—
Article 5
The organs and specialized agencies of the United Nations system should, within their respective fields of competence, contribute to the recognition and realization of the rights and the principles set forth in the present Declaration and, to this end, should, inter alia:
( c ) Foster coordination and exchange within the United Nations system between human rights treaty bodies to address the issue of violence against women effectively;
( d ) Include in analyses prepared by organizations and bodies of the United Nations system of social trends and problems, such as the periodic reports on the world social situation, examination of trends in violence against women;
The Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (1993).
The Declaration or the Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in Article 5(c) and Article 5(d) speaks to the areas of needed fostering of coordination and exchange and the proper means by which to include analyses for greater equality of the sexes. The stipulations relate to the fostering of a form of dialogue with the United Nations systems – organs and specialized agencies, for example – to work towards the further decrease in the Violence Against Women or VAW.
Not a small task and even with several large movements devoted to not only the Member States bound to the documents – where representatives of the countries signed them – but also to the regions of the world which include several countries or nations within each region and then all-the-way-up to the international community.
For the fostering of coordination and exchange with the systems of the United Nations or the UN, this becomes a colossal enterprise with no singular aspect of a solution; in fact, this often, as with many complex problems and issues, requires a complicated set of solutions to and then prior planning to figure out the probable paths of the next set of problems emerging from various subsets of implemented solutions.
Nothing in the world will by necessity come in neat little packages; oftentimes, it will come in messy packets with the need for the consideration of intended and unintended consequences and then secondary plans for the problems that will inevitably arise in the implementation of a hugely complex solution set to a multi-causal plural problem.
Article 5(d) speaks to the need to analyze the results of work in order for the bodies and organizations of the UN to be able to track the trends in the socio-cultural context as well as use the trends over time to indicate the statistically significant areas of problems or issue areas. If we can note the areas of problems for the elimination of VAW, then, as far as I am concerned and I suspect you agree with me, we can comprehend the proper areas for implementation of new solutions or course corrections.
With the analyses, we can know this, or even in general terms know the domains and regions with problems in gender equality through the reduction of VAW. There is a further statement about the “world social situation” in the periodic reports and then the examination of trends; this simply is a reiteration of the prior points.
The notion of a reduction in VAW through the acknowledgment of places where VAW has increased or may have decreased in general but some of the more severe forms including marital rape and murder have, in fact, increased over some specified period. Equality of the sexes will not happen in a short period of time, nor will this gender equality occur within our lifetimes possibly. But there can be consistent work in order to move the dial more towards equality over the long-term because none of this came from on high but from down low through the hard work of becoming more knowledgeable with reading – such as yourselves right now – and then through activism of the brave people who put their bodies on the line for the implementation of women’s rights.
Whether in the case of VAW or in reproductive health rights seen emerging in Argentina, in Ireland, in America, and elsewhere, we can observe the problems women face with stark clarity because of the communications technologies. Our basic needs are met but our rights have the need to be implemented for women to be feel safer and to actually be safer in the world. The implementations of recommendations, necessities, and reminder of rights are part and parcel of this process.
—
- 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 (1993).
- Beijing Declaration(1995).
- United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000).
- 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.
What’s your take on what you just read? Comment below or write a response and submit to us your own point of view or reaction here at the red box, below, which links to our submissions portal.
Got Writer’s Block?
Sign up for our Writing Prompts email to receive writing inspiration in your inbox twice per week.
If you believe in the work we are doing here at The Good Men Project, please join us as a Premium Member, today.
All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS.
Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
—
Photo by Hunter Bryant on Unsplash