Nepal has made steps forward in addressing Domestic Violence in its legal and policy framework, but Nepali civil society see many challenges and gaps in the implementation. With the support of Ausaid, a coalition of Nepali organisations has committed to address these challenges. Organizations involved in the project include the Women Forum for Women in Nepal (WOFOWON); LOOM Nepal, (a community-based women organization from southern part of Nepal (terai); Mahila Ekta Samaj (young women led women's organization); Nepal Disabled Women Association (NDWA); Sahayatri samaj and Mukti Nepal. Together they represent a wide variety of the Nepali population, including marginalized groups such as women working in the entertainment industry, women living with disabilities and rural women.

To make the DOVA manual easy to use for the participants, Worec Nepal translated it into Nepali. As soon as the final edit is completed the Nepali version of DOVA will be shared on this website.

During the workshop the participants will learn to use the DOVA step by step research methodology to explore the practical challenges victims of Domestic Violence face and to link them up to the Human Right and Policy obligations of Nepal. The results of the research will be used to make practical recommendations to the Nepali authorities on how to improve its work to end Domestic Violence. The DOVA Nepal team is committed to push for real change on the ground and for an end of impunity of perpetrators of Domestic Violence.

In many of our countries, often as a result of a strong lobby by women’s rights groups, governments have adopted Domestic Violence legislation and often also developed action plans. But as many participants in the workshop confirmed, the implementation of these laws and policies is weak in practice. It is very frustrating to see that despite a legal framework, in practice Domestic Violence continues and women continue to suffer. But as civil society we cannot get disheartened and have to explore new and innovative ways to make our government’s live up to their legal obligations under national law and Human Rights treaties and to the commitments they made in policy agreements, such as CSW Agreed Conclusions.

The hosts of the workshop: Rights for Change, the Netherlands; WOREC, Women's Rehabilitation Centre, Nepal and Masimanyane, South Africa[ii], shared our experiences as co-developers of The Human Rights assessment instrument on Domestic Violence, DOVA (download your own copy from http://www.humanrightsimpact.org/themes/womens-human-rights/domestic-violence/project-overview/). We developed this step by step guide to make it easier for Civil society carry out action and rights based research on Domestic Violence[iii].

Lesley Anne Forster of Masimanyane shared that a team of South African NGO´s[iv] had used DOVA’s step by step questions, to help them prepare their recently submitted request for an Inquiry to the committee of the Convention of the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, CEDAW. In the request, they make the case that women in South Africa are experiencing grave and systematic violations of their Human Rights because of the extremely high levels of Domestic Violence. The research shows that although the South African state has put mechanisms in place to address Violence Against Women, including Domestic Violence, little has changed in practice.  Their evidence strongly indicates,  that the South African state actors fail to adhere to due diligence standards, so do not live up to their Human Rights obligations. By submitting the Inquiry request, the CEDAW committee is invited to come to South Africa to see what is happening and to guide and assist South Africa in finding approaches that do help to stop the violence and to make South Africa live up to the commitments they made.

Preparing a request for an Inquiry is not an easy task to undertake and only a few organizations worldwide have had the courage to undertake the work. It was great to hear that DOVA provided help in structuring the research and excellent news that South African Ngo’s had the courage to take on this momentous job. A copy of the inquiry request can be found at http://www.dgmt.co.za/files/2013/02/OP-CEDAW-INQUIRY-FINAL-DRAFT-Recovered.pdf

The next presenter was Renu Rajbhandari who is the founder of Worec Nepal and currently active in Alliance of Women Human rights defenders. She explained that as a medical doctor, she became concerned and involved in the suffering of women in Nepal. One of the serious medical problems women face in Nepal, is that they go back to work too soon after giving birth. One of the side effects can be a prolapsed uterus. This medical condition can be reversed but poor women cannot afford to pay for the treatment. Renu realized that solving the problem would require government intervention and that women had the Right to health, but she was not sure as a medical doctor who to use Human Rights standards. With the help of HeRWAI, the Health rights of women assessment instrument (a copy can be downloaded from http://www.humanrightsimpact.org/fileadmin/hria_resources/HeRWAI_Training/HeRWAI_engels_2010.pdf), Worec undertook as study, and by using the results of the research, successfully lobbied the Nepali government for a change in policy and to give Nepali women access to restorative surgery.

Renu has since become a fan of using fact-based and rights-based research as a basis of strong lobby and advocacy and Worec joined the DOVA development team. In 2013, a coalition of Nepali organizations will undertake an in depth research on the how and if the Nepali Domestic Violence law works in practice. Looking at the impact of the law through the eyes of e.g. people living with disabilities, homeless women or women working in the entertainment sector, they will find out about the specific challenges faced by women facing multiple discrimination and Domestic Violence. Uncovering these challenges will help Nepali civil society in asking for targeted improvements in legislation and practical implementation. The Nepali team is already hard at work to translate DOVA in Nepali.

The participants in the workshop were impressed with the work done by the presenting organizations In our discussion many speakers reminded us of the fact, that working to end violence against women is a long hard road. Many activist get tired of finding obstacles on the road to improvement. But we were also reminded that every women who survives violence and builds up a new life is a success story. And woman and man living in harmony and making their own choices in life, is the world we want to achieve.

Loeky Droesen is freelance consultant at Rights for Change, the writer of DOVA, board member of the Women Peacemakers Program and policy advisor at RutgersWPF

[i] Perhaps it would better to use the term intimate partner violence in this blog. The more conservative forces at the CSW do not like that term at all. They feel using the term would somehow recognize the existence of same sex couples, something they want to avoid at all cost.

[ii] With the support of Ausaid

[iii] The other co-developing organizations include Center for Legal Civic Initiatives, Albania; Mosaic, Training, Service and Healing Centre for Women, South Africa; WILDAF, Women in Law and Development, Ghana; ZWLA, Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association, Zimbabwe; Centro de la Mujer Peruana Flora Tristan, Peru; Independent consultant Anara Moldasheva, Kyrgyzstan and The Network/Research Center for Combating Domestic Violence (CDVN),  China

[iv] Which also included Mosaic

The Human Rights assessment instrument on Domestic Violence, DOVA provides a step by step guide to carry out action research on gaps in the legislation or implementation of legislation in a county. The research provides the users with fact based and rights based arguments to push your government to change the current practices and to improve the life of people affect by Domestic Violence.

You are invited to join the workshop from 14.30 till 16.00 at the Drew Room, Ground Floor, Church Center for the UN, 777 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017

Follow the Dutch Civil Society during the CSW

The theme of the upcoming Commission on the status of women meeting at the United Nations in New York is Violence Against Women and the member states of the United Nations will be negotiating to reach agreed conclusions on Violence Against Women. Dutch civil society jointly write a blog that will keep readers up to date on the negotiations and in which you can read more about many of the events and workshops taking place in New York during the CSW. You can read the blog at http://womeninnewyork.blogspot.nl/.

On the morning of September 28th the DOVA workshop participants will introduce a wider audience of Albanian civil society and donors to DOVA and Domestic Violence challenges in Albania.

For more information see http://www.phmovement.org/en/pha3 and http://www.rights4change.org/.

This conference will be organized to discuss further and find win-win solution for the implementation of mandatory CSR in Indonesia in accordance with Article 74 under Company Liability Act of Indonesia Number 40/2007. It is not just limited for specific case of Indonesia but also we would like to learn about CSR developments in other ASEAN and non-ASEAN countries across the globe.

The article was made in the basis of there is a strong interest of the Government of Indonesia to apply mandatory CSR for natural resources based-companies in the term of conserving environment and ensuring natural resources sustainability.

But, unfortunately after 4 years of enactment, the article is not implementable yet, so that through this conference, we would like to make it implementable for the future of Indonesia environment and natural resources sustainability as well as in other developing countries across the globe.

For that reason above, we would like to invite you to submit papers, share ideas and exploring new experiences and knowledge in the area of CSR, Business and Human Rights through the 1st International Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility, Business and Human Rights (ICCSRBHR) 13-15 May 2012 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

For more detailed information visit our temporary website at http://iccsrbhr2012.com.

• Legal and policy approaches to regulation of Irish companies for human rights
• Obligations of the State and companies when public functions are privatised
• Role of extraterritorial jurisdiction in Irish law to address violations committed overseas by Irish companies or multinationals based here
• The potential role of criminal law to address violations of human rights by business
• Civil litigation as a means accountability – lessons from the Alien Tort Claims Act
• Remedies for victims

The conference is organised by Dr Shane Darcy ( shane.darcy@nuigalway.ie) and Dr Ciara Hackett ( ciara.hackett@nuigalway.ie). For further information and registration for the conference please contact: Hadeel Abu Hussein: h.abuhussein1@nuigalway.ie.

Please visit the website for full conference details and online registration:  http://www.conference.ie.

Working to end domestic violence can feel like an uphill battle. The violence is entrenched in society and it is not easy to effect change or improvement. The work can be strengthened by using the international human rights standards that States have agreed to uphold. Your government cannot make promises on the international stage and then try to forget them at home. Relying on human right standards will enable you to hold your government accountable if they do not practice what they promise.  

Addressing domestic violence as a human rights violation empowers women and other victims/survivors of domestic violence. As active rights-holders, they can claim the rights to which their governments and States have committed themselves. The State is obliged to prevent, eradicate and punish domestic violence and is accountable if it fails to comply or uphold human rights.

DOVA  

DOVA, the Human Rights Assessment Instrument on Domestic Violence provides a step-by-step method which helps you to assess if your country is complying with its human rights and other international obligations.  

How does it work?  

The DOVA assessment process is divided in seven steps. Each step contains questions, examples and checklists to guide the data collection and analysis. The analysis results in a concrete set of recommendations for more effective laws or policies that protect and respect human rights. This information will be used to develop an action plan to lobby for policy reform and to raise awareness about the findings of the assessment. A full assessment process can take between four and six months.    

Why use DOVA?  

Using DOVA to analyse a problem helps to:  

• Gain a better understanding of the situation;
• Make a direct link between a problem and relevant human rights issues;
• Assess the impact of the problem on the rights of all groups affected;
• Build alliances with other stakeholders;
• Draw evidence-based conclusions about what the government can do to improve the situation and meet its human rights obligations;
• Make an advocacy action plan;
• Increase the capacity of your organisation to use a human rights framework.  

Where to find DOVA?  

DOVA was published December 2011 and can be downloaded free of charge here. DOVA is available in English.  

You can also access DOVA from our HRIRC tools database.

The DOVA summary sheet is available for download here.

Support to users  

DOVA can be used independently. However, people and NGOs may find doing a human rights assessment challenging. A range of workshops and other forms of support are available. Please contact us to discuss the possibilities.

Contact

For a printed copy of DOVA and/or information about support to users, please do not hesitate to contact Rights4Change.

E-mail: l.droesen(at)rights4change(dot)org or info(at)humanrightsimpact(dot)org.

DOVA was developed with support from:  

The project partners:

• Rights for Change,
• the Netherlands Center for Legal Civic Initiatives,
• Albania Masimanyane Women's Support Centre,
• South Africa Mosaic, Training, Service and Healing Centre for Women, South Africa
• WILDAF, Women in Law and Development, Ghana
• ZWLA, Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association, Zimbabwe
• Centro de la Mujer Peruana Flora Tristan, Peru
• Independent consultant Anara Moldasheva, Kyrgyzstan
• WOREC, Women's Rehabilitation Centre, Nepal
• The Network/Research Center for Combating Domestic Violence (CDVN), China
• Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• HIVOS
• PSO

The results of this mapping can be used for several purposes. These include writing NGO-reports (for example CEDAW shadow reports), strategic planning within an organisation and with stakeholders, and advocacy. Organisations can also use the results to make strategic choices on what topics and what strategies to focus on as an organisation (or as a group of organisations).

 Download the Tool

Tool Steps

The tool consists of a number of steps as follows:

• In the first step users are asked to make an inventory of the information that is available. The tool guides them along several possible sources of information.
• In the second step users will make an overview of the prevalence of the various forms of VAW, and evaluate whether specific groups are in particular affected by it. The questions in the tool make sure no forms or groups will be overseen.
• In the next step, both existing and missing strategies and interventions to address the various forms of VAW are mapped. The UN standards on which interventions should be in place are used in this step.
• The last mapping part is an analysis of the stakeholders: who is working on which topic, for which groups and with what interventions?

After the mapping, users will have a rather good overview of both the situation with regard to the various forms of Violence Aganinst Women in their country / region, and which interventions are in place. The mapping will also show what are the blind spots: forms of VAW that are not being addressed; groups that are not being reached, interventions that are lacking or insufficiently implemented.

The mapping tool also gives some suggestions as how to use the results for reporting, for strategic planning and for advocacy.

How can R4C help you to use the Mapping tool?

Experts of Rights4Change can provide training and workshops, both on violence against women in general and on using the tool Mapping Violence Against Women. They also offer support to users of the tool.

R4C have developed standard workshops, but of course the training can be adapted to the specific needs of an organisation.

Please contact Rights4Change to discuss the possibilities and the costs of the workshops and support.

Feedback and sharing experiences

Mapping Violence Against Women is a new tool. The tool has been discussed with potential users, but it has not been tested yet. R4C invite the users of the tool to give them feedback: does it work in practice; what improvements can be made. They also would like to hear about the results of using the tool. To give your feedback and share your experiences, you can e-mail R4C.

You can also join the linkedIn group Mapping VAW Network / Rights4Change, and share not only with R4C but with other users as well.