, highlights the reality that adolescent girls and young women aged 15–24 years, particularly those from sub-Saharan Africa, are being left behind. Every week, more than 6600 adolescent girls and young women become newly infected with HIV, with sub-Saharan African women and girls bearing the brunt, accounting for one in four HIV infections in 2017 despite being just 10% of the population.

Girls Not Brides, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and UNAIDS hosted a panel discussion on the issue of child marriage at the International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam, Netherlands, bringing together panellists from across regions, sectors and generations. Monica Geingos, the First Lady of Namibia, was a special guest speaker.

When girls and women are empowered with rights and given equitable access to education, enabled to participate fully in the labour force and equitably represented in government and decision-making bodies, the benefits far outreach improving the lives of the individual woman. Their families, communities and countries thrive. Yet, more than 150 million girls will become child brides by 2030.

The panellists highlighted the need to tackle the underlining determinants behind both HIV and child marriage. They emphasized the need for a comprehensive multisectoral and resourced approach. Gender inequality and harmful social norms have to be challenged. The solutions, they said, include keeping girls in school, providing health services that serve young people’s needs and mobilizing families and communities, including men and boys.

For decades, women’s rights leaders and civil society organizations have been actively working to advance gender equality. Civil society have also been critical partners to UNAIDS since its inception in 1996, UNAIDS being the only United Nations organization to include non-governmental organizations as active participants on its board.

The partnership between UNAIDS and civil society continues to be essential and on 18-19 June, UNAIDS and the ATHENA Network co-convened a meeting on addressing sexual harassment. The meeting provided a unique opportunity for dialogue with civil society on concerns and questions around sexual harassment and gender equality, as well as to provide valuable inputs on how to strengthen the work of UNAIDS in this area.

UNAIDS welcomed more than 30 women’s rights leaders and civil society advocates to share good practices, articulate concerns and discuss ways of moving forward to strengthen rights-based responses to sexual harassment and protect survivors and people who come forward to report incidents of harassment.

Participants expressed a wide range of perspectives on actions taken to date and demonstrated a shared commitment to work hand in hand with UNAIDS to ensure that sexual harassment both within and beyond UNAIDS is addressed and prevented.

They agreed that measures to transform organizational culture, ensure perpetrators are held to account and protecting survivors and whistle-blowers were central actions for UNAIDS to take. The importance of not only taking an inward approach but of also prioritizing efforts to  promote gender equality and diversity, and put an end to gender-based violence as part of UNAIDS work to end AIDS globally was emphasized.

UNAIDS Staff Association shared results from a recent UNAIDS staff survey which found that 4% of staff had experienced some kind of sexual harassment within the workplace, yet only one person said they that they had come forward to report the incident. UNAIDS leadership outlined new measures UNAIDS is putting in place, including a confidential 24-hour hotline, training and 360-degree evaluations, to stop harassment of any kind within UNAIDS, ensure that staff are supported in reporting incidents and that any incidents reported are addressed immediately. UNAIDS has also recently launched a Gender Action Plan 2018-2023, which includes a series of measures to strengthen organizational culture.

Active discussions took place with and between civil society representatives who brought their personal experiences, reflections and inputs to strengthen current efforts being undertaken by UNAIDS and other stakeholders. The meeting also provided an opportunity to hold discussions with other Geneva-based United Nations organizations working to eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace.

The meeting builds on a series of discussions taking place around the world on the issue of sexual harassment, including those led by UNAIDS. These have included a dialogue with civil society and women leaders at the Commission on the Status of Women in March 2018, a virtual Town Hall meeting in May 2018–which engaged over 40 civil society leaders, as well as individual meetings held with civil society by UNAIDS senior management in Kenya, South Africa and other parts of the world.

UNAIDS will continue to continue to engage with women’s rights leaders and activists to learn from their experiences and draw on their expertise to develop and implement policies to address harassment in the workplace and to tackle the broader issues of gender inequality, gender-based violence and discrimination as central to efforts to end AIDS.

UNAIDS has taken a number of measures to reinforce its policy of zero-tolerance of sexual harassment. A five-point plan is being implemented to ensure that all forms of harassment and abuse of authority are identified early on, that measures taken are properly documented and that action follows due process and is swift and effective, with appropriate protection both for survivors and for whistle-blowers.

UNAIDS is also making it easier for people to report complaints in a secure and confidential way through an anonymous and confidential Integrity Hotline, which is open 24 hours a day, every day, and provides staff with an alternative way to report complaints.

In addition, UNAIDS has called for its Programme Coordinating Board Bureau to lead an Independent Expert Panel on harassment to provide policy recommendations on how UNAIDS can improve its response to harassment and identify areas where reform is needed. 

UNAIDS has recently launched its Gender Action Plan 2018-2023, to ensure gender equality in the workplace as a human right and critical to the performance and effectiveness of UNAIDS.