Misplaced Pages

#429570

88-667: Inspired by the Jewish commitment to justice, American Jewish World Service works to realize human rights and end poverty in the developing world. AJWS has a two-pronged strategy: It provides over $ 38 million annually to more than 450 social justice organizations in 19 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean, and they advocate for laws and policies in the United States that will improve

176-465: A 15-year-old girl who was ruthlessly dragged on the ground for over 50 feet and then was raped by 10 Burmese soldiers. Human trafficking refers to the acquisition of persons by improper means such as force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them. The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children states, "Trafficking in persons" shall mean

264-562: A bride is killed at home by her husband or husband's family due to his dissatisfaction over the dowry provided by her family. Dowry death refers to the phenomenon of women and girls being killed or committing suicide due to disputes regarding dowry. Dowry violence is common in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. In India, in 2011 alone, the National Crime Records Bureau reported 8,618 dowry deaths, while unofficial figures suggest

352-410: A broken political system. For instance in 2008, U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama utilized such a meaning when he said, "this was the moment when we tore down barriers that have divided us for too long; when we rallied people of all parties and ages to a common cause." Change.org and Causes are two popular websites that allow people to organize around a common cause. Topics upon which there

440-454: A country that has received major international criticism for the way it has dealt legally with the issue of violence against women is Finland; with authors pointing out that a high level of equality for women in the public sphere (as in Finland) should never be equated with equality in all other aspects of women's lives. The American Psychiatric Association planning and research committees for

528-687: A definition of what such violence is, and a proposal to combat it. The Istanbul Convention ( Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence ) of the Council of Europe describes VAW as "a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination against women" and defines VAW as "all acts of gender-based violence that result in or are likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological, or economic 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 1979 Convention on

616-428: A different approach in a way to initiate changes in the society. One of the most popular forms is social justice advocacy. Cohen, de la Vega, and Watson (2001) state that this definition does not encompass the notions of power relations, people's participation, and a vision of a just society as promoted by social justice advocates. For them, advocacy represents the series of actions taken and issues highlighted to change

704-833: A few decades ago: for instance, in France, married women received the right to work without their husband's permission in 1965. In Spain, during the Franco era, a married woman required her husband's consent ( permiso marital ) for nearly all economic activities, including employment, ownership of property and traveling away from home; the permiso marital was abolished in 1975. Concerns exist about violence related to marriage – both inside marriage (physical abuse, sexual violence, restriction of liberty) and in relation to marriage customs ( dowry , bride price , forced marriage , child marriage , marriage by abduction , violence related to female premarital virginity ). Claudia Card, professor of philosophy at

792-1047: A form of violence against women. Women from certain lower castes have been involved in prostitution as part of a tradition, called Intergenerational prostitution . In pre-modern Korea, women from the lower caste Cheonmin , known as Kisaeng , were trained to provide entertainment, conversation, and sexual services to men of the upper class. Women with illegal resident status are disproportionately involved with prostitution. For example, in 1997, Le Monde diplomatique stated that 80% of prostitutes in Amsterdam were foreigners and 70% had no immigration papers. Militarism produces special environments that allow for increased violence against women. War rapes have accompanied warfare in virtually every known historical era. War rapes are rapes committed by soldiers, other combatants, or civilians during armed conflict or war or during military occupation, distinguished from sexual assaults and rapes committed amongst troops in military service. It also covers

880-406: A husband calls his wife to his bed (i.e. to have sexual relation) and she refuses and causes him to sleep in anger, the angels will curse her till morning';" and several comments on the issue of marital rape made by Muslim religious leaders have been criticized. Dating abuse, or dating violence, is the perpetration of coercion, intimidation, or assault in the context of dating or courtship . It

968-470: A legal right to "punish" their wives. The criminal code states at Paragraph 41 that there is no crime if an act is committed while exercising a legal right; examples of legal rights include: "The punishment of a wife by her husband, the disciplining by parents and teachers of children under their authority within certain limits prescribed by law or by custom". In the West, married women faced discrimination until just

SECTION 10

#1732887769430

1056-529: A mechanism for the subjugation of women, whether in society in general or in an interpersonal relationship . The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women states, "violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women" and "violence against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into a subordinate position compared with men." Kofi Annan , Secretary-General of

1144-572: A minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. Because of the illegal nature of trafficking, reliable data on its extent is very limited. The WHO states "Current evidence strongly suggests that those who are trafficked into the sex industry and as domestic servants are more likely to be women and children." A 2006 study in Europe on trafficked women found that

