In January 2021, we launched the 2021-2023 action program "Vigilance and Mobilization, Against all forms of Violence and Discrimination against Young Girls and Women", particularly in the context of Covid.
VIOLENCE IS NOT A FATALITY
The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDEF/CEDAW), adopted on 12/18/1979, ratified on 12/14/1983 by France, attests to the fact that violence against women constitutes a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination against women.
More than 30 years after these solemn declarations and the various commitments of States, including France with the recent Grenelle to combat domestic violence launched on September 3, 2019 by the then Prime Minister, where are we?
The indicators are more than worrying, not to say alarming in the outlying territories and in the countries concerned.
Everywhere, the situation and living conditions of young girls and women are deteriorating, with a vertiginous accentuation of this violence against them, regardless of their social status.
One focus draws our attention: the vulnerability and poverty of older women who are also in situations of violence.
The specific context of Covid 19, with its health constraints, leading many young girls and women to an obligation of promiscuity, synonymous with vulnerability, insecurity and deprivation of freedom, is undoubtedly one of the vectors of what can be called a major humanitarian crisis. This insidious crisis is in many cases invisible. However, the victims, which number in the thousands, are very real. This scourge undermines the fundamental rights of young girls and women and, too often, their very lives. Most of them, undergo this suffering and this violence, in the most complete anonymity.
The Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. António Guterres challenged the States on their roles and their duties in the face of this societal and generational scourge:
“…Violence against women and girls has exploded in all its forms, from online assaults, to domestic violence, to sexual trafficking and exploitation and child marriage…How the society treats half of its population is indicative of how it will treat others…”.
The NGO Ascendances, faithful to its ethical charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, launched its 2021-2023 program in January 2021 - "Vigilance and Mobilization against all forms of Violence and Discrimination against Young Girls and Women in the context of Covid 19" a few months before the 3rd anniversary of the Grenelle to combat domestic violence and discrimination against young girls and women, whose roadmap constitutes a national strategy to combat such violence, and focuses in particular on three areas of action:
• Prevention: eradicate from an early age these sexist stereotypes,
which contribute to the reproduction of this violence and to lower the threshold of their tolerance in society.
• Protect: ensure the highest degree of protection for victims and their children.
• Punish: end impunity, while preventing recidivism.
Mr. William Gracienne, President of the Support Committees and founding member of the NGO, accompanied by Mrs. Bénédicte Imache, Secretary of the NGO, also a founding member, began a series of field meetings with territorial actors. The objective of these meetings is to review with them of the concrete actions implemented on the subject of violence against young girls and women, in order to give them greater visibility at the local, national and international.
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This campaign of meetings in this national period of civic engagement, is part of the drafting of the annual report of the NGO Ascendances on the subject of violence and discrimination against young girls and women.
