Some have called it the shadow pandemic violence against women and girls has increased during the coldest 1000. 00 outbreak so what should be done to protect the lives and ensure the safety in long term Recovery Plan this is inside story. Hello and welcome to this special edition of inside story in collaboration with the e. U. U. N. Spotlight initiative m 40 back to bowl it is one of the most persistent and widespread Human Rights Violations and it happens in every country around the world the abuse and exploitation of women and girls it comes in many forms including physical and Sexual Violence female genital mutilation and Child Marriage the long term effects on a severe on the survivors the families and communities violence against women and girls also signals progress towards gender Equality Sustainable Development peace and prosperity to confront the crisis to European Union and the United Nations joint forces 3 years ago to launch the spotlight initiative its goal is to end violence against women and achieve gender equality and womens empowerment the initiative is now being launched in africa in partnership with the African Union the a use commissioner for social affairs i mean if a deal says this program will help millions across the continent especially now during this Global Pandemic. This is why is the initiative in the partnership between the city organizations the spotlight initiative is building on their own doing African Union programs like their living issues Child Marriage also being a mission of feeling. In having the city even in this hema initiative for us it is but of our invitation of agenda when it is it is a city it is but overall it is far over our work to achieve that if we want well lets take a look at the numbers at least one in 3 women worldwide has experienced some form of physical or sexual abuse at one point in their life and this is even before the Global Pandemic began cases of Domestic Abuse have increased by more than 25 percent in some countries during lock down stopping many women at home with their abuses in france for example Domestic Violence has increased by 30 percent since march and higher rates of female genital mutilation and childs marriage have also been reported threatening to undo years of progress especially in africa violence by partner is one of the most common and widespread forms of gender based attacks in south africa a woman is murdered every 3 hours and more than 50 percent say that experience violence from their partner now the u. N. Secretary general antonio tara says decades of efforts to improve gender equality and womens rights are at risk brokenness last may take years even generations to recover you know from the have all of us. Leave school they will never return. They really are as if you know girls around the world are out of school and there are a lot of reports of an increase in teenage pregnancies in some countries each of these issues is a crisis we do look right there are also disturbing reports from one of the over skyrocketing levels of do the violence as many women are effectively confined to their abusers while resources and support services are very directed. In short the president is exposing and exacerbating because suitable hurdles women both in achieving their rights and the feeling there but theyre. Illegal or less ill bring in our guests for this special edition of inside story from the United Nations in new york i mean im mohammad deputy secretary general of the United Nations in brussels lane an European Union commissioner for International Partnerships and in capetown siac ali sea captain of the south African National rugby team and a United Nations global advocate a warm welcome to you all thank you so much for being with us on this special edition of inside story deputy secretary general Ameena Mohammed if i can start with you even before covert 1000 existed of violence against women and girls was an important human rights concern why and how has the pandemic made it worse and what is the United Nations doing to address this. Well i think 1st the shock for everyone is that while weve been trying to get to 0 on gender based violence that what covert has done has brought this shadow pandemic with people being locked at home not able to get to the support that they would normally have is has been huge and has been exacerbated by the lock down whats the u. N. Doing about it 1st recognizing it 2nd that the u. S. She has been able to have a call for peace at home to all leaders because this is a Global Pandemic and to have over 140 countries supported to come to the table to address this and to make sure it remains on the agenda it has been on and it doesnt need to fall off the agenda because we have covert we have to reinforce that and so what weve done is that that call has an additional response of course country by country to make sure Investments Continue to be made along the lines that they have been in trying to avoid gender based violence the issue of course i mean mohamed effects both developed and poor economies and when we talk about violence against women its not just Domestic Abuse it comes in many forms its Child Marriage female genital mutilation in Subsaharan Africa our femicide in latin america how is the spotlight initiative i mean a mohammed a different solution to the longstanding issues of gender based violence and what actions spotlight prioritising in the context of covert 90. Well i for think 1st of all the spotlight initiative this is in history the largest amount of resources 500000000. 