More reporting on the U.N. and the Gonzales case. Dad SIMON GONZALES abducted his daughters and eventually killed them. The mom called the local police 7 times to enforce her protection order, and they totally blew her off.
http://www.channel4.com/news/us-breaching-human-rights-of-domestic-violence-victims
US 'breaching human rights of domestic violence victims'
Tuesday 23 August 2011
The United Nations says the United States must reassess how it protects victims and punishes perpetrators of domestic violence. Channel 4 News investigates.
The United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on violence against women has urged the United States to re-examine its current policies on dealing with violence against women.
It's a huge embarrassment for a nation which considers itself to be among the most equal in the world - and the kind of slap on the wrist that the UN normally administers to nations with dismal human rights records.
"Violence against women is the most pervasive human rights violation which continues to challenge every country in the world, and the US is no exception," said the UN's Rashida Manjoo.
Women's rights
The UN's criticism comes after a United States human rights panel found the US Government responsible for human rights violations in the case of Jessica Lenahan (previously Gonzales).
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said the Government fell short of its international obligations when it failed to enforce a restraining order against Ms Lenahan's then husband, Simon Gonzales.
On 22 July 1999, Ms Lenahan made seven calls over seven hours to the police in Colorado when her estranged, abusive husband abducted her three daughters, aged 7, 8, and 10. Despite the restraining order against Mr Gonzales, no action was taken.
Early the following morning, Mr Gonzales drove to the police station and began shooting. He was shot dead by police, who then found the bodies of the couple's three daughters, with gunshot wounds, in the back of his truck.
Women's rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, Meghan Rhoad, told Channel 4 News the case was very significant.
"It's a huge case and I hope it will be recognised by policy makers. I think we tend to take for granted that the US has made major gains in women's rights and particularly in violence against women, but this is calling for us to reassess what this actually means in women's lives on a daily basis.
"How much progress have we really made when a woman can call the police seven times over seven hours to get a restraining order enforced and that doesn't happen, and her children are killed?"
UN call
The US human rights body called for a review of the case as well as recommending wider steps for the US Government, including making enforcement of protection orders mandatory. In a report, the UN has gone even further, suggesting the failure should lead to a much deeper rethink of the US Government's attitude towards domestic violence cases.
"The US Government should reassess existing mechanisms for protecting victims and punishing offenders, and establish meaningful standards for enforcement of protection orders and impose consequences for a failure to enforce them," said Ms Manjoo, who went on a fact-funding mission to the US earlier this year.
She added: "In my discussions with government officials, victims, survivors and advocates including Jessica Lenahan, I found a lack of substantive protective legislation for domestic violence victims in the United States, as well as inadequate implementation of certain laws, policies and programmes."
Ms Manjoo said there was little in terms of "federally binding" provisions to protect women against domestic violence, or to prevent the acts in the first place.
She concluded: "State inaction towards cases of violence against women fosters an environment of impunity and promotes the repetition of violence."
Human Rights Watch's Ms Rhoad said the negative publicity - as well as the fact that the US is currently re-authorizing its landmark Violence Against Women Act - was a "gathering storm" that she hoped would elevate the issue in the public consciousness.
"As much progress as has been made, we still have to keep educating about the Government's responsibility to stop violence, whether it is happening on the street or inside someone's home," she said.
Officials at the United States mission to the UN were not immediately available to comment when contacted by Channel 4 News.
The US is the only developed nation not to have ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
Showing posts with label United Nations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label United Nations. Show all posts
Friday, September 16, 2011
Monday, May 10, 2010
Mothers Day Protest at White House Against Organized Crime in Family Courts (Washington, DC_
News about yesterday's protest. Hope you were there!
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-442307
Mothers Day Protest At White House Against Organized Crime in Family Courts
14 hours ago Washington, District of Columbia Vetting explained Posted by:
legaltruth11
Last updated: 13 hours ago
iReport — BREAKING STORY: Hundreds of Mothers, Victim Children, Fathers and their supporters protested outside the White House on Mother's Day against the organized crime that is occurring in many of the family courts of the United States. Speakers included Kathleen Russell, Eileen King (Justice of Children), and Mildred Mohamud, whose case involving the custody of her children led to the Beltway Sniper's rampage of killing a dozen persons in the Washington DC area several years ago. Lessons have not been learned, and the problems have gotten worse in the United States . The United States continues to refuse to join the rest of the world and recognize the rights of children -- in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The US helped draft it, but has been the only country that has failed to ratify it.
