ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

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Violence against women is the violence perpetrated by men against women, is based on sex, and is considered a violation of human rights.

Term used very often to define the violence of men against women is gender violence. Gender violence concerns women, but also involves minors and girls as for example in the case of assisted violence. This terminology is widely used both at institutional level and by people and associations of women working in the field. In 1999, the United Nations decided on 25 November to be considered as the international day for the elimination of violence against women.

Definition of the concept
In 1993, the declaration on the elimination of violence against women provides an official definition of gender violence:

The Fourth World Women's Conference defined gender violence as follows:

Approach
Firstly it is observed that

and so as

The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women Approved by the UN in 1993 on Article 1 describes violence against women as:

Men's violence only for a few years has become a subject of public debate, policies are lacking in contrast to violence to women, research, awareness-raising and training projects. The research carried out over the last ten years shows that violence against women is endemic in industrialized countries as in developing countries. The victims and their aggressors belong to all social or cultural classes, and to all economic classes. According to the World Health Organization, at least one woman out of five suffered physical or sexual abuse by a man throughout her life. And the greatest risk is family, husbands and fathers, followed by friends: neighbors, close acquaintances and colleagues of work or study.

Various forms of gender violence

From several researches it emerges that gender violence is expressed on women and children in various ways and in all countries of the world. There is domestic violence exercised especially in the family or in the circle of acquaintances, through threats, physical and psychological mistreatments, persecutory acts or stalking, assaults, sexual abuse, honor crimes, passionate or premeditated uxoricides. A form of male violence against women is economic violence, which consists in controlling money by the partner, in the prohibition of undertaking work outside the domestic environment, control of property and the ban on any autonomous initiative compared to the heritage of women.
Children and adolescents, but firstly girls and girls are subjected to incest and minors in a family where ill-treatment is present are victims of assisted violence.

Women are exposed in public places and workplace to sexual harassment and sexual abuse, rape and sexual blackmail.