00 euros that are coming towards us this hasnt happened before its unprecedented targeting in latin america in africa but also ensuring that the partnerships a strengthened with Civil Society with key players in the society in the communities so that we focus on prevention as much as we Pay Attention to the laws and we Pay Attention to the security that one needs to have around women and in shelters but much more about bringing on another generation the Younger Generation influences using the media that we have now to put a stop to it and to change mindsets and to find champions that will be alerted to this and fight for this cause in each situation as you said there are different responses from early Child Marriage to genital female genital mutilation and also the basic violence and sexual abuse and so we we have an opportunity now to scale up that response and to make it much more apparent commissioner juta the deputy secretary general dannatt talked there about the partnership so how does the European Union see its partnership with africa and the United Nations as critical to ending violence against women and girls and what will be the focus and priorities of the spotlight program in africa i think that the public 19 prizes have been like an x. Ray it has shown us the strength but also the uniqueness of our societies and of course unfortunately the crisis has also deepened the inequality of our world by hitting the most vulnerable the hardest and unfortunately most of them are women what we now try to do. Building the partnership with africa of course European Union adopted a new. The strategy african strategy just before the coverage hit in the beginning of march but what we now try to true through this spotlight initiative is that we are working at the 2 different stage the 1st one is as a minimum it was also referred to that we had really tried to influence to legislators and Decision Makers because we need different kind of laws in order to protect our women and girls so thats in a way to one level the other level is of course Grassroots Level we need to Work Together with the Civil Society organization in order to provide help the victims but also the race a very honest of ordinary citizens and especially women secondly see let me bring you into the conversation men are the main perpetrators of violence against women why was it important for you as a man as a black man even to be involved with the spotlight initiative why did you want to speak up on this issue of violence against women and girls. For me i think its from past experiences that we are grew up overseas seeing it happen in my own home with my with my mom and aunt going to an overseer on a community yes or you know you see so often that it starts becoming normal and end of the term was too young to do anything about it you know ours included 3 or 5 years old and now we know our country was a. Platform now now can make a difference so that this doesnt happen to any other woman or somebody elses. Parents or anything like that and come in and make sure that the people in our Community Around environmental grew up poor and you were wrong or that they get the education because if you see the violence you get in the education some of us so thats what im fighting for to make sure the kids educated at school or this polling field or when they can and so that when they go home and see this violence they know that this is not normal this is shouldnt be happening hopefully when they get older they can address that it was doing it in that its very important to involve men in the conversation a tele see a bit more about your experience i know its something thats not easy to share and talk about growing up in an environment where your own mother was experiencing abuse how does one hear from that can you actually hear from it. To be honest luck for for me our oldest inhabitant mean so personally to me. But now can realize that its actually. Its critically important something that i have to do from somewhere and to be speaking to someone about it to make sure. I can also under him a lot of those things and know the past month or week. And and i think for talking to the people that are really doing it i think some of them are a lot of little interest and so much so what is the operative term was in writing it affected me in a way and all fully you know people can or no knowledge that and influences them and we should be fighting for the education we should be fighting for people talking to us and even we need him from a come serval talking about scroope strong woman so we can give our noble cause to go on and be much a woman that dont grow moral comes of those of us. Here i mean a mohammed see a makes a really important point then that is involving men in the conversation and in this fight to end violence against women and girls you talked earlier about the mindset changing the mindsets how do we you know how do we do that when the very often in many cultures are so many cultural norms and traditions that are deeply entrenched in our societies how do we change the mindsets while also taking into account culture tradition and religion in many cases. Well i think i mean serious just some very important things that you come up in a in an environment where this becomes the norm and it shouldnt be a norm and we have to learn that i think in every society this will start with the family and the community and there are players in those communities fathers mothers traditional rulers religious leaders and they all have to be part of this conversation and we really have to go back to basics of doing no harm and that it is absolutely wrong to raise a hand against a woman you must find a better way of having to resolve whatever the issues are that you take up so i think the 1st thing is the conversation the conversation has to be that we have this dialogue together we speak together and that we dont become defensive about it and we dont fight about it but we bring a realisation