Dark underbelly of the world's most 'peaceful' countries

Some nations that rank well in the Global Peace Index are notorious for violence against women and children.

By Riane Eisler

from the July 26, 2007 edition

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Pacific Grove, Calif. - The first-ever study ranking countries according to their level of peacefulness, the Global Peace Index, was recently published by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Sensibly, its basic premise is that "peace isn't just the absence of war; it's the absence of violence."

The index uses 24 indicators such as how many soldiers are killed, the level of violent crimes, and relations with neighboring countries.

Yet it fails to include the most prevalent form of global violence: violence against women and children, often in their own families. To put it mildly, this blind spot makes the index very inaccurate.

Glancing at the list shows why. Out of 121 countries studied, the United States ranked 96; Israel was 119. But Libya, Cuba, and China – not exactly paragons of human rights – rank 58, 59, and 60.

A closer examination reveals some of the sources of distortion:

•For example, Egypt was ranked 73. But more than 90 percent of Egyptian girls and women are subjected to genital mutilation. This gruesome practice causes many lifelong physical problems and claims the lives of countless women. It's a terrible form of violence, but it wasn't included in the index, otherwise Egypt would have ranked much lower.

•United Arab Emirates (UAE) is 38, but this does not count the jockey slave trade of little boys for the camel races that are a favorite sport in this area. These children have a record of being treated worse than the camels, subjected to whippings and other violence, and intentionally malnourished so they won't weigh much. To its credit, the UAE banned the use of underage camel jockeys in 2005. According to the US State Department: “...all identified victims were repatriated at the government’s expense to their home countries. Questions persist as to the effectiveness of the ban, and the number of victims is still unidentified.” If this violence, as well as the violence of "honor killings" of girls and women in the Middle East were included, such nations would rank much lower. [Editor's note: This has been changed from the original version, which neglected to add that the UAE banned the use of underage camel jockeys in 2005. According to the US State Department: “...all identified victims were repatriated at the government’s expense to their home countries. Questions persist as to the effectiveness of the ban, and the number of victims is still unidentified.”]

•China ranked 60, but female infanticide is still a major problem, as shown by the imbalanced ratio of males to females there.

•Chile ranked 16, but as in many Latin American nations (and nations worldwide), the incidence of wife battering is extremely high. For example, although this violence is still rarely prosecuted or officially reported, 26 percent of Chilean women suffered at least one episode of violence by a partner, according to a 2000 UNICEF study.

The authors of the Global Peace Index expressed hope that it will lead to a new approach to the study of peace. They also said they plan to expand their criteria for future indexes. This expansion must start with major changes in the 10 "measures of societal safety and security."

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