Carme Clavel

Red de Mujeres Contra la Violencia, Nicaragua

Progress made on the issue of
the Status of Women since the Summit

    "We commit to promoting full respect of human dignity and to achieving equality and equity between women and men, and recognising and enhancing the participation and leadership of women in political, civil, economic, social and cultural life and in development.” This was the fifth commitment made at the World Summit for Social Development held in March 1995 in Copenhagen.
One of the national commitments was to adopt effective measures, through enactment and enforcement of laws and the implementation of policies, to combat and eliminate all forms of discrimination, exploitation, abuse and violence against women.

    One of the organizations helping to carry out this commitment is Nicaragua’s “Women Against Violence” network, a national co-ordination program consisting of 130 different groups working with and parallel to the women’s movement that is championing new forms of non-partisan political procedures.

    The network’s strategic objectives include:

• Coordinating with the government (ministries of health and education, the Superior Court, etc.).
  
• Providing women with access to justice.
  
• Promoting the quality of care that government and non-governmental programs provide to women and children who have been victims of and have survived violence.
  
• Preventing violence against women and children.

    The RED has organized various campaigns since 1992 to attain its strategic objectives. Some of the campaigns to date have dealt with eliminating sexual violence. It has also organised national meetings for women against violence, written and passed a law against violence by family members (Act 230) and has provided the public with information on the law.


Carme Clavel is a health consultant with the Red de Mujeres Contra la Violencia (Women Against Violence network) in Nicaragua.