Samar Al-Miqrin
The whole world celebrated the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on November 25. Our neighbor, Kuwait, prepared well for the event; universities and various civil institutions organized campaigns with the help of female college students to highlight the issue of violence against women.
While violence against women is extremely prevalent in our society in all forms – physical, legal, verbal – we did nothing to prepare for the day. What type of activities did our universities and schools organize to support the issue? Why are we so sensitive about this issue? Why do we deny its existence, while the Kingdom’s police stations record hundreds of cases of domestic violence against women? Why do we not have a society that fights violence against women?
I believe the answer to these questions can be summed up in the fact that we do not have an entity that combats violence against women. If we had one, just as strong as the Human Rights Watch, we would see a lot of events throughout the year shedding light on violence against women. We do have a committee for family protection, run by the Ministry of Social Affairs, and it does well, but it is not enough. We need more. The name of the family protection committee is awkward and vague, and I do not know why it does not mention women or violence. Why do we still fear such words, and opt for vague ones instead?
Awareness in the Kingdom of the issue has increased over the past years, but we still do not hold enough events and organize enough campaigns. Many members of the public are not aware of this important international event, despite the fact that the Kingdom has been a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) since 2000. We are part of the international community and we should participate in such events. But it seems that some of us believe that participating in such an event is a clear recognition of this problem, and this is something we do not want to admit exists in our society. We do not want to recognize the problem.
Most Arab countries, except Jordan and Morocco, do not have laws that criminalize acts of violence against women. We all need such laws because they protect human beings against those who are stronger and want to hurt them. The slogan for this year’s event was, as the UN Secretary General put it: “Break the silence. When you witness violence against women and girls, do not sit back. Act.” Will we ever have real organizations that curb this problem in our society?
