Topic: Violence Against Women
Country: Greece
Delegate Name: Henna Haque
School: Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Greece position papers GLIMUN 2018 committees
About 49% of the world’s population are women. Despite the fact that the world is divided half and half between both genders, about one in five women have experienced some sort of physical, emotional, psychological, or sexual abuse. Violence against women is defined as intimate partner violence and sexual violence. There are risk factors that may initiate abuse at the individual, family, community, and other social levels. Citizens who are at high risk for violence include being uneducated, witnessing family violence, limited access to jobs, and addiction to certain substances such as drugs and alcohol. Violence of any sort has obvious detrimental effects on the overall health of women. Some women have been murdered or have committed suicide due to the everlasting effects of violence. Other women have a high risk of developing STDs such as HIV and AIDS, unwanted pregnancies, PTSD, and diminished reproductive health. Currently, the UN has passed laws do deal with violence such as the passing of the 1993 UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women. The data for Violence against Women for Greece is on the lower side of the spectrum- about 18% of women have dealt with physical or sexual partner violence, and about 6% of that total violence have happened within the past 12 months.
While physical and sexual violence is on going in our country, Greece has taken considerable steps to stop the violence against women by passing multiple laws within the past decade by enforcing strict protocols. Greece offers a lot of support to women who have been abused in some way. We offer psycho-social counselling, immediate justice if trafficking occurs, training for public officials, immediate divorce, educating officials and citizens on the dangers and warning signs of physical and sexual abuse, and other services.
Since Greece has taken multiple steps to provide justice for women, Greece would like to listen to what other countries have to say about this issue. Greece will support other countries who have similar ideas and will be more than willing to work on possible resolution papers with our allies.
