I LOVE the spring

Quote of the day

War on women part 2

I live in south of Sweden and during the past 2 years I cannot help to notice how the numbers of women killed by their husbands/ex-husbands must have increased. Not only is it true that 50 % of the victims could have been saved if the contact ban would have been enforced properly by the police but also that the one receiving the custody of the children after committing the murder is the farther.

Number of murdered women 2000-2009

Even though  the numbered of murders is relatively low, it is still to high when evaluating the number of women could have been saved. In most of the cases the man takes a separation a bit to hard and starts to harass the woman. What ordinary happens next is that the woman will apply in court for a contact ban, meaning that the man can not visit or follow her. These contacts ban is often taken very lightly since the man is in many cases a first time offender. Hence lose regulations of the contact ban and failure in providing secrete identity and new housing for the women she ends up murdered at the hand of her children father.  What is also very ironic and irritating when it comes to these cases is that the jail time for the offender is often very short, about 8 years, sometimes 6 with good behavior. If this man instead had committed fraud he would have to face up to 12 years according to the Swedish justice system. Hence we are living in a society that is more keen on protecting property and money instead of actual human life. In my opinion we need to change this by increasing the sentence time for murder under these conditions and also at least 1 years jail time for those that breaks the contact ban. Below there are some statistics of women that was killed by there husbands during a 6 months period 2012. Having in mind that Sweden has a population of 9.9 million this is a very high frequency of murder,,,

Over and out--

Four murders in 6 months in the beginning of 2012

Åkersberga 28 januari 2012

En 23-årig kvinna knivhuggs till döds med en kökskniv i sitt hem i Åkersberga. Hennes 26-årige sambo greps och dömdes i maj till nio års fängelse för dråp. 

Malmö 17 februari 2012

En 39-årig mamma knivmördas framför sina två barn på en utegård i Malmö. Kvinnans 45-årige ex-sambo grips i närområdet och erkänner senare. Mannen är vid tillfället frigiven i väntan på en rättegång i hovrätten gällande olaga frihetsberövande av kvinnan.

Malmö 6 maj 2o12

En 39-årig kvinna skjuts till döds med flera skott när hon sitter i en bil i centrala Malmö. Hennes 44-årige ex-sambo erkänner kort efteråt att han skjutit henne. Kvinnan anmälde ex-sambon redan i vintras för ofredande.

Bålsta 8 juni 2012

En kvinna i 40-årsåldern förs till sjukhus med hjärtstillestånd och avlider senare på natten. Sjukhuset larmar polisen om misstänkt brott. Kvinnans 42-årige sambo anhålls i sin frånvaro och grips tre dagar senare misstänkt för mord. Mannen nekar till brott.

War on women part 1

India's government, under intense pressure to respond to December's deadly gang rape of a 23-year-old woman on a Delhi bus, has brought forward a new law withtougher sentences for sexual crimes and a broader range of offences, including stalking and sex trafficking.

But the law doesn't go nearly far enough; it doesn't even begin to address the shocking sexism of India's male-dominated institutions. Meanwhile, a new report details the widespread and horrific sexual abuse of children of both sexes in India, and the government's failure to prevent and punish it.

This momentum must lead to better laws and tougher enforcement, but those alone won't be enough. What hope is there of progressive laws when there are so many politicians with criminal, rape and sexual assault charges? Only a comprehensive, long-term public education campaign can force the full "mind-set revolution" needed to end the horrific and ongoing victimisation of women and children.

Children: 'shielded by silence and neglect'

The facts are grim: rape is the fastest-growing crime in India – up by 875% since records began 40 years ago – and one in every three rape victims in India is a child. An Indian government survey found more than half of the children interviewed reported being sexually abused.

Last year, India passed a law that for the first time makes all forms of child sexual abuse specific criminal offences. It also calls for police and courts to be more sensitive and responsive to the needs of child sex abuse victims.

But a new report, released by Human Rights Watch last week, details the many ways the government isfalling short in its obligations to protect children. Some examples:

– Police often humiliate the victims of child sex abuse and their families, insulting them, refusing to file a complaint and even detaining and threatening victims until they drop the complaint.

– Doctors and other medical personnel re-traumatise victims by subjecting them to humiliating, painful and medically useless exams.

– Because rape victims are often considered to have brought shame on their families, relatives and neighbours will deny the abuse took place, or pressure victims to remain quiet. Some families say they've been ostracised for reporting abuse.

– Orphanages and other bodies entrusted to care for children are frequent sites of horrific abuse, with many unregistered institutions and lax government oversight. One government-supervised residential facility was found to have forced young girls to have sex with strangers for money. Vinod Tikoo of the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights told Human Rights Watch: “It is not neglect. It is systemic failure.”

All this and more leads to such heartbreak ...

Leaving gaps

The picture is similarly shocking for women across India. In 2011, 65% of men surveyed said they thought it was OK to beat a woman; last month, after the brutal Delhi gang rape, a survey showed that 92% of men in Delhi knew someone who had harassed or sexually assaulted a woman.

The temporary ordinance just signed by India's President Pranab Mukherjee toughens penalties for rape (in fact, it allows for the death penalty, against the recommendation of the panel headed by Jagdish Sharan Verma, former chief justice of India, who was tasked with suggesting revisions to the rape laws). It also adds penalties for stalking, acid attacks and trafficking of women and children.

But the ordinance ignores recommendations from the Verma committee to criminalise marital rape and remove barriers to prosecuting soldiers for rape.

It also changes the legal term rape to sexual assault, making it gender neutral. That might seem a progressive move; many countries, including the UK and the US, already have legal language that makes sexual violence a crime, whether perpetrated by males or females. But many activists fear that India's notoriously slow and ineffective legal system will become bogged down as men accused of rape file counter charges against their victims, saying the women sexually assaulted them.

These omissions in the new law leave big gaps in protection for women and leave many wondering whether the government is at all serious about ending the epidemic of violence against women and girls.

Laws are not enough

At root, all these horrors grow from cultural attitudes that see women and children as worth less than men. And it'll take more than changes in the law to make the key shift here.

The child sex abuse epidemic demands that there be training for police, courts, social workers and medical personnel so they know how to properly respond to child sex abuse. There must be reliable monitoring, oversight and enforcement of the law and related policies – and above all, perpetrators must know that sexual abuse of children will be punished.

Meanwhile, Avaaz has proposed a massive, sustained public education campaign across India to cure the epidemic of violence against women by driving home the message that it's always wrong. The effort would enlist top celebrities from the worlds of sport and entertainment, as well as social leaders across the board, in a high-profile programme of media outreach and engagement focused on transforming people's attitudes.

It won't be cheap; to be effective, this campaign will likely cost about 50 rupees (about $1) per person per year. That works out to $1.2bn annually for at least four years running – and core education programmes should carry on for decades.

But look at the price, in money as well as human suffering, of the current situation. Keeping India's women and children under a state of siege has untold costs, from stifling economic growth to the emotional and psychological stresses of constant fear and uncertainty.

Avaaz activists in India drove a symbolic pink bus through New Delhi to demand a mass public education campaign to cure India's rape epidemic (Avaaz)

This type of campaign can change even deeply entrenched social attitudes. In the US, drink driving – once seen as relatively harmless – is now widely frowned upon. Cigarette smoking – once something a majority of adults did – has been socially stigmatised and continues to shrink. In India, the Bell Bajao campaign dramatically increased awareness of laws and discussion on domestic violence.

So by continuing to strengthen legal protections for women and children, as well as embarking on a focused, sustained campaign to shift cultural attitudes, India can end the culture of impunity for abusers – and help set the global standard for how a just and compassionate society treats them.

There may never be a better moment to fix this problem, and make sure that something good finally comes from an appalling tragedy on a Delhi bus.