China: Eradicate, Prevent all Forms of Violence Against Women, Girls
http://www.womenofchina.cn/html/womenofchina/report/172920-1.htm
Eradicate, Prevent all Forms of Violence Against Women, Girls
May 15, 2014
By Liu Bohong
The Chinese Government, women's organizations and various NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) should work hard or much harder to fight all forms of violence against women, in the same way that they have combated domestic violence.
Women's Demands
Two decades ago, just after I had accepted the position of researcher at the Women's Studies Institute of China, under the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF), I was told the Fourth World Conference on Women would be held in Beijing. I was fortunate to assist with the preparations for the NGO forum (during the Beijing conference). My main responsibility was organizing the attendance of Chinese women's representatives.
The forum was composed of several workshops. We had to determine which topics to include on the agendas for those workshops. When my colleagues and I participated in the Asian and Pacific Symposium of Nongovernmental Organizations on Women in Development, which was held in Manila, the Philippines, in November 1993, we learned that women in the region were concerned about violence against women, in addition to the issues of women's political participation, women's employment, women's education, women's health, poverty alleviation, and environmental protection. After we returned to China, we proposed that China should host a workshop during the forum that would address violence against women. The leader of the forum's organizing committee at that time did not accept the proposal.
Prior to the Beijing conference, various women's NGOs held forums in Africa, Europe, Latin America and West Asia. During each forum, women in each region voiced their strong desire to fight violence against women. I attended one forum, on women, violence and human rights, which was hosted by Rutgers University, in the United States. The forum's hostess, Charlotte Bunch, a well-known feminist activist in the US, said in her speech that she had discovered, during the Second World Conference on Women, in 1980, that feminism might not have the support of all women throughout the world. However, the proposal of eradicating violence against women could win the support of all women.... MORE at link posted above.