Facebook Linkedin Instagram

Blog – I Am My Bodyguard

Gender Based Violence — a human rights violation

1,056 Comments / Gender Based Violence, News / By

By Yvonne Mwende
Notwithstanding significant attempts to curb Gender Based Violence (GBV), it still remains the most extreme expression of unequal gender relations in society and a violation of human rights. Arguably a major obstacle for the achievement of gender justice, posing a serious threat to democratic development and public health, and a critical barrier to achieving sustainable development, economic growth and peace.

Global estimates in 2014 show 35 per cent of women worldwide have experienced either intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime. Though GBV affects both men and women, it disproportionally affects women and girls more.

Kenya, being a signatory to several international and regional conventions, treaties and human rights standards and programmes of action that seek to prevent or eradicate gender inequality and discrimination, does not fare any better.

The Kenya Demographic Health Survey 2014 shows that 45 per cent of women and 44 per cent of men age 15-49 have experienced physical violence since the age of 15; whereas, 14 per cent of women and six per cent of men age 15-49 report having experienced sexual violence at least once in their lifetime.

Gender-based violence directly violates 23 rights and fundamental freedoms of citizens contained in the Bill of Rights in Chapter Four of the Constitution of Kenya 2010. Some of these fundamental rights include the Right to life, equality and freedom from discrimination, human dignity and freedom and security of the person among others.

Changing norms and mindsets is perhaps the most difficult. If women, girls, men and boys are not safe, they cannot fully participate in the development of their society. Unfortunately, cultural dictates have informed some of these human violations. The most disparaging being that women and girls are supposed to be ‘disciplined’, are lesser human beings, are supposed to be subservient or even ask to be violated.

In 2009, university Professor Enrique Lynch wrote a controversial article on the Spanish national daily El Pais critiquing a campaign to promote ‘zero tolerance’ toward violence against women. In the article, ‘Revanchismo de género’ (‘Gender revenge’) Lynch argues that the approach of favouring women over men contributes to gender violence. More blistering, he claims that women themselves bear the responsibility for male violence. As you can imagine, this contemptuous, speak out of turn caused a heated debate to erupt, with several hundred phone calls and letters of complaint directed to the publisher.

The acceptance of violence against women and girls as the norm is perhaps more popular than we admit. The patriarchal social order has always been skewed and lacks inclusion. Until we internalize and relentlessly address this issue head-on, we will continue to battle with some form of human rights violations.

1,056 thoughts on “Gender Based Violence — a human rights violation”

  201. zoritoler imol

    My programmer is trying to persuade me to move to .net from PHP. I have always disliked the idea because of the expenses. But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using WordPress on a variety of websites for about a year and am concerned about switching to another platform. I have heard fantastic things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can import all my wordpress content into it? Any kind of help would be greatly appreciated!

    Reply
  202. Adriana Spencer

    Great job site admin! You have made it look so easy talking about that topic, providing your readers some vital information. I would love to see more helpful articles like this, so please keep posting! I also have great posts about Cosmetics, check out my weblog at QN7

    Reply
  352. أنابيب LDPE

    أنابيب الفولاذ المقاوم للصدأ في العراق تتميز مصنع إيليت بايب كمزود رئيسي لأنابيب الفولاذ المقاوم للصدأ في العراق، معروفة بجودتها الاستثنائية وموثوقيتها. تم تصميم أنابيب الفولاذ المقاوم للصدأ لدينا لتحمل الضغوط العالية ودرجات الحرارة القصوى، مما يجعلها مناسبة لمجموعة واسعة من التطبيقات الصناعية والتجارية. يضمن استخدام المواد الممتازة وعمليات التصنيع المتقدمة أن توفر أنابيبنا قوة فائقة وطول عمر. كواحدة من الأسماء الأكثر موثوقية في الصناعة، تلتزم مصنع إيليت بايب بتقديم منتجات تفوق التوقعات. استكشف أنابيب الفولاذ المقاوم للصدأ لدينا بمزيد من التفصيل بزيارة موقعنا الإلكتروني على ElitePipe Iraq.

    Reply
  377. Black Screen

    Are you looking for a way to discreetly conceal that your PC is turned on? BlackScreen. Space offers a solution by utilizing a black screen. This is particularly useful when you have multiple monitors and prefer to keep them powered on, such as when running background tasks or downloads, without drawing attention to your computer’s activity. Maintain privacy and optimize your workflow with the elegance of a black screen.
    https://blackscreen.space/

    Reply
  482. cwinn.ltd/

    Nhà Cái Cwin tu tin khang dinh la mot trong nhung nen tang giai tri truc tuyen hang dau tai Viet Nam. Mang den trai nghiem thu gian tuyet voi voi bo suu tap tro choi da dang va chat luong. Thuong hieu luon chu trong den su cong bang, minh bach va do tin cay, nhung yeu to nay da gop phan tao nen uy tin cua CWIN.
    Website: https://cwinn.ltd/

    Reply