International Day against violence with women being observed today

November 25 has been marked as the International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women by women activists worldwide. This day is marked with the brutal assassination, in 1961, of the three Mirabal sisters who were political activists in the Dominican Republic. The Mirabal sisters are a symbol of resistance against the dictatorship in the Dominican Republic then. Since 1981 women's activists have celebrated this day as the International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women to gain momentum and solidarity in their struggle against violence against women. The Right to be free from violence has been recognised as a human right in several international human rights conventions and treaties. The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, 1993 asserts that violence against women is a manifestation of power relations and is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into a subordinate position compared with men. Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA), which was adopted in 1995 reiterates the responsibility of all governments to take integrated measures to prevent and eliminate violence against women. The 189 nations that adopted the Platform for Action committed themselves to developing comprehensive programmes to end gender-based violence. However, violence against women continues to be the reality of womens lives even today. It is an endemic problem that knows no national boundaries, no cultural boundaries, no class or caste boundaries and no religious boundaries. Violence against women continues to be perpetrated by men, by women, by trans-national actors and by the state. It continues unabated in situations of armed conflict and in times of peace. It continues to takes place outside and inside the home. In identifying the remaining gaps and challenges, the official communiqu of the tenth year review of BPFA for the Asia-Pacific, held in Bangkok in September this year, accepted this by noting Several countries reported that violence against women in all its forms, including violence during internal strife and armed conflict and domestic violence, trafficking in women and girls, spousal abuse, harmful practices and sexual abuse, is a grave social problem. The current climate of repression and criminalisation of human rights work has increased violence against women and the threat of such violence. Anti-terrorist legislation is directly impacting on rights and liberties of people and is making the use of violence an acceptable culture, in the name of national security. There has been a strong trend in Asia Pacific for States to adopt militarised responses to counter legitimate demands of the people. Within this context, women have become more vulnerable to violence, especially in militarised areas, and as displaced persons and asylum seekers. At the same time, in this era of neo-liberal economic globalisation, private actors (including multinational and transnational corporations) are also becoming more unbridled in their war for profit, plundering natural resources and violating peoples rights in the process. In terms of violence against women there are two challenges in Asia-Pacific being increasingly articulated by women from the region, including the previous UN Special Rapporteur on VAW. The first comes from the west and the second comes from our own cultures. The framework developed by women from the south in the last decade to deal with women's human rights has largely been one where the state is responsible for due diligence to combat impunity of private actors and that it is the state that has the duty to prevent and punish the private actors. This position is being increasingly challenged by a belief that violence against women is an issue of criminal justice and not a human rights issue because the state is not the direct source of violence, in most of the cases. This is problematic since it takes away our handle on holding states accountable for violence by private actors. The other challenge comes from the notion that culture trumps women's human rights. Radhika Coomaraswamy has located the greatest challenge to women's rights in the doctrine of cultural relativism. Today, on 25 November 2004, the day for Eliminating Violence against Women, we are renewing our commitment to fight for our lives to be free from violence. We will continue to articulate zero tolerance to any form of violencewhether in the name of culture, by non-state actors or oppressively, by State actors. Today, we are calling for a world free of violence. We would like to commemorate all the women who have fought against this endemic violation of womens human rights.