Part of a mural of bloody handprints, with the names of some of the women victims of femicide, during a demonstration in the Argentine capital held under the slogan #NiUnaMenos (Not One Woman Less). In Latin American societies, awareness of gender-based murders is growing, while new measures are being promoted to curb them. Credit: Fabiana Frayssinet/IPS

By Fabiana Frayssinet
RÍO DE JANEIRO, Apr 4 2019 (IPS)

Several initiatives are seeking to strengthen the fight against femicides in Latin America, a region which, despite growing popular mobilisation and pioneering legislation against gender-based murders, still has the world’s worst rates in what has been described as a “silent genocide,” says U.N. Women.

“The normalisation of violence against women and girls, the lack of comprehensive and quality services that identify patterns of violence that could end in femicide, the lack of data and research without a gender perspective are common to all countries,” U.N. Women Regional Director Luiza Carvalho said, summing up the situation in Latin America, in an exclusive interview with IPS.

“Ending impunity is critical. There are countries in the region where up to 95 percent of all cases go unpunished,” Carvalho said from U.N. Women’s regional headquarters in Panama City."We must also place great emphasis on prevention because, even if we put all aggressors in jail, if we don't change the structural causes, attitudes and perceptions that give rise to violence against women, we will never put an end to the phenomenon." --Luiza Carvalho

One of the new strategies is the Spotlight Initiative, launched by the European Union and the United Nations for the elimination of femicide. Of an initial investment of 500 million euros (562 million dollars), 55 million euros will go to Latin America.

Spotlight addresses the phenomenon of gender-based killings holistically through six pillars: gender equality legislation, the strengthening of the institutional framework, primary prevention, quality services, data collection and the strengthening of the women’s movement.

The campaign launched in Argentina on Mar. 21 also includes El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras, which was the first country where it was launched worldwide.

The selection of these countries, Carvalho explained, was based on factors such as the prevalence rate of femicide, the commitment of the authorities to implement national laws and policies to improve the situation of victims, and the strength of the country’s civil society movements.

In the case of Argentina, “the #NiUnaMenos (Not One Woman Less) movement drew attention to this phenomenon as an unacceptable situation, demonstrating that it has much to teach the region and the world,” noted the senior Brazilian official regarding the mass demonstrations against femicide that have spread to other countries in the region.

Since 1994, the region has had the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women, adopted in the Brazilian city of Belém do Pará, Brazil, which formalised the definition of violence against women as a violation of their human rights.

This international instrument, signed by 32 countries, provided for the first time for the development of mechanisms to protect and defend women in the fight to eliminate violence against their physical, sexual and psychological integrity, in both the public and private spheres.

In 2013, it incorporated the crime of femicide.

According to Carvalho, the Convention made the region “a global pioneer in legislation on violence against women.”

Femicide has been incorporated into the criminal code in 12 countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Uruguay). Six others typify it in laws outside these codes (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Venezuela).

Luiza Carvalho, U.N. Women Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean. Credit: UN Women

In addition, the 32 countries participating in the Convention have laws that protect the rights of women and girls who experience domestic or intra-family violence.

To advance these achievements, on Mar. 15, in Washington, DC, U.N. Women, the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the Committee of Experts of the Follow-up Mechanism of the Belem do Pará Convention (Mesecvi) officially launched an Inter-American Model Law on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of the Gender-Related Killing of Women and Girls.

They also presented an Analysis of Legislation on Femicide in Latin America and the Caribbean and Inputs for a Model Law on this type of sexist or “machista” homicide.

The model law “seeks to serve as a basis for creating or updating legislation on the violent death of women in the region, as well as strengthening actions for prevention, protection, care, investigation, prosecution, sanction and integral reparation,” explained Carvalho.

A study by Small Arms Survey shows that Latin America has 14 of the 25 countries with the highest rates of femicide in the world per 100,000 women, in a list headed by El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

Carvalho attributed this to the lack of comprehensive measures, “which creates a gap between formal rights and women’s effective access to justice.”

“The Pará Convention was clear in pointing out that an integral view of violence against women is needed, that is to say, in addition to penalising it, States must develop actions for prevention, protection, investigation and reparation, both for the families of the victims and for the survivors,” she said.

But, she criticised, “the States do not have figures for reparations, for missing women, for genetic data that would enable the location of victims, or other mechanisms to make it possible to guarantee their rights.”

“We need comparative statistics to analyse and compare between countries what works and what doesn’t to eradicate femicide. When we have better statistics we can see the patterns and severity of the situation and formulate well-founded policies,” she said.

Mobilisations against male violence have taken to the streets of Latin America on the most diverse occasions, including the popular carnival parades in Brazil. In this comparsa of “Las carmelitas de Santa Teresa,” a traditional neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, a group represented this year’s femicides. Credit: Fabiana Frayssinet/IPS

In addition, according to the regional director of U.N. Women, the penal codes of the region continue to be “androcentric”, which translates into “an adverse normative context for the adequate classification of crimes involving specific forms of violence against women.”

This problem is aggravated, she said, by “a criminal doctrine that has not integrated a gender perspective and resists doing so.”

“When women are murdered, these cases should be investigated immediately under the presumption that the case is a femicide, as is the case in Mexico. Cases should be properly investigated without gender stereotypes and prejudices, and reparations should be made,” Carvalho urged.

According to Mesecvi, States Parties spend less than one percent of their total budgets on actions to combat gender-based violence.

“Comprehensive laws need budgets in order to be implemented,” Carvalho said.

“We must also place great emphasis on prevention because, even if we put all aggressors in jail, if we don’t change the structural causes, attitudes and perceptions that give rise to violence against women, we will never put an end to the phenomenon,” she added.

For Carvalho, “despite some promising changes, led by the region’s youth, social tolerance of violence against women and girls continues, and a shift in social norms is needed to address harmful masculine mentalities.”

The expert cited the example of Colombia, which in 2015 passed a law involving the educational system in prevention activities.

“Understanding that femicide is the ultimate act in a chain of violence against women means understanding that the health sector, social services, the police and the judicial system must work together,” she said.

In that respect, she mentioned “successful” projects such as one in Uruguay that brought together the courts, the police and the National Women’s Institute.

In a situation where a woman is at risk, a judge can order the abuser to wear an electronic ankle bracelet connected to a device that the at-risk woman carries with her. If the abuser approaches her, the ankle monitor automatically alerts the police. During the programme, both parties receive psychological support as well.

“So far, none of the women who form part of the programme have been murdered,” Carvalho said, with hope.

The iconic statue of a knotted gun barrel outside U.N. headquarters. Credit:Tressia Boukhors/IPS.

By Aruna Dutt
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 8 2016 (IPS)

A report released by The Small Arms Survey here Monday shows the alarming rate at which the trade of small arms and light weapons has been increasing.

Under Goal 16 of the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the UN last September, UN member states have agreed to significantly reduce illicit arms trade flows by 2030.

“The Sustainable Development Agenda puts a clear emphasis on arms as one of the elements that will need to be taken into account for durable development.” said Anna Alvazzi del Frate, Director of Programmes at Small Arms Survey.

But from 2012 to 2013, the global small arms trade jumped to a total of USD 6 billion worth of small arms, an increase of 17 per cent/ $1 billion in only one year, according to the report titled “Trade Update 2016: Transfers and Transparency”

The United States was, by far, both the largest exporter and importer. It exported $1.1 billion, while only two other countries – Italy and Germany – surpassed the $500 million mark in exports.

Transfers of small arms to the U.S. accounted for 42 per cent of all imports.

Sixteen exporters surpassed $100 million in 2013, the largest number since the survey began in 2001.

And although this is the most comprehensive data set on small arms transfers, these numbers are most likely much higher, since 40% of information on imports and exports were concealed by states, said Senior Researcher for the Small Arms Survey, Nicolas Florquin

“We advocate for the need for greater transparency.” said Eric Berman, Director of the Small Arms Survey. “Transparency is important because it means better information which facilitates better policies and programming.”

Transparency about small arms trade deals remain extremely uneven globally. According to the report’s updated Transparency Barometer, the most transparent were Germany, UK and Netherlands, while South Africa had the greatest increase in transparency.

The least transparent countries were Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), each of whose secrecy around the trade in arms meant that they scored zero on the survey’s index.

While several Middle Eastern countries were rated as the least transparent, they also became top importers – the number of recorded transfers in the Middle East doubled from the year 2012 to 2013. While Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were trying to keep their arms deals secret, they were also becoming huge importers, according to the report’s findings from the more transparent countries which sold the arms to them.

The UAE became the world’s fourth-most prolific importer of small arms, its purchases jumping nearly 150 percent in 2013 over the previous year – from $71 million to $168 million.

Saudi Arabia more than tripled its small arms imports during the same period, going from $54 million in 2012 to $168 million the following year.

Large amounts of ammunition found in Libya were traced back to Qatar, where small arms transfers multiplied by eight. Florquin said they were most likely re-transferred without authorization during US Arms Embargo

Similarly, pistols produced by UAE were sent to Lybia without following the proper procedures of the sanctions regime.

Recently, research is finding numerous weapons being sold online in Libya, which SAS will be releasing a report on soon.

Florquin said that they don’t see things slowing down, especially considering the increasing conflict situations around the world.

But as the transfer controls issue has risen to the top of the UN agenda, the adoption of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) in April 2013 could potentially have boosted transparency, which will be considered as states’ reporting requirements of arms trade were due last week, said Floquin.

Olivier Marc Zehnder, Deputy Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the UN, highlighted that the “arms trade treaty and its reporting obligations play a crucial role in promoting responsible arms transfers,” at Monday’s press conference.

Mother and young rhinoceros killed for their horns. The poaching of elephants and rhinos is becoming “increasingly militarized." Credit: Hein waschefort/cc by 3.0

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 1 2015 (IPS)

The ongoing military conflicts in the Middle East and Africa continue to be fuelled by the proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALW), primarily assault rifles, sub machine guns, hand grenades, portable anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns, rockets and self-loading pistols.

But the latest Small Arms Survey 2015, released Monday, says some of these weapons are also being used to destroy wild life and help misappropriate the earth’s mineral riches."Poor law enforcement and corruption among government officials and security officers facilitate wildlife crime and trafficking." -- Paula Kahumbu of WildlifeDirect

The poaching of elephants and rhinos is becoming “increasingly militarized,” says the report, while the negative impact of climate change is triggering human interactions, including on underlying causes for armed conflicts, as well as on actual fighting.

Besides the killing of thousands of humans in current military conflicts, perhaps the next most devastating impact of small arms and light weapons is on the destruction of wildlife.

As the demand for ivory and rhino horn remains high, both poachers and anti-poaching forces are becoming increasingly militarised using military-style weapons and adopting more aggressive tactics.

In Africa, elephant populations are in decline, and the illicit killing of rhinos has escalated sharply over recent years, according to the survey.

“The actors involved in poaching these animals include armed militias, rogue military officers, commercial poachers and bush meat and subsistence hunters.”

The illegal rhino horn trade reportedly threatens all African species of rhino. But despite some successful efforts to re-introduce rhinos to protected areas in South Africa, which is home to 80 percent of all African rhinos, the rate of poaching continues to accelerate, according to the World Wildlife Fund International (WWF).

Paula Kahumbu, a leading conservationist and executive director of WildlifeDirect, says today’s wildlife crime threatens the survival of endangered and vulnerable species in many African countries.

She said evidence documented by her Kenya-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) shows that legal penalties designed to deter such crimes have had little impact on poachers and traffickers.

“Worse, poor law enforcement and corruption among government officials and security officers facilitate wildlife crime and trafficking,” she warns.

The survey also points out the role of climate change in present and possibly future conflicts.

In tropical war zones, fighting traditionally stops during the rainy season, only to resume when the soil hardens enough for vehicles to navigate unpaved roads.

And even battle tactics are determined and influenced by the state of terrain.

“In some parts of the world, rainy seasons are now shifting in time and intensity. As global warming alters temperature, rainfall and sea levels, as many expect it will, it is almost certain to affect armed violence and armed conflict in ways that for now are predictable,” according to the survey.

The proliferation of small arms is also responsible for the illegal extraction of natural resources, transforming remote outposts into urban hubs virtually overnight.

As a result, it spurs insecurity and violence as different groups compete over spoils and local communities protest perceived wrongs.

The extraction of oil, gas and precious minerals is accompanied by significant urbanisation of adjoining areas and the effort to control and secure resources can attract a variety of armed actors, including security forces and predatory groups.

The survey, produced annually with the support of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and several other Western nations, also focuses on the small arms trade, floating armouries, the increasing number of private security firms, the Arms Trade Treaty and the U.N.’s Programme of Action to track the flow of illegal weapons.

According to the latest available U.N. statistics, the biggest exporters of small arms and light weapons include the United States, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Austria, South Korea, Russia, China, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Norway and Japan.

With weapons continuing to all into the hands of armed groups, the survey says these groups “are better armed (today) than they were a decade ago”.

The arms in their possession include large calibre weapons. And “of particular concern is jihadist possession of man-portable air defence systems (MANPADS), although many of these may be inoperable.”

The weapons used by most insurgent groups consists largely of Cold War-era Soviet and Chinese arms and ammunition, ”but they also use more recently-produced materiel from Bulgaria and China, among other states.”

Focusing specifically on the politically volatile Middle East, the survey says parts of the Middle East and North Africa suffer from high levels of armed violence, armed conflict and political instability, as well as the risk of small arms misuse and diversion.

According to the survey, there is little evidence the “Arab Spring” has had a significant impact on the policies of major exporters of small arms to the region.

Libya is the only state affected by the uprisings to be subject to a U.N. arms embargo.

And efforts to impose such an embargo on Syria have failed, and the option has not been discussed with regard to Egypt.

Edited by Kitty Stapp

The writer can be contacted at thalifdeen@aol.com