Eliminating All Violence Against Women Middle East

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V-Day Karama First Local Workshop in Jordan 26-27/3/2006 – Amman Within the efforts of the V-day organization to put an end to violence against women worldwide and through the Karama program which is currently being implemented in nine Arab countries to raise the awareness of women on violence and its implication on the different aspects of life, with focus on violence against women perceived as a political and economical type of violence against society, the Karama program held its first workshop in Jordan. The workshop came as a result of several meetings held with civil society organizations working in the field of human rights and women’s rights. This workshop marked the beginning of work in Jordan following a number of activities that were conducted on regional and local levels in Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon. The workshop aimed to introduce the Karama program to all participants and discuss the focal question around the Karama program (the effect of violence on the eight pillars: policy, economy, health, arts, religion, media, law and education). It also aimed to identify the mechanisms that Jordanian institutions can adopt to enable them analyze the eight pillars and how they relate to violence against women, and finally the programs that will tackle the issue of violence against women. 30 participants representing different institutions (please refer to the list of participants) attended the workshop for two days. They discussed the dimensions of violence and its relation to the eight pillars. This report covers the sessions as well as the most important points that were discussed, the challenges, the priorities, the practical suggestions on how to deal with these pillars and the participants’ evaluation. Opening session: At the opening session, Hibaq Othman, special representative of V-day organization and Head of Karama, welcomed the participants. Afaf Jabiri, the regional coordinator, talked about the Karama program methodology and answered questions put forward by the participants. The inquiries and suggestions at the opening session focused on the following: • How will the Karama Program manage to bring together several institutions which funders are not interested in despite their confirmed existence • The approach of the Karama program is innovative, what is the mechanism that will be used to convert institutions from the traditional approach in dealing with international organisations which is projects • The importance of participation when looking at the program as it attempts to reach common grounds through researching for example the relation of violence to the economy. This approach reinforces discussion and continuity among local organisations • Many participants agreed that the name Karama was an excellent choice and gives value to this type of work • The desire to come out with common ideas and vision because we are all working to the same end and Karama is an objective no one can disagree with. • Karama adopts a criticising vision to the issue of violence different than before and this no doubt will produce working mechanisms that are bound to make changes.

Just after the success of two films produced by AWMC; Delayed victims of violence voice, and a gate and windows defending those divorced young women, on Dec 5th - 2004 [ our fifth anniversary ] we've one day film show on the third film products that is on role of women in political life, named [ Women are marching to take over ], film has reflected a wide media impact locally and regionally, in prints as well as in TV.

From 25 November until 10 December 2004, Campaign addresses violence against women and children Churches worldwide will address violence against women and children within the framework of a World Council of Churches (WCC) campaign, "On the wings of a dove"

PAX Christi urge, all member organisations of Pax Christi to participate in the campaign. In respond to Arab Women Media Center AWMC will organize a day on Dec 5th - 2004, activities started 1000 - 1600 hrs of two strands Film show of 35 minutes on role of women in political life. for details Distributing our two films products, voice of suspended victims of violence against women, second film a gate and windows on supporting divorced young women if their marriages did not work. Alongside the films a supporting printed guide book will be available.

"On the wings of a dove" Churches and church-related organizations will be promoting increased public awareness, and attempting to bring justice and healing to those who have suffered or are still suffering from violence. Worships and prayer vigils, discussions and exhibitions are examples of the campaign activities planned for the 16 days. In particular, the campaign is designed to encourage the churches to develop pastoral and practical responses to various forms of violence by providing a safe space for women to tell their stories, by offering counselling both to survivors and perpetrators of violence, and by linking with other groups and movements working on overcoming violence. Organized within the framework of the WCC Decade to Overcome Violence (2001-2010), the campaign addresses various kinds of violence against women and children on both the political and domestic levels. Violence in the family, sexual violence, violence against women and children in war areas, children's work, female genital mutilation or discriminatory laws are examples of the multifaceted nature of violence against women and children. The campaign will be launched at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva where, amongst others, women from the Sudan Council of Churches and the Community Development Association (Khartoum) will share their experiences.

