The costs of gender-based violence are not only on an individual and family level but impact all aspects of society and economic life
Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and the start of a further 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence around the globe and in Nepal. During this period, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency,UNFPA, together with our partners, works to highlight the negative impacts of gender-based violence on our societies, families, and especially on women and girls.
As an integral part of our mandate, combating violence against women is a key pillar of our work in Nepal. Prevention and response remain central to our approach of working with government, partners and civil society to build sustainable and critical services with skilled human resources that are anchored in community relationships to ensure when women and girls are exposed to gender-based violence there is an effective response and a pathway away from such forms of violence.
It is this kind of essential critical infrastructure and especially the work of the one-stop crisis management centres that I want to highlight. Because while we aim for zero gender-based violence by 2030, it remains at levels that are concerning. In Nepal, these levels are high, and around one in five women, or 23.8 per cent, in Nepal experience physical or sexual violence during their lifetime. The most common perpetrator is a current husband or intimate partner, responsible in more than 80 per cent of cases according to the demographic health survey.
Such levels of violence are supported by widespread attitudes of acceptance, including 29.5 per cent of women who believe that a wife's beating is justified, when clearly it could never be justified in any form. 72 per cent of women that experience violence also do not seek assistance, leaving them extremely vulnerable to harm. The costs of this form of violence are not only on an individual and family level but impact all aspects of society and economic life. Some estimate that it can cost up to 3.7 per cent of gross domestic product.
Critical infrastructure has the power to change this situation, and until we reach our zero target, provide a key safety net for survivors of gender-based violence. On the frontlines of this response are one-stop crisis management centres that were only introduced a decade ago and, from a modest number of seven, have scaled up to 92 operational sites today, serving over 12,000 survivors annually. They are a proven, successful and effective response to incidents of gender-based violence.
These crisis management centres are crucial because they work within an increasingly integrated system of outreach and response. Survivors can access a wide range of services by stepping into the safe space provided for by the crisis centres that have trained staff equipped with counselling and assessment skills. This leads to survivors accessing the kinds of support they seek in a timely manner, whether that be family counselling, referrals to shelters or safe houses, or law enforcement agencies.
Not only are the crisis management centres the first stage in a process of response, they are central to a matrix of other support services and policymakers. This includes a corps of female community psychosocial workers that play a roving role in their communities focusing on vulnerable families promoting prevention and responses, policymakers at local levels that meet on a regular basis to help shape responses, and safe houses and shelters supported by the voluntary sector and government.
The services provided are being increasingly recognised, too. There is an incremental increase in the contributions made by local and federal government to support the one-stop crisis centres that reflects stronger national ownership and increased commitment to combat gender-based violence in Nepal at policymaking and leadership levels. This means key services such as psychosocial support and referrals are now becoming integrated into the service delivery structures that are crucial for the cross-cutting nature of the responses to gender-based violence.
This growing support of national responses is even further strengthened this month during a review in Kathmandu that included a broad range of federal and local government, professional support providers and security sector leadership. This was an opportunity to assess the track record of the one-stop-management centre model after a decade of lessons learnt. One of the key conclusions of this conference was a commitment to promote and strengthen multi-level coordination and sustainable financing for the future of crisis centres to ensure survivors-centred support.
Progress in combating gender-based violence is always going to be complex. Breaking generational attitudes and negative social behaviour in a rapidly changing social and economic landscape is challenging. However, with strong commitment from the government at all levels and coordinated joint efforts of all agencies and stakeholders to address this problem, there is a strong foundation for action.
While challenges remain, it is clear that in the one-stop crisis management centres, Nepal has developed a model that successfully can provide responses for gender-based violence survivors. The challenge now is to ensure universal availability of these services across Nepal.
It is crucial to ensure pathways for survivors employing a survivor-centred approach devised in the one-stop crisis management centres are available to all and integrated into the overall service provision and sexual and reproductive health and rights environment. This outcome, together with the strengthening of the resources for services and raising levels of awareness to reduce negative social behaviours and target the root causes of gender-based violence, will be key to building on the success of the one-stop crisis management centre model.
Hong is Representative UNFPA Nepal