Violence against women has now earned a new ephithet – a global epidemic. This term was given by actress Angelina Jolie when she addressed the African Union summit on this issue. And gendered violence really doesn’t come better phrased than this.
“There is a global epidemic of violence against women – both within conflict zones and within societies at peace – and it is still treated as a lesser crime and lower priority,” said Jolie, who is the special envoy to the United States High Commission for Refugees.
“Women and girls are bearing the brunt of extremists,” she added, referring to the episodes of brutality by Islamic militants that are happening in Middle East (by ISIS in Syria) and Africa (by Boko Haram in Nigeria).
“The near-total impunity that exists worldwide for crimes against women, in conflict zones in particular, means that we are seeing more and more armed groups turn it into their weapon of choice,” she said. “Women and girls are bearing the brunt of extremists that revel in treating them barbarically. This is inextricably linked to our overall failure to prevent and end conflicts worldwide, which is causing human suffering on an unprecedented level.”
She also went on to pay tribute to African victims for their “extraordinary resilience, dignity and strength in the face of trials that would break any of us.”
“They are some of the most formidable and impressive people I have ever met and they deserve better than to be left alone to suffer,” Jolie Pitt continued.
The solution for this, she said, needs to be tailored to, and pioneered by, women themselves.
“We need policies for long-term security that are designed by women, focused on women, executed by women – not at the expense of men, or instead of men, but alongside and with men,” she said. “There is no greater pillar of stability than a strong, free and educated woman, and there is no more inspiring role model than a man who respects and cherishes women and champions their leadership.”
That women and sexual violence against them are being used as a war weapon is something that is seeing much debate now. History too is scattered with wars where women were often the ones at the receiving end of war crimes and debauchery.
Many of us probably know of it, even feel the same way. But we probably do need somebody like an Angelina Jolie to put it out there on behalf of all women and drive the point home. Drive it hard enough to spur the global community to rise from the comfort of armchair activism and find an antidote to this ‘global epidemic’.
Image Courtesy: Reuters
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