Coalition Calls on Congress to Suspend Payments to U.N. Women for Pattern of Abuse Misinformation and Lies

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Rebecca Stewart

Telephone: 513-479-3335

Coalition Calls on Congress to Suspend Payments to U.N. Women for Pattern of Abuse Misinformation and Lies

WASHINGTON / December 2, 2021 – The Coalition to End Domestic Violence is calling on Congress to suspend its $8.5 million annual appropriation to U.N. Women until the group ceases its dissemination of domestic violence misinformation and lies.

Hundreds of research studies conducted around the world confirm that domestic violence victimizes men and women in approximately equal numbers (2). The U.S. Centers for Disease Control, for example, confirms that each year 4.2 million men and 3.5 million women are victims of domestic violence (3).

In contrast, UN Women recently released a report, “Violence Against Women During COVID-19,” that surveyed women in 13 countries (4). The study concluded that 1 in 2 women report that they, or a woman they know, have experienced violence since the COVID-19 pandemic, and that 7 and 10 women believe domestic violence has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Men were excluded from participating in the study.

A review of the survey questionnaire reveals numerous statements that are confusing, leading, or openly biased (5). For example, the survey instrument uses broad questions such as, “Please answer based on your knowledge of the experiences of you and the people in the area where you live” and “How, if at all, do you think physical harm, abuse, or harassment in the area where you live has changed since COVID-19?”

More problematic are leading questions such as, “[Male name] works in a repair shop, but lately the business has been bad, and they are worried about money. Sometimes when [Male name] gets stressed, he takes out his anger by yelling at [Female name], and sometimes he hits her. [Female name] feels hurt and wants him to stop but does not know what to do.”

The survey did not pose a similar question to elicit the occurrence of female-on-male abuse.

This is not the first time that UN Women has promoted a propaganda-like campaign that plays on men’s sense of chivalry and on women’s fears. In early 2020, the United Nations issued a series of press releases and reports on COVID featuring fear-eliciting terms such as “alarming upsurge,” “shadow pandemic of violence,” “horrifying global surge,” and more (6).

In contrast to the UN Women claims, an impartial analysis of hotline calls, police reports, and FBI data reveals there was no increase in domestic violence during the 2020 COVID pandemic. Indeed, some cities saw a decrease in abuse incidents (7).

Commentator Corrine Barraclough has noted, “The myth that domestic violence is surging in lockdown will become one of the biggest lies the gendered narrative leans on for additional funding.” (8) The Coalition to End Domestic Violence urges Congress to reject these extreme misrepresentations of fact and to suspend all appropriations to UN Women until it ceases this dishonest practice.

Links:

https://betterworldcampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/FY-19-Omnibus-Summary.pdf , page 2
https://equalitycanada.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Martin-Fiebert-2014-DV-study-abstracts.pdf
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey: 2015 Data Brief – Updated Release, Atlanta, Georgia. 2018. Tables 9 and 11.https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/2015data-brief508.pdf