Paragraph 37 of the Beijing Platform for Action, Chapter II: Global Framework
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2018/09/17
37. According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, by the beginning of 1995 the number of cumulative cases of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) was 4.5 million. An estimated 19.5 million men, women and children have been infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) since it was first diagnosed and it is projected that another 20 million will be infected by the end of the decade. Among new cases, women are twice as likely to be infected as men. In the early stage of the AIDS pandemic, women were not infected in large numbers; however, about 8 million women are now infected. Young women and adolescents are particularly vulnerable. It is estimated that by the year 2000 more than 13 million women will be infected and 4 million women will have died from AIDS-related conditions. In addition, about 250 million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases are estimated to occur every year. The rate of transmission of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, is increasing at an alarming rate among women and girls, especially in developing countries.
Beijing Declaration (1995)
The WHO or the World Health Organization, as many of you know, is an important and reliable international source of information about the health and wellness of the global community. In 1995, it was important. Now, it remains salient, arguably even more so. One of the biggest tragedies is the spread of HIV/AIDS. Unsafe conditions create the world where diseases can spread faster.
As if one does surgery prior to an era of there being the knowledge about germs and, in fact, the washing of your hands with a disinfectant would be a good idea, it would save lives. The idea of preventative measures against the spread of disease match this with the ongoing HIV/AIDS spread around the world. At the time, there were an estimated 19.5 million people infected with HIV. An estimated 37 million people live with HIV circa 2017. The number has almost doubled in other words.
Women, as per many of the negative aspects of life, were, statistically, far more likely to be infected than the men in societies ravaged by it. The young the woman then the more vulnerable the woman. That is to say, HIV/AIDS infection is a risk of the young and of women. If you are a young woman, you are particularly vulnerable to infection and then all the attendant consequences in life coming from it.
Interestingly, and I did not know this, the earlier periods of the global AIDs pandemic came with more men, unfortunately, being disproportionately being affected by it. Then over time, women began to be infected at higher and higher rates to produce the current situation for us. It is an interesting fact of history. Now, more men are infected, which is a travesty and a series of tragedies needing sympathy and compassion. Men need more help regarding the established cases of HIV/AIDS.
The newer cases are more often women. That is, the women of the world will be more probable to be infected by the AIDS virus than the men. In other words, women are more the concern in terms of the new cases coming down the pipe, for those who are potentially going to be infected by the virus. It raises not only women’s rights issues about health and wellbeing but also the human rights in general with different emphases.
For the men, they need help in management and helping cure-finding efforts; for the women, they need assistance with their prevention from the acquisition of the virus, which, as everyone through the cultural zeitgeist of knowledge understands, inflicts lifelong negative health effects and eventually death if not managed. The human body is incredibly fragile and subject to easy death.
The major concern at the time was the rapid rise in the transmission of HIV/AIDS around the world. The young and women are the most often subject to its transmission but also those young women who live in the penurious circumstances of developing nations. This continues to be a major women’s rights concern in terms of potential new cases and a men’s human rights issues for those who already have it.
–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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