Eighteen Days of Activism Against Gender is an international campaign starting November 25 and culminating on December 10 the day of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (this has been extended to December 12, Anti-Trafficking in Persons Day). It started with the Women’s Global Leadership Institute. The selection of the dates has been done to assert that women’s rights are human rights; so violence against women is a human rights violation.
The objectives of the campaign have been defined: “to increase awareness of rights-bearer violence against women and to augment the efforts of the duty-bearer in eliminating gender-based violence; to increase commitment of rights-holder in eliminating violence against women and children; and to forge partnerships among stakeholders in addressing Violence Against Women (VAW)”.
In the last SIDLAK partners from government, non-government organizations, and schools were reminded of the yearly campaign and activities were discussed: Walk to end VAW, nationwide poster-making contest organized by the Philippine Commission on Women, participation in fora, and many others.
In spite of developments in many aspects of our lives all over the world many still behave like wild animals toward females, treating them with cruelty. We have been scandalized by the by the kidnapping of women in Iraq and Syria by the Islamic State, the rapes in India, the kidnapping of students by the Boko Haram. Here there is outrage over the strangling, mauling, and dumping into a toilet bowl of the transgender, Jennifer.
Not so obvious is the violence in female genital mutilation, embedded in certain cultures. Here in our country parents and guardians do not fully realize the harm inflicted on children through involvement in cybersex. Some communities fail to respond constructively towards domestic violence since they view this as a private family matter. Fathers and husbands view their wives and children as their property, so they may do with them as they wish. Very few are sensitive to economic violence inflicted with the refusal of husbands to provide child support.
Since 1998, the Legal Alternatives for Women Center has been working with VAW. Their vision of society includes one wherein “women are healthy and are enjoying physical, mental and emotional well-being in every stage of their lives; promotes the dignity and equality of women and men; women are protected by the state by means of just and non-discriminatory laws”. Their programs include legal and other interventions for women in Cebu; media advocacy; women’s integrated socio-eco. So they provide legal and psycho-social intervention to women and the girl child victims of violence particularly those involving wife battering, incest, rape, sexual harassment and trafficking. They also do legal literacy training on local and national laws.
The leading cases which LAW Center, Inc. have assisted women are: rape (378), child support (351), physical injuries (288). There have been as many as 246 cases wherein request for temporary protection order or permanent protection order have been sought.
The first case of LAW Center Inc. involved rape, done twice. The case was dismissed because the judge questioned the mother’s riding the “jabal-jabal” a second time after she had been raped by the driver. The mother was on her way to buy medicine for a sick child. The woman became very depressed. The case resulted in her separation from her husband. Fortunately, a congregation of sisters came to shelter and help her heal.
In another case, the husband preferred to maltreat her before having sex with her. When he also maltreated the children at the same time depriving them of support, the wife sought a protection order. Due to the delay in issuance of the TPO, the mother and her children had to go into hiding. Another woman became deaf due to the constant physical and emotional violence from her husband.
A big challenge to the lawyers are decisions to withdraw from the case because in spite of the psycho-social counselling, battered females haven’t fully understood the cycle of violence. But I admire the persistence of the legal women’s advocated for they do not give up. In fact, Judge Marilyn Lagura-Yap required those who withdrew to proceed with psycho-social interventions.
Due to the complexity of the experience the process of healing is difficult and complicated. Early on LAW Center Inc. realized that economic dependence was a barrier to empowerment so WISE (Women’s Integrated Socio-Eco) was established to assist in the building of a sense of confidence and self-worth. Music therapy with the formation of a choir and setting up of a concert was done. Now healing is done through theatre arts.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