1232-601: A rally in Washington, D.C., against genocide, and has since conducted a series of other rallies throughout the country. In 2010, AJWS responded to the earthquake in Haiti , raising nearly $ 6 million for Haitian-led recovery efforts, and in 2011 launched Reverse Hunger: Ending the Global Food Crisis, a campaign to reform U.S. food aid policy. In 2013, AJWS launched the “We Believe” campaign, a national advocacy campaign that called on

1320-401: A range of actions with unwelcome sexual overtones, including verbal transgressions. Sexual violence is a broader term referring to the use of violence to obtain a sexual act, including, for example, trafficking. Sexual assault is usually defined as unwanted sexual contact and when this involves sexual penetration or sexual intercourse it is referred to as rape . Women are most often

1408-438: A wide range of categories and support several issues as listed on worldadvocacy.com. The Advocacy Institute, a US-based global organization, is dedicated to strengthening the capacity of political, social, and economic justice advocates to influence and change public policy. The phenomenon of globalization draws a special attention to advocacy beyond countries’ borders. The core existence of networks such as World Advocacy or

1496-409: Is violent acts primarily committed by men or boys against women or girls . Such violence is often considered a form of hate crime , committed against persons specifically because they are of the female gender , and can take many forms. VAW has a very long history, though the incidents and intensity of such violence have varied over time and between societies. Such violence is often seen as

1584-762: Is Robert Bank. Bank has spent his career championing human rights as an attorney, activist and leader. He joined AJWS as executive vice president in 2009, and he had previously served in New York's municipal government and in the leadership of GMHC—one of the world's leading organizations combating HIV/AIDS. Robert has been honored with GMHC's Lifetime Achievement Award and the Partners in Justice Award from AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps. Bank became president and chief executive officer in July 2016, succeeding Ruth Messinger, who presided over

1672-463: Is a custom prevalent in many societies that in its extreme can lead to the rejection of daughters. Sex-selective abortion of females is more common among the higher income population, who can access medical technology . After birth, neglect and diverting resources to male children can lead to some countries having a skewed ratio with more boys than girls, with such practices killing an approximate 230,000 girls under five in India each year. In China,

1760-475: Is abducted by the would-be groom, who is often helped by his friends. The victim is often raped by the would be groom, after which he may try to negotiate a bride price with the village elders to legitimize the marriage. Forced and child marriages are practiced by some inhabitants of Tanzania. Girls are sold by their families to older men for financial benefits, and often girls are married off as soon as they hit puberty, which can be as young as seven years old. To

1848-649: Is about as common as violence against women in heterosexual relationships. Women are much more likely than men to be murdered by an intimate partner. In the United States, in 2005, 1181 women were killed by their intimate partners, compared to 329 men. It is estimated that 30% or more of the women who are admitted to the ER could be victims of domestic violence In England and Wales about 100 women are killed by partners or former partners each year while 21 men were killed in 2010. In 2008, in France, 156 women were killed by their intimate partner, compared to 27 men. According to

SECTION 20

#1732887769430

1936-478: Is also when one partner tries to maintain abusive power and control . Dating violence is defined by the CDC as "the physical, sexual, psychological, or emotional violence within a dating relationship, including stalking". Widows have been subjected to forced remarriage called widow inheritance , where they are forced to marry a male relative of their late husband. Another practice is the banned remarriage of widows, which

2024-419: Is considered a sin ) and states, "The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another." Some conservative religious figures interpret this as rejecting to possibility of marital rape. Islam makes reference to sexual relations in marriage too, notably: "Allah's Apostle said, 'If

2112-419: Is illegal but is widely tolerated and accepted as a husband's prerogative. The criminalization of spousal rape is recent, having occurred during the past few decades. Traditional understanding and views of marriage , rape , sexuality , gender roles and self determination have started to be challenged in most Western countries during the 1960s and 1970s, which led to the criminalization of marital rape during

2200-475: Is increasingly playing a role in advocacy for migrants rights , and migrant advocacy organizations have strategically called upon governments and international organizations for leverage. Transnational advocates spend time with local interest groups in order to better understand their views and wishes. Violence against women Violence against women ( VAW ), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence ( SGBV ),

2288-415: Is legal in India and Korea. A more extreme version is the ritual killing of widows, as seen in India and Fiji. Sati is the burning of widows, and although sati in India is today an almost defunct practice, isolated incidents have occurred in recent years, such as the 1987 sati of Roop Kanwar , as well as several incidents in rural areas in 2002 and 2006. A traditional idea upheld in some places in Africa

2376-601: Is likely to remain. In the United States , any issue of widespread debate and deeply divided opinion can be referred to as a social issue. The Library of Congress has assembled an extensive list of social issues in the United States, ranging from vast ones like abortion to same-sex marriage to smaller ones like hacking and academic cheating . Topics that appear to involve advancing a certain positive ideal are often known as causes. A particular cause may be very expansive in nature — for instance, increasing liberty or fixing

2464-480: Is not addressed enough in this law, and only establishes a minimum age of 18 for the boys of Tanzania. A minimum age needs to be enforced for girls to stop these practices and provide them with equal rights and a less harmful life. The custom of dowry , which is common in South Asia, especially in India, is the trigger of many forms of violence against women. Bride burning is a form of violence against women in which

2552-417: Is often used interchangeably with violence against women , and some articles on VAW reiterate these conceptions by stating that men are the main perpetrators of this violence. Moreover, the definition stated by the 1993 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women also supported the notion that violence is rooted in the inequality between men and women when the term violence is used together with

2640-513: Is serious violence in the marriage that is "usually the husband battering the wife". In these cases the emergency room or a legal authority often is the first to notify the clinician . Most importantly, marital violence "is a major risk factor for serious injury and even death and women in violent marriages are at much greater risk of being seriously injured or killed ( National Advisory Council on Violence Against Women 2000)". The authors conclude with what they call "very recent information" on

2728-450: Is that an unmarried widow is unholy and “disturbed” if she is unmarried and abstains from sex for some period of time. This fuels the practice of widow cleansing where the unmarried widow is required to have sexual intercourse as a form of ritual purification, which is commenced with a ceremony for the neighborhood to witness that she is now purified. Unmarried widows are most likely to be accused and killed as witches . Witch trials in

American Jewish World Service - Misplaced Pages Continue

2816-426: Is the one most frequently at risk, and clinicians must be aware that supporting assertiveness by a battered wife may lead to more beatings or even death. Marital or spousal rape was once widely condoned or ignored by law and is now widely considered unacceptable violence against women, repudiated by international conventions, and increasingly criminalized. Still, in many countries, spousal rape either remains legal or

2904-458: Is universal agreement that they need to be solved include, for example, human trafficking , poverty , water and sanitation as a human right . "Social issues" as referred to in the United States also include topics (also known as "causes") intended by their advocates to advance certain ideals (such as equality ) include: civil rights , LGBT rights , women's rights , environmentalism , and veganism . Advocates and advocacy groups represent

2992-499: Is unwanted or obsessive attention by an individual or group toward another person, often manifested through persistent harassment , intimidation , or following/monitoring of the victim. Stalking is often understood as "a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear.". Although stalkers are frequently portrayed as being strangers, they are most often known people, such as former or current partners, friends, colleagues or acquaintances. In

3080-536: The Advocacy Institute demonstrates the increasing importance of transnational advocacy and international advocacy. Transnational advocacy networks are more likely to emerge around issues where external influence is necessary to ease the communication between internal groups and their own government. Groups of advocates willing to further their mission also tend to promote networks and to meet with their internal counterparts to exchange ideas. Transnational advocacy

3168-811: The Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights announced that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant had killed over 150 women and girls in Fallujah who refused to participate in sexual jihad . During the Rohingya genocide (2016–present), the Armed Forces of Myanmar , along with the Myanmar Border Guard Police and Buddhist militias of Rakhine , committed widespread gang rapes and other forms of sexual violence against

3256-546: The Rohingya Muslim women and girls. A January 2018 study estimated that the military and local Rakhine Buddhists perpetrated gang rapes and other forms of sexual violence against 18,000 Rohingya Muslim women and girls. The Human Rights Watch stated that gang rapes and sexual violence were committed as part of the military's ethnic cleansing campaign, while the United Nations Special Representative of

3344-603: The Rwandan Genocide as a war crime. According to one report, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant 's capture of Iraqi cities in June 2014 was accompanied by an upsurge in crimes against women, including kidnapping and rape. The Guardian reported that ISIL's extremist agenda extended to women's bodies and that women living under their control were being captured and raped. Fighters are told that they are free to have sex and rape non-Muslim captive women. Haleh Esfandiari from

