Ending Violence Against Women and Natural Fibres
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Trusted Clothes (Unpublished)
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2016
Natural fibres, as opposed to synthetic or man-made fibres, have a long history, and as with most things that tend to gain traction over the long haul.[i],[ii] They, well, develop many, many associations with lots of unlikely things and people. That include famous people, prominent places, various associations and organizations that are purposed one cause or another, and so on and so forth. In the case of moral causes such as the international campaign to end violence against women, it’s come along the way of many people and organizations throughout the world.
And in the midst of these interactions, whether with individuals or groups, they’ve found allies. Let’s take, for example, the specific relationship, relevant to Trusted Clothes, of natural fibres, textiles, and so on, and the international campaign to end violence against women.
First, some information on the international campaign to end violence against women; and then, second, some information about the relationship between the two – ending violence against women and natural fibres. Who’s involved? Innumerable individuals and multiple prominent organizations. Amnesty international is, obviously, an international organization with sectors devoted to women’s rights as fundamental in and of themselves, and as an extension of humans rights as well.[iii]
An organ of the United Nations called United Nations Women devotes substantial resources to this endeavour as an international organization bound by various agreements amongst member states of the United Nations.[iv]
What’s the United Nations, exactly? The United Nations was founded in 1945 throughout the world via international agreement as a replacement for the League of Nations.[v],[vi]
Countries – 193 of them – that are a part of it are called member states, and these, in varying numbers, are a part of the main bodies, bodies, and various committees: General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice, the Secretariat, and others.[vii]
Everyone’s leaders are, in most cases most of the time, aiming to contribute to the flourishing and wellbeing of their respective, and other member states’, citizens and the solution to pervasive problems, such as violence against women. Why wouldn’t they?
We have International Women’s Day, Women’s Equality Day, and Women’s History Month, but the serious work comes from organizing, planning, and implementing on the national and international stage as opposed to small contributions through celebrations. Also, United Nations Women has been up to some neat things, and saying just as good, positive things of high morla calibre. Like what?
Women’s right to live free from violence is upheld by international agreements such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), especially through General Recommendations 12 and 19, and the 1993 UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women.[viii]
Here they’re talking about more the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which seems self-explanatory as an attempt to substantiate the end to the violence against women through human rights claims – where women’s rights are human rights.[ix],[x]
It’s tautological.
Or their General recommendation No. 12: Violence against women, which states “legislation in force to protect women against the incidence of all kinds of violence in everyday life (including sexual violence, abuses in the family, sexual harassment at the workplace, etc.)” in its primary stipulation.[xi]
Even General recommendation No. 19: Violence against women, which states “Gender-based violence is a form of discrimination that seriously inhibits women’s ability to enjoy rights and freedoms on a basis of equality with men,” and that’s pretty unequivocal.[xii]
Or take the February 23, 1994, Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, too.[xiii] Another self-explaining document for the prevention of violence against women.
And onward into the United Nations Women Commission on the Status of Women, further details in the endnote, but another high-level and international compilation and coordination of efforts for the end to violence against women – a global problem.[xiv]
Finally, this comes to home, for many of us reading here, the Government of Canada has implemented actions in five main areas including:
Support for Victims of Crime[xv]
Protecting Aboriginal Women and Girls[xvi]
Combatting Human Trafficking[xvii]
Preventing Violence Against Women and Girls[xviii]
Addressing Family Violence[xix]
So it’s national, and definitely international, and ubiquitous – everywhere. Where does this lead? I think into the aspects that are relevant to the textile industry and natural fibre materials harvest, manufacture, and distribution network, too.
And with all of these taken into the general accounting of the issue concerning the war, or the fight (ironic terms), or the international efforts and movements, and organizing, to end violence against women as much as possible (no utopia expected), it can, and does, relate in its own way to textile industries and their associated materials.
It can be the small stories such as those reported by UN Women reported on some of the on-the-ground activities for the benefit of women, as follows:
In Colombia, through the business venture ‘PROVOKAME’, rural women produce, market, and distribute biodegradable plates made from natural fibres, recycled paper and seeds that may germinate after disposal.
In Uganda, BanaPads Social Enterprise employs young rural women to manufacture and distribute sanitary pads produced from natural agricultural waste materials. The enterprise provides young entrepreneurial ‘champions’ with a complete start-up kit of inventory, training and marketing support.
No need to comprehend the deep details of the geography, culture, people, or the style of manufacturing, but the important point from these two examples is the bottom-up organizing of by rural women in terms of “natural agricultural waste materials” and “biodegradable plates made from natural fibres, recycled paper and seeds that may germinate after disposal.” That’s so cool.
This is the kind of thing that Trusted Clothes is about; and not only that, these are windows into other activities and people doing the same or similar things all over the world with natural fibres and other environmentally conscientious and ethically conscious materials.
It can be the big stories, too, such as an entire people. For instance, Amnesty International reports on the indigenous peoples of Colombia and, in particular, the “principal economic activity of the Zenú is agriculture and beautiful weaving with natural fibres. Like other Indigenous Peoples, the Zenú have suffered grave human rights abuses as they have sought to defend their territory and their rights.”[xx]
One can imagine their human rights being violated in this way, and as with many areas of violation of fundamental human rights, there’s concomitant violence against women, and children.
[i] natural fibre. (2016). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/topic/natural-fiber
[ii] man-made fibre. (2016). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/technology/man-made-fiber.
[iii] Amnesty International. (2016). Women’s Rights Are Human Rights.
[iv] UN Women. (2016). Ending violence against women.
[v] United Nations. (2016). Overview.
[vi] League of Nations. (2016). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/topic/League-of-Nations.
[vii] United Nations (UN). (2016). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/topic/United-Nations.
[viii] UN Women. (2016). Ending violence against women.
[ix] United Nations Humans Rights Office of the High Commissioner. (1979, December 18). Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women New York, 18 December 1979. Retrieved from http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CEDAW.aspx.
[x] Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). (2016). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/topic/Convention-on-the-Elimination-of-All-Forms-of-Discrimination-Against-Women.
[xi] United Nations Humans Rights Office of the High Commissioner. (1989). *General recommendation No. 12: Violence against women.
[xii] United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner. (1992). General recommendation No. 19: Violence against women.
[xiii] United Nations General Assembly. (1994, February 23).Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women.
[xiv] United Nations Women. (n.d.). Commission on the Status of Women.
[xv] Government of Canada: Status of Women Canada. (2013, December 5). Support for Victims of Crime.
[xvi] Government of Canada: Status of Women Canada. (2013, December 5). Protecting Aboriginal Women and Girls.
[xvii] Government of Canada: Status of Women Canada. (2013, December 5). Combating Human Trafficking.
[xviii] Government of Canada: Status of Women Canada. (2013, December 5). Preventing Violence against Women and Girls.
[xix] Government of Canada: Status of Women Canada. (2013, December 5). Addressing Family Violence.
[xx] Amnesty International. (2015). The Peoples.
License
In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.
Copyright
© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.
In-Sight Publishing 