Women Rights

The group suffering most from human rights violations in different forms are women and girls. Trafficking, forced prostitution and domestic violence are widespread phenomena that we witness in many countries across the world and women are frequently treated as objects rather than as humans with rights. On top of this, victims are often socially stigmatized as a result of their experience.

Prevention work is important in order to minimize the number of women who become victims of trafficking and gender-based violence. In this context, the media play an important role in raising awareness of risks and dangers and in shaping and influencing public opinion and policies, so they can directly contribute to protecting women. On the other hand, the way gender-based violence and victims of trafficking are portrayed in the public debate influence their chances of reintegrating in society – so the media have the potential to both minimize and aggravate the impact of rights violations.

This panel will look at different variations of women’s rights protection, taking into account the perspectives of rights practitioners, victims and the media. Participants will discuss similar experiences and patterns, parallel approaches and potential contributions the media can make to decrease the impact of rights violations against women, based on experience in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Zambia.

Moderation:
Mirjam Gehrke
Journalist, Deutsche Welle

Panelists:
Rudo Chingobe Mooba
Community Worker for Women and Law Southern Africa, Zambia

Mara Radovanovic
President of Assembly of the NGO "LARA" in Bijeljina, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Felix Wolff
Programme Director Development Cooperation at CARE Deutschland-Luxemburg