National Pact Signed to Eradicate Gender Violence

National Pact Signed to Eradicate Gender Violence
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic  2/18/2012

The signing of this document reaffirms the commitment to eradicate all forms of violence against women and girls.

“I am calling on all of you to attack a problem which is difficult to eradicate, one which depends on a complete change of paradigm within male-female relationships and which calls for a sustained effort in educating and raising awareness among the population, beginning at a young age, within each family,”

First Lady, Margarita Cedeño de Fernández, and members of other sectors of Dominican society signed the National Pact to Eradicate Gender Violence against Women, with which they seek to unite efforts to sensitize society in a concerted effort to eliminate gender violence.

In her speech, the First Lady explained that fulfilling this mission in service to others and raising social awareness were the main motivations for organizing the National Pact to Eradicate Gender Violence against Women, through which all involved sectors are uniting to put an end to this problem that has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of women and even more innocent children left orphaned.

“I am calling on all of you to attack a problem which is difficult to eradicate, one which depends on a complete change of paradigm within male-female relationships and which calls for a sustained effort in educating and raising awareness among the population, beginning at a young age, within each family,” stressed Cedeño de Fernández.

She thanked all sectors who signed the pact and congratulated each one of the institutions present, for the work they are doing in favor of the country’s most vulnerable sectors. “Our efforts are not in vain. We will continue sowing hope.”

Margarita Cedeño pledged to present a Draft Bill of the Organic Law for the Prevention, Attention, Sanction and Eradication of Violence against Women, elaborated by various institutions, to President Leonel Fernández for his swift approval in the National Congress.

The document was signed by representatives of the judicial (judges and prosecutors), military and law enforcement sectors as well as legislators, NGOs, churches, politicians, universities, syndicates, media and public officials, among others who have all committed to undertake a series of actions to eliminate gender violence in the Dominican Republic.

Among the commitments taken on by these entities is to reaffirm the obligation of each state and province to guarantee the human rights of women and girls through the adoption of all measures necessary to assure the full force of the law, to broaden and improve the legal framework for the prevention, attention, sanction and control of all forms of violence against women and girls.

Signatories also committed to developing educational programs, for families, with material about gender equality, attitudes and positive practices with respect to women’s and girls’ rights.

Likewise, they assumed the commitment of educating and raising awareness about prevention of violence against women and girls including the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICTs) to prevent and denounce violence and promote a positive and respectful image of women in the nation’s media.

They will also develop programs for the children and adolescents of female victims of intra-family violence, focusing on the children’s recuperation through psychological attention and social-domestic support.

They will also develop programs for the children and adolescents of female victims of intra-family violence, focusing on the children’s recuperation through psychological attention and social-domestic support.

Other commitments include the strengthening of participatory democracy and the equal, pluralistic and multicultural inclusion of women thereby guaranteeing and stimulating their participation in decision-making and defining public policies. In addition to facilitating women’s role and function in social and economic areas, they seek to adopt measures and strategies to insert women into the decision-making, opinion-forming and participation of information and communication areas.

This pact also seeks to strengthen the mechanisms which will lead to denouncing and reporting domestic abuse crimes and making the legal system accessible, easy, efficient and adequate for all women, girls and adolescents stuck in a spiral of violence. It will establish public policies of gender equality that will be sustainable, continuous and mainly focused on education, empowerment and the insertion of women into the labor force.

The pact, signed in the Las Cariátides Hall at the Presidential Palace, was initially brought about as a result of the concern among various sectors of society that, in the 21st century, there are still people who think of women and children as personal property who can be mistreated in a variety of ways such as femicide, abuse, sexual aggression and violence within relationships and other forms of aggression.

Signatories and supporters of this National Pact have taken into account the vulnerability of women and girls with mental and physical disabilities, child labor, exploitation, slavery and servitude, forced prostitution, child pornography, mistreatment especially of women and their children at the hands of spouses, partners, boyfriends or ex-husbands and ex-partners.