The group called on President Obama for a full federal investigation into the family court system and time for the US to sign the convention on the rights of the child.
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-442307
Mothers Day Protest At White House Against Organized Crime in Family Courts
14 hours ago Washington, District of Columbia Vetting explained Posted by:
legaltruth11
Last updated: 13 hours ago
iReport — BREAKING STORY: Hundreds of Mothers, Victim Children, Fathers and their supporters protested outside the White House on Mother's Day against the organized crime that is occurring in many of the family courts of the United States. Speakers included Kathleen Russell, Eileen King (Justice of Children), and Mildred Mohamud, whose case involving the custody of her children led to the Beltway Sniper's rampage of killing a dozen persons in the Washington DC area several years ago. Lessons have not been learned, and the problems have gotten worse in the United States . The United States continues to refuse to join the rest of the world and recognize the rights of children -- in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The US helped draft it, but has been the only country that has failed to ratify it.
The group called on President Obama for a full federal investigation into the family court system and time for the US to sign the convention on the rights of the child.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
UN: Violence Against Women "Most Pervasive" Rights Violation
The United National Fund for Women calls violence against women a problem of "pandemic proportions." How "pandemic"? Estimates show that ONE IN THREE WOMEN around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused.
As you can see from the testimonies below, domestic violence issues are completely intertwined with child abuse issues (for one thing, note how much abuse is directed towards pregnant women and starts or accelerates during pregnancy). As more women rebel against their treatment, it is not surprising that divorce and CHILD CUSTODY are becoming an increasingly hot area for abusers to exercise their violence and control. I have highlighted in bold some of the more revealing facts and statements.
http://www.rferl.org/content/UN_Says_Violence_Against_Women_Most_Pervasive_Rights_Violation/1887588.html
UN Says Violence Against Women ‘Most Pervasive’ Rights Violation
November 25, 2009
By Breffni O'Rourke
November 25 marks the UN-sponsored International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women -- a reminder of a problem that the UN says has reached pandemic proportions.
The UN Development Fund for Women estimates that one in three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused.
It describes domestic violence against women as perhaps the most pervasive human rights violation known today.
Women are more at risk of death or disability from violence than from cancer, road accidents, war, or malaria.
And there is a growing link between such violence and the spread of HIV/AIDS. A survey conducted in South Africa revealed that women who are beaten by their partners are 48 percent more likely to be infected with HIV than those who are not.
Women from across RFE/RL’s broadcast region have shared some of their own stories of abuse. Only the first names of the victims are used so as to protect their privacy.
Olena, a 35-year-old Ukrainian woman from Kyiv, lived with her Bulgarian husband for 10 years. She told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service that after their son was born, his behavior changed drastically: he started drinking and beating her.
"On my son's first birthday, I was hospitalized with broken ribs, damaged lungs, a concussion, and many bruises,” Olena said. “I could not neither forget nor forgive this, but continued to live with my husband because of the child. Now we don’t live together anymore. He is threatening to take away my son.”
There's also the story of a 20-year-old Azerbaijani woman called Mehriban, who spent three years married to a man who regularly mistreated her.
"I was beaten while I was pregnant,” she said. “My mother-in-law was also beating me. I gave birth 10 days after one beating."
Mehriban's story ends better than some. She decided to leave her husband after he beat her openly in front of her employer. Now she has become a rights activist in rural Azerbaijan. She’s gotten to know a circle of new people, is learning French and is soon to start Spanish-language courses. She has her son with her, and she says she will never marry again.
Escaping Abuse
In Moldova, an RFE/RL correspondent visited the Casa Marioarei (Marioara's House), a safe house where victims of domestic violence can go for refuge. Half of the people living there are children.
The mother of one 5-year-old girl told RFE/RL that they ran away from home to escape the father, who beat them both.
"Where could we go? If I called the police, they would come and tell me that we had to behave better,” she said. “They'd write up some papers, charge [a fine]. And then they'd be gone, leaving me there with him, and he would beat me even harder."
