Irish efforts on violence praised

Former president Mary Robinson said yesterday she did not know of any other country that had taken the initiative to combat global…

Former president Mary Robinson said yesterday she did not know of any other country that had taken the initiative to combat global gender-based violence in the way Ireland had.

Mrs Robinson, director of the Ethical Globalisation Initiative, was in Dublin at a meeting of the Joint Irish Consortium of Irish development and human rights agencies on the issue of global gender-based violence.

She received a report on progress made over the past year, Ireland Responding, in her capacity as special adviser to the consortium.

Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, Mrs Robinson said the consortium comprised 13 organisations and agencies working on the ground but was also a partner with Irish Aid and the Defence Forces.

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"Ireland has firmly placed this issue on the human rights agenda, and this should mobilise other countries to follow suit," she said.

When the consortium was formed two years ago, it endorsed six key recommendations or aims.

The first two had already been fulfilled, she said. These were to institutionalise global gender-based violence responses at organisational level and support specific programming and understand the context.

"It isn't only a problem in conflict. It is in all countries worldwide, particularly in developing countries and therefore requires addressing from the ground up," Mrs Robinson said.

The measures undertaken by the consortium over the past 12 months had been significant and commendable.

"If Ireland is to become a global leader in tackling this human rights abuse, we need continued support and prioritisation for this work, both within NGOs and at a political level," she said.

On Darfur, the genesis of the consortium, she said she felt there was a possibility of starting work in Ethiopia with consortium members on the ground.

"I'll certainly be proud, and I mean proud, to take all the initiatives from Ireland. I don't know of any other country that has taken an initiative in this way," Mrs Robinson said.

Everjoice Win, from Zimbabwe, international head of women's rights for Action Aid International, said although there had been strides forwards, they were seeing increased militarisation, a rise in fundamentalism, not only Islamic but also Christian, a rise in poverty and fewer resources for women's causes.

Minister of State Conor Lenihan said that according to the UN as many as one in three women had been beaten, coerced into sex or abused in some way, while one in four women had been abused during pregnancy.