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Observance of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

samrack November 25, 2023

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Observance of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the United States commits to marshaling our full range of policy and diplomatic resources to preventing and responding to gender-based violence around the world.

To continue making progress toward the global eradication of gender-based violence, the United States is pairing the updated 2022 U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender- BasedViolence Globally with concrete, survivor-centered actions, utilizing the $250 million in foreign assistance Congress appropriated in Fiscal Year 2023 for efforts to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. Furthermore, the Department recently awarded a new $3 million program to prevent, mitigate, and respond to technology-facilitated gender-based violence in South and Central Asia.

The prevalence of gender-based violence is alarmingly high, leaving no country, society, or socioeconomic group unscathed. Working with our partners, the United States will continue to work for a future free from gender-based violence.

THE VISION

The ultimate vision of this strategy is to build a future free from gender-based violence for all people.

To truly understand and eliminate gender-based violence around the world, we must recognize and address the intersecting forms of discrimination, marginalization, and oppression that too many individuals and communities still face. Acts of gender-based violence are rooted in social identity, status, and power. At its core, gender-based violence is an abuse of power and is a reflection and manifestation of power imbalances across different groups of people, especially related to sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and sex characteristics; race and ethnicity; age; socioeconomic status; nationality; disability; religion; and citizenship or refugee status. The importance of moving beyond engaging survivors and their communities in perfunctory or paternalistic ways has become clearer than ever before. We must strive for meaningful partnerships; engage in consistent and comprehensive consultations locally, regionally, and globally; and serve as a leader on the provision of financial and political support for organizations and networks, including those representing different marginalized and disadvantaged populations. These advocates and organizations are the heart of this work, and we must support them as they lead the way toward change.

THEORY OF CHANGE

If gender-based violence prevention and response is integrated across U.S. government international programs, policies, and diplomatic engagements; is focused on empowering and respecting all survivors, including those from marginalized populations; and increases accountability to survivors’ needs, then gender-based violence will decrease, thereby increasing security, stability, and well-being for individuals, families, and communities worldwide.

The successful implementation of this theory of change must be done in partnership with survivors, survivor-centered organizations, civil society, faith leaders and institutions, local and national governments, the private sector, academic institutions, bilateral partners, and multilateral partners. At the core of this theory of change is the understanding that our work to prevent and respond to gender-based violence must strive to be sustainable, holistic, and evidence-informed. The success of this strategy must be undergirded by respectful partnerships; address socioeconomic and political systems that ignore, perpetuate, or enable gender-based violence; and will depend on the successful implementation of our guiding principles and each pillar of this strategy.

Guiding Principles to Our Approach

The following principles will guide our approach as the U.S. government to prevent and respond to gender-based violence globally.Human Rights-Informed: We will implement an approach that respects and promotes human rights and that recognizes gender-based violence as a human rights abuse. We will include the prevention of and response to gender-based violence as part of our human rights policy priorities. We will incorporate international human rights considerations into policies, programming, services, and processes related to gender-based violence prevention and response.¹⁰ This approach reflects values of respect, compassion, and human dignity for all and prioritizes transparency, accountability, empowerment, consultations, and participation.Intersectional: In line with the U.S. National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality, this strategy aims to address intersecting forms of discrimination to advance equity and equality. We will apply an intersectional framework to identify those who experience the harshest effects of inequality and violence based on interconnected and layered systems of oppression and discrimination (e.g., systems based on factors such as sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or sex characteristics; race and ethnicity; nationality; religion; disability status; age; socioeconomic status; caste; widowhood; or indigeneity). We recognize how these intersecting forms of oppression and discrimination can increase vulnerability to experiencing gender-based violence, while also increasing barriers to accessing safety, services, and justice. We recognize that a person’s individual experience of violence and oppression is shaped by these intersecting and layered identities, as well as by societal norms.Inclusive: We will implement an inclusive approach that takes into consideration the historic, structural, sociocultural, and systemic disadvantages and power imbalances members of different groups face, as well as their strength, resilience, and leadership in developing tailored solutions; this will enable their equitable participation in, access to, and benefit from gender-based violence prevention and response efforts, including their participation in policy and program design, implementation, and evaluation. We will promote accessibility of policies, programs, services, and resources for survivors and communities from different country contexts, as well as for those working both within and outside of the direct gender-based violence technical sector.

