2023-11-26 12:46:00
Tens of thousands of people demonstrated on Saturday in several countries on the occasion of the International Day Against Violence Against Women, demanding changes in men’s behavior and more resources and efficiency from States.
“It’s over: our struggle is global”: in Madrid, around 7,000 people according to the government demonstrated behind this banner, a slogan taken from a recent Sweden-Spain women’s football match.
Parades also took place in Barcelona and Seville, in a pioneering country where the first European law specifically punishing gender violence was passed in 2004.
“Protect your daughters, educate your sons”, “Giving in is not consent”, “When I go out, I want to be free, not courageous”, “Dance without being drugged”, could we read on protesters’ signs in several cities in France.
“We no longer want to count our dead,” said Maëlle Lenoir, of the feminist collective “Nous tous”.
In 2022, 118 feminicides were recorded in France, according to official figures. Since the start of 2023, there have been 121 feminist associations.
In Italy, where tens of thousands of people marched in several cities including Rome and Milan, there were 106 feminicides last year, according to the National Institute of Statistics (Istat).
The country is still in shock over the death of a 22-year-old student, Giulia Cecchettin, murdered two weeks ago by her ex-companion Filippo Turetta, also 22, who was arrested in Germany after a runaway one week.
Many gatherings also took place in Latin America, where 4,050 feminicides were recorded in 2022, according to a regional UN agency.
In Argentina, the march’s slogan was the defense of gender policies after the election of the controversial new ultraliberal president Javier Milei, who announced during the campaign that he wanted to abolish the Ministry of Women and said he was against the right to abortion.
In Brazil, an alignment of pairs of shoes accompanied by women’s first names on Copacabana beach in Rio symbolized the 722 feminicides recorded in the country in 2022.
“Be careful, machismo kills”, we could read on numerous signs in Santiago de Chile, or “not one less, we love each other alive”, in a demonstration in Venezuela.
In Istanbul, Turkey, 500 women gathered in the Sisli district with the slogans: “We will not remain silent” and “Women are united and fight against the violence of the male state.”
In 2021, Turkey withdrew from an international agreement aimed at protecting women against domestic violence, the Istanbul Convention. On Saturday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the exit had “no impact on our fight against violence against women.”
In the United States, President Joe Biden deplored that “the scourge of gender-based violence continues to inflict suffering and injustice on too many people.” “We know what is at stake: whenever and wherever women and girls are threatened, so is peace and stability,” he added.
“Violence against women is a toxic weed that is plaguing our society and must be cut at the root (…) through educational action that places the person and their dignity at the center,” he said. Pope Francis.
In a video on social networks, French President Emmanuel Macron declared that the “persistence of violence against women is not inevitable”, “we must put an end to it and we will do it”.
Despite recent measures in France (increase in the number of dedicated investigators, deployment of “serious danger telephones” and “immediate danger bracelets”, creation of emergency accommodation places, etc.), feminist collectives and unions are calling for this at least “two billion euros” per year for “a global policy” that is effective.
Worldwide, 82 femicides committed by partners or ex-partners take place every day and it is estimated that 31% of women have been victims of physical or sexual violence at least once in their lives, according to 2018 data from the WHO .
More than half (56%) of women and girls who are killed are killed in the intimate sphere (family member, spouse or ex), compared to 11% of men and boys, according to a UN Women report published in 2022.
Since 1999, November 25 has been the International Day Against Violence Against Women. A date corresponding to the assassination of three of the Mirabal sisters, opponents of the dictator Rafael Trujillo, on November 25, 1960 in the Dominican Republic.
11/26/2023 11:45:36 – Paris (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
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