3432-437: The United States suffered attempted rape or rape sometime in their lives. More than a third of the victims were raped before the age of 18. Women who are sex workers end up in the profession for several reasons. Some were victims of sexual and domestic abuse. Many women have said they were raped as working girls. They may be apprehensive about coming forward and reporting their attacks. When reported, many women have said that

3520-713: The United States State Department 's Religion and Foreign Policy Working Group and co-chairs the Sub-Working Group on Social Justice. AJWS provides over $ 38 million annually to 450 social justice organizations in 19 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, to address some of the gravest global problems, including genocide, AIDS, violence against women and girls, hatred of LGBT people, and consequences of natural and human-made disasters. Since its founding, AJWS has provided more than $ 360 million to support thousands of social justice organizations in

3608-476: The Witch trials in the early modern period or the sexual slavery of the comfort women . The Gender Equality Commission of the Council of Europe identifies nine forms of violence against women based on subject and context rather than life cycle or time period: The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a typology of violence against women based on their cultural life cycles. Sexual harassment includes

American Jewish World Service - Misplaced Pages Continue

3696-540: The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars has highlighted the abuse of local women by ISIL militants after they captured an area. "They usually take the older women to a makeshift slave market and try to sell them. The younger girls... are raped or married off to fighters," she said, adding, "It's based on temporary marriages, and once these fighters have had sex with these young girls, they just pass them on to other fighters." In December 2014

3784-615: The militias that supported them led to 200,000 women being raped over a period of nine months. Rape during the Bosnian War was used as a highly systematized instrument of war by Serb armed forces, predominantly targeting women and girls of the Bosniak ethnic group for physical and moral destruction. Estimates of the number of women raped during the war range from 50,000 to 60,000; as of 2010 only 12 cases have been prosecuted. The 1998 International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda recognized rape in

3872-529: The "what is" into a "what should be", considering that this "what should be" is a more decent and a more just society Those actions, which vary with the political, economic and social environment in which they are conducted, have several points in common. For instance, they: Other forms of advocacy include: Different contexts in which advocacy is used: Margaret E. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink have observed four types of advocacy tactics: These tactics have been also observed within advocacy organizations outside

3960-480: The 2000s. In Canada, marital rape was made illegal in 1983, when several legal changes were made, including changing the rape statute to sexual assault and making the laws gender neutral. In Ireland, spousal rape was outlawed in 1990. In the US, the criminalization of marital rape started in the mid-1970s, and in 1993, North Carolina became the last state to make marital rape illegal. In England and Wales , marital rape

4048-612: The Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) of the United Nations General Assembly makes recommendations relating to VAW, and the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action mentions VAW. However, the 1993 United Nations General Assembly resolution on the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women was the first international instrument to explicitly define VAW and elaborate on

4136-584: The House of Lords , in the case of R v. R in 1991. In the Netherlands, marital rape was also made illegal in 1991. One of the last Western countries to criminalize marital rape was Germany, in 1997. The relationship between some religions ( Christianity and Islam ) and marital rape is controversial. The Bible at 1 Corinthians 7:3-5 explains that one has a "conjugal duty" to have sexual relations with one's spouse (in sharp opposition to sex outside marriage , which

4224-679: The Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, said that Rohingya women and girls were made the "systematic" target of rapes and sexual violence because of their ethnic identity and religion . Other forms of sexual violence included sexual slavery in military captivity, forced public nudity, and humiliation. Some women and girls were raped to death while others were found traumatised with raw wounds after they had arrived in refugee camps in Bangladesh. Human Rights Watch reported of

4312-499: The U.S. government to promote human rights in the developing world by ending violence against women and girls, stopping hate crimes against LGBT people, and ending child marriage. In recent years, AJWS has responded to the East Africa hunger crisis and the Rohingya refugee crisis by providing immediate humanitarian aid and long-term, sustainable support to affected populations. AJWS's current president and chief executive officer

4400-464: The U.S., a survey by NVAW found that only 23% of female victims were stalked by strangers. Stalking by partners can be very dangerous, as sometimes it can escalate into severe violence, including murder. Police statistics from the 1990s in Australia indicated that 87.7% of stalking offenders were male and 82.4% of stalking victims were female. An acid attack is the act of throwing acid at someone with

4488-555: The USA. Groups involved in advocacy work have been using the Internet to accomplish organizational goals. It has been argued that the Internet helps to increase the speed, reach and effectiveness of advocacy-related communication as well as mobilization efforts, suggesting that social media are beneficial to the advocacy community. Advocacy activities may include conducting an exit poll or

