Évènements

Actualités

UNFPA scales up response after Iraq earthquake

calendar_today24 Novembre 2017

UNFPA is distributing essential hygiene supplies to women and girls displaced by the earthquake. Photo courtesy of Civil Development International
1
16 objets, 16 récits de violence
22 nov 2017

Photographies de 16 objets associés à des manifestations de violence vécues par des femmes qui nous offrent un aperçu de la brutale réalité d'un phénomène omniprésent où le non-dit règne en maître.

16 objets, 16 récits de violence
Violence against women is a global epidemic. It reaches every culture, community and country on earth.
From 25 November to 10 December, the world observes the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence. To mark the event, UNFPA has collected photos of 16 artefacts from real incidents of abuse. Together, these objects offer a peek into the unspoken but pervasive reality of violence.
© UNFPA Yemen
“That’s what’s left of my teeth after my husband beat me.”
Ameera* was only 13 years old when she was married to an abusive man in Yemen. (Names have been changed where indicated with an asterisk.) One day, because she was late waking him from a midday nap, he beat her with a broomstick, fracturing her nose and smashing her teeth. She now lives in a UNFPA-supported shelter, and keeps these tooth fragments as evidence for the courts.
© UNFPA Yemen
“I was slapped and dragged by my husband,” said Sonisay*, in Cambodia.
This is Sonisay’s footprint in the garden where she would flee to escape her husband’s violence. Globally, one in every three women experiences abuse of some kind – most often perpetrated by someone she knows.
© UNFPA Cambodia/Sophanara Penn
In Somalia, a circumciser shows the blades she uses to perform female genital mutilation (FGM).
Traditional practices like FGM and child marriage also inflict harm. This woman knows FGM is dangerous. “My daughter got sick soon after being cut,” she acknowledged. But she does not think things can change. More than 200 million women and girls alive have undergone FGM, which can cause bleeding, infection and even death.
© UNFPA/Georgina Goodwin
“He took me to his house, undressed me and forced me to sleep with him.”
In Zambia, 14-year-old Mirriam visited this counselling centre after being married off to a 78-year-old man. “It was so painful,” she said. “He told me that I had to do it because I was now his wife.” In the developing world, approximately one in four girls will be married as a child. Child marriages continue to take place in developed countries as well.
Photo by Young Women Christian Association of Zambia and UNFPA
Violence casts a long shadow over individuals and families.
Tatiana’s family in Ukraine was torn apart by her husband’s abuses. He is gone now, but she and her six children are still trying to rebuild in this small home. “The children – I live for them,” Tatiana said. “I don’t have a husband. Maybe someday I’ll have another one. But these children are here; they are permanent.”
© UNFPA Ukraine/Maks Levin
Gender-based violence can lead to chronic pain, trauma, disability or death.
Martha was treated with these first-aid supplies after her husband viciously beat her in Lusaka, Zambia. “Her face was badly swollen,” said a counsellor at the shelter she visited. “She had several cuts on her back. She said if she had not run away, he would have probably killed her.” Two thirds of domestic violence homicide victims are women and girls.
Photo by Young Women Christian Association of Zambia and UNFPA
“He pushed her onto the bed and began strangling her.”
Sexual violence can derail a woman’s life with terror, stigma, disease or pregnancy. In Jordan, a young woman sought medical care at this clinic after she was raped. She was relieved to learn she was not pregnant, “but she was still sad and in shock,” said Dr. Rania Elayyan, who treated her. Like many survivors, this woman chose to keep the attack a secret.
© UNFPA Jordan/Elspeth Dehnert
And violence takes many forms, including psychological torment.
In Bolivia, Carmen’s* boyfriend ridiculed her relentlessly, mocking her clothes and appearance. Eventually, she started hiding from him in the bathrooms at their university, including this one. “Those little things add up,” she said. “They affect your self-esteem and they change you.”
© UNFPA Bolivia/Focus
Economic deprivation is also a form of violence, one that pushes women and girls into desperation.
This judge in Nicaragua has issued a ruling against Sofia’s* father, who beat his wife and withheld financial support for Sofia. He cut Sofia off when she became pregnant at 14, well below the age of consent. "When I needed him most and I got pregnant when I was 14, he turned his back on me," Sofia said. "Now it's super difficult for me to keep up. It's hard for me to study." The judge ruled that her father must support her until she turns 21.
© UNFPA Nicaragua/Joaquín Zuñiga
“Our brothers imprisoned us in this dark room for 20 years – since we were children.”
In some horrific cases, women and girls are deprived of their freedom. From the time Balqees* was 9 years old, she and her sister were locked up in this room in Yemen. The brothers felt the girls would shame the family if they were seen in public. Eventually, the brothers abandoned them entirely, and neighbours had to break them out.
© UNFPA Yemen
And violence begets violence, carrying over into the next generation.
Six-year-old Omar*, in Morocco, broke this toy piano trying to protect his mother from his father’s abuse. His mother is afraid for her children’s welfare. “I want a better future for my kids; I don’t want to see them broken,” she said.
© UNFPA Morocco
“We risk our lives in the forest every day to collect wood for cooking.”
In humanitarian crises, women become targets. Zeinabu, 22, was attacked by Boko Haram fighters while collecting firewood outside her displacement camp in north-east Nigeria. Many women have been raped, kidnapped or killed while gathering wood. This is a bundle Zeinabu has collected.
© UNFPA Nigeria
In crisis settings, women are not only forced to seek food and shelter, they also struggle over where they can go and how they can dress to minimize threats.
Sexual violence has been rampant among Rohingya refugees fleeing the crisis in Myanmar. This mountain of donated clothes has accumulated outside a refugee camp in Bangladesh; women have rejected the items as not modest enough to deter unwanted attention.
© UNFPA Bangladesh/Veronica Pedrosa
Rawa’s* father used this rope to tie her to this bed before he raped her.
War can make women less safe even in their own homes. In Yemen – one of the biggest humanitarian catastrophes in the world – reports of gender-based violence have grown by over 60 per cent. Some of the increase is likely due to extreme stress, and some due to the breakdown of protection systems amid the chaos. And some stories, like this one, are simply incomprehensible.
© UNFPA Yemen
The problem will not be solved by women, activists, leaders or even laws. Men and boys must play a role.
Ry, in Cambodia, says he used to be violent towards his wife in this house. But then he joined the Good Men Campaign, an initiative to end gender-based violence. Today, he is determined to do better. “If I could go back to the past, I would have not argued with my wife. Instead, I would have loved and respected her more,” he said.
© UNFPA Cambodia/Sophanara Pen
And these stories must be brought from the shadows, to show the true scope of the problem and to light the way out.
In Belarus, a survivor of domestic violence draws this flower in an art therapy master class. The goal is for survivors to express and overcome their fears, and to grow from them. The theme of the class is “open to live.”
© UNFPA Belarus/Dina Ermolenko

