Beijing Platform for Action. Chapter IV. D. Violence Against Women Paragraph 124(l)-(n)
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2019/01/15
Strategic objective D.1.
Take integrated measures to prevent and eliminate violence against women
Actions to be taken
124. By Governments:
l. Create or strengthen institutional mechanisms so that women and girls can report acts of violence against them in a safe and confidential environment, free from the fear of penalties or retaliation, and file charges;
m. Ensure that women with disabilities have access to information and services in the field of violence against women;
n. Create, improve or develop as appropriate, and fund the training programmes for judicial, legal, medical, social, educational and police and immigrant personnel, in order to avoid the abuse of power leading to violence against women and sensitize such personnel to the nature of gender-based acts and threats of violence so that fair treatment of female victims can be assured;
Beijing Declaration (1995)
The Beijing Declaration deals with a substantial amount of material. But it also manages the presentation with specific sections. This particular set of paragraphs looks into the aspects of violence against women.
In these cases, the emphasis in 124(l) is either the strengthening of the gaps for women in terms of the institutional mechanisms available to them over the ability of women and girls to report violence against them to the appropriate authorities.
Within this context, we can see the general perspective of the need for a “safe and confidential environment” devoid of coercion or standard coercive techniques related to the fear of potential retribution for coming out about the abuse of the woman.
Then with this respect for the accuser, there can be a proper process, if found to be a legitimate charge, for the filing of charges against the individual who committed the act of violence against women. All parties deserve respect these conditions and, thus, require respect for due process while also taking into account the prior data; that is to say, if we take the rape statistics within the United States, after review of several cases, and in one set of research by the Home Office of the United Kingdom, only 8% of rape allegations turn out false or, more accurately, unfounded.
This makes the probability scales much different in terms of the overall framework of the accused and accuser. It does not set about a guilty soul, but, insofar as the data and not some whimsical vengeance narrative tells us, it seems rather clear and almost stark as to the nature of violence against women with, in this case, only 8% of rape cases as unfounded.
This next line focuses on women with disabilities, where the nature of a life of a person is more difficult than most other peoples; however, this fact of disability does not reduce the value and the seriousness of a rape allegation.
In fact, as we can see in one of the grotesque stories coming out of the news, we can see the ways in which a woman without consent but disabled – i.e., an unconscious woman – was impregnated while in a coma and then gave birth, also in a coma. Obviously, the moral consideration here is independent of disability; the ethical non-quandary comes from the violence against a woman in a vulnerable state.
Information and access to conscious women who also have disabilities is important and does not reduce in any way the severity – or should not – of the situation; nonetheless, we can see the general tenor of the sentence: dry, factual, but supportive. Information or data and services, whether initiatives or programs, for women with disabilities to know about violence against women.
One of, on an