Life Course Lens: We will address the continuum of gender-based violence across the life course, recognizing that individuals of all ages – from infants to older adults – can experience gender-based violence and that specific types of gender-based violence are more prevalent at different life stages. This includes a recognition of intergenerational trauma, including how experiencing or witnessing violence and exposure to other traumatic events experienced in childhood, known as adverse childhood experiences,¹¹ can have long-lasting health, social, and economic effects, including increasing a child’s likelihood of being a perpetrator or victim later in life. This also includes a recognition of the cumulative, lifetime impact of gender inequality and trauma on older adults, particularly older women, that exacerbates the risk for continuing to experience gender-based violence in older age. This approach supports policies and programs to improve prevention efforts and provide more comprehensive support for families, children, youth, adults, and older adults who may experience or be impacted by gender-based violence over the course of their lives.

Survivor-Centered: We will promote a survivor-centered approach that is trauma-informed;¹²non-stigmatizing; empowers the survivor; puts the rights and choices of each survivor at the forefront of all actions; ensures that each survivor is treated with dignity and respect regardless of their real or perceived identity; and includes survivors in policy and programming processes, including in high-level decision-making roles. This approach includes implementing the Do No Harm principles of safety, respect, confidentiality, and non-discrimination in all our work to take care not to put survivors, program participants, staff, and community members at physical or emotional risk. By putting the survivor at the center of our work, this approach promotes their recovery and healing, reduces the risk of further harm and revictimization, and reinforces their agency and self-determination. Practicing a survivor-centered approach means establishing a relationship with the survivor that promotes their emotional and physical safety, builds trust, and helps them restore some control over their life. A survivor-centered approach also focuses on accessibility and adaptability of appropriate, inclusive, and high-quality prevention and response services that include different options for safety and support (e.g., including for survivors who decide that they do not want to engage with the criminal justice system). Applying a survivor-centered approach extends beyond programming and direct services and should also be applied to policy design and implementation.

Locally Led: We will advance partnerships with other governments, multilateral organizations, civil society, and the private sector to collectively work toward a world free from gender-based violence. Our partnership approach acknowledges that gender-based violence is an issue that every country in the world faces, including our own, and that local individuals and communities who dedicate their careers and lives to preventing and responding to gender-based violence, including survivors, are the experts on how to prevent and respond to it in their own communities. We will seek to build partnerships with local partners, individuals, and communities, including faith communities, and enable them to take the lead as experts in gender-based violence prevention and response-related efforts in their countries and communities by providing them with resources and tools. We will work with local partners as a means of ensuring individuals, survivors, families, schools, communities, and national-level governments are all involved in and accountable for gender-based violence prevention and response, including by increasing political will, resource allocation, and prioritization. Advancing partnerships is key to the sustainability of our approach, enhances the efficacy of our work, and embodies our democratic ideals.

Pillar I: Focusing on Gender and At-Risk Populations

Pillar I puts our guiding principles, particularly on intersectionality and inclusivity, into action. As the United States’ definition of gender-based violence is inclusive of diverse populations, we are committed to understanding the depth and breadth of how gender-based violence impacts different groups. While there is a substantial evidence base about women and girls’ disproportionate risk of gender-based violence, we are still building the evidence base to better understand the risks facing other marginalized communities. This pillar includes a focus on specific population groups – girls and young women; LGBTQI+ persons; and boys and men – that are often overlooked and under-researched in gender-based violence. Of course, each of these groups is itself diverse and dynamic, and we recognize that other groups also face disproportionate rates of gender-based violence as detailed in Objective 1.4. We highlight these groups because advocates from these communities are important partners in our collective work to prevent and respond to gender-based violence globally.

Women and Intimate Partner Violence: Intimate partner violence remains one of the most common forms of gender-based violence, with high percentages of women experiencing intimate partner violence at some point in their lives. In some cases, violence continues in a relationship for many years. Women who experience intimate partner violence are more likely to experience reproductive coercion, whereby their autonomous decision-making related to contraception and pregnancy is restricted. Rates of intimate partner violence increase in the wake of crises, including natural disasters, humanitarian emergencies, and conflict. The costs to individual women, their communities, and their nations is shockingly high and has long-lasting, intergenerational effects. While it is crucial to recognize the impact of gender-based violence across a variety of populations, we will also continue to commit foreign assistance and diplomacy to addressing and eliminating violence against all women, inclusive of their diverse identities and across their life course. Research on what works to prevent gender-based violence and to mitigate its harmful effects when it does occur includes involving community leaders in interventions and intergenerational dialogues about violence prevention; engaging men and boys in prevention; increasing women’s economic security; empowering girls and other marginalized groups; and addressing structural drivers, including climate change, crisis, and conflict. It is important to note that the examples discussed in Pillar I are neither mutually exclusive nor exhaustive, but rather illuminate how gender-based violence impacts members of specific populations.

Objective 1.1: Girls and Young Women

Action: Expand opportunities for all girls and young women to achieve their full potential by addressing their unique needs and risks to gender-based violence and uplifting their voices as leaders, agents of change, and advocates in their communities.

Problem: Gender equality and girls’ empowerment are not achievable without addressing the unique forms of gender-based violence that girls, including adolescent girls and young women, around the world disproportionately face, including sexual violence; sexual exploitation and abuse; intimate partner violence, including dating violence; female genital mutilation/cutting; child, early, and forced marriage; reproductive coercion; gender-related killing of women and girls; human trafficking; stalking; and technology-facilitated gender-based violence. These forms of gender-based violence, as well as witnessing gender-based violence in the household or community as children, have lifelong health, education, and economic consequences and can fuel an intergenerational cycle of violence. Global health, economic, and climate crises, among other emergencies, disproportionately put girls and young women at further risk of experiencing gender-based violence. School closures, economic strain, and other consequences of these emergencies have contributed to increased reports of child sexual abuse and exploitation; female genital mutilation/cutting; child, early, and forced marriage; adolescent pregnancy;¹³ online harassment and abuse; and mental distress among youth globally.¹⁴ For example, an estimated 10 million additional girls are at risk of child marriage due to the COVID-19 pandemic.¹⁵

All girls and young women need targeted and effective information, respectful and age-appropriate services, opportunities to develop life skills, and safe and supportive environments to address the multitude of challenges they face. Girls and young women in conflict or humanitarian settings; who are members of historically marginalized racial and ethnic or Indigenous communities; with disabilities; who are migrants or refugees; who are impacted by child, early, or forced marriage; or who identify as LGBTQI+ must be uniquely considered and included in all policy and program design and implementation. Importantly, girls and young women are and can be leaders in their own right, though their voices are too often overlooked in decision-making about policies and programs that affect their daily lives.

Forms of Gender-Based Violence
The below forms of gender-based violence disproportionately, though not exclusively, affect girls and young women.

Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: All procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. Female genital mutilation/cutting is typically carried out on young girls between infancy and adolescence, and occasionally on adult women. Female genital mutilation/cutting is a human rights abuse and form of gender-based violence.

Child, Early, and Forced Marriage: Child or early marriage includes any formal marriage or informal union where one or both parties is under the age of 18. Forced marriage is a marriage at any age that occurs without the free and full consent of both parties, including anyone under the age of 18 who is not able to give full consent. Child, early, and forced marriage is a human rights abuse and form of gender-based violence.

Approach: We will employ a comprehensive and empowering approach that emphasizes gender-based violence prevention and addresses harmful social norms; ensures services are comprehensive, welcoming to, and inclusive of adolescents’ needs; and meaningfully engages with diverse girl- and youth-led organizations and networks. Examples of our approach include:

Policy and Diplomacy

Elevating the voices and needs of girls and young women in multilateral forums and donor working groups, and advancing political commitments that promote the health, well-being, and human rights of all girls and young women. This includes support for advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights and age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education, and for ending female genital mutilation/cutting and child, early, and forced marriage.
Leveraging public diplomacy opportunities, such as the International Day of the Girl, 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, and the International Day of Zero Tolerance on Female Genital Mutilation, to advance the human rights of girls and young women and to amplify their voices.
Ensuring the integration of gender-based violence prevention and response specific to girls and young women across U.S. government policy efforts, including the U.S. Global Strategy to Empower Adolescent Girls, U.S. Government Strategy on International Basic Education, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Youth in Development Policy, and U.S. Strategy for Advancing Protection and Care for Children in Adversity.

Programming

Continuing to fund global programming that specifically addresses child, early, and forced marriage and female genital mutilation/cutting, including through contributions to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)-United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Joint Program to End Female Genital Mutilation and to UNFPA.
Investing in comprehensive, multi-sectoral programming that addresses the unique vulnerabilities of girls and young women, including their experiences of gender-based violence, through efforts such as the Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-Free, Mentored and Safe (DREAMS) Partnership through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
Prioritizing the ethical and systematic collection of age- and sex-disaggregated data in our programs, including growing efforts to support data collection on online forms of violence and exploitation; supporting the Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys (VACS) and Demographic and Health Surveys; and centering the lived experiences of all girls and young women.
Strengthening the capacity of our partners to provide adolescent-friendly and girl-friendly gender-based violence and health services that are non-judgmental, non-stigmatizing, and survivor-centered