Think of the women who pay with their lives, either by their own hands or the hands of others. Family violence is a human development issue. It damages wives, mothers and daughters who are battered, raped, deprived of human dignity and the means to meet their basic needs. It also traumatizes the children living in these homes, where they witness or are subjected routinely to beatings, sexual and verbal abuse, and neglect. To pursue effective development strategies, agencies and organizations that work with women and children must increase their sensitivity to the issue of violence and make it central to their work.
Family violence is a human rights issue.
Deeply rooted in cultural and religious gender bias, it is supported, even institutionalized, by many patriarchal societies. Moreover, contrary to conventional wisdom, a gain in status for women often brings an increase, not a decrease, in reported cases of violence as men feel threatened by a loss of power. At policy-making levels, family violence is often considered a private matter and in many countries, it is not a punishable offense. In some countries, one family member is prohibited by law from denouncing another, even for the most serious and violent acts. Effective use of a human rights framework to create violence-free families will require enforcement of international conventions such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.