[Fredslist] Which region has the highest domestic violence rates in the world?

[Bryan Miller]

The Pacific Islands (60-80% of women are in violent domestic partnerships)

When we think of Fiji, we may think of the beautifully designed bottles of
water or the picturesque sunrise peeking itself above the glowing horizon.
Unfortunately, the sun isn't always shining for the women and girls there
given the daunting statistics produced by the World Health Organization and
read this:

A woman, of modest means much like the other women of Fiji, found herself
spending 15% of her annual salary to take the boat three islands west of
hers after she became disgusted with her husband's constant and unwanted
sexual advances, lashings and verbal abuse. She needed help and was going
to get it! So she thought..

After an exhaustive 3 hour trip across choppy waters, she arrived to the
police station to report her husbands abuses. Filling out the report, much
like we do in the US, she notated the stressful abuses which brought her
into this dingy police station, furnished with two men, a small filing
cabinet, a telephone and ashtray. Finally, it was over, she got the justice
she deserved!

The police officer took a copy of the report, returned the other to her and
told her "this isn't how we treat our husbands in our village". Thinking
she had done something shamefully wrong, she reconsidered her complaint -
for a second, until the violent memories washed back through her mind. Time
to go arrest her husband.

Complaint in hand, police officer by her side, she walked out of that dingy
station feeling relieved. After a few steps, the office stopped. He wasn't
going with her 3 hours back to her island, she needed to go alone and serve
her husband the complaint she brought against him!

This is what is known as *structural discrimination*: it refers to the
systems of inequality that provide a social, political, cultural, or
economic advantage to a dominant group while furthering barriers of
exclusion that make marginalized communities more susceptible to violence
and indignity.

We have many outlets in the United States to shield and protect our women
and girls when it comes to domestic violence but in the Pacific Islands,
there are few. It has the highest rates of violence against women and girls
in the world - on some islands, that is 80%. Not only that, it also has *some
of the lowest rates of persecution, conviction and sentencing of domestic
violence cases in the world*.

The International Center for Advocates Against Discrimination (ICAAD) is
working to change this. We have been piloting this project in Fiji for a
year and a half and are finally ready create the changes necessary to
ensure the safety of women and girls in this region.

Please help us by joining our team and donating <https://goto.gg/20290> to
make sure a woman never has to serve her own domestic violence complaint
again!

Humbly,

*Bryan Miller*
Young Pros | NY
End Violence Against Women
<http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/access-to-justice-for-women-and-girls/>
Mobile: +1 (917) 946-5547

  <http://www.facebook.com/ICAADglobal>
<http://www.twitter.com/ICAADglobal>
<https://www.linkedin.com/company/international-center-for-advocates-against-discrimination-icaad->
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.gothamnetworking.com/pipermail/fredslist/attachments/20150604/b3fdd3d5/attachment.html>