Tunisia – Tunis conference calls for end to violence against women with global treaty

Place: Tunis – Tunisia

Language: Arabic + English

Duration: 00:05:05

Sound: natural

Source: A24 in Tunisia

Restrictions: A24 subscribers

Date: 09/13/ 2022

Storyline:

Jordanian activist Rosa Al-Essy works in defending women’s rights and combating violence against them. She has spent years trying to support women and help them obtain their rights in Jordan and around the world.

This activity led her to participate in the Third International Volunteer Women’s Conference in Tunis, which called for an international treaty to end violence against women and girls.

Lisa Shannon, founder and executive director of the international coalition behind the “Every Woman Treaty,” said in an interview with A24 that this mobilization draws support from about 8,000 women from 128 countries.

The volunteers will lobby governments to sign the “Every Woman” treaty and enact legislation and establish programs to defend women and girls from various forms of violence they face.

Sociologist and activist in the coalition, Nabila Hamza, told A24 that the anti-violence pact would bind signatory states to implement and monitor the treaty.

Shotlist:

– Soundbite (Rosa Al-Essy – Jordanian activist and supporter of Every Woman Treaty):

“I have worked in the field of women empowerment against economic violence. I have worked with women of unknown parentage who were subjected to psychological and physical violence. Jordan has signed the CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) agreement but excluded granting mothers custody rights of their children, it excluded granting mothers equality rights for signing for their children to have surgery, or for traveling. There are other practices against women related to honor killings and mitigating punishment for the father, brother or husband. There is major change taking place on the ground regarding these legislations. I believe this conference is a wonderful opportunity to lend a helping hand between Jordan and Tunisia, to learn from the Tunisian experience and share the Jordanian experience to reach a mechanism so we can our calls can reach governments to sign this agreement with the support of our governments, the League of Arab States and other institutions.”

– Soundbite (Lisa Shannon – Founder and Executive Director of Every Woman Treaty International Coalition):

“Our efforts represent 8 years of frontline women’s rights activists coming together, calling for nations to create the global treaty. We are at a point right now where we need nations and the whole world to come together to create a new global standard to end violence against women and girls. That global standard would include strong laws, training and accountability for police, judges, doctors and nurses, services for survivors and prevention education. But you can only get these things done with more funding. Right now funding globally for anti-violence against women and girls is only about 11 cents per female on earth. You can not buy a bottle of water anywhere on earth for a woman for 11 cents, this is not serious funding, this is not serious effort. We want to see more money to the tune of a dollar per female on earth or 4 billion dollars a year, and metric-based reporting so we can actually track government actions to end violence against women and girls.”

– Soundbite (Nabila Hamza – Sociologist and activist in the coalition):

“This coalition is made up of nearly 8,000 women from 128 different countries, they are part of the coalition. We have been working 8 years on a project for a treaty to combat violence against women around the world. This project is very important, as it is an integrated project that examines all necessary steps governments should take to end violence against women. Steps include issuance of laws, training of police, judges, doctors and nurses, as well as reformation of society to resist patriarchal thought and violence against women. This agreement will be binding for signatory states, as they will monitor and follow up implementation on the ground.”