Sign the Petition To End Violence by Year-End 2015
A Joint Declaration by Individuals, Governments, Multilaterals and Civil Society Advocates
July 2010 * Vienna, Austria
The fight to end the global scourge of HIV/AIDS must include a commitment to end violence. As with HIV/AIDS, violence is a human rights catastrophe.
Women and children who experience sexual violence are significantly more likely to be exposed to and test positive for HIV/AIDS. Boys who witness or experience violence are more likely to engage in behavior that increases the risk of HIV and are more likely to become perpetrators of violence as adults. Violence is both a cause and consequence of HIV/AIDS.
That is why the Global AIDS Alliance is calling on the global community to end violence by Dec. 31, 2015. We ask all stakeholders – individuals, governments, multilaterals and civil society advocates – to take a leadership position by signing the petition below and joining us in these 7 pillars:
- Pillar #1: Hold Governments and International Agencies Accountable. This includes producing and implementing national strategies to combat Violence Against Women and Girls (VAW/G), integrating anti-VAW/G programs into all national HIV/AIDS strategies, ensuring that efforts by U.N. Women and other bilateral include normative guidelines and networks to monitor VAW/G, and securing an immediate guarantee from G-8 governments to contribute their fair share for anti-VAW/G efforts and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.
- Pillar #2: Create a Legal/Judicial Framework. This includes passing laws that criminalize all forms of violence against women and children; establishing reporting systems to track reports of VAW/G and its prosecution; developing training courses and professional certifications in gender sensitivity and violence response; hiring more female police, lawyers, judges and corrections officers; and creating units in law enforcement and the courts dedicated to anti-VAW/G efforts.
- Pillar #3: Reform the Health Sector. This includes incorporating violence prevention and treatment into national health strategies; requiring monitoring and reporting of VAW/G; ensuring health care workers are able to respond to symptoms and outcomes of violence; developing health care training courses and professional certifications in violence recognition, prevention and treatment; hiring more female health care workers; securing reliable forensics and lab systems to test for sexual assault; and including men and boys in psyco-social services to help break the cycle of violence.
- Pillar #4: Reform the Educational Sector. This includes incorporating violence prevention, recognition and treatment in national education strategies; establishing mandatory reporting of VAW/G; requiring that educators receive training in violence recognition, prevention and treatment in professional certification programs; hiring more female educators; modifying curricula to include the topic of VAW/G; reforming the physical infrastructure to increase protection of children; and involving parents in gender sensitivity and anti-violence training through parent-teacher associations.
- Pillar # 5: Mobilize a Community Response for Zero Tolerance. This includes establishing community task forces to promote zero-tolerance against violence; encouraging activists to spread the message of zero-tolerance of violence and their support for survivors; engaging traditional and religious leaders, as well as men and boys; and training/certifying victim advocates, especially in rural areas.
- Pillar #6: Launch Mass Marketing Campaigns to End Violence. This includes working with media and opinion makers to publicize the problem and solutions; and providing training to journalists on the causes, prevalence and consequences of VAW/G.
- Pillar #7: Take Action to Break the Cycle. This includes providing free psycho-social care to survivors and perpetrators of violence; ensuring women’s economic independence to help them support themselves and their children in a safe environment; and providing crisis shelters and transitional housing for women who seek safety from abuse.
Join the fight. Read the comprehensive report, “Political Breakthrough: Mobilizing Accelerated Action to End Violence Against Women and Girls by 2015.” Sign the following petition. Without addressing violence, we will fail to meet the U.N. Millennium Development Goals by year-end 2015.
We the undersigned join in the commitment to end violence by year-end 2015: