The media has ignored many other examples of international violence toward women.
By Erika L. Sánchez / AlterNet
On April 14, Nigerian militant group Boko Haram fighters kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from the remote northeastern town of Chibok in Borno. As far as we know, 223 are still being held. Many Nigerians and international leaders criticized Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan for taking almost three weeks to respond to the crisis. Journalists and writers all over the Internet also blasted the media for taking so long to respond to the horrific abductions. How could it be that the kidnapping of 276 girls was not the number-one story all over the world? Eventually, the world did erupt in outrage and the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls went viral. The hashtag #234WhiteGirls also surfaced to draw attention to the media’s bias when it comes to coverage of violence against women of color.
The kidnappings bring up a whole slew of issues, and call into question how many other incidents the media has ignored. Here are four examples of systematic violence against women of color that didn’t receive the media coverage they deserved.
1. Femicides of the women of Juárez. US media continues to wring its hands and obsess over the horrific acts of violence inflicted by Mexican drug cartels. Mexico’s drug-related violence kills over 10,000 people a year. Many innocent people have died as cartels battle each other throughout the country.
What hasn’t received sufficient coverage are the murders of women on the U.S. Mexico border. Since 1993, 1,400 women and girls have been killed in Juárez. According to an article published in November of last year, more female corpses were found dumped in the desert over the last three years than throughout the 1990s. Many of the women are raped and tortured before they’re killed. In 2012, there were 18 femicides, the most in Juarez since 1997. Many victims are workers in maquiladoras, the foreign-owned factories along the border which flourished after the implementation of NAFTA. Though many of the factories are American-owned, these companies have not shown concern for the women who are killed traveling to and from work.
2. Murder and disappearance of Native Canadian women. Recently, Canada’s government and indigenous people have had many conflicts over natural resources, land rights and autonomy. The indigenous rights organization Idle No More was created to protect their sovereignty, land, and water. In addition, in the past 30 years 1,200 aboriginal women have been murdered or have gone missing. Activists have been trying to draw attention to this issue for years now.
Many aboriginal women in Northern British Columbia disappeared along Highway 16, dubbed the “Highway of Tears” by many of the victims’ families. Robert Pickton, the serial killer responsible for these murders, would pick up sex workers, kill them, and dispose of their bodies on his pig farm. Though some Vancouver police officers initially believed a serial killer was responsible, others insisted the women had just moved and did not want to be found. As a result, many of these cases were not thoroughly investigated.
In a report released this month, James Anaya, UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, called out the Canadian government on its inefficient initiatives to improve the lives of the indigenous population. “The well-being gap between aboriginal and non-aboriginal people in Canada has not narrowed over the last several years, treaty and aboriginals claims remain persistently unresolved, indigenous women and girls remain vulnerable to abuse, and overall there appear to be high levels of distrust among indigenous peoples toward government at both the federal and provincial levels,” Anaya stated.
According to the report, aboriginal women make up only 4 percent of the population, but 16 percent of murdered women. Anaya is calling for a thorough and broad investigation.
3. Rape of Haitian women after the earthquake.Even before the earthquake, rape was a serious problem in Haiti. Sexual violence has been frequently used as a political weapon in times of conflict. After Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the first democratically elected president, was ousted both times, his enemies assassinated his male supporters and raped their wives and daughters. A 2006 study also reported that about 35,000 women and girls in Port-au-Prince were sexually assaulted in one year.
After the devastating earthquake that killed an estimated 200,000 people, women became much more susceptible to sexual violence. About 1.05 million Haitians lost their homes in the disaster, and most of those displaced were women. Residents of the capital’s tent cities were 20 times more likely to report a sexual assault than other Haitians. Many women trying to rebuild their lives have been raped in the camps. Some have even been subjected to witnessing the gang rape of their own daughters. Commission of Women Victims for Victims, a women’s group run by survivors of sexual violence, registered more than 250 cases of rape in several camps in the five months after the quake. Amnesty believed the number was much higher. Many times, it’s nearly impossible for these women to get care or prosecute their rapists.
4. Rape of Syrian women.Much media coverage of the Syrian conflict is focused on jihadists, kidnapped journalists and use of chemical weapons. Many outlets overlook the fact that 75 percent of the residents of the camps are women and children, and many of them are subjected to inconceivable poverty and violence. As in many wars and conflicts, rape has been used as a weapon in these camps. Aid workers have reported growing number of incidents of domestic violence and sexual exploitation.
In 2013, the United Nations aided more than 38,000 victims of Syrian gender-based violence. This may only be a small fraction of the total number of victims in the last three years. In Lebanon, home to the largest number of Syrian refugees, the UN agency said it had “provided post-rape treatment to 17 hospitals and primary healthcare centers covering the potential needs of 1,020 survivors.” Many victims are afraid or ashamed to seek help, so the numbers are expected to be much higher. Some experts also believe that domestic violence is worsening among displaced Syrians living in temporary shelters in neighboring countries.