197th Dialogue : “Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: A Glossary from A to Z”: in the wake of decades of struggle against anti-women violence

197th Dialogue

“Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: A Glossary from A to Z”: in the wake of decades of struggle against anti-women violence

A report on the conference launching Words Matter Campaign: 61 words, 61 days to combat sexual and gender-based violence, marking International Women’s Rights Day 2021

OPEN ASIA|Armanshahr, 40Braids and the Observatory of Women for Justice in Transition (#ObservatoryWJT), in collaboration with Alternative links, supported by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), organised the conference launching ‘Words Matter Campaign: 61 words, 61 days to combat sexual and gender-based violence’ on 7 March 2021, with experts from Afghanistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and the Kurdistan Region.

Guissou Jahangiri, FIDH vice president and executive director of OPEN ASIA|Armanshahr, moderator of the online conference, opened it with remarks about the rising rate of violence against women and gender inequalities during COVID-19 pandemic. She pointed out that 35 countries, including the US, Brazil, Egypt and Hungary, opposed the right to abortion last winter in Geneva on the pretext of saving human life and the well-being of women.

She went on: “We are worried about the rise of populist conservatives, who occasionally speak the language of fascists, are in alliance with extremist religious forces on all continents, and are backed by patriarchal structures in many countries. They are targeting human rights and women’s rights in particular. Military occupation, war and crisis ratchet up sexual and gender-based violence including rape that claim victims of rape among women as well as men, gang rape, sexual slavery, genital mutilation and other atrocities.”

Khalil Rostamkhani, writer, researcher, human rights defender and translator of “Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: A Glossary from A to Z” into Persian, was the next speaker who said the Campaign was based on the glossary and would begin on 8 March by Armanshahr Foundation. He then said: “words precede and develop into sexual and physical violence. Genocides were preceded with lingual violence.” He then pointed out a number of sexualised words men use.

Underlining the significance of the glossary of 61 words, he said, “to combat lingual violence, which is the prelude to sexual and gender-based violence, suppression and even massacre, we must first know the precise meanings of these important words and their various dimensions.” He then pointed out to several of the words in the glossary.

Dr. Azadeh Kian, Professor of Sociology at the University of Paris and director of the Centre for teaching, documents and research in women’s studies (CEDREF), asserted: different types of violence on different domestic, national and international levels enhance one another. They are the outcome of unequal relations of power and social inequalities between the various genders, classes, races and nationalities. She then spoke about sexual slavery, forced prostitution and raping of women in particular in wars: rape is used as a weapon of war and makes women’s bodies into a battle area, because women are considered symbols of ethnic, national and religious identities. Therefore, raping women is considered the same as aggression on those entities. Men are also raped in war, but this kind of rape is not publicized as much as rape of women, because men do not bear children of a land or a nation. It is not true that women are intrinsically peaceful and men warmongers. Both groups are capable of committing violence against others, for example women in Rwanda and women who joined ISIS.

Ms. Kian went on: when a French man commits violence in France, he is said to suffer from mental disorder. But, when a foreigner and in particular a person of colour commits such violence, their violence is blamed on the cultural and religious issues attributed to their ethnic, religious or racial group. It has been said that violence does not occur against women in a country where there is not war. That’s not true. In France, with progressive laws, on average 140 women are killed by their husbands per year; more than 50,000 rapes are committed every year.

Mubarak Sharif, sociologist and analyst of social and political affairs from Tajikistan and a founder of OPEN ASIA in that country, spoke about the first national study on violence against women in post-Soviet Tajikistan in late 1990s. More than 2000 women with different ethnic, lingual and economic backgrounds took part in the study. The study resulted in legislation of protective laws and the law on prohibition of violence against women. This was a new development in post-Soviet countries. One of the significant outcomes of the study was the arrival of certain terms into the public language, including words concerning violence and violence against women, self-immolation, rape in marriage, forced marriage, underage marriage and so on.

Words concerning rights of women and children are improperly used in Tajikistan, because people speak Tajiki Persian and Russian, but the Persian script changed to Latin and then Cyrillic. As a result, people gradually became illiterate. Rural people, in particular women, are incapable of explaining the issues in courts or other places. This glossary is a proper tool for activists of civil society, women’s rights, lawyers and victims.

Adeleh Mohseni, a jurist and women’s rights activists in Afghanistan, said: the numerous Arabic terms and idioms in Afghanistan’s laws are a real problem for the general public. The Islamic origin of the laws mean that very few Persian words are used for dealing with defendants and in courts. Topics of sexual and gender-based violence are new in our language. In the past, fathers and husbands felt to be righteous in every case of violence and even killing of women and children, because they were owners of the blood. Even families of victims occasionally felt ashamed, because they thought that their daughter had committed a sin. Today, however, violence against women or honour killings are not private issues. Another major issue is rape of women in war, kidnapping and smuggling women in particular to the Arab states of the Persian Gulf.

Judge Marzia Babah Karkhil, a former president of civil court and public court in Afghanistan, said: the compiling and translation of the glossary on sexual and gender-based violence is a great step in the fight against violence. Pointing out the gender inequalities in civil and penal laws of Afghanistan, she went on: the laws are so discriminatory and unjust that I occasionally thought we have two sets of laws. Official violence always existed in the laws. New words and concepts such as gender, domestic violence, abuse and others have entered the language from English. But, in addition to translating these words, we need to know the exact interpretation of the words.

Shazada Samarqandi, a journalist and novelist from Uzbekistan, said: the problem of women in Uzbekistan, in particular the Tajik Persian-speaking women is that the language was Russian in Soviet times and it is Uzbek now. Women who are brave enough to go to court do not have access to the appropriate language to tell their problems. Even Tajiks are unable to read the texts produced in Iran and Afghanistan. She said that it was useful for women to learn from the experience and achievements of other women in Iran and Afghanistan. 8 March was a day to combat inequality and seek equal rights for Russians in Soviet times. But, for non-Russians in central Asia, the concept had been kept away from the people and it was celebrated as the Mother’s day.

Avin Mostafazadeh, a Kurdish women’s rights activist resident of the Kurdistan Region, spoke about violence against women in Kurdistan on both sides of the Iran-Iraq border. She stressed that being a member of religious and ethnic minorities is a significant factor. Rate of violence against women, including honour killings, self-immolation and suicide, is twice in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in comparison with Kurdistan in Iran, even though the local government is democratic and there are progressive laws.

Tariq Saeedi, a professor of Herat University and a women’s rights activist, spoke about words, their meanings and their inter-lingual correlation. On the glossary of sexual and gender-based violence, he said: one of its good features is that it provides interpretations and does not suffice to synonyms and antonyms. A number of words entered our vocabulary after 2001. However, these words had not been produced domestically and there might have been a backlash against them. Some people do not feel comfortable with such terms as women’s rights and human rights. Under such circumstances, one positive aspect of this glossary is also the providing of their relationships to other words and concepts. This establishes a connection with the reality of women’s conditions and makes it possible to use them within the patriarchal culture in Afghanistan. One of other significant point is that it helps with domestication of the words.

Parastou Forouhar, artist, writer and human rights activist, was the last speaker who focused on quest for justice and censorship against women. Concerning the significance of words and language, she said: as a consequence of migration, which forced me to live and think in two languages, I have been more living between two types of communication. As a result, one pays more attention to precision in language and the conceptual, social and historical connotation of the words. The words compiled in this glossary constitute a very valuable work, because we will have problems in our endeavours, so long as concepts are not domesticated and expressed precisely. For example, in the field I’m active in, which is mainly concerned with judicial pursuit of political murders in Iran, seeking justice is a modern concept. It is mainly concerned with some kind of social enlightenment and avoidance from violence. This glossary is a valuable work, in which great attention has been paid to words.

Concerning censorship against women in Iran, she said: the basic problem we are facing is the backwardness of the laws. Regardless of how much they endeavour, Iranians women have been unable to overcome the structural oppression and the discriminatory laws, which restrict women in the society. Even though, the societal understanding is by far ahead of the social and political laws and structures. In order to enhance women’s endeavours, it is important to be armed with proper words. It will bring a positive impact if we can advance these words within a framework of universal human rights.