How does gender-based violence relate to other key issues affecting the global poor today?
When Enela’s* husband died, she was left with no source of income other than a small plot of land, which her father-in-law attempted to seize. Through IJM intervention, Enela’s rights were protected by the courts, and her father-in-law’s intimidation ceased. Enela now raises chickens on land she bought with the proceeds from the sale of her property and has built a new home that she lives in peacefully. HB: I think that it is not going too far to say the world will never successfully confront the global AIDS pandemic if it does not simultaneously confront the epidemic of sexual violence in the world today, because sexual violence is behind women and girls’ vulnerability to the disease. The unique vulnerabilities in sex trafficking, in marital rape, in domestic violence and in child rape all have very profound implications for the AIDS pandemic. The prevalence of HIV in many Asian and African countries puts rape victims at very high risk for not just physical and mental trauma from the
