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FEACT Brazil organizations act to strengthen Gender Justice in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic
05 de June de 2020FEACT Brazil Collective Communication
With a number of countries adopting social isolation measures, approximately four billion people are now sheltering at home against the global contagion of the new coronavirus. This is a protective measure, but one that leads to another mortal danger. We are seeing a growing pandemic — violence against women.
One in every three women around the world has experienced violence. These numbers have grown as a result of the new coronavirus (Sars-CoV-2) pandemic, as noted in the report “The Shadow Pandemic — Violence Against Women and Girls and COVID-19”. The document was published in April by UN Women, a United Nations organization for gender equality and the empowerment of women.
In profoundly unequal countries such as Brazil, periods of quarantine reveal other realities — even more appalling violations of the rights of vulnerable populations to access land, territory, housing, work, basic sanitation, communication and food security. Gender violence is one more of these.
In this context, the organizations that make up the Ecumenical Forum ACT Brazil have drawn up a register of actions. The ecumenical diakonia for gender justice has warned faith-based organizations about the urgent need to consider actions that reduce the suffering of women, children, adolescents and the elderly forced to live with their aggressors on a daily basis. We would like to share some emergency and humanitarian activities to combat gender violence.
Happy navigating!
SEE WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT US
CESE was set up during the most violent year of the Military Dictatorship, when torture had been institutionalized, when arbitrary imprisonment, killings and the disappearance of political prisoners had intensified. The churches had the courage to come together and create an institution that could be a living witness of the Christian faith in the service of the Brazilian people. I’m so happy that CESE has reached its 50th anniversary, improving as it matures.
When we hear talk of the struggles of the peoples of the waters, of the forests, of the semi-arid region, of the city peripheries and of the most varied organizations, we see and hear that CESE is there, at their side, without replacing the subjects of the struggle. Supporting, creating the conditions so that they can follow their own path. It is this spirit that we, at ASA, want you to maintain. We wish you long life in this work to support transformation.
I am a macumba devotee, but I love being with partners whose thinking is different from ours and who respect our form of organization. CESE is one such partner: it helps to build bridges, which are so necessary to ensure that freedom, diversity, respect and solidarity can flow. These 50 years have involved a lot of struggles and the construction of a new world.
In the name of historical and structural racism, many people look at us, black women, and think that we aren’t competent, intelligent, committed or have no identity. Our experience with CESE is different. We are a diverse group of black women. We are in varied places and have varied stories! It’s important to know this and to believe in us. Thank you CESE, for believing in us. For seeing our plurality and investing in us.
You have to praise CESE’s capacity to find answers so as to extend support to projects from traditional peoples and communities, from family farming, from women; its recognition of the multiple meanings of the right to land, to water and to territory; the importance of citizenship and democracy, including environmental racism and the right to identity in diversity in its discussion agenda, and its support for the struggles and assertion of the values of solidarity and difference.
Over these 50 years, we have received the gift of CESE’s presence in our communities. We are witness to how much companionship and solidarity it has invested in our territories. And this has been essential for us to carry on the struggle and defence of our people.