Business as Usual: Violence against Women in the Globalized Economy of the Americas
Posted: 31 May 2006
Throughout Cuidad Juarez (Mexico) pink crosses stand as a stark reminder of the hundreds of women and girls who have been murdered or gone missing over the past decade.
© AI Canada
Yes we’re scared. But we women are determined not to give up our struggle to defend our territory and out culture against the oil companies. We’re good people but now they are calling us terrorists. Soraya Cisneros, Sarayaku Indigenous leader, Ecuador
Serious and widespread violations of the basic rights of women, including violence, are longstanding and commonplace throughout the Americas.
In 1979 the United Nations adopted a treaty which aims to end the discrimination at the heart of the human rights abuses that are the daily reality for women around the world. The UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women optimistically notes that “the establishment of the new international economic order based on equity and justice will contribute significantly towards the promotion of equality between men and women.” The UN has gone on to finalize a Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women. The Organization of American States has adopted the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women. But serious human rights violations and pervasive violence against women continue in every corner of the Americas.
A complex web of factors fuels violence against women, including gender discrimination, impunity, poverty and racism. Amnesty International is concerned that inadequate attention has been paid to the degree to which trade and investment policies can contribute to increasing economic inequality and vulnerability of women to violence. Far from realizing the UN’s hope of an economic order based on equity and justice, new economic policies are a backdrop to ongoing, serious human rights violations and violence for women throughout the Americas.
The Globalized Economy of the Americas
A number of interconnecting institutions, polices and agreements are at the heart of the new, globalized economic order - worldwide and in the Americas. All ostensibly aim to reduce barriers to a free flow of trade and investment among countries. The reach of international institutions such as the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank extends throughout the hemisphere. Numerous existing and proposed regional free trade and investment agreements also have strong impact, including the North American Free Trade Agreement, a possible Free Trade Area of the Americas, and a number of emerging deals among Canada, the United States, Central America, the Dominican Republic, Caribbean states and the nations of the Andean Community. Canada already has one-on-one agreements with Chile and Costa Rica. Few of these institutions or agreements, though, have in any way explicitly incorporated respect for human rights.
Canada pursues an ambitious program of expanding trade and investment throughout the hemisphere. But Canada has yet to demonstrate human rights leadership in the Americas and has failed to sign on to any of the human rights treaties within the Organization of American States (OAS) including the important Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women. Canada and the United States are the only two nations in the OAS that have not ratified that convention.
Women at risk
This briefing paper highlights three contexts in which the vulnerability of women puts their human rights at risk: impacts of economic changes and upheaval on women in Indigenous communities; the specific threats faced by women migrants; and the violence against women who speak out against economic changes in order to defend human rights.
Indigenous Women
Througout the Americas, Indigenous women and their families often live on lands rich in water, oil, gas, forests, minerals and biodiversity. Already the victims of a long history of dispossession, Indigenous peoples have expressed concern about how economic liberalization policies have opened the door to foreign companies eager to exploit natural resources on Indigenous lands, sometimes risking the rights of Indigenous peoples, exposing Indigenous women to violence and jeopardizing the environment on which they depend. The briefing paper highlights particular concerns in Ecuador and Colombia.
Migrant Women
Migration is a growing phenomenon in the globalized economy of the Americas, and it is increasingly clear that many of the migrants are women - who are particularly susceptible to violence and exploitation. Migrant women in the Americas experience violence and other serious human rights abuses along their journey of migration and when they have arrived in new cities or countries. The briefing paper highlights particular concerns associated with migration across the U.S./Mexico border and violence experienced by migrant women who remain in Mexico.
Woman, Globalization and Social Protest
Many countries of the Americas are experiencing considerable opposition, resistance and social protest against policies of economic globalization. Amnesty International is concerned that in too many instances, peaceful and legitimate protest and dissent has been met with violence. Whether through the excessive use of force by police or military personnel, militarization in the face of open rebellion, or the tactics of covert, para-state agents, women who oppose or questions aspects of the globalized economy are increasingly vulnerable. The briefing paper highlights the cases of a range of women activists in Guatemala, Ecuador, Colombia and Mexico.
Recommendations
Amnesty International believes it is vitally important that Canada revises its laws, policies and approaches to human rights, business, trade and investment so as to strengthen the protection of the fundamental human rights of women in the Americas. The briefing paper makes recommendations in five areas:
1. strengthening human rights protection in the Americas;
2. implementing a human rights-based approach to trade and investment;
3. protecting the rights of Indigenous peoples;
4. protecting the rights of migrant workers; and
5. ensuring Canadian companies respect human rights.