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Activities and instruments
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Combating violence against women
Violence against women is one of the most widespread human rights violation. Across the world, six out of ten women will experience physical or sexual violence at some point during their life.
Domestic violence
In the majority of cases it is men who commit domestic violence; women and girls are the victims. Each year thousands of women are maltreated or killed by the men they spurn. According to the UN Population Report, in the year 2000 alone there were some 5,000 honour killings of women and girls in at least 14 countries. The number of unreported cases is considerably higher since only few cases are ever prosecuted. German development cooperation helps to support women in getting to know their rights and learning to assert them.
Women in armed conflicts
Mass rape and violence against women are increasingly being used as weapons of war. According to estimates by the UN Human Rights Council, for instance, some 100,000 women were raped in the Democratic Republic of Congo alone in 2008; 94 per cent of women refugees experienced sexual violence during the war in Sierra Leone.
Germany is committed at international level to implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1820, which defines sexual violence as a war crime. Germany is committed at national and international level (International Criminal Court) to ensuring that those who commit such crimes also face prosecution.
Germany supports measures in partner countries that help to prevent violence against women. To that end the specific concerns of women are incorporated more into development cooperation measures during and after conflicts. German development cooperation also supports psychological and medical help for the victims of sexual violence, for example in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Close cooperation with civil society organisations and women’s groups is essential in this difficult area.
Trafficking in women, forced and child prostitution
An important priority area of action in international development cooperation is combating trafficking in women, and forced and child prostitution. In cooperation with the international community, the German government supports preventive measures, victim and witness protection schemes, and victim rehabilitation measures in this field.
That includes prosecuting Germans who sexually abuse children abroad once they return to Germany.
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