Orange course to combat violence against women

During the activities of the study day on “violence against women” organized at the University of Boumerdes, last Thursday, the participants called for the necessity of continuous awareness of this scourge, which takes many forms, including “cyber” violence, after the great deterioration of smart technology and the growing interest for social communication. During the meeting, frightening facts and figures were presented that indicate a worrying increase in all forms of violence, especially within the same family, through cases of rape and incest.

The organization of the study day, on the occasion of the International Day against Violence against Women, which is celebrated on November 25 every year, was organized by the state office of the National Union of Algerian Women, in coordination with several partners. . This is the first time that an “orange” course has been organized to draw attention to the fight against all forms of violence against women. In this regard, the head of the aforementioned office, Yamena Bouziane, clarified for Al-Masa’a that “this course was divided into 3 workshops; the first workshop was chosen for her under the name of social protection, presenting interventions on several sides, while dissecting the reality of this social scourges, while the second workshop was devoted to defensive protection, by surveillance specialists in martial arts, to provide women with movement training to defend themselves, while the third workshop was called Economic Protection, drawing attention to learning a trade that enables women to open a productive companies, either as workers, students or staying at home, considering that one of the manifestations of women’s susceptibility to violence practiced on them is that they are poor, i.e. unemployed, and therefore they can accept bad treatment from someone who spends on her .”

Violence against women… visible and hidden forms

On the same topic, Al-Masaa, on the sidelines of the school day, spoke with sports advisor Soria Zarqinouh, who is the president of the national federation for the promotion of women’s sports in Boumerdes, where she confirmed that sports are a form of psychological treatment for abused women, talking about cases of abused women who were specially sent by doctors on duty to practice sports, due to cases of nervous breakdown to which they are exposed, “only to reduce the consequences of violence through team sports”, says our interlocutor.

She explained that most cases of violence are practiced by husbands, noting that there are “cases of violent wife beating, cases of wife rape and even other inappropriate practices… in addition to other cases of husbands depriving their wives of their monthly wages,” and the spokeswoman continued, confirming that during group sports therapy sessions, women are given space to relax, and sometimes even scream and cry, so that they can vent their pent-up feelings, as she sadly points out that similar cases are becoming more common not only among married women, but even among male and female students, inviting them to defensive sports courses, so that they could defend themselves against any cases of physical violence that would be perpetrated on them, especially in the street.

Among the cases of violence recorded in our society, the Chief Police Officer, Yahya Abdel Rahman, from the Department for the Protection of Vulnerable Groups in the State Security of Boumerdes, spoke about the recording of 70 cases of violence against women during the first ten months of 2022, and the Insurance Representative is with great spoke with regret and sadness about the increase in cases of violence against women of all age groups, and believes that the figure of 70 cases is “large and unacceptable, i.e. 70 women who are victims of all kinds of physical and verbal violence, and even victims of intentional murder.” Among the registered cases; 17 cases of abuse, 14 cases of sexual abuse, mostly minors, including the case of a 15-year-old girl who was raped by her father, and six cases of rape were also recorded, including a 16-year-old girl. the victim, and the other cases were caused by beating and wounding. intentionally. As for the aggressors, they are, in order, the husband, brother and son, and it is about handling in two cases, among which is the case of an 80-year-old woman who was attacked by her son (age 40) with a deliberate beating. foreigners on women and minors.

“Cyber” crime… Another type of violence against women

Police officer Yahya explains that there is another type of violence that is becoming more and more common in our society and that should be called out, which is “cyber” violence, because students are directly exposed to it, blackmail, threats and slander on social media, asking is it because lack of attention He called on the girls not to succumb to blackmailers and to file a report against them directly, pointing out that there is a specialized security team made up of female police officers who are trained to deal with such cases in complete secrecy.

For her part, the media officer in the regional group of the National Gendarmerie, Captain Maryam Medini, presented frightening figures on the cases of violence against women recorded during the 10 months of the current year 2022, noting that 358 women were victims of violence in various offenses investigated in the area of ​​jurisdiction gendarmerie, including exploitation. In 45 cases, in which 21 women were killed, in addition to actions that led to or aimed at death in one case, in which a woman was killed by her husband, while cases related to violation of private life were also recorded in 286 cases, in which 201 women died, and cases of theft using violence were recorded in 35 cases and 5 female victims. The same security body recorded 946 cases of theft in buildings, of which 130 were women. Captain Madini spoke as a representative of the state security, who confirmed that “cyber” crime is on an alarming rise, and most of its victims are women, specifically students, inviting them to come forward and submit reports without shame. or hesitation, so that this crime caused by social networks is besieged, through slander and blackmail, sometimes to the point of suicide, with the explanation that investigations in such cases are confidential.