Senate President pushes for stronger UN mechanisms to combat violence against women and girls

Senate President pushes for stronger UN mechanisms to combat violence against women and girls 

President of the Senate, the Hon. Alincia Williams Grant has expressed grave concern about the effectiveness of CEDAW, the United Nations convention that requires signatory countries to take decisive steps in promoting gender equality and address meaningfully the issue of violence against women and girls.

Senator Williams Grant, who led a national delegation to the 69^th session of the Commission on the Status of Women at the UN in New York, was a featured speaker at one of the conference’s high level side events on Friday. The packed United Nations conference room engaged the panelists on the matter on the theme of the discussions, ‘Towards a new optional protocol to CEDAW dedicated to end violence against Women and Girls.’

The new protocol to CEDAW would create additional mechanisms and procedures by which countries can escalate their complaints about violations against women and girls in instances where their national courts are proving ineffective.

Pointing to alarming global figures that show 1 in 3 women have been victims of some form of violence in their lifetime, Senator Williams Grant says the new optional protocol should be an urgent priority.  

“The current optional protocol in place has had the buy in of many member states, which is noteworthy, as this is indicative of global political will to address the issue of violence against women and girls,” she stated.

But she laments that implementation has been an issue as the number of complaints reaching the CEDAW committee do not exactly correlate to the scale of the global scourge of violence against women.

“It would appear that civil society organisations and NGOs have not been as active as anticipated, in relation to utilizing the optional protocol to report flagrant violations of women and girls’ human rights in relation to facing violence, and systemic inequities, so that they could be highlighted and addressed by the committee, and subsequently, the respective governments,” Senator Williams Grant revealed.

“It is imperative that we join forces and speak with one voice, as political actors, policy makers, diplomats, governments, gender equality practitioners, international development agencies and civil society, to call for the creation of a new optional protocol that is designed to truly function as a dependable mechanism for reporting instances where the principles of CEDAW and similar conventions are being ignored or disregarded, and more so, to bring light to instances where women and girls and vulnerable groups are being subjected to violence, discrimination and abuse,” she stressed.

Incidentally, Senator Williams Grant’s exhortation on Friday came mere hours before the tragic discovery of 9 year old murder victim Chantel Crump, after being kidnapped close to her home only on Wednesday. While expressing her sadness and sympathy with the family, she noted the national cry for justice resonates with the principles of CEDAW as nations need to work together in establishing the deterrents from such tragic and fatal incidents.

“It takes a village, not only to raise our children, but to protect our women and girls from all incidents of violence,” she commented.

Accompanying Senator Williams Grant to the side event were the other members of her delegation, Executive Director of the Directorate of Gender Affairs, Jamie Saunders and Programme Officer, T’Chell Looby-Antonio as well as First Secretary at the Antigua and Barbuda Mission Asha Challenger.

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