FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Elizabeth Blackney, elizabeth@everywoman.org
(Seattle) Today, February 20, 2020, the Every Woman Institute releases its first-ever Safer Sooner Report.
“For many women around the world, there is no easy path to justice. Laws, government systems, and social norms favor perpetrators. In courtrooms, media, communities, and homes across the world, female victims of violence are often blamed, ignored, and not believed, entrenching the world in a system of silence and impunity.
“The international community has come together to solve the problem through various instruments, including regional treaties, recommendations to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and treaties specific to a certain form of violence, such as torture and trafficking. The lack of a binding global framework specific to violence against women and girls has resulted in a patchwork of protection with wide normative, geographical, and enforcement gaps in women’s safety.
“The supermajority of the world’s women lack access to a treaty that specifically addresses violence against women.
“Over the last six years, from 2013 to 2019, the Every Woman Global Working Group engaged in a global, inclusive dialogue on the need for a treaty and conducted deep analysis of the existing legal framework with members of the Every Woman coalition and additional experts. The global consultation found that a binding global norm would close the existing normative, geographic, and implementation gaps in women’s security, as well as provide global backup to existing mechanisms, and create a framework at the highest level of international law in which all entities, from governments to civil society to the UN, could work together to eradicate this human rights crisis.”
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For additional information or to schedule interviews with the Authors of the Safer Sooner Report, please The Authors and CEO Lisa Shannon, MPA are available for interviews. Languages include: Arabic, English, French, Hindi, Russian, and Spanish. Please reach out to Elizabeth Blackney at elizabeth@everywoman.org for more information, or call/WhatsApp +1 646 818 0145. Biographies are below.
Authors’ languages include: Arabic, English, French, Hindi, Russian, and Spanish. Please reach out to Elizabeth Blackney at elizabeth@everywoman.org for more information, or call/WhatsApp +1 646 818 0145. Biographies are available upon request.
Authors of the Safer Sooner Report:
Dr. Eleanor Ann Nwadinobi Founder, Widows Development Organization and President, Medical Women’s International Association; Every Woman Steering Committee Co-Chair, Nigeria
Languages: English
Francisco Rivera Juaristi, JD Director, International Human Rights Clinic, Santa Clara Law School; Every Woman Steering Committee, Puerto Rico
Languages: English, Spanish
Marina Pisklákova-Parker, PhD Founder and Chair of the Board, Center for the Prevention of Violence – ANNA, coordinating center for a network of 150 organizations, Russia
Languages: English, Russian
Hala Aldosari, PhD Women’s rights activist-scholar, Every Woman Steering Committee, Saudi Arabia/USA
Languages: English, Arabic
Meera Khana Trustee and Executive Vice President, Guild for Service; Every Woman Steering Committee, India
Languages: English, Hindi
Jane Aeberhard-Hodges Human Rights Consultant; former director, ILO Gender, Equality and Diversity, Switzerland
Languages: English, French