SECTION 50

#1732887769430

4576-683: The United Nations , declared in a 2006 report posted on the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) website: Violence against women and girls is a problem of pandemic proportions. At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime with the abuser usually someone known to her. A number of international instruments that aim to eliminate violence against women and domestic violence have been enacted by various international bodies. These generally start with

4664-551: The United States and in the UK allowed for domestic violence and in the UK, before 1891, the husband had the right to inflict moderate corporal punishment on his wife to keep her "within the bounds of duty". Today, outside the West, many countries severely restrict the rights of married women: for example, in Yemen , marriage regulations state that a wife must obey her husband and must not leave home without his permission. In Iraq husbands have

4752-679: The University of Wisconsin-Madison, writes: Women are more likely to be victimized by someone that they are intimate with, commonly called " intimate partner violence " (IPV). Instances of IPV tend not to be reported to police and thus many experts find it hard to estimate the true magnitude of the problem. Though this form of violence is often considered as an issue within the context of heterosexual relationships, it also occurs in lesbian relationships, daughter-mother relationships, roommate relationships and other domestic relationships involving two women. Violence against women in lesbian relationships

4840-647: The WHO, globally, as many as 38% of murders of women are committed by an intimate partner. A UN report compiled from a number of different studies conducted in at least 71 countries found domestic violence against women to be most prevalent in Ethiopia . A study by Pan American Health Organization conducted in 12 Latin American countries found the highest prevalence of domestic violence against women to be in Bolivia . In Western Europe,

4928-643: The actual motivation was a need felt by highly educated Jews to counter rising antisemitism on the left by performative acts of "public avowals of kindliness and liberalism. " The organization's first key achievement was its response to a volcano disaster in Armaro, Colombia , in 1986. In 1990, after moving headquarters to New York City, AJWS launched five new international development projects in Mexico , Honduras , and Haiti , which provided training programs in sustainable agriculture . In 1991, then AJWS President Andrew Griffel

5016-804: The community to advocate for policies that will improve the lives of millions of people in the developing world. AJWS's current advocacy priorities include retaining the centrality of human rights within U.S. foreign policy through funding, diplomacy and policy. This includes supporting the HER Act, which would legislatively repeal the Mexico City Policy , the Burma Human Rights and Freedom Act, which would sanction human rights violators in Burma, and working to stop, delay and mitigate new policies that undermine human rights abroad. Internationally, AJWS works to increase

5104-419: The course of violent marriages, which suggests that "over time a husband's battering may abate somewhat, but perhaps because he has successfully intimidated his wife. The risk of violence remains strong in a marriage in which it has been a feature in the past. Thus, treatment is essential here; the clinician cannot just wait and watch." The most urgent clinical priority is the protection of the wife because she

5192-561: The definitions disregard violence against men and that the term gender , as used in gender-based violence , only refers to women. Other critics argue that employing the term gender in this particular way introduces notions of inferiority and subordination for femininity and superiority for masculinity. There is no widely accepted current definition that covers all the dimensions of gender-based violence. Violence against women can fit into several broad categories. These include violence carried out by individuals as well as by states. Some of

5280-415: The developing world that have taken on such challenges. Advocacy Advocacy is an activity by an individual or group that aims to influence decisions within political, economic, and social institutions. Advocacy includes activities and publications to influence public policy, laws and budgets by using facts, their relationships, the media, and messaging to educate government officials and

5368-543: The development of their communities, and that community development cannot take place when human rights are denied. In addition, AJWS believes women are critical drivers of community development and change, and that marginalized communities that are vulnerable to poverty and human rights violations are powerful agents of change and development when mobilized from within. AJWS works to promote awareness and influence U.S. international policies and funding in relation to human rights, global health and poverty, by rallying members of

SECTION 60

#1732887769430

5456-506: The early modern period (between the 15th and 18th centuries) were common in Europe and in the European colonies in North America. Today, there remain regions of the world (such as parts of Sub-Saharan Africa , rural North India , and Papua New Guinea ) where belief in witchcraft is held by many people, and women accused of being witches are subjected to serious violence. Son preference

5544-563: The face and body. Such attacks are common in South Asia, in countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India; and in Southeast Asia, especially in Cambodia. A forced marriage is a marriage in which one or both parties are married against their will. Forced marriages are common in South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The customs of bride price and dowry , which exist in many parts of

