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112. Violence against women is an obstacle to the achievement of the objectives of equality, development and peace. Violence against women both violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment by women of their human rights and fundamental freedoms. The long-standing failure to protect and promote those rights and freedoms in the case of violence against women is a matter of concern to all States and should be addressed. Knowledge about its causes and consequences, as well as its incidence and measures to combat it, have been greatly expanded since the Nairobi Conference. In all societies, to a greater or lesser degree, women and girls are subjected to physical, sexual and psychological abuse that cuts across lines of income, class and culture. The low social and economic status of women can be both a cause and a consequence of violence against women.
Beijing Declaration (1995)
One of the more touchy and important social problems to tackle in the modern period, in the MeToo moment, is the global social illness of violence against women, We are a violence primate species. No doubt about it.
However, this is not our only mode of operation. We can work in ways best fit for the moves of the ethical dial towards development, equality, and peace. There does seem to be some backlash to these efforts.
Invariably, these, probably, link to religious notions of the subordination of women, to sexist notions of men own or being in control of women, to political notions of women as unhinged and too emotional for public life, or deserving of the abuse received by men in their lives.
This is part of the normalcy or normalization of violence against women from attacks at suitability in public and political, and civic, life to sexual and physical abuse in the home. The main recognized forms of violence within the international community are psychological violence (or abuse), sexual violence, and physical violence.
Within these, we find the basic forms of violence against women and the fundamental forms in which women can be kept back in their success in life. The main ones, of course, being the derivative effects that can, or may, persist throughout life.
For those familiar with some of the calls or conversations in the Human Rights Social Interest here at the Good Men Project, we have the discussions on regions, nations, impacts, prevalences, solutions, and types, with the main types as “physical, sexual and psychological abuse” that do not have much regard for the socioeconomic status, ethnicity, age,or geography of the woman.
Some sectors or demographics of women are at greater risk. However, this is not a reason for despair. For sure, this remains an important emotional valence, an area for concern. But the concern can be moved past despair; in that, women have a far better time than at many prior times in history with the provision, at least in principle, of fundamental human rights, in addition to the fact that the conversation, as done through GMP elsewhere, is working to improve the status assumptions of women in conversations.
Some areas of the conversation will need more in-depth coverage and greater moral emphasis than others; however, the general acknowledgement and discussion, and dialogue, about the rights of women as person is new and increasing, which portends the demise of particular aspects of unhealthy international or global culture: consider this an age of changing some of the parts, houses, paints, and infrastructure of the Global Village.
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- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the Preamble, Article 16, and Article 25(2).
- Convention Against Discrimination in Education (1960) in Article 1.
- The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966) in Article 3, Article 7, and Article 13.
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966).
- Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979).
- Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984).
- The Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and the optional protocol (1993).
- Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995), Five-year review of progress (2000), 10-year review in 2005, the 15-year review in 2010, and the 20-year review in 2015.
- United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000), and the UN Security Council additional resolutions on women, peace and security: 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), 1889 (2009), 1960 (2010), 2106 (2013), 2122 (2013), and 2242 (2015).
- Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (2000).
- The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa or the “Maputo Protocol” (2003).
- Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence or the Istanbul Convention (2011) Article 38 and Article 39.
- UN Women’s strategic plan, 2018–2021
- 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- 2015 agenda with 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (169 targets for the end to poverty, combatting inequalities, and so on, by 2030). The SDGs were preceded by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) from 2000 to 2015.
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Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash