Violence against women and girls is a global issue that knows no respect for geographical boundaries, race, ethnicity, age or class. It happens in times of peace and war, it happens in private homes and public spaces. It is often shrouded in secrecy, ignored when the silence is broken or accepted as an inevitable part of life, It is a crime where the victim is blamed and stigmatised and where the perpetrator often remains invisible, unchallenged and unprosecuted.
The Irish Consortium on Gender Based Violence (ICGBV) is an Irish based consortium of International human rights, humanitarian and development organisations, including International NGOs, Irish Aid and The Irish Defence Forces. Between us we have world-leading expertise and experience in addressing violence against women and girls in international development, humanitarian assistance , and peace-keeping.
10 years ago, we came face to face with the use of violence against women in conflict, in Darfur, Sudan. This wasn't the first time we had faced this issue, but it was the first time we choose to no longer merely act as witnesses to it. We decided that we would no longer accept violence against women and girls as an inevitable part of life, and committed to build a model of working together to end this violence - the Irish Consortium on Gender Based Violence (ICGBV) was founded.
We knew that we could not rush into responding to violence against women and girls, that our approach would need to be nuanced and based on informed decisions, always founded on the principle of “do no harm”. And so our first step was to educate ourselves; we undertook research on violence against women and girls - its forms, its impact, the contexts in which it occurs; we also researched strategies to respond to and prevent violence against women and girls. 10 years on, the ICGBV has supported an increase in programming to prevent GBV and we have supported greater investment in humanitarian and development programming to meet the needs of victims of GBV; the Irish Defence Forces now provide gender advisors in UN missions around the world - all activities supported by the Consortium.
Our core motivation for our work for the next 10 years is to do better work on the ground to prevent and respond to all of these forms of violence against women and girls.
We can never achieve the shared global goals of gender equality, sustainable peace and sustainable development without addressing violence against women and girls. We strive for a world where women and girls who have been victimised are supported and protected, not isolated and stigmatised.
We know that today 1 in 3 women will experience physical or sexual violence from an intimate partner in their lifetime and that 1 in 3 women will experience sexual violence from a non-partner in their lifetime. We know that 4.5 million people are victims of forced sexual exploitation, and that 98% of them are women and girls.
We know that 133 million women alive today have undergone Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), we know that FGM is a grave violation of women’s human rights.
We know that 700 million women alive today were married before their 18th birthday, and that 250 million were married before their 15th birthday. We know that for girls this means an end to their education and frequently a life of no choices, fear and violence.
As the Irish Consortium on Gender Based Violence mark our 10th birthday, we are reflecting on where we have come from and calling on all citizens of our world to stand together and build a society where the rights of all are respected and injustice is not tolerated.
We are all responsible for, and capable of, creating a society that is free of violence. We can all use our knowledge, awareness, care and compassion along with our personal abilities and skills to combat this problem. The ICGBV is living proof that when we stand together in solidarity, we can tackle the injustice of violence against women.
Rosamond Bennett is chair of the Irish Consortium on Gender Based Violence and CEO of Christian Aid Ireland.