5632-412: The filing of an amicus brief . People advocate for a large number and variety of topics. Some of these are clear-cut social issues that are universally agreed to be problematic and worth solving, such as human trafficking . Others—such as abortion —are much more divisive and inspire strongly held opinions on both sides. There may never be a consensus on this latter type of issues, but intense advocacy

5720-472: The following decades. With a few notable exceptions, it was during the past 30 years that most laws against marital rape have been enacted. Some countries in Scandinavia and in the former Communist Bloc of Europe made spousal rape illegal before 1970, but most Western countries criminalized it only in the 1980s and 1990s. In many parts of the world the laws against marital rape are very new, having been enacted in

5808-507: The forms of violence perpetrated by individuals are: rape , domestic violence , sexual harassment , acid throwing , reproductive coercion , female infanticide , prenatal sex selection , obstetric violence , online gender-based violence and mob violence ; as well as harmful customary or traditional practices such as honor killings , dowry violence , female genital mutilation , marriage by abduction and forced marriage . There are forms of violence that may be perpetrated or condoned by

5896-487: The forthcoming DSM-5 (2013) have canvassed a series of new Relational disorders , which include Marital Conflict Disorder Without Violence or Marital Abuse Disorder (Marital Conflict Disorder With Violence) . Couples with marital disorders sometimes come to clinical attention because the couple recognize long-standing dissatisfaction with their marriage and come to the clinician on their own initiative or are referred by an astute health care professional. Secondly, there

5984-483: The globe. In her book, If I Am Not For Myself: The Liberal Betrayal of the Jews , Ruth Wisse argues that AJWS is one of a group of left-of-center Jewish organizations and publications founded in the 1980s without explaining why a new, specifically Jewish organization was needed to address causes already being addressed by well-established, American charities to which many Jewish were already contributors. Wisse argues that

6072-405: The government, such as war rape ; sexual violence and sexual slavery during conflict, forced sterilization ; forced abortion ; violence by the police and authoritative personnel; stoning and flogging . Many forms of VAW, such as trafficking in women and forced prostitution are often perpetrated by organized criminal networks. Historically, there have been forms of organized WAV, such as

6160-628: The incidence of rapes recorded by police during 2008 varied between 0.1 per 100,000 people in Egypt and 91.6 per 100,000 people in Lesotho with 4.9 per 100,000 people in Lithuania as the median . Around the world, rape is often not reported or handled properly by law enforcement for a wide variety of reasons. In 2011, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that "nearly 20% of all women" in

6248-431: The intention of injuring or disfiguring them. Women and girls are the victims in 75–80% of cases and are often connected to domestic disputes, including dowry disputes, refusal of a proposal of marriage, or sexual advances. The acid is usually thrown at the faces, burning the tissue, often exposing and sometimes dissolving the bones. The long-term consequences of these attacks include blindness and permanent scarring of

6336-414: The lives of people around the world. AJWS's international grantmaking and U.S. advocacy focus on five central issues: civil and political rights , land, water and climate justice , sexual health and rights , ending child marriage , and disaster relief . AJWS's grant-making is guided by the beliefs that grassroots organizations are best placed to envision, articulate and implement their own plans for

6424-467: The numbers to be at least three times higher. The relation between violence against women and marriage laws, regulations and traditions has also been discussed. Roman law gave men the right to chastise their wives, even to the point of death. The US and English law subscribed until the 20th century to the system of coverture , that is, a legal doctrine under which, upon marriage, a woman's legal rights were subsumed by those of her husband. Common-law in

6512-465: The older men, these young brides act as symbols of masculinity and accomplishment. Child brides endure forced sex, causing health risks and growth impediments. Primary education is usually not completed for young girls in forced marriages. Married and pregnant students are often discriminated against, expelled, and excluded from school. The Law of Marriage Act currently does not address issues with guardianship and child marriage. The issue of child marriage

6600-659: The organization for 18 years. Ruth Messinger was formerly Manhattan Borough President and the Democratic nominee for Mayor of New York City in 1997. In late 2005, The Forward named Messinger in its annual "Forward 50" list of the most influential American Jews. Messinger returned to the Forward 50 in 2009, also the year she was invited to the White House to discuss the crisis in Darfur with President Barack Obama . Currently, she sits on

6688-561: The public. Advocacy can include many activities that a person or organization undertakes, including media campaigns , public speaking , commissioning and publishing research. Lobbying (often by lobby groups ) is a form of advocacy where a direct approach is made to legislators on a specific issue or specific piece of legislation. Research has started to address how advocacy groups in the United States and Canada are using social media to facilitate civic engagement and collective action. There are several forms of advocacy, each representing

6776-540: The quality and quantity of funds supporting grassroots groups so that said funds are flexible, longstanding and feminist in their approaches. AJWS was established in Boston, Massachusetts , on May 1, 1985, when Larry Phillips and Larry Simon, together with a group of rabbis , Jewish communal leaders, activists, business people, scholars and others, came together to create the first American Jewish organization dedicated to alleviating poverty, hunger, and disease among people across

6864-426: The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at

6952-596: The situation where women are forced into prostitution or sexual slavery by an occupying power. During World War II, the Japanese military established brothels filled with " comfort women ", girls and women who were forced into sexual slavery for soldiers, exploiting women for the purpose of creating access and entitlement for men. Rape during the Bangladesh Liberation War by members of the Pakistani military and

7040-661: The stigma was too great and that the police told them they deserved it and were reluctant to follow police policy. Decriminalizing sex work is argued to help sex workers in this aspect. In some countries, it is common for older men to engage in "compensated dating" with underage girls. Such relationships are called enjo kōsai in Japan and are also common in Asian countries such as Taiwan, South Korea, and Hong Kong. The WHO condemned "economically coerced sex (e.g. school girls having sex with "sugar daddies" ( Sugar baby in return for school fees)" as

7128-527: The subject. Other definitions of VAW are set out in the 1994 Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence Against Women and by the 2003 Maputo Protocol . In addition, the term gender-based violence refers to "any acts or threats of acts intended to hurt or make women suffer physically, sexually, or psychologically, and which affect women because they are women or affect women disproportionately". Gender-based violence

7216-580: The term gender-based . In Recommendation Rec(2002)5 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the protection of women against violence , the Council of Europe stipulated that VAW "includes, but is not limited to, the following": These definitions of VAW as being gender-based are seen by some to be unsatisfactory. These definitions understand society as patriarchal, signifying unequal relations between men and women. Opponents of such definitions argue that

7304-414: The victim's own family and relatives. Violence or intimidation of the victim may be perpetrated by the rapist or by friends and relatives of the rapist, as a way of preventing the victims from reporting the rape, punishing them for reporting it, or forcing them to withdraw the complaint; or it may be perpetrated by the relatives of the victim as a punishment for "bringing shame" to the family. Internationally,

7392-407: The victims of rape, usually perpetrated by men known to them. The rate of reporting, prosecution, and convictions for rape vary considerably in different jurisdictions and reflect, to some extent, society's attitudes toward such crimes. It is considered the most underreported violent crime. Following a rape, a victim may face violence or threats of violence from the rapist and, in many cultures, from

7480-720: The women were subjected to serious forms of abuse, such as physical or sexual violence, that affected their physical and mental health. Forced prostitution is prostitution that takes place as a result of coercion by a third party. In forced prostitution, the party/parties who force the victim to be subjected to unwanted sexual acts exercise control over the victim. Single women and women who are economically independent have been vilified by certain groups of men. In Hassi Messaoud in Algeria in 2001, mobs targeted single women , attacking 95 and killing at least six and, in 2011, similar attacks happened again throughout Algeria. Stalking

7568-455: The world, contribute to this practice. A forced marriage is also often the result of a dispute between families, where the dispute is 'resolved' by giving a female from one family to the other. The custom of bride kidnapping continues to exist in some Central Asian countries, such as Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and the Caucasus, or in parts of Africa, especially Ethiopia. A girl or woman

7656-653: Was elected to the Executive Committee of InterAction, a consortium of over a hundred international humanitarian organizations. Shortly after the September 11th attacks , AJWS responded by receiving donations and making grants to groups that provide support to families of low-income workers. In 2004, AJWS responded to the Indian Ocean tsunami, and co-founded the Save Darfur Coalition . In 2006, AJWS helped organize

7744-682: Was made illegal in 1991. The views of Sir Matthew Hale, a 17th-century jurist, published in The History of the Pleas of the Crown (1736), stated that a husband cannot be guilty of the rape of his wife because the wife "hath given up herself in this kind to her husband, which she cannot retract"; in England and Wales, this would remain law for more than 250 years, until it was abolished by the Appellate Committee of

#429570