How do we strengthen LAC states to prevent violence against women and girls?
In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), insecurity and violence have become two of the main problems and concerns afflicting society and vulnerable groups. The social demands placed upon governments and public servants generally focus on the need to prevent, address and seek solutions to these problems and their attendant negative consequences in citizens’ lives. Indeed, studies carried out in the region show that insecurity and violence are problems that demand priority attention of the states. They transcend the need to impart justice as a social reparation mechanism alone, since their consequences are real obstacles to the sustainable development of the countries.
Gender violence is not an insignificant matter in strategies to combat insecurity and social violence within the states. This has led to LAC advancing the development of regulatory frameworks that look to guarantee women’s rights to a life free of violence, since in 2019 alone, 4,640 cases of femicide were registered. In addition to the fact that fourteen countries in the region have the highest rates of femicide, it is estimated that one in three women has suffered some form of violence and between 11% and 25% of women between 15 and 49 years old have been abused by their partners. ECLAC refers to this situation as a “a pandemic in the shadows”.
Apart from its effects on women’s health, violence in all its forms also has its economic cost. According to the Copenhagen Consensus Center, the cost of violence is estimated to represent 11.16% of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In terms of violence against women in the region, the cost of female homicides represents 0.31% of LAC’s GDP and the cost of intimate partner violence is up to 8% of regional GDP.
The region still faces great challenges ahead in combating this phenomenon that affects women and families considerably. It is therefore important that the allocation of resources is accompanied by the design and execution of comprehensive public policies to prevent and combat violence, which are based on studies, knowledge and data technology tools, and statistical information.
With the above points in mind, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) have developed two tools for strengthening state capacities in the area of prevention, awareness and reparation of violence against women and girls:
The comprehensive approach framework provides inputs to competent bodies in the design and implementation of policies for the prevention of gender violence. It provides cooperation organizations with the elements needed to identify support opportunities and offers tools to create comprehensive policies and design solutions for existing problems. This framework is based on five analysis or work matrices: (1) types of political-institutional scenarios and recommended policies; (2) violence against women and girls policy content; (3) components of coordination between institutions and with civil society, (4) impact and results indicators and (5) basic training contents for civil servants working on violence against women and girls policies.
Given the current situation, it also has a short section containing intervention proposals for victims of violence in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex and queer people who also face multiple forms of violence were not left out and were taken into account within the guidelines and policies that aim to provide them with a better quality of life, free of violence.
The second tool includes a methodology for estimating the costs or magnitude of financial resources that a state should invest to guarantee the effective exercise of women’s and girls’ rights to live in an environment free of violence.
In addition to these tools, UNDP and CAF prepared the policy document “Development of institutional capacities for addressing violence against women and girls in Latin America”. This proposes a series of recommendations and good practices in the field of prevention, awareness and reparation of violence against women and girls through three case studies (Argentina, Ecuador and Peru). It also states that the effective implementation of public policies in this area requires joint work and effort on the part of government institutions and civil society, as they are indispensable actors in properly addressing these problems.
In view of all the above, CAF and UNDP, being aware of the region’s current need to produce better public policies, provide these tools intended to contribute to the countries’ efforts to achieve target 5.2, “eliminate violence against women and their exploitation”, of Sustainable Development Goal No. 5: “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”
