Committee: General Assembly 3 (GA3)

Issue: Consequences of Harmful Traditional Practices on Women

Delegate: Delegate of Haiti

Introduction
For many years, Harmful traditional practices have become a huge problem in our society.
They are identified, and based on age, life stage, gender, and social class. As both uneducated
and educated, poor and wealthy, employed and unemployed women encounter abuse at the
hands of men, it becomes difficult to determine what elements put women at the greatest risk.
Consequences of such practices are a deterioration of physical, physiological and
psychological health.
Female genital mutilation (FGM), early forced marriages, and son preferences cause many
consequences dealing with a girl’s physical and mental condition. Widowhood rituals and
accusations of witchcraft levy on older women. Accompanying these traditional harmful
practices many more like; honour killings, dowry related violence/ bride price, acid violence,
bride burning and many more, mess with the psychological and physical state of a female
being.
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Explaining the problem

140 million girls/women have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) and the consequences
engender tetanus (serious bacterial infection), blood poisoning, long-lasting psychological and physical
scars and sickness or death due to infection. FGM is majorly practiced in many countries like Djibouti,
Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Mali, Gambia, and many more.
Child marriage is also a crucial disruption of a child’s life, though the female gender in most likely to
experience such traditional harmful practice. This not only influences the loss of childhood in a female’s
life but the loss of education as well. Child marriage endangers one’s health as through sexual activity
the victim can get HIV/AIDS, plus the aspect that makes it even more harmful is that one’s body isn’t
even fully developed, yet many girls even less than 18 years old get married right away as they have no
choice and no voice in the matter.
Many people traditionally believe that having a son is advantageous as they raise the family
name and that daughters don’t. Preference for sons means neglection, deprivation and
discriminatory treatment of daughters. Disparity between males and females access to
education, leaves women in lifelong positions of economic and social disadvantages.
Violence against women occur in all three levels in Haiti: physical, sexual and psychological.
After the great earthquake that took place in January 2010 near the capital of Haiti – Port-Au-
Prince -, violence against women was frequently mentioned in the media, yet even prior to
the disaster, abuse was occurring during times of political turmoil. The earthquake
exacerbated insecure living situations in addition to stripping women of housing and food
securities. Gender-based violence meant women had to perform sexual favours for basic
necessities. It is expected that the poorest and the least educated women are most vulnerable
and since Haiti comes in the third-world countries, more than 80% of the Haitian population
lives under the poverty line. The Haitian women are found to be more than
twice as likely to face sexual violence as the women in the Dominican republic.

Past resolutions made

The UN has begun to engage keenly to assure that women and young girls are kept guarded,
unharmed and no longer are vulnerable to these practices that disrupt their rights and take
away the empowerment that they deserve. In one of the past conferences (Nicole Romulus)
The delegate of Haiti said “efforts must be aimed at creating a world in which the
discrepancy in equality between full and partial citizens was non-existent.” (October 2001)
In recent years there has been some progress like regional campaigns aimed at addressing the
severe issue of violence against women had been proposed. Haiti has introduced micro-credit
schemes aimed at mainstreaming women.
-the UNFPA has recently installed hundreds of solar-powered street lamps, with plans to
continue installing more. These lamps are playing a role in making women feel safer while
walking within their camps.
-Rape (a form of sexual violence) was made illegal by the Haitian government recently in
2005.
-the number of camp patrols has been strengthened; There are now nearly 9,000 UN
Peacekeepers, more than 1,200 UN Police force members, and over 2,300 police officers
from formed police units.
-There is also a clear indication that school enrolment for girls had increased.
Equality must go hand in hand with full recognition of women’s rights, as well as a
recognition of women as human beings with specific needs, considerations and the capacity
to make important, creative contributions to society as a whole.

Links used:
https://www.girlsglobe.org/2014/02/24/harmful-traditional-practices-a-great-barrier-to-womens-
empowerment/

http://www.genderhub.org/get-in-the-know/resource-library/harmful-traditional-practices-
affecting-women-girls/

http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/elim-disc-viol-
girlchild/ExpertPapers/EP.4%20%20%20Raswork.pdf

https://www.un.org/press/en/2001/gashc3641.doc.htm

https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/10161/3738/The%20Hidden%20Epidemic
%20-%20Violence%20against%20Women%20in%20Haiti.pdf;sequence=1

http://notenoughgood.com/2012/05/haitian-women-living-in-fear/