Who is to blame? Victim blaming from a global perspective.

Описание: With an increase in violence against women and girls around the world and the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns resulting in women and girls being confined at home with perpetrators and having to navigate spaces and places that have become even more unsafe, this 16 Days of Activism the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) presents an online panel of global women’s rights experts to address the issue of victim blaming. Victim blaming and the shaming of women and girls silences those experiencing violence but also reinforces a perpetrator's power and control allowing them to continue abusive behaviour without consequences or punishment.

Speakers include:

Heidi Jokinen – Chair of WAGGGS World Board, Finland
Susan Chiarotti - Feminist and human rights lawyer and Director of the Institute for Gender, Law and Development, Argentina
Nighat Dad – Founder and Director of Digital Rights Foundation, Pakistan
Jean Enriquez – Executive Director Coalition Against Trafficking In Women – Asia Pacific (CATW-AP), The Philippines
Harriet Wistrich – Solicitor, Founder and Director of The Centre for Women’s Justice, United Kingdom
Marie-Goretti Kusinza from Panzi Foundation – providing medical and holistic support for survivors of sexual violence, Democratic Republic of Congo
Suad Abu Dayyeh – Middle East Consultant at Equality Now, Jordan

Transcript Summary of Marie-Goretti Kusinza's presentation from Panzi Foundation:

At the Panzi Foundation, we base a lot of our activism on Nobel peace laureate Dr Denis Mukwege's work. We work to bring justice to victims of rape. As we heard from previous speakers, here too, women are blamed in rape cases based on what they wear, how they behave and even their mentality. When working with victims, we first help them from a psychological standpoint. We can see that they have been extremely scarred mentally and we work on helping them through the mental trauma first. There are other factors to take into account like the socio-economic impacts of rape. Often, women are thrown out of their homes, abandoned and left to fend for themselves. It is also thought that rape brings bad luck to the family so sometimes families go to a marabout to lift the evil spell cast on the family. Women are seen as possessions. Men pay a dowry which means that marriage is like a transaction. This means that men decide what women do, how and where they work. They can be violent with them if they like because women are seen as being their priority. As was stated by other speakers, we must all work together to change the situation. We are also working on positive masculinity, encouraging men to control their temper and work on their anger management

#NotHerFault #ImHereForHer #16Days