to the community that this also builds a society that will never hold together if it is based on the foundation of women being beaten so i think the 1st step is for all those key players in a family in a community in a society to begin to have these conversations to say this is not right it must stop and then and learn for those that have gone quite far and to know what it is that exacerbates sometimes some of these tensions where men dont know how to respond if they if they if they take to drinking or they dont have a job or that i mean theres always a reason morning excuse i would say that a man will give for what he does and to find you know other ways of directing those those tensions in society commissionaire or plain and what are your thoughts on this how do you see the culture versus rights debate playing out in relation to violence against women and girls. I would say that if you think about as if you were referring to figures in the beginning in in your introduction if you think that 1300000000 women face weiland globally so its a really global problem but its also a problem which is present in all our societies so i would said at least from my perspective i see that especially the dahmus the violence is still a kind of pablo in our society and i think what we need to do is that we really need to discuss about this also in public more that what we have done before and i think this is also the one of the angels are in our spotlight initiative really we tried to raise awareness we tried to discuss about this topic in public and we tried to reach out to ordinary citizens in order to give them more information and in a way break this puzzle and i think this is one of the main goals of the issue of violence against Women Commission is of course an important part of the movement for gender equality what is your understanding of the extent of Domestic Violence across against women across Greater Europe since the start of the Coronavirus Crisis and to what extent do you think the pandemic is having a regressive effect on gender equality and the gains made in many European Countries when it comes to gender equality over the last few decades. I would say that unfortunately are under these crises or during this pandemic there has been a huge rise especially in the dumbest violence worldwide but also in europe the country i know best of my my own home country finland unfortunately even though finland is very good i would say that there is a well 1st asyut in finland but unfortunately dont mistake while it is a huge and big problem also in finland i think that you know what we need to do is that we really need to educate also our young girls and our pupils about their rights i think this is this is the one of the most important things you know young girls when they go to education when they go to school they also get the information about their rights about their rights for their body about their rights for their values about a right or they opinion but also i have to say that we have done a lot especially European Union provided this kind of Team Europe Package with 36000000000 euros in order to help our part of countries to fight for with hunting prices c. A you talked about educating men and i want you to tell me a bit more about that i mean in the sports field in locker room sexist language it is everywhere and it all adds up does mean how do you deal with it and now that youre an advocate of the spotlight initiative how are you as an athlete changing the conversation changing the negative social norms that perpetuate violence against women and girls. I think its the nothing political thing for me that people is actually before you claim you know the conversation you have in you know this small teams work is mind is what will thing you truly control or whos coming of age in this to come out of. Seeing each other as equal those are most important thing and especially not i think is a liberal tradition and culture thats also another important thing way in a month cause you feel like the go not only kitchen and thats something that im trying to change is war d 2 chainz called the cause great because people only see other drug people as was rendered with this all common or you know do all the physical problems though to change it but dont show no muscle in a platform that i can clean a can cook a can do everything you know around the house ration out because he was important was mentally just saying is this people just going to pick up some of major money and you know when we just buy full of. Arms of whom are kids around the house can be warm across the way when i need to and i also cannot go around the house and do all those countrymen so that you know men and women i can do the same amount with this stuff because. My wife move is not and shes got it from the army so we will get equally and the kids can see that. Thats commendable thank you say after doing all that you do. I mean a mohamed another disturbing trend in many cases of Domestic AbuseSexual Assault and rape against women is a tendency to blame the victim of the crime rather than the perpetrator and women are told to change their behavior in order to avoid being assaulted how how do we change that transform the victim blaming culture. So incredibly cowardly way of responding to what is a crime against another human being and so i think the 1st thing is to change that around the social behavior the behavioral change that needs to go on the unconscious bias the lack of value for a human being and a woman in society and to give that value for her as a mother as a homemaker as a professional as an equal in building that society that home and what we stand for so i think you know that victim. Blame mentality we have to push back against and again