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CAUCASUS 16 DAYS 2002: BULLETIN #2 WHO
launch GLOBAL CAMPAIGN FOR VIOLENCE PREVENTION and release FIRST
GLOBAL REPORT ON VIOLENCE AND HEALTH
Dear Colleagues I
am delighted to inform
you that this year the CAUCASUS 16 DAYS, now one of the world’s
largest collaborative efforts to end violence against women, has
also joined the recently launched WHO Global
Campaign for Violence Prevention.
This
new campaign seeks to ‘raise awareness about violence as a
major public health problem, including raising awareness of the
impact of violence on public health and the role that public
health can play in the prevention of violence; and advocate for
increased human and financial resources for violence prevention at
local, national, and international levels.’ The
World Health Organization (WHO), based in Geneva, recently
released The World Report on Violence and Health,
the first comprehensive report of its kind discussing the epidemic
of global violence as a health issue.
The World Report on Violence is unique in that it presents
the issue of global violence as a public health concern,
spotlighting the public health community in regard to their
curative and preventive approaches to dealing with global
violence. This
important and comprehensive new report by WHO discusses various
forms of violence, their causes, and recommends possible solutions
and courses of action to the international community.
The
types of violence discussed within the report range from war and
conflict to youth violence, child abuse, elderly abuse, sexual
violence, and suicide: topics that are often overlooked and
underreported. One
key benefit of the WHO report is it sheds light on those types of
violence that occur out of the public eye such as domestic
violence. These types
of violence constitute the majority of violent acts yet are the
least reported due to the culture of silence and secrecy. Dr
Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of WHO states: "The
report challenges us in many respects. It forces us to reach
beyond our notions of what is acceptable and comfortable - to
challenge notions that acts of violence are simply matters of
family privacy, individual choice, or inevitable facets of life."
"Violence is a complex problem related to patterns of
thought and behaviour that are shaped by a multitude of forces
within our families and communities, forces that can also
transcend national borders.”
A
CAUCASUS 16 DAYS press release on the WHO World Report is included
with this Bulletin. Further
details of the WHO report can be found on the official WHO
website: http://www5.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/ The
next Bulletin will provide further information about the Country
Presentations of the WHO Global Report. Best wishes, Pida Ripley, Founder WomenAid International For further information contact the Caucasus
16 Days Focal Point: WomenAid International-Caucasus: 17 Khvichia
St. Tbilisi 380060 Georgia Tel/Fax: (995 32) 37 92 70 Email: waigeo@access.sanet.ge |