Actualités

For most vulnerable Nigerian women, high rates of traumatic birth injury

calendar_today16 Novembre 2017

Women and girls are waiting for a fistula repair at Maiduguri’s State Specialist Hospital © Anne Wittenberg/UNFPA
1

Actualités

Trailblazing all-girl cricket tournament calls for bowling out child marriage

calendar_today14 Novembre 2017

Gudiya Chaudhary traveled 35 km to participate in the tournament, which was the first of its kind in the district. © UNFPA Nepal/Santosh Chhetri
1

Vidéo

Ending child marriage in Sierra Leone

calendar_today25 October 2017

Ending child marriage in Sierra Leone

Ending child marriage in Sierra Leone

UNFPA and UNICEF are jointly implementing the Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage. The Global Programme approach recognises that ending child marriage will involve addressing complex socio-cultural and structural factors which contribute to child marriage over an extended period.

Actualités

In Cambodia, push to end maternal deaths in remote areas

calendar_today08 Novembre 2017

Romam Pchuek reaches out to pregnant women in Ratanakiri, encouraging them to seek appropriate care. © UNFPA/ Matthew Taylor
1

Actualités

Gender inequality, lack of information fuel teen pregnancies in Timor-Leste

calendar_today23 Octobre 2017

Natalia dropped out of school after becoming pregnant. © UNFPA/Ruth Carr
1

Actualités

From child bride to beauty expert: one Jordanian woman’s story

calendar_today19 Octobre 2017

Child marriage rates are rising in Jordan, according to a recent report. © UNFPA Jordan/ Elspeth Dehnert
1

Actualités

Inégalité des genres : témoignages de cinq jeunes filles à travers le monde

calendar_today11 Octobre 2017

A quoi ressemble l’inégalité des genres ? Ces cinq jeunes filles peuvent vous le dire. Illustration de Bodil Jane pour l’UNFPA
1

Actualités

Fuite à l’aube : échapper au mariage d'enfants et aux MGF au Kenya

calendar_today06 Septembre 2017

Faith (au milieu), avec ses amies Sylvia (à droite) et Vivian. Elles se sont toutes enfuies pour échapper aux mutilations génitales féminines et au mariage. © UNFPA Kenya/Douglas Waudo
1