In Croatia, a country on the cusp of EU membership, 34 women have been killed as a result of domestic violence since 2006. Activists have warned that the number of cases are on the rise, and say violence against women cannot be properly addressed until it is seen as a serious social problem instead of a private family matter.
"Azra," a 30-year-old woman who asked that her real name not be used, recently left her husband of 10 years because of relentless violence. Speaking to RFE/RL's Balkan Service, Azra says after years of "being beaten and in tears all night," she found refuge in a shelter run by an NGO in the central Croatian town of Karlovac. But she is still afraid for her two children, whom she had to leave with their father until she is able to find a job.
"He abused me psychologically, physically, and financially,” Azra said. “If I said I needed to buy cereal for our children, he would say, 'What do they need it for?' If I said the children needed shoes, he'd say, 'What shoes?' He worked. I didn't.”
“He beat me often, but he chose parts of my body where he wouldn't leave a trace,” she said. “There were small bruises, and the pain was terrible, but it couldn't be seen when you were on the street. I simply reached the bottom; it became a question of life and death. If he didn’t kill me, I would have killed myself."
Men With Ribbons
One way to focus attention on the problem of domestic violence is the international White Ribbon Campaign, which urges men to wear a white ribbon on their lapel to show that they oppose violence against women and children.
Started in Canada, the campaign has spread to 50 countries, including Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Campaign organizers are particularly eager to recruit the support of leading athletes from such "macho" sports as rugby, on the grounds that they can set a positive example for young men to follow.
In comments marking the day, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the masculine side of society must learn that a true man does not oppress women and children.
Coinciding with the day against violence, the London-based human rights organization Amnesty International has issued a report on the plight of women in Tajikistan.
Amnesty expert Andrea Strasser-Camagni says women in Tajikistan are beaten, abused, and raped within the family, even as Tajik authorities take the attitude that the woman is to blame for domestic violence.
She says married women are treated like servants or as the property of their in-laws, and the violence and humiliation they suffer drive many to suicide.
Amnesty International gives the example of Zamira, who got married at 18 in a traditional Islamic marriage. The union lasted five years, during which time Zamira was not allowed to leave her husband's house.
She told Amnesty that her husband would beat her when she asked to go out. Then one day her husband divorced her according to Islamic tradition, and she was thrown out of the house, along with her son.
Amnesty's Strasser-Camagni says despite everything, she sees hope for the future in Tajikistan, because women there are fighting to change the situation.
"There are a lot of very active women in the country, who try to combat this crime, who try also to challenge assumptions about traditional gender roles in the country, about the acceptance of violence against women,” Strasser-Camagni said. “So I think the big hope lies with active people in Tajikistan itself."
Strasser-Camagni calls on the Tajik government to pass laws and make available social support services, and also to conduct public awareness campaigns. Those campaigns, she said, should carry information about the disadvantages to women of polygamous or unregistered marriages.
As you can see from the testimonies below, domestic violence issues are completely intertwined with child abuse issues (for one thing, note how much abuse is directed towards pregnant women and starts or accelerates during pregnancy). As more women rebel against their treatment, it is not surprising that divorce and CHILD CUSTODY are becoming an increasingly hot area for abusers to exercise their violence and control. I have highlighted in bold some of the more revealing facts and statements.
http://www.rferl.org/content/UN_Says_Violence_Against_Women_Most_Pervasive_Rights_Violation/1887588.html
UN Says Violence Against Women ‘Most Pervasive’ Rights Violation
November 25, 2009
By Breffni O'Rourke
November 25 marks the UN-sponsored International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women -- a reminder of a problem that the UN says has reached pandemic proportions.
The UN Development Fund for Women estimates that one in three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused.
It describes domestic violence against women as perhaps the most pervasive human rights violation known today.
Women are more at risk of death or disability from violence than from cancer, road accidents, war, or malaria.
And there is a growing link between such violence and the spread of HIV/AIDS. A survey conducted in South Africa revealed that women who are beaten by their partners are 48 percent more likely to be infected with HIV than those who are not.
Women from across RFE/RL’s broadcast region have shared some of their own stories of abuse. Only the first names of the victims are used so as to protect their privacy.
