CSW62 parallel event: Rural and urban women unite against sexual exploitation
On the margins of CSW62 in New York, CAP convened representatives of marginalised groups (indigenous, rural, Black and Brown women, IDPs) with the aim to:
1) raising awareness about the specific risks and discrimination faced by rural women and girls,
2) giving the floor to rural survivors of sexual exploitation and violence,
3) highlighting the work and best practices of CAP international members in countries where direct support to rural victims of exploitation is offered (South Africa, Malawi, India, Latvia, Ireland etc…),
4) building concrete solidarities between rural and urban women.
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Speakers
Keynote: Indigenous women and girl’s experiences in rural KwaZulu Natal Province
Sizani Ngubane, (South Africa), Founder, Rural Women’s Movement and NGO CSW Forum Woman of Distinction Awardee 2018
Keynote: Sexual exploitation and mobilization of rural women in South Africa – frontline and survivor movement perspectives
Mickey Meji (South Africa), founder of KWANELE survivor movement and representative of Embrace Dignity
Indigenous women and girls perspectives in rural and urban North America
Nicole Matthews (USA), Director, Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition
Black and Brown women and girls’ experiences in rural and urban North America
Yasmin Vafa (USA), Director, Rights4Girls
Rural women displaced in conflict are invisible victims of sexual exploitation: challenges in postconflict
Erika Veloza,(Colombia) Founder and executive director of GENFAMI – Representative, Iniciativa Pro Equidad de Genero
Per-Anders Sunesson, Ambassador at Large to Combat Trafficking in Persons (Sweden)
Moderation by Zala Zbogar, Communications and Campaigns Officer, CAP International
Context
All over the world and throughout history, women and girls from rural areas, indigenous communities and ethnic minorities have been the primary victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation.
This year, CSW62’s priority theme is “Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls”. Rural women are one of the most discriminated groups of women and girls with intersecting vulnerabilities who are consistently overrepresented in prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation. Overexploited groups include rural, indigenous, women and girls of colour, migrant, refugee, poor, and minority (Dalit, Roma) women. CAP Intl and its members recognise that those disproportionately affected, are the last to be supported by society and by public policies.
Rural women and girls are particularly at risk of being exposed to sexual exploitation and violence. Because of specific vulnerabilities (including dispossession of land and resources, and persistence of traditional laws), they can fall into prostitution or be trafficked to big cities and other countries.
The same is true for other vulnerable groups, such as indigenous women in North America or internally displaced persons in post-conflict Colombia. They can be trafficked domestically from a poor rural area to big cities, within their countries of origin or beyond them. In both cases, traffickers exploit their precarious situation and their specific vulnerabilities.
This situation highlights the need for articulated action between rural and urban women’s movements, to work together in both areas to stop the flow and demand for sexual exploitation.
