Human Rights of Women and Girls in the Pacific | Oaktree Submission
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Human Rights of Women and Girls in the Pacific | Oaktree Submission Who is Oaktree? Oaktree is Australia’s largest youth-led development organisation. We champion young people as key agents of social change. This submission is based on seventeen years of experience in international and domestic youth-targeted programming. Since 2003, we have worked with local partners in the Indo-Pacific to deliver education opportunities and capacity-building programs to empower young people in our region. Executive Summary In the Pacific region, women and girls face many barriers to the fulfilment of their human rights, limiting their opportunities to truly thrive. Young women in particular face critical challenges. Acknowledging the extreme ‘youth bulge’ in the Pacific, where half of the population is under the age of 25, young women account for an especially large group. As such, they should receive proportionate attention in Australia’s aid program. Investment into the empowerment of young women will drive Pacific nations’ development progress, and in turn, contribute to the Australian Government’s vision of a secure, stable and prosperous region. Oaktree's primary recommendations to strengthen the human rights of women and girls in the Pacific are as follows: 1. Recognise civil society organisations are essential to improving the human rights of women and girls in the Pacific 1.1 Continue strong investment into Pacific Women: Shaping Pacific Development which partners with key women’s rights organisations across the Pacific. 2. Invest in strengthening the human capital of young women in the Pacific 2.1 Expand education and training opportunities for young women, which is critical to the Pacific’s economic recovery post the COVID-19 crisis 2.2 Recognise that empowering young women is a critical aspect of Australia’s responsibilities under the Pacific Step Up. 3. Broaden Pacific Women to Pacific Women & Girls to elevate the visibility of young women in Australia’s development program 3.1 Collect age and gender disaggregated data to monitor the effectiveness of development programming for youth, and young women in particular. Term of Reference 1 (The role of civil society groups in Pacific Islands in responding practically to domestic, family and sexual violence, and other human rights issues such as gender equality) Recommendation: Recognise civil society organisations are essential to improving the human rights of women and girls in the Pacific Human Rights Issues for Young Women in the Pacific Young women in the Pacific account for a particularly large group, due to certain demographic factors. At present, the Pacific is experiencing an extreme ‘youth bulge’. In contrast to the Australian population, where just 12.8% of the population is aged 15 to 241, in the Pacific, youth account for 20% of the population2. Over half of the Pacific’s population is under the age of 253. Approximately a quarter of Pacific Islanders are young women, however they continue to be systematically marginalised and under-invested, restricting their human rights and human capital. This marginalisation is increased with intersections of disability, or gender and sexually diverse identity. Through recent comprehensive consultation with young women across the Pacific, common issues that present key challenges to their human rights have been identified. This includes access to sexual and reproductive health information; violence and abuse, including sexual violence and early and arranged marriage; the burden of unpaid care and domestic work; access to education and employment; political representation and culture and customs that restrict the rights of girls4. Violence Against Women and Girls Violence against women and girls is highly prevalent in the Pacific5. Pacific women and girls experience violence often at a far higher rate than the global average. For example, intimate partner physical and/or sexual violence is experienced by as many as 68% of women in Kiribati, 1 “2016 Census - a ‘selfie’ of young people in Australia”, Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2017, https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs%40.nsf/mediareleasesbyCatalogue/AC02F0705E320F58CA25817C00016 A47?OpenDocument 2 Cameron Noble, Natalia Pereira and Nanise Saune, Urban youth in the Pacific: increasing resilience and reducing risk for involvement in crime and violence, (Suva, Fiji: UNDP Pacific Centre, 2011), https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/migrated/oia/reports/upload/2011UrbanYouth_in_the_Pacific.pdf, p.iii 3 Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), The Pacific Youth Development Framework 2014–2023: A coordinated approach to youth-centred development in the Pacific (Suva, Fiji: Secretariat of the