Olena, a 35-year-old Ukrainian woman from Kyiv, lived with her Bulgarian husband for 10 years. She told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service that after their son was born, his behavior changed drastically: he started drinking and beating her.
"On my son's first birthday, I was hospitalized with broken ribs, damaged lungs, a concussion, and many bruises,” Olena said. “I could not neither forget nor forgive this, but continued to live with my husband because of the child. Now we don’t live together anymore. He is threatening to take away my son.”
There's also the story of a 20-year-old Azerbaijani woman called Mehriban, who spent three years married to a man who regularly mistreated her.
"I was beaten while I was pregnant,” she said. “My mother-in-law was also beating me. I gave birth 10 days after one beating."
Mehriban's story ends better than some. She decided to leave her husband after he beat her openly in front of her employer. Now she has become a rights activist in rural Azerbaijan. She’s gotten to know a circle of new people, is learning French and is soon to start Spanish-language courses. She has her son with her, and she says she will never marry again.
Escaping Abuse
In Moldova, an RFE/RL correspondent visited the Casa Marioarei (Marioara's House), a safe house where victims of domestic violence can go for refuge. Half of the people living there are children.
The mother of one 5-year-old girl told RFE/RL that they ran away from home to escape the father, who beat them both.
"Where could we go? If I called the police, they would come and tell me that we had to behave better,” she said. “They'd write up some papers, charge [a fine]. And then they'd be gone, leaving me there with him, and he would beat me even harder."
In Croatia, a country on the cusp of EU membership, 34 women have been killed as a result of domestic violence since 2006. Activists have warned that the number of cases are on the rise, and say violence against women cannot be properly addressed until it is seen as a serious social problem instead of a private family matter.
"Azra," a 30-year-old woman who asked that her real name not be used, recently left her husband of 10 years because of relentless violence. Speaking to RFE/RL's Balkan Service, Azra says after years of "being beaten and in tears all night," she found refuge in a shelter run by an NGO in the central Croatian town of Karlovac. But she is still afraid for her two children, whom she had to leave with their father until she is able to find a job.
"He abused me psychologically, physically, and financially,” Azra said. “If I said I needed to buy cereal for our children, he would say, 'What do they need it for?' If I said the children needed shoes, he'd say, 'What shoes?' He worked. I didn't.”
“He beat me often, but he chose parts of my body where he wouldn't leave a trace,” she said. “There were small bruises, and the pain was terrible, but it couldn't be seen when you were on the street. I simply reached the bottom; it became a question of life and death. If he didn’t kill me, I would have killed myself."
Men With Ribbons
One way to focus attention on the problem of domestic violence is the international White Ribbon Campaign, which urges men to wear a white ribbon on their lapel to show that they oppose violence against women and children.
Started in Canada, the campaign has spread to 50 countries, including Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Campaign organizers are particularly eager to recruit the support of leading athletes from such "macho" sports as rugby, on the grounds that they can set a positive example for young men to follow.
In comments marking the day, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the masculine side of society must learn that a true man does not oppress women and children.
Coinciding with the day against violence, the London-based human rights organization Amnesty International has issued a report on the plight of women in Tajikistan.
Amnesty expert Andrea Strasser-Camagni says women in Tajikistan are beaten, abused, and raped within the family, even as Tajik authorities take the attitude that the woman is to blame for domestic violence.
She says married women are treated like servants or as the property of their in-laws, and the violence and humiliation they suffer drive many to suicide.
Amnesty International gives the example of Zamira, who got married at 18 in a traditional Islamic marriage. The union lasted five years, during which time Zamira was not allowed to leave her husband's house.
She told Amnesty that her husband would beat her when she asked to go out. Then one day her husband divorced her according to Islamic tradition, and she was thrown out of the house, along with her son.
Amnesty's Strasser-Camagni says despite everything, she sees hope for the future in Tajikistan, because women there are fighting to change the situation.
"There are a lot of very active women in the country, who try to combat this crime, who try also to challenge assumptions about traditional gender roles in the country, about the acceptance of violence against women,” Strasser-Camagni said. “So I think the big hope lies with active people in Tajikistan itself."
Strasser-Camagni calls on the Tajik government to pass laws and make available social support services, and also to conduct public awareness campaigns. Those campaigns, she said, should carry information about the disadvantages to women of polygamous or unregistered marriages.
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