Working together to fight VAW

Peace and order and criminality are considered major issues in this year’s presidential campaign. The current leader of the pack, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, seems to be riding on the wave of people’s fears and frustration with his “fearless” declaration that all he needs is six months to wipe out criminality and violence—and if he fails, he will step down from office.

But there are serious doubts about Duterte’s capability—if not will—to bring an end to criminality. This, given his track record and candid statements regarding the rights of women. If I’m not mistaken, violence against women and children is one of the most common forms of criminality here, so common that stories about the beating, rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment of women and children no longer carry the same shock value as they did before. The impression, in fact, is that since the passage of laws against domestic violence and sexual harassment, as well as the broadening and strengthening of the law against rape, the problem has been, well, “solved.”

We all know, though, that violence against women and children (VAWC) continues unabated, and that public attitudes and bureaucratic snags continue to hamper the work of government and private agencies.

So it’s fortunate that recently a multisectoral partnership among the private sector, nongovernment organizations, and government agencies was launched here.

The partnership, called the Justice Institute on Gender-based Violence in the Philippines, is meant to coordinate the efforts of agencies working on the issue and provide training for everyone involved in the effort. It has been described as “an innovative and interactive multidisciplinary training and technical assistance collaboration that brings together judges, court officers, public prosecutors, police officers, representatives of government agencies and nongovernment service providers.”

It is a collaboration among Avon, Vital Voices and Action against Violence and Exploitation (Active), a local foundation led by Cristina Sevilla, with funding provided by the Avon Foundation for Women.

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The Justice Institute was launched in the country earlier this week, with no less than Avon CEO Sheri McCoy, US Ambassador Philip Goldberg, Christine Jaworsky, program director of the “Speak Out against Domestic Violence” of the Avon Foundation, and TV actor Richard Yap, spokesperson of the local antidomestic violence campaign, doing the honors.

Cindy Dyer, vice president for human rights of the Vital Voices Global Partnership, explained that the Justice Institute is present in nearly 50 countries around the world. Regardless of the state of democracy in a country, and whether legislation punishing violence against women has been formalized, Dyer said they establish a program only in countries “where people want us to come.”

And though she was leery of identifying “successful” or “unsuccessful” countries, Dyer noted that reporting and filing violence cases are less successful where “private prosecutors are expected to handle the cases” instead of public or government prosecutors.

The training, said Dyer, varies from country to country. And while using mainly case studies, “these are based on actual cases,” a finding validated by the reactions of lawyers, prosecutors, judges and even survivors who proclaim that the cases reminded them of events that took place in real life.

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Avon’s efforts to combat all forms of violence against women in the Philippines is rooted in the support and advocacy of thousands of Filipinos who have contributed to the campaign since 2009 through the “Speak Out against Domestic Violence” fund-raising efforts. The money raised goes to the maintenance of the hotlines of dedicated NGO partners—the Women’s Crisis Center in Manila, Gender Watch against Violence and Exploitation in Dumaguete, Ing Makababaying Aksyon Foundation in Pampanga, and Luna Legal Resource Center for Women and Children in Davao.

And certainly adding cachet to the campaign is the involvement of Yap, who has been Avon’s “brand ambassador” for the anti-VAW campaign for two years now. As a husband and father, Yap said, “the cause is close to my heart,” believing that he represents “an important perspective on domestic violence which I hope to influence others to adopt as well.”

Together, men and women, and all who hope to use the law and a change in public attitudes to address the problem, can bring an end to a world where power is wielded against the weak and create instead a world free of fear and violence.

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Another aspect of women empowerment is economic independence, certainly a factor in establishing not just their economic capacity, but also their confidence in themselves and in their future.

Launched in 2011, the Coca-Cola STAR Program involves some 52,000 women micro-entrepreneurs in 47 cities and provinces across the country. It is expected that some 200,000 women will have been reached by 2020.

“The impact of helping women achieve economic empowerment will be far and wide,” said Adel Tamano, vice president for public affairs and communications of Coca-Cola Philippines. “Women are most likely to invest their earnings back to the growth of their families,” he added, “especially children, which paves the way for a better future generation.”

The Coca-Cola STAR Program is part of a global initiative empowering some five million women throughout the “value chain”: from fruit and sugarcane farmers, distributors, retailers and recyclers, who are involved in the sourcing, manufacturing, distribution, selling and repurposing of Coca-Cola products.