Violence against women 'a pandemic', warns UN envoy

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Violence against women ‘a pandemic’, warns UN envoy

A decade after Istanbul convention was drawn up to end gender-based violence, activists report decline in women’s rights and safety

Sarah Johnson and Ruth Michaelson
Thu 13 May 2021 13.14 BST

A decade after the launch of the Istanbul convention, the landmark human rights treaty to stop gender-based violence, women are facing a global assault on their rights and safety, according to campaigners.

This week marked 10 years since the first 13 countries signed up to the convention, seen as a turning point in efforts to address violence against women.

Yet despite 46 countries signing the treaty, the world has become gripped by a pandemic of violence against women, exacerbated and exposed by Covid-19, according to a UN envoy.

“The Covid pandemic revealed what was happening before,” said Dubravka Šimonović, UN special rapporteur on violence against women. She said across the world there had been a stark increase in calls to domestic violence helplines, reports of women missing or killed, and a lack of safe places for those fleeing abuse.

“We have a pandemic of violence against women that was not addressed properly in a huge number of states,” she said.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/may/13/violence-against-women-a-pandemic-warns-un-envoy

[niyad]

1. Heartbreaking, but not in the least surprising. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.