Pacific Community, 2015), 5, https://tinyurl.com/ssbjrq3 4 “What is Pacific Girl?”, Pacific Women: Shaping Pacific Development, June 2020, https://pacificwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/PacificGirl_Program-Overview_.pdf 5 “Ending Violence Against Women”, Pacific Women: Shaping Pacific Development, June 2020, https://pacificwomen.org/our-work/focus-areas/ending-violence-against-women/ 64% in Fiji and Solomon Islands, and 60% in Vanuatu6. Corporal punishment is especially prevalent in Tonga, inflicted on children and adolescents as common forms of discipline by fathers and teachers7. Violence against women and girls and intimidation of violence are an abuse to their human rights, and restricts their full participation in social, political and economic life. It impedes development outcomes and strains health services, social services, police and justice systems. Incidents of violence against women and girls in the Pacific have likely risen during the COVID-19 pandemic8. During a crisis, male perpetrated violence against women and children increases by 50 to 400 per cent9. This, coupled with the pandemic’s related restrictions in movement, social isolation, and increased social and economic pressures contributes to a more violent home environment for women and girls. Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Information and Resources Access to sexual and reproductive health information and resources is a critical issue affecting young women in the Pacific. Adolescent girls are provided with a limited sexual education as a result of stigma and discrimination, and school based programs are often restricted or opposed by adult educators or gatekeepers10. Fewer than 20% of adolescent girls, and 50% of adolescent boys in the Pacific report having utilised a modern form of contraception11. As such, high rates of teenage pregnancy are experienced in many parts of the Pacific, particularly in rural and remote areas. Freer access to sexual health information and resources for youth in the Pacific would enable young people greater autonomy over their bodies and expand their life options. The COVID-19 pandemic will strain resources devoted to sexual and reproductive health, disproportionately impacting women and girls. During crises such as pandemics, essential services for women’s and girl’s health and survival are often compromised, with health resources diverted to meet other needs. During the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2015-17, there was a 75% increase in maternal mortality related to disrupted reproductive and maternal health care12. There is a great risk that this scenario will be replicated in the Pacific where access to appropriate health services are low and rates of maternal mortality high. In Papua New Guinea, 6 Asian Development Bank, Gender Statistics: The Pacific and Timor-Leste (Metro Manila, Philippines: Asian Development Bank, 2016), 4, https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/181270/gender-statistics-pacific-tim.pdf 7 Asian Development Bank, “Gender Statistics: The Pacific and Timor-Leste”, 4 8 “UN backs global action to end violence against women and girls amid COVID-19 crisis”, United Nations, April 2020, https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/04/1061132 9 Australian Disaster Resilience Knowledge Hub, The hidden disaster: domestic violence in the aftermath of natural disaster, 2013, https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/ajem-apr-2013-the-hidden-disaster-domestic-violence-in-the-aftermath-of -natural-disaster/ 10 Pacific Women: Shaping Pacific Development, “What is Pacific Girl” 11 Burnet Institute Submission, ‘Pacific Youth: Their Rights, Our Future, (New Zealand Parliamentarians’ Group on Population and Development (NZPGPD) 2012). 12 Julia Smith, “Overcoming the ‘tyranny of the urgent’: integrating gender into disease outbreak preparedness and response”, Gender & Development, vol. 27, no.2, (2019) where the maternal mortality ratio is already the highest in the Western Pacific Region, the pandemic has restricted women’s access to appropriate health care due to travel restrictions, economic impacts and fears of infection in hospitals. Head of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of PNG Glen Mola, has warned, ‘it’s not best to plan a pregnancy this year or perhaps even next year’ due to fears about the impact of the pandemic on pregnant women trying to access the necessary health care13. Barriers to Education and Secure Employment for Young Women. In the Pacific, young women often have restricted access to education, training and secure employment. At the secondary schooling level across the Pacific, many countries experience low enrolment rates for girls and boys, particularly in PNG, where rates in 2016 were lower than 50% 14. The secondary school enrolment rates for women tend to be slightly