Our mission at UNSA Vienna is to shed light on issues or perspectives that may not receive a lot of visibility. For this purpose, we engage with renowned diplomats and experts to create a relevant dialogue. Within the framework of the SDGs, one of the goals is to find practical solutions that take into account the cultural, social and societal context. Realistic concepts, critical views and discourses are welcome to challenge the international community and everyone else interested/involved to look past the simple explanation of the SDGs. We are addressing an internationally orientated community, but specific and local conditions and their structures are to be taken into account.
Vienna serves as an international centre linking the university, international organisations, the UN and foreign representations. Therefore, to bring in a niche for this blog as to not serve as competition of the UN’s SDG Blog: https://www.un.org/en/desa/sdg-blog , we will focus per month on a different representation based in Vienna, which can involve additional interviews from other experts and overseas representations to support the overall story. We will cover topics from feminist foreign policy to film culture to climate justice – there is something for everyone. This will strengthen our partnerships and position as a niche org based in Vienna.
Recent Activities
Activities
: Why Collecting Data on Femicide Matters
Why collecting data on femicide matters? In collaboration with UNODC and SAGE (Students Advocating for Gender Equality), UNSA Vienna is hosting, on December 8, an online event to talk about the paramount importance that data collection on femicide has. On this occasion, the Volume XIII of the UNSA Vienna FEMICIDE Collection “Collecting Data on Femicide” will be introduced.
: FEMICIDE Volume XIII is out now!
On the occasion of the "International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls" we are honored to present to you FEMICIDE Volume XIII on "Collecting Data on Femicide".
: Femicide Vol. XIII: Collecting Data on Femicide
On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls UNSA Vienna published FEMICIDE Volume XII on "Collecting Data on Femicide".
Blog
Preface
This paper questions the relationship between datasets on fem(in)icide and highlights the complexities of rendering it comparable across time and spaces. Theoretically, it contributes to the sociology of knowledge as it offers a reflexive critique of the practices that create objectified forms of knowledge. Knowledge is conceived not just as an ‘abstract social “construct” [but], specifically a social product, generated by and embodied in particular forms of work’ (Connell et al. 2017: 24). The role of numbers in the shape of data, statistics or indicators are understood as ‘part and parcel’ of the object of study they seek to describe (Bigo et al. 2019; Bruno et al 2016; Desrosières 2002, Foucault 1968, 1978, Hacking 1980; Uprichard 2012; Ruppert 2019). This means that categories, concepts and patterns transmute along with the numbers used to represent them. The argument is divided into three sections, the first of which explores the theoretical conceptualisations and quantifications of fem(in) icide. It questions to what extent the problems of quantifying fem(in)icide are an epiphenomenon of its variance in definitions. The second section grapples with empirical ‘global’, ‘regional’ and ‘national’ efforts to compare fem(in)icide across time and spaces. By zooming in on Mexico as a case study, the paper highlights the complexities of generating comparable data on fem(in)icide due to distinct differences in context. The danger in reducing fem(in)icide to ‘intimate-femicide’ is highlighted as this leaves certain bodies outside of the ‘global’ logics of quantification. As an alternative, the paper’s final section stresses the need to embrace multiplicity through reflexivity in knowledge production. Given the rapid acceleration of digital technologies and data collection methods, it suggests how future studies could strongly benefit from looking into alternative ways of collecting data on fem(in)icide if our aim is to understand further the contextual particularities of this heinous phenomena.
Preface
Despite numerous harrowing stories covered by the media on a daily basis, it is still a challenge to actually understand the extent of violence against women and girls (VAWG). A vital instrument in the fight of VAWG is reliable and up-to-date information and statistics. In India, these numbers are especially important for an in-depth analysis of the occurrence of this heinous crime across the regions, economic strata and social structures of the country. The need for a femicide watch or observatory was first emphasized on a global platform by the UN Special Rapporteur, Dr. Dubravka Simonovic on 25 November, 2015. (1) Dr. Simonovic focused on how since homicide cases do not include information between the victim and criminal, femicide cases are hidden in female homicide cases.
There is a need for a multidisciplinary national mechanism such as a ‘Femicide Watch’, ‘GenderRelated Killing of Women Watch’ or an ‘Observatory on Femicide’ whose establishment would need a coordinated effort between the State, NGOs, independent human rights institutions, academia, and other stakeholders of this field.(2) Only such an organized manner of data collection and analysis will be able to properly and accurately identify the number of victims of VAWG and the number of femicides occurring periodically. In 1990, Nobel Prize winning economist, Dr. Amartya Sen, claimed that nearly 100 million women were ‘missing’ in the world, with almost 40 million in India alone.(3) In 2011, according to the United Nations Population Fund a record of more than 117 million women were ‘missing’ in South Asia. (4) In December 2006, Rita Banerji initiated ‘The 50 Million Missing Campaign’ to raise awareness about the disappearance of women and girls of India in a span of a century. (5) This disconcerting figure, by Ms. Banerji, is an estimate based on an analysis of three generations, observing the systematic extermination of India’s girls and women through forced abortions and female foeticide, female infanticides, dowry murders and other acts of gender related violence that lead to femicide in India.
Summing up the Transgender Awareness Week (celebrated between the 13th and 20th of November) and Transgender Day of Remembrance (20th of November), UNSA Vienna is enthusiastic to share the transitioning journeys of two young trans girls, “Samira Hills” and Alison M. Transgender gives freedom – they say - it is the sense of letting come out your deepest and purest self.
Check out "Samira Hills" interview in the next post.