it goes back to education and that we have to have that dialogue and very Uncomfortable Conversations ive seen many social media engagement where it becomes you against us but i think we have to push back against that and say this is about we as a community and as a society the that is that will never attain its potentials if it continues to oppress 50 percent of its being and so you know a lot of investment needs to be done in that we need to have champions we need to have leaders as i said at every level who really speak to this and say no thats not the way were going to handle this issue which is which is again as we say today is another shadow pandemic it has to stop we have to push back against it there is absolutely no rick no reason why there should be gender based violence in our communities on the truth and so lets let and lets look at the solutions how do we respond to this rise in violence against women and girls when institutions and organizations today are already under huge strain from the demands of the coronavirus pandemic and the response to it how do we ensure that gender equality is at the center of the response. Well i think 1st of all we have to be investing in these programs the 1st thing is not to take the resources away because we have to deal with covert but to say that in order to recover better we need to reinforce and scale up these resources and so in all the expenditures that we see today in our stimulus packages we must reinforce expenditure the puts women in a place of equality and that pushes back against gender based violence and works a lot more on the prevention as well as it does to address existing exacerbation of it because of covert laws that are being passed right now the spotlight initiative has seen in a number of countries a number of laws of the past but i always say that its not just the law to protect the woman but in fact there should be a law there that when you perpetrate violence against women in the house you the man should be removed from the house when you leave the woman safe in her home i think we have to turn the narrative. In terms of you know the victim blaming the victim and the laws also have to be implemented because the laws exist but in very in a lot of cases in a number of countries and not really being implemented commissioner or plain and if i can just ask you for your final word the perception of violence against women has changed considerably of course in the last 50 years weve had the me too movement in the last few years which has drawn attention to the problem of Sexual Assault again when against women it was thought that this need to movement would be a turning point but its taking time some will say is taking too long are you up so messed up to mistake that will see change very soon and in the decades ahead. Im optimistic im definitely optimistic and if we only look at the spotlight initiative its already up and running in 25 Different Countries at the moment and also in africa 8 Different Countries already so i think that those spotlight initiative is one important and very strong tool in order to to fight against violence against women of course we need some other tools as well but i would say that the the key players in this fight are political politicians and Decision Makers and let it later so i think thats why we also need to put pressure towards them and also activate them to be part of this ok in capetown ill give you the last word as youve said a voice a witness of violence for far more likely to grow up to commit violence themselves so what is your message to young boys today iran the world in your country south africa you know who may be experiencing what you have how do they grow up not to repeat the same experience. I think or hope people like me in that position but you know who was using the this quote and shit it was always too far it looked like the commissioners and reagan to fall foliage occasion for us as government in our society is totally brutal with not only our own well in school all to our members we would need to be told that most could come to spread more so good or so we are all we all know that this is not that we were supposed to not think we need a whole lot moment using repo 24 because this is not a womans goal or we are the problem it was we all d want to be below who will want to do this given so those of us who know to try as many many schools as possible thank you so much see i think you at all of you for this very important and interesting and insightful conversation i mean a Mohammed Deputy secretary general of the United Nations. And also commissioner you tattle plane and joining us there from brussels thank you all for taking part and thank you to the e. U. U. N. Spotlight initiative for collaborating with us on this special edition of inside story thank you too for watching you can watch a program again any time by visiting our website at aljazeera dot com for further discussion go to our Facebook Page at facebook dot com for slash a. J. Inside story you can of course also join the conversation on twitter the handle is at inside story and im not fully back from me in a hotel here in doha thank you very much for watching i found a. d they start his drinks contain. d and usually end up. In a nuisance but for a select few old Bottle Service the Building Blocks of a better life. d and the stepping stones to owning a family. Do you find a lot in america is in bolivia and delves into the wild. Understand the differences and similarities of cultures across the. Valley take it well bring you the news and Current Affairs that matter to you. Im about to send in doha the top stories on. The United Arab Emirates and baccarin have both signed u. S. 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