Gender-Based Violence: Gender-based violence includes all kinds of violence that a person is exposed to because of his/her sex and gender. When it comes to violence, the first thing that usually comes to mind is physical violence, but forms of psychological violence are as prevalent as physical violence and adversely affect one’s body and soul integrity.
Discrimination: Discrimination is often made for reasons such as race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, profession, age, language, religion, belief, national or social origin, property, disability, political or other opinions. Discrimination also includes obstacles to the recognition of one´s liberty or restrictions of such. A discriminatory treatment can be made indirectly for obvious reasons, or indirectly by ignoring or not observing special needs.
Hate speech: Hate speech means any written or verbal forms of expression including racist, gender and heterosexist hate, xenophobia, as well as intolerant, insulting and threatening expressions. Hate speech promotes, encourages, defends and justifies other forms of hate, such as nationalism, racism or patriarchy, discrimination and hostility towards minorities and migrants.
Hate crime: Hate crime means violent crimes against individuals or groups that are committed because of race, language, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, occupation or ethnicity. Hate crimes might also occur as a result of systematic violence and discrimination.
Violence: Violence means all kinds of acts and actions that hurt the life, freedom, will, health and integrity of the exposed person. It includes acts and actions which temporarily or permanently hinder a person’s existence. Violent behaviors are undertaken by the perpetrator for various material and moral interests, such as demonstrating superiority or domination over the opponent, enforcing the desired state and action, showing superiority, earning respect or similar.
Physical Violence: Physical violence includes all kinds of attacks on the body, including actions such as slapping, kicking, shaking, choking, scaring, hair pulling, forcing someone to live in unhealthy conditions, torturing and killing.
Psychological (emotional) violence: Psychological violence targets the mental health and integrity of a person. This might include repetitive actions that are extreme, persistent, and repetitive. Examples for psychological violence are actions such as constant shouting, scaring, swearing and insulting, restricting communication with others, interfering with someone’s clothing, damaging objects, hurting animals, threatening and blackmailing.
Economic violence: Economic violence is the use of material resources and economic power for reasons such as punishments, threats and control. Economic violence also includes punishing a person by not giving her/him money (even though the financial situation might allow it), confiscate goods and souvenirs, prevent a person from working or force a person to work – all without the person’s consent.
Sexual violence: Sexual violence means that someone is forced to sexual acts without consent. Sexual coercion can have different forms and dimensions such as harassment or rape. During sexual violence, a person is forced to have sexual intercourse without any consent. Sexual violence is even possible while being married.
Sexual violence might also include sexual harassment, forcing someone to produce sexually explicit material, harming sexual organs, forcing someone to sexual contact in exchange for money, forcing someone to abort or forcing someone to be pregnant, having virginity control of women, and others.
Sexual harassment: Sexual harassment includes persistent and involuntary sexual approaches, speaking, behaviors and contacts. Sexual harassment can be committed by words, glances, body language, mail and e-mail. It can also be done by messaging, kissing or sending gifts that are unwanted by the other person and that imply sexuality.
Sexual abuse: Sexual abuse occurs if a person is involuntarily used for sexual behaviors of others, namely if a person is abused, and forced by others for their sexual purposes without consent.
Incest: Incest means sexual intercourse with close relatives such as mother, father, sister, grandparent, uncle, aunt.
Incest might occur with our without consent. Sexual intercourse between close relatives might also be a result of sexual abuse and sexual harassment based on threatening, deception, oppressing, coercing. Incest is very difficult to understand as it is a social taboo.
Intimate Partner Violence: Intimate Partner Violence includes any kinds of behavior of control or domination that may be harmful to partners or ex-partners at different levels. It includes actions such as observing, monitoring disdaining, questioning, isolation or restricting friendships of the other person. Furthermore, it includes not taking responsibility for events, threatening self-harm or threatening suicide.
Digital violence: Digital violence includes all different kinds of threats such as emailing, text messaging, social media messaging and other technology and digital-based methods, blackmailing, abuse, etc. Digital violence also includes all sorts of behaviors leading to general violence because of the use of digital instruments.
Domestic violence: Domestic violence includes all sorts of behaviors and attitudes that cause physical, psychological, economic and sexual violence. Domestic violence describes a violent situation among persons who are family members or persons who share the same household or living environment.
Stalking: Stalking means the persistent and willful following of a person. Stalking might also include the acts of spying on the life of a partner or ex-partner, pressure on the other to know when and where that person is/was, constant phone calls, repetitive behavior over a period of time, frightening and suppression.
Human trafficking: Human trafficking is the sale and disposition of persons against money for sexual slavery, forced labor or sexual exploitation. Human Trafficking can be made for different purposes such as buying a person for marriage, forcing a person to the sale of his/her organs and tissues, or forcing someone to make a surrogacy or external fertilization.
Commercial sexual exploitation of children: The commercial sexual exploitation of children means that children are forced to sexual intercourse with adults. These children are used for other people’s sexual pleasure in exchange for money, goods or benefits. The children might be put into this situation by relatives or strangers.
Punishment of violence
The fact that violence is not visible does not mean that violence does not exist and does not affect people in a negative way. In fact, violence might not be physically visible but still affect people very seriously.
Any form of violence must be prevented and the perpetrator of violence must be punished and made responsible for it.
Social justifications for violence such as honor, tradition and customs (including arguments such as “non-marital relationships”, “child ownership”, “non-virginity”, “divorce”, “separation”, “wish to work”) are often cited as justifications for violent behavior. However, such excuses for one´s behavior do not at all mitigate the responsibility and punishment for any violent behavior.
