Beijing Declaration: Annex I(8) & Annex I(9)
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2018/08/23
8. The equal rights and inherent human dignity of women and men and other purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments, in particular the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women and the Declaration on the Right to Development;
9. Ensure the full implementation of the human rights of women and of the girl child as an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of all human rights and fundamental freedoms;
Beijing Declaration (1995)
The Beijing Declaration Annex I(8) and Annex I(9) state the fundamental basis of the international rights documents with the statement about equal rights and the inherent human dignity of men and women. This becomes an adherence or reiteration of the fundamental rights of and integrity of every human being regarding those rights. They have them as people.
In terms of the rights that are enshrined in a variety of international rights documents, we can find solace in the fact a) such documents exist for the extant signposts of what is valued on the international scene and b) for the indication that we mark these as international-consensus morals, and so universal morals, for the betterment of everyone.
In the realization of the rights and through the recognition of them through global communities organization, United Nations, and its rights documents, the activism and work can begin through the acknowledgment of the rights and then the critical examination of the gap between the rights as ideals and the reality in the rights violations.
The gap indications the degree to which work needs to be done in order to further instantiate the rights of women to be equal with men. In Annex I(8), there exists the recalling of a series of foundational rights documents coming from the United Nations. Then from this, it extends into the CEDAW covered in a series of earlier articles as well, also the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women.
In other words, there is a robust recognition of the prior work and the previous considerations about the rights of women in various international rights documents.
Annex I(9) continues to speak on the more complete implementation of the rights of women without the stipulation of the documents. But it remarks more or makes explicit statement aligned with the principles and spirit of the international rights documents rather than providing particular examples.
If we continue into the consideration of the rights of women and girls, the emphasis is on the inalienable part of it. These are core and not to be divided apart from the fundamental freedoms and human rights of women; whereas, if we did do that, we would consider them more as international sociocultural privileges rather than fundamental human rights.
The big idea behind the fundamental rights of women is to not have privileges – temporary benefits to potentially be revoked at any moment by some higher-order organizational power – but, rather, the inherent reflection of the worth of every man or women without divisiveness or lesser status due to their being a different religion, political party, ethnic grouping, linguistic collective, and what have you.
Annex I(8)-(9) speaks to the documents and the principles behind the human rights and inherent dignity of people.
–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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