Panel Discussion on
Preventing and Ending Violence against Women with Disabilities
United Nations Headquarters - Conference Room 3 -NorthLawnBuilding
23 October 2012, 1:15 – 2:30 p.m.
Talking Points of Ms. Shamshad Akhtar,
Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development
Department of Economic and Social Affairs
Distinguished panelists, representatives from governments, colleagues, and friends, I am very pleased to welcome you today. I would like to thank the Permanent Missions of Armenia and Philippinesfor sponsoring this event, as well as our co-sponsors, UN Women, Women Enabled, Women’s UN Report Network and the U.S. Federation for Middle East Peace for their work in organizing this panel.
We focus today on the critical issue of Preventing and Ending Violence against Women with Disabilities. Our panelists, which include distinguished representatives of UN Member States, UN colleagues, the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, and civil society experts, will present an overview of the nature, scope, causes and consequences of violence against women with disabilities and will explore a wide range of strategies and recommendations for action.
Our panel today takes place in the context of several upcoming opportunities to address the issue of violence against women with disabilities.
In September of next year, the General Assembly will convene a High-level Meeting with the overarching theme “The way forward: a disability inclusive development agenda towards 2015 and beyond.” This meeting may present a significant opportunity to ensure that the voice and concerns of women and girls with disabilities, including in relation to violence against women, are fully taken into account in preparations for a post-2015 development framework.
The 57th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, which will take place in March 2013, will focus on the elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls.
Our panel today may serve as a contribution to both events.
The international community has identified the situation of women with disabilities as a priority issue. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), for example, specifically addresses the rights of women and girls with disabilities in society and development.Since its adoption, the General Assembly has also issued a series of resolutions calling for the mainstreaming of disability in development and, as a means of realizing this goal, has called upon Governments to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women.[1]
During its fifth session, heldjust last month, the issue of women with disabilities was a sub-theme of the Conference of States Parties to the CRPD. ACOSP panel focused on women noted that, in spite of support for the advancement of women with disabilities, they all too often remain excluded from global and national development efforts. The issue of violence against women with disabilities was also raised repeatedly at the Conference of States Parties.
As DESA found in its 2009 Survey on the Role of Women in DevelopmentWomen’s Control over EconomicResources and Access to FinancialResources, including Microfinance, violence against women is deeply linked to their exclusion from society and development. DESA examined the many interconnections between violence against women and development, finding increased incidence of violence against women living in poverty – for example, experiencing homelessness or working in insecure situations. Similarly, the report documented examples of how empowerment of women, including though access to paid work, housing and land, may serve to mitigate the likelihood of experiencing violence.
My Department, DESA, which serves asthe United Nations global focal point on disability,has specifically prioritized the mainstreaming of disability in development, and within this, has sought to promote the rights of women with disabilities. We recognize that, to advance the rights of women and girls with disabilities, women and girls with disabilities and their perspective must be included in all aspects of development processes. Similarly, efforts to advance the rights of persons with disabilities in development should include a gender perspective and seek to promote the empowerment of women.
Recognizing the importance of multi-stakeholder efforts to advance the situation of women with disabilities, DESA has co-organized, together with Member States, UN entities and civil society organizations, a series of UN panels focused on women with disabilities in relation to a range of subjects including information and communication technologies; post-conflict reconstruction and peace building efforts; and the economic empowerment and political participation of rural women and girls with disabilities. Most recently, during the 5th session of the Conference of States Parties to the CRPD, in September of this year, DESA co-sponsored a panel discussion on the leadership of women with disabilities.
DESA’s work to advance the empowerment of women was long strengthened by the work of one of its own Divisions - the Division for the Advancement of Women.Now our work is galvanized by UN Women as our partner to continue to translate our commitments into action.
I wish now to turn to our distinguished opening panelists for their opening remarks, which will be followed by expert presentations by the Special Rapporteur and by representatives of civil society organizations. Our panel today is particularly timely in light of the report of the Special Rapporteur, focusing especially on violence against women with disabilities, to the 67th session of the General Assembly.[2]
We are on a very tight schedule this morning and I thank participants in advance to keeping to the suggested time frame. I will keep my introductions brief.
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[1]See resolutions 65/186 and 64/131.
[2]A/67/227