‘One Billion Rising’ successful

DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 15, 2013) – The so-called “One Billion Rising Davao” gathered more than 2,000 people in a mass dance protest against all forms of gender violence.

Organizers of the event said those who participated to the event were mostly students, professionals, development workers, and government employees in Davao City who are oppose to the escalating cases of violence on women and girls.

“The problem of violence on women and girls is a global one. One Billion Rising is an act of protest against the horror of gender violence experienced by women and girls around the world on a daily basis,” Mary Ann Sapar, regional spokesperson for the Gabriela Women’s Party, said in a statement to the Mindanao Examiner.

She said trafficking for sexual exploitation has been on the rise and is happening in 118 countries, including the Philippines. A report by UN agency UN Office of Drugs and Crime says that 58% of trafficking cases are for sexual exploitation and among this, “women account for 55-60% of all trafficking victims detected globally, and women and girls together account for about 75%.”

“The increasing number of trafficked women, around 300,000 to 500,000 in the Philippines alone, shows that the present economic system make women into a commodity and turn their bodies into vehicles for profit. Most of those who are vulnerable to sexual trafficking and prostitution are poor women. Ending violence on women also requires ending poverty and an economy that thrives on the sale of women’s bodies whether as labor export or in the global sex industry,” Sapar said.

In the Philippines, she said, there is one woman beaten by an intimate partner every 43 minutes. According to the Women Studies and Resource Center, data from WCPC indicates that 3,935 VAWC cases were recorded in Southern Mindanao in 2012, accounting for the second highest (15.38%) of all VAWC incidence in the country, next to Western Visayas. Alarmingly so, there has been a noted rise in cases of abuse involving persons in uniform. The IGDD has noted that 54 cases of violence in the city reported involved police and military.

“Incidences of rape by women detained by police or the military are nothing new. This tells us of a prevailing mindset in society which treats women not as humans but objects,” Sapar said.

One Billion Rising is considered as a powerful message of solidarity among 190 countries who participated in the global event.