Neglected Issues and Voices

Abstract

The 2004 Tsunami highlighted the silence which surrounds gender issues, in particular the incidence of rape and sexual abuse of women and girls displaced by natural disasters and conflict. They include lack of recognition of women's sanitation needs, the need for safe, private places to bathe, secure spaces for single women and girls, lack of contraception, accessible sexual and reproductive health care, and legal measures to be taken against men who rape and abuse women. Reports of violence against women and increased domestic violence have been documented in all tsunami affected countries. Women from across the affected region came together in New York, March 2005 at the meeting of the UN Commission for the Status of Women to review the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. Through their efforts at that meeting, a United Nations Resolution was passed in which Governments made commitments to address gender issues and sexual abuse in disaster situations. Asia Pac J Public Health 2007; 19(Special Issue): 69.