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Jordan celebrates the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against WomenJordan
Jordan celebrates the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against WomenJordan
Monday, 25 November 2019

Jordan and the world will celebrate on Monday the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, which is on November 25 each year. This year's theme is "The Orange World: Generation of Equality Stands against Rape".

The United Nations General Assembly has designated November 25 as the “International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women” and as an Orange Day for its “Say No- Unit” campaign, launched in 2009 to mobilize civil society, activists, governments and the United Nations system to strengthen the impact of UN Secretary-General's campaign "Unite to end violence against women".

The UN General Assembly declaration defined violence against women as “any act of gender based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.

The celebration of the Day aims to raise the profile of this global problem, raise public awareness among people and governments of violence against women, pave the way for the elimination of violence against women and girls worldwide, and implement international conventions and recommendations.

In a special press release on this occasion, the Higher Population Council stressed that the HPC's vision and mission include attention to the population dimension as an essential component in development to ensure optimal investment for the Demographic Dividend and the well-being of the Jordanian society, including women, which constitute half of the society, pointing out that the HPC is committed to provide a supportive environment for the demographic transition expected in Jordan, along with focusing on issues of women's empowerment and paying attention to reproductive health and gender equality, where reproductive health significantly affects the public health of individuals and society at all age groups.

HPC mentioned that the issue of empowering women and concern for their reproductive health and achieving gender equality was an issue of growing interest to the HPC through holding seminars and awareness workshops in this field. Showing that the third goal of the sustainable development goals, which is to "Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages" and the fifth goal on gender equality "Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls" are essential elements for the sustainable development of countries.

HPC referred to the results of the Population and Family Health Survey (2017 -2018), which showed that 21% of women who have been married between the ages of (15-49 years) have been subjected to physical violence at least once since they were 15 years old. Moreover, the results show that 14% were subjected to physical violence during the 12 months prior to the survey, and that 2% were subjected to this type of violence during pregnancy. Physical violence means pushing, shaking or throwing something on the victim, slapping, twisting the arm or pulling hair, punching with a fist or something that can hurt, kicking, dragging, or beating hard, trying to strangle or burn on purpose, threatening or attacking with a knife,  gun or any other weapon.

In term of ​​sexual violence against women (i.e. the physical coercion to have sexual intercourse with a husbandeven when a wife does not want ) the survey’s results showed that 5% of women have been subjected to this type of violence by their current or previous spouse. There is a marked variation in sexual violence exposure by age, as women iaged (20-24 years) are less likely to report experiencing sexual violence than women in other age groups.

As for ​​violence against women during pregnancy, HPC indicated that this type of violence may not only threatens women’s well-being, but may also threaten the lives of their unborn children., The survey depicted information on the proportion of women who have been subjected to a form of physical violence during pregnancy according to the basic characteristics, whereas 7% of the women who have already been pregnant were "beaten, slapped, kicked," or subjected to physical violence forms during pregnancy at least once.HPC indicated that, in terms of male-partner violence, the survey results showed that 26% of women who had previously been married reported physical violence by their current or most recent spouses. Moreover, 7% reported sexual violence, and 25% reported emotional violence (uttering or doing something to insult the wife in front of others, threaten to harm a wife or a relative, or make her feel bad about herself). The results indicate that 24% the women who have ever married have been subjected to “physical violence and/ or sexual violence” by their current or most recent spouse, while about a third (32%) of them experienced “physical, sexual and/ or emotional violence”.

The survey also showed that the percentage of violence against wives who are older than their husbands is 34%, which indicates that they are more exposed to all forms of male-partner violence than other wives, as one of every three wives who are older than their husbands have experienced one or more forms of violence, and about 26% were subjected to emotional violence, 23% were subjected to physical violence, and approximately 8% were subjected to sexual violence, while 16% of wives who are 1-4 years younger than their husbands were subjected to emotional violence, 13% to physical violence, and 4% to sexual violence.

HPC noted that the data show a marked increase in violence rates against women, as most percentages significantly higher than the  population survey data(2012). All international bodies have adopted various mechanisms of reducing violence against women, in order to make a difference and  change for the better. HPC stressed the need for a transitional framework through which structural and infrastructural obstacles to gender equality and women's rights are addressed.

The need for such framework, is based on the solid foundation of international conventions such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women; the international commitments made by 79 countries within the Program of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action; the outcomes of the United Nations Conference on sustainable development (Rio + 20) 2012; declarations and resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly; the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council, and the outcome document of the Commission on the Status of Women.

HPC highlighted that women’s deficient empowerment and low economic participation, which does not exceed 16% of economic activity rate, are considered as violence against women and girls. Moreover, women are poorly represented in political, judicial field and other aspects of life. There is an explicit correlation between violence against women and girls and other issues such as education, health, poverty eradication, food security, peace and security, crime prevention and providing humanitarian aid. It creates, over and above that short and long-term adverse impact on women and girls’ reproductive health.

UN data show that one in three women and girls experience physical or sexual violence during their lifetime, mostly by their partners; only 52% of married women make decisions freely about their sexual relations and using contraceptive methods and health care; nearly 750 million women and girls around the world are married before the age of 18; 200 million women and girls have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM). Moreover, one in every two murdered women were killed by their partner or a family member worldwide, compared to one in twenty men were killed in similar circumstances. Additionally, 71% of all human trafficking victims are women, and 3 out of 4 women are sexually exploited.

The reasons behind gender-based violence include gender discrimination; gender inequality; abusive customs and deeply rooted traditions against women and girls; patriarchal authority which entrenches the misconception of women's subordination to men and contributes to men decision-making and expanding control on women. Ergo, gender-based violence remains a barrier to equality, development and peace.