On June 1, I attended a lecture held to commemorate the foundation of Ferris University in Yokohama city. The speaker was Irene Khan, the Secretary General of Amnesty International. She is, in fact, the first female, first Asian, and first Muslim representative of the largest human rights organization in the world. She had previously worked for the Office of the United Nation's High Commissioner for Refugees. After taking up the leadership of AI in August, 2001, she was immediately confronted with the terrorist attacks of September 11. Working in troubled times following the attacks, she has grappled with many human rights issues and has developed the role of AI by expanding its work across many diverse fields. At this particular lecture, Secretary General Khan spoke of her own personal experiences in relation to Amnesty International's "Stop Violence Against Women" campaign.
According to a survey in 2002, one out of five women throughout the world are being subjected to some form of violence. Khan emphasized that violent acts against women do not happen in some distant land; these acts happen very close to home and we may even find ourselves personally involved in such problems one day. She argued that violence against women stems from three factors - inequality between the sexes, legal immunity, and the ignorance of people regarding these issues.
With regard to the first problem of gender inequality, she pointed out that there are countries in the world which do not even grant women the right to vote, and in which women are not protected by the legal or bureaucratic systems. Moreover, there are cultures which regard women as subordinate creatures according to social custom or tradition.
Khan explained that the second problem of legal immunity is related to this problem of gender inequality. Even if a woman is subjected to violence, the attacker may not be liable for punishment. A man who commits violence against a female partner in his own home is hardly ever punished. If the victimized woman were to take the problem to a court, she is unlikely to be given a fair hearing and may even be subjected to cross-examination as though she were the one at fault. Such incidents occur in everyday life, but in conflict-stricken areas the problems occurs on a much larger scale. In times of conflict, women are often raped by soldiers, and at times this can even be a part of military strategy. In such cases, it is rare for the perpetrators to be punished, especially not by the soldiers' superiors who ordered the acts as part of their military campaign and in fact are encouraging violence against women.
The third problem, the ignorance and lack of awareness of the general public regarding these issues, is where Khan believes the solution to the problem lies. Until recently, it has been women who have been fighting to protect other women against violence. They have broken the social taboos against themselves and have brought change in their societies. However, she claims that men must also become involved in this battle, because it is a problem not only for women but for every nation and society as a whole. Khan reasons that if one does not take action against discrimination and inequality in one's own community, and does not raise a voice against such violence, then one is also guilty by association. And she called on us to take action also, quoting the words of Andrē Malraux, "History is made by those who say no."
When Khan herself was a student in the 1970's, when there were military struggles and internal conflicts in many areas of the world. Khan said that in the days when she was a student activist fighting human rights problems such as military dictatorship and apartheid, she was often told that students like her were just wasting their time and that nothing they do could change anything. However, was that really true? Even though deep-rooted prejudice still remains, apartheid as a system has disappeared, and many of the people under military rule in those days have now won freedom and independence. Khan urges that by taking action in such situations we will always be able to make a difference and change society by our own hands. Even now, there may still be people who will tell the youth of today that taking action will not change anything and is a waste of time. But Khan argues that history has proven them wrong. Apartheid is gone, the Berlin Wall is gone. She called on us to take action, so that violence against women will, someday, also be a thing of the past.
It was truly inspiring to hear an activist like Irene Khan speak of her own experience dealing with crisis situations following the September 11 attacks and the Gulf War. I was deeply moved by her final words encouraging us that taking action ourselves can indeed help to change the world. I was filled with courage and strength, not only by her words, but by the fact that she spoke, and could speak, with so much hope and optimism in this troubled world today. I usually tend to be more speculative rather than active, but her lecture made me more conscious of the need to take action, through my studies, not only against the problem of violence against women, but also with regard to other problems with which I am confronted in everyday life.
ICU undergraduate : Banzono, Hiroya