Paragraph 4 of the Beijing Platform for Action, Chapter I: Mission Statement
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2018/09/01
4. The Platform for Action requires immediate and concerted action by all to create a peaceful, just and humane world based on human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the principle of equality for all people of all ages and from all walks of life, and to this end, recognizes that broad-based and sustained economic growth in the context of sustainable development is necessary to sustain social development and social justice.
Beijing Declaration (1995)
Observing the developments of the modern world, of the last couple to few decades of global history, we have seen unprecedented levels of education for women, equality for females with males, and implementation of the full rights of the women – not in full but with continued work towards their instantiation in all areas. Individuals pushing against them, of which there are plenty, are a continual force for the reduction in the equality of women in societies, whether for mythological, religious, or sex-based reasons.
The collective and concerted effort for more peace and justice in the world comes in the form of human rights and freedoms. People capable of making decisions as to what they deem best for their lives rather than imposed from the top-down onto them; and the same with the women of the world. This has been the continual fight for the equality movements. And they have effects. But there is a modern pushback seen with whipping up hysterias about postmodernists and Marxists from decades prior to implement and justify regressive social and cultural movements.
One based on the instantiation of human rights and fundamental freedoms. This principle of equality comes in a variety of forms with one of the more poignant generalities with the inclusion of all people of all ages, and every walk of life. If any person is left out of these considerations, then the idea of “human” in human rights becomes unjustifiable as the idea of human rights comes from a principle of universality.
There is a basis for the implementation of the Platform for Action in human rights and equality considerations for the sexes. But I like the emphasis in this paragraph with the declaration of economic growth with sustainable development. We could not have the proper level of development of the societies without the idea of a sustainable development plan. We see this more and more in the conversations about the reality of climate change, the inability of the natural systems of the environment to manage our total waste products, the continued influence of non-biodegradable materials including plastics, and the massive amounts of waste from non-renewable manufacturing and energy sources.
Our generations alive now have a colossal set of problems ahead of us. However, this should not prevent the implementation of our rights and others. And the future that we were given by our forebears should be similar, as a matter of principle, survival of the species, and ethics, be handed down to the next generations. Plus, we will be living in the environmentally degraded world well into the future as well if we do not get our collective acts together regarding the climate and the ecosystem deterioration through active work on sustainable economic growth and development.
It can help provide a basis for social justice too, as women and the minorities of the populations tend to get the short ends of the sticks in the provisions of the societies in which they inhabit. There will always be women and always be statistically smaller proportions of the society. The question then becomes the basis upon which to create a fairer, more just and equitable society.
One of the basic means by which to do this is to take note of the principles of equality and universality seen in the orientation of the human rights and the fundamental freedoms of the United Nations. Then once taken into account, these can form a basis for the further equality of the genders in societies. Besides, with more people involved in the economic livelihood of the culture, there is more net productivity as a boon to an economic conservative point of view and more freedoms and economic inclusion of women as a positive to the social liberal point of view.
–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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