Article 5(a) and Article 5(b) – The Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2018/08/18
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:
( a ) Foster international and regional cooperation with a view to defining regional strategies for combating violence, exchanging experiences and financing programmes relating to the elimination of violence against women;
( b ) Promote meetings and seminars with the aim of creating and raising awareness among all persons of the issue of the elimination of 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(a) and Article 5(b) states the areas of equality for women in regards to the geographic scale of cooperation in combatting Violence Against Women or VAW and the means by which to raise awareness. The raising of awareness is not a trivial matter.
It can be taken as one of the significant markers for the contributions to the larger movements, so it can place everyone on, more or less, the same playing field to be able to enact the fight for fundamental rights and, in this case, the elimination of VAW.
The opening statement of Article 5 speaks to the subunits of the United Nations or the UN. The various organs and specialized agencies working in concert for the larger aims and implementations of the initiatives of the UN. Within this framework, there can be a general implementation of the work for reduced and eventually eliminated VAW.
But it needs to be done through the proper procedures or through mass popular movements. However, through the more formal channels, these can help with the implementation of rights given many of the international rights documents including Declaration have been signed by Member States of the UN.
That makes for a firmer foundation upon which to ground efforts for the reduction of discrimination and VAW. In article 5(a), we see some interesting stipulations points about the need to foster international and regional cooperation. In this context, a region can be a massive geographic area, e.g. the Middle East and North Africa or the MENA region. So, nothing to be trifled with in terms of sheer size.
Then we can also see the development of the forms and focus of the strategies around VAW. The exchange of experience and financing programmes is, in fact, a brilliant tactic to further the efficacy of regional strategies for the elimination of VAW. If one programme does not work as well as another, or another can do the same towards the reduction of VAW through a different methodology and fewer financial resources, then the knowledge of the latter group’s methodology for the former group would help with the regional efforts, the overarching targeted objective, of the reduction in VAW.
Article 4(b) states the promotion of activities for the raising of awareness and education about the problem of VAW. One of them is the promotion of meetings. The ability of people to come together, coordinate, organize, and work for the reduction and eventual elimination of VAW. Nothing guaranteed in any effort but the contributions of meetings for the exchange of ideas, knowledge, and strategies is an important facet of the elimination of VAW.
The other form of activity emphasized for promotion is seminars. These can particularly important for the improvement of knowledge about specific issues of relevance to the community of conscience or becoming more aware of the issues facing the females of the species around VAW. The raising of awareness simply translates into the raising of consciousness.
In this regard, it becomes akin to the women’s movements of the 60s and 70s in the United States, where women and some men identified structures of obvious discrimination and oppression beyond the right to vote and then used this to work towards greater equality between the sexes in order for women to have more equality with the men.
It’s often recollected as the raising of consciousness by a variety of women’s movements. It is important to remind ourselves of this, as women are half of the population and often condescended to – while, at the same time, they came forward in some force in the 60s and 70s asking fundamental questions about the relationships between men and women and then positing what might a more equitable society, family, and workplace look like for women and men.
–One can find similar statements in other documents, conventions, declarations and so on, with the subsequent statements of equality or women’s rights:
- 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.
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