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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
Adolescent
girls and young women are victims of virtual violence that manifests
itself through numerous cases of cyber threats, bullying, the use of
demeaning phrases and stereotyped and violent images in electronic media
such as emails, social networks, blogs, text messages and mobile
phones. This violence constitutes a violation of women’s right to live
free of violence.
In preparation for the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence, the
Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) invites you to participate in the “
Delete virtual violence” contest and develop your own audiovisual or graphic campaign with concrete proposals to eradicate this violence.
The CIM will select 3
proposals that will be posted on CIM’s Website and social media. The deadline for submitting your proposal is
February 8th,
2015.
The
selection criteria will be:
-contest theme
-creativity
-quality
-technical skill
1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes:
presentation of the graphic/audiovisual campaign to the 2015 CIM
Assembly of Delegates. Airfare and hotel expenses will be covered by the
CIM.
This contest is open to students between the ages of 18 and 25.
You are allowed to use graphic design software, cameras, tape recorders, and cell phones, among other tools.
General description
New technologies are changing the way in which young people live their
relationships and participate in the open world of the social network.
While this has positive aspects, it can also raise problems. The
technologies currently in use allow someone to know at all times where
their partner is, what he/she is doing, who he/she is talking to, what
he/she is telling other people ... This can lead to disappointment and
deception, extreme jealousy, attempts to control and dominate, public
humiliation, and even harassment. These manifestations seen in various
social networks are sometimes the prelude to a violent relationship or
the first signs of establishing a domineering relationship. In many
cases they are the result of psychological violence exercised by a
partner on a daily basis, and can also be transmitted virtually, with
the same implications.
Virtual violence, expressed in insults, defamation, images or videos in
cyberspace that denigrate the image of women is a new form of abuse
experienced by young people. Legal mechanisms to denounce this violence
however, are few. Virtual violence causes moral harm, including threats,
and can influence personality and generate low self-esteem, including
anger, paranoia, depression and fear. Another type of violence is
sending emails with sexually explicit videos, insinuations, messages or
files containing pornographic content, instead of using this tool to
foster communication.
Invasion of privacy also exists in cyberspace and is considered an act
of violence. This occurs when a person enters a social network, blog or a
virtual environment without the owner's consent and uses personal data
like videos, pictures or stories. Many times this information is
modified, stolen or published.
Society should be responsible for the correct use of technology, and
denounce those who use it to harass, violate rights and assault women.
Therefore, we invite you to participate in this contest and create your
own campaign for Deleting Virtual Violence. Your task will be to design a
poster, collage, computer graphics and photography or a 2-5 minute
video with a testimonial, documentary or an animation related to any of
the topics of the support document.
Images should be in digital format, in color or black and white, between
800 KB to 5MB and in JPG or TIFF format. They should be saved as RGB
color mode (even if they are in black and white).
Send your campaign via email to cim@oas.org.
The campaign should include a Word document with the name of the
author, date of birth, name of the school/university, home phone, email,
and title of the campaign: Deleting Virtual Violence
Support document for creating your campaign
For the first time, the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention,
Punishment and Eradication of Violence, known as the Belém do Pará
Convention, establishes women's right to live free of violence. This
Inter-American treaty adopted in 1994 by 32 of the 34 OAS Member States
served as the basis for the design and adoption of laws and policies on
prevention, eradication and punishment of violence against women in the
States Party to the Convention, as well as the development of national
plans, campaigns and the implementation of protocols and care services,
among other initiatives. The Convention has made a significant
contribution to strengthening the Inter-American Human Rights System.
Through the Belém do Pará Convention, the States Party agreed
that violence against women:“…constitutes a violation of their human
rights and fundamental freedoms, and impairs or nullifies the
observance, enjoyment and exercise of such rights and freedoms”
How is violence against women defined?
In Article 1, the Convention defines violence against women as “…any act
or conduct, based on gender, which causes death or physical, sexual or
psychological harm or suffering to women, whether in the public or
the private sphere.”
Article 2 recognizes three types of violence:
1. Physical violence
2. Sexual violence
3. Psychological violence
The Convention also highlights three spheres where this violence
takes place:
1. In private life Violence that occurs within the family or domestic
unit or within any other interpersonal relationship, even when the
perpetrator no longer lives with the victim.
2. In public life Violence that is perpetrated by any person and occurs
in the community, in the workplace, in educational institutions,health
facilities or any other place; and
3. Violence that is perpetrated or condoned by the state or its agents regardless of where it occurs
Through the Belém do Pará Convention, States recognized that violence against women:
“…pervades every sector of society regardless of class, race or
ethnic group, income, culture, level of education, age or religion and
strikes at its very foundations”
Gender-based violence is a manifestation of inequality
between men and women. It is based on the superiority of one sex over
the other, of men over women.
We are all educated differently from childhood, which makes us behave
differently. This is called the "process of socialization," in which we
adopt different behaviors that meet the expectations placed on us as men
or women. This process takes from birth and, when unchallenged, lasts
throughout our lives. It extends to different spheres including family,
school and work.
Relationships can be diverse and complex. However, all relationships
have common practices, behaviors and gender roles, acquired in
childhood, which are learned and reinforced on a daily basis. Many of
these practices generate violence. Since we have learned and assimilated
these from childhood we tend not to consider them as forms of violence.
What do we mean by physical, psychological and sexual violence?
Physical violence: any action that may cause bodily injury, illness or risk of illness.
Psychological violence: any act that causes or is likely to cause
psychological harm. Any act that may undermine someone's self-confidence
and cause suffering such as degrading comments, insults, humiliation,
partner control, blaming your partner for everything that happens.
Sexual violence: forcing your partner to have sex against her will by abuse of power, authority or through deceit.
Violence can be measured
The "violence metre", a tool that allows for identifying partner
violence, shows that physical and psychological violence can be
disguised in a playful form. It also indicates that jealousy, threats,
constant phone calls, and prohibitions from partners regarding dressing,
which are mistakenly perceived as normal situations, ways of affection,
attention and love, are indicators of violence (see chart).
For more information, email us at cim@oas.org
© Copyright 2014 by thebahamasweekly.com
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