Violence Against Women [ Jordan ]

UNDER PATRONAGE OF HRH PRINCESS BASSMA AWMC HAS CELEBRATED ARAB WOMEN IN MEDIA DAY  MONDAY MAR 1OTH 2003, ARAB WOMEN MEDIA CENTER in collaboration with PAX CHRISTI PRESSENTED FILM ON Eliminating All Violence Against Women NAME SUSPENDED VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE, HRH Princess Basma called on concerned authorities Monday to exert extended efforts to shed light on the issue of domestic violence, which she described as “more of a universal problem than a local one.” At a graduation ceremony, organised by the Arab Women's Media Centre at Al Hussein Cultural Centre, the Princess presented certificates to the graduates of a series of training courses addressing domestic violence held in Amman, Salt and Husun. The ceremony was held on the occasion of Arab Women's Media Day. The Princess urged concerned agencies to join ranks in those endeavours that work to educate the public on the issue and to assist women that fall victim. PAX CHRISTI REPRESENTATIVE, MRS MARJOLINE WIJNINCKX PRESENTED PACKAGE OF FILM AND GUIDE BOOK BY HRH PRINCESS BASSMA AND MRS AL EMAM MAHASEN DIRECTOR OF [AWMC] She commended the role of the centre in drawing attention to issues of local concern. For her part, centre director Mahasin Imam said the organisation had came up with the idea of an Arab Women's Media Day to mark the great efforts of women that chose media as their careers, despite difficulties inherent in the field. Journalists Milad Ammari and Maisa Abu Hazem, graduates of centre courses, reviewed the skills they acquired as a result of the training offered them. Organisers also screened “Postponed Voice of Victims of Violence,” a documentary film that examines the status of violence against women in Jordanian society. A booklet on the same issue, by the same title, was distributed amongst participants to acquaint women with their rights.

Eliminating All Violence Against Women  SUSPENDED VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE The Jordainian media woman Mahasen Alemam…the president of Arab Media Women Center wrote saying: Because Am a women, and because women issues is a part of my life, I put eye on the women affairs, were ever she was. With different culture and belongs. In the Arab Media Women Center we work as democratic family… Listening all the opinions and suggestions …our sign working for all. From these principals we went to the women and they came to us. This documentary tape is a gift for all those women who suffer… Greetings to all of them. From what I suffer? I don’t know? so many problems, I don’t have any feelings, nothing shakes me, nothing affects on me what I want is to be absent minded, away from all the sticks ,forbidding and the blaming voices. A words for a woman who has a lot to problems and only wants to escape… Do we have violence against women in our society? Dr: violence against women is a healthy problem according to the International Health organization. and the numbers proves that in spite that the actual numbers exceeds those cases which reaches courts, police and social associations. There are 150 cases reach clinics and courts monthly but actually we have 20 or 30 doubles of that number. so we really have a serious problem. The violence is increasing continuously with creation and elevation in its shapes. Presenter: We had a conversation with on of those abused women: How was the beginning of violence with you? Women: I was 16 years old and he was older than me with four years ..he had many affairs with women. I accepted that without discussion… and that was my fault. All women must not keep silent, they have to take action. He used to tell me about the women he meets and I was asking him to stop that but without respond, in addition he was playing cards and waste all of our money and this was another problem. In the last years, the subject of violence against women and what concerns became an important worrying issue in the world countries…that was as a result of the increasing of the violence towards women which started to take a different modern shapes. A few of Arab countries take a real steps to facing the violence…Jordan considered one of the developed countries who faces the phenomena seriously through civilian society establishment. The Legal, physiological and social telephone guidance program which subordinates for the “Jordanian women Union” is considered to be the first program in the Arab world specialized in this field also, there is a lot of government attention in the subject embodied through many projects that is working toward facing the family violence. The violence against women is known in the international proclamation to opposition all different types of violence against women that means: “Any hostility against women is built on the basis of sex which caused or could cause in painful event or body pain, sexual or psychological harmful, WHICH ALSO INCLUDES THE THREAT TO HARM OR PRESURRE OR AARBITRARY DEPRIVATION FOR FREEDOM WHICH HAPPENED EITHER IN THE PRIVATE OR COMMON-LIFE FRAME”. Dr: Violence every hostility against woman or any other human which have three shapes: Physical, psychological and Sexual. Man1: The Physical in the first then the psychological. Dr.: briefly, all the social problems, family problems and children homeless are a result for the violence. Girl1:My mother was the cause of the violence. there was no understanding between us ..she used to solve our problems by hitting and prison, she also used to corrupt facts when she told our father to make him against us too…. Presenter: Why she was treating you in this way? Girl1: I don’t know…I don’t know she may like this way or… or because she was married early. she doesn’t know how to behave with us. She was imprisoning us, light off the lamps and told us that the rats would bite us ..we were believing that, and scared. How old were you? Iwas in the sixth grade…I wasn’t clever at school so she was hitting for that. Girl2:In our society, women always not fair-minded while the men have all their rights. Dr:We can divide the violence against woman simply as that: Physical, psychological and Sexual violence. but if we want to understand the problem more clear. I divide the violence against the woman as the following: Violence against the wife woman inside home. Violence against the relative’s women inside home. And the violence against the women in general, which is the sexual one. Seriousness of the issue that the violence against woman is happening because she is a woman and specifically because she is . I f it occurs to the woman as a wife, this will be a marriage violence and its –for sorry –acceptable in our society, but the unacceptable in our society is the sexual violence against wife from his husband. In the west it’s a crime, while the law in our society doesn’t admit that. About the violence against the relatives women. Every woman may face a violence from her father or brother which is known as a dignity crimes. The last shape is the sexual…, which includes rapping. Sexual molesting, prostitutions and others. Woman: He tried to push me from three meters high edge when I was pregnant ,because I argued with him about his sexual affairs… Girl1:It was raining, I was wet when my mother caught me to her car…my little brother asked me where I was. I replied its not of your business …so she hit me in front all the people and when we returned home she hit me again with a stick so badly. Woman: When im sleeping he tightens my hair roughly and treat me inhumane. so what do you think about my feelings? How would be any woman feelings in my place like? The psychological violence is reducing the importance of women by calling her with different types of surnames or characteristics that doesn’t fit humans like cuesing and insulting, blaspheme and bite, desertion and neglected. And it is also known as preventing women from practicing jobs she wants to do like education ,work and getting married. Girl1:My friends mother’s like me and treat me friendly…so why she is different? She hates my friends and there visits to me ..she does the same with my sister. once she told my father” I can heart your daughters!”. why? does she hate us? Once I came to hug and kiss her but she refused and said “go away”…but why? Im your daughter…why?? Presenter: Do you love her? Girl1:yes…I love her…but why she treats us like this?…weeping Dr:Violence reasons are numerous…some people says it’s the poverty or the employment. but I think its silly and unacceptable ideas.. There is a dangerous factors which cause violence and the most important of them is the man’s lowest consider to the woman that she needs to refine and she doesn’t do her jobs correctly. I think this is the main reason beside the other reasons. Effects of violence on the women: 1-Disconfidence 2-Safelessness. 3-Non ability to raise her children. 4-Body and physical hurts which may causes disabled. 5-Hating marriage and getting divorce or separating. Violence effects against children Children who live in a violent families cant be normal children…they must be hurted even if they don’t face violence directly. He will get confused when his mother is being hitting and he cant defense her because who hits her is his father. so the effects on him will be: 1-Physical hurt. 2-Sleeplessness and less concentrate. 3-Night wetting. 4-Feeding disorder. 5-Feer, anger, in confident and worrying. 6-Childhood losing. 7-Non-self respective. 8-Phsycoliogical problems, depression and dispiriting. 9-Alinatin and friends losing. 10-Discomunication with his family. The behavioral effects…he considers his father as an example so he became violent. Accepting the abuse in his school or in the street ..so he will have a shaky personality, absence from his school and oblique. Presenter: How was your children reaction? Woman: It was negative…when I was bringing them dolls, they were breaking them as if they imitate their father when he was hitting me! Presenter: have you told me that your sons are grown up now, and they do the same with their wives? Woman: Yes they do.. Woman2: My problem is my child who was taken from me after one year of failed marriage. my husband took my child exchange for my freedom. This a kind of violence against the woman in my opinion… If I want to see my son. I see him for only one or two hours, as I if he strange on me.. its not enough. how can I give him my sympathy? Child like this certainly will be abnormal. he will hate her mother because he didn’t get enough care and sympathy. When woman keep silent in front these unfair laws, man will go too far his injustice. So she must refuse and something about that. Who gives the rights to the husband to beat his wife.who gave him the right to be the judge and the criminal in the same time.some say the religion gave him this right.but if we went back to the profit curriculum we find that there is so many of our “profit Hadith” which assure us to respect women. In a novel from our profit Mohammed addressing a man beated his wife saying “One of you stay biting his wife as a slave and keeps hugging her without shame”. And if we are getting our rules from the Holy Quran which advises us to take our profit as example who is “Never beated in his hand a woman, nor a servant or any thing that struggle utmost for the cause of God”. Man1: When man and woman each do their responsibilities. There will not be any violence. But if the wife rebelled against her husband he must stop her in his way… Some wives behave in a way that drives men to be violent! If we asked ourselves, who is responsible for continues violence: 1-the media. Which sees the women from limited angels, the unjust and rejection the women from the society. Or the ignorance that forgets the struggled, educated, working woman. and the written journalism that did not reach up to the level of the problem. 2-Is it the law which is still ignores the seriousness of the problem in the society. it is still minor in solving the problem legally where the “Jordanian punishment law” doesn’t contain any materials specially designed for violence against women. 3-Is it the society which led this lady to continue her life which full with torment.. In the society point view ..Woman still a week part who has no rights. she is minor whatever education or social level she reached…its not a source of trust. its a heavy burden on the family. As public “Cuddle the girl shames you. and cuddle the boy riches you”. So, not to ignore the problem, or to escape from it… numbers forces us to look at it and to admit that the problem is not only the Jordanian or Arabic woman. it’s the problem of all the women in whole world. even so each society has its own privacy… Jordan: · In year 2000,It reached the “Family protection unit” 613 family violence cases. · In year 2001 it reached 442 cases. As it shows in their report issued in the June 2002, that the number of consultations where 6164 of family cases. The united state of America: 30% of the American woman is subjected to violence. Where 1.8 million American women are subjected to violence yearly. France: Woman forms 95% of violence victims, and 51% out of them are husband’s violence. Croatia: The cases reaches 12.000 twelve thousands cases. In a survey consisted of three thousand Croatian man..85% confess that they have beaten woman outside the family or inside it. And in Egypt, one of three women is subjected to be beaten from her husband at least once during the marriage. What is left to get ridded of violence? *Guiding media where it should be fair with woman, fighting the violence phenomenon against her. *Issue legislation that deals with the family violence. *Education campaigns about the danger of this problem. *Training those who work in confrontation the violence against the woman. *Reaching the different types of the public sector, to increase the social awareness. *Studies that shows the actual size of the problem. Woman1: I hope you to help me , because iam so tired…I need who stands by my side physically and morally ..i hope that my voice would reach those whom concern. Presenter: What did you decide after thirty years? Wwoman1: Till now I didn’t…have I stay with him or separate…help me! Whispers in the abused woman ear: *Refuse the violence. you cant change it if you don’t refuse it from your side. *You don’t deserve the violence. so don’t blame your self for it. because you are not the cause of it. you are a human. and humans have the rights to live in dignity and safely. *If you have a hope to decline the acuity of violence. Don’t hope that…when the violence starts it will never end as the studies indicates *Don’t believe that he loves you ..who loves cant be inflictor. *Don’t keep client that is will give him more power. *Don’t wait savior..there is no one but you. *Don’t face violence with violence..you may lose yourself. *Don’t hesitate to turn to trustable people.. they could help you. *Use your rights, the laws will protect you from violence. Man1: Woman doesn’t deserve violence against her…. Man2: She doesn’t deserve violence…never. Man3: She doesn’t deserve violence because the marriage which consists on the violence will not continue. Woman2:Some times she does…and some times doesn’t. Dr.: Violence is a crime which law punishes for it, and it’s a psychological, physical and social problem. To me I don’t accept the way that the law deal with this phenomenon. No one deserves any kind of violence especially the woman who deserves to treat respectly and kindly as she doesn’t deserve the violence.

VIEW MORE ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN Global scope and magnitude Book, documentary highlight societal intertwined with problems of domestic violence By Sahar Aloul JORDAN TIMES  AMMAN — A booklet on violence against women hit the bookshelves last month with an accompanying documentary film that both reveal aspects of an oft-concealed social phenomenon. The new publication, “Voices of Delayed Victims of Violence,” is the first release of its kind on violence against women in the Kingdom, detailing forms of violence as well as their repercussions on women and their families. “We felt there was a need to publish this to inform the public, particularly women, of women's rights and the consequences of domestic violence,” the publisher's director, Mahasen Imam of the Arab Women Media Centre, told The Jordan Times Tuesday. The centre's publication was distributed to NGOs dealing with human rights as well as women's groups both here and regionally, according to Iman. As for the title, Imam indicated it reflected the difficulties abused women go through when “hiding their suffering and in delaying dealing with their torment until a later point in their life.” The booklet itself contains the definition of the term “violence against women” as defined internationally — physical, emotional and sexual — as well as the rights of women and children in armed conflict. In addition to the forms of violence mentioned, the publication also tackles violence and its connections to religion, law and the media as well as health and social norms that are described literally and portrayed in 15 caricatures drawn by Jalal Rafai, interspersed throughout the text. “Caricatures are a strong method of expression. So we chose to incorporate them in our publication so the message would stick in readers' minds,” Imam explained. Equally informative is the 27- and-a-half minute documentary distributed with the booklet that bears the same title. Detailing real life accounts of victimized women, it provides expert analysis on the issue in both Arabic and English. According to the statistics in the booklet, some 134 domestic acts of violence were reported in 2001 compared to 128 in 2000, revealing an increase of 4.7 per cent. Females made up 55 per cent of all victims in such crimes. The highest rate of domestic violence was found in the capital with 57.5 per cent of the total number of incidents for 2001. “Voices of Delayed Victims of Violence” argues that violence against women is increasing as society continues to perceive women as subordinates regardless of their background via social norms such as allowing male relatives the right to discipline them. “Violence against women is an international issue. But in our Arab and Islamic society it has inherent historic characteristics of going without punishment and therefore becoming a social phenomenon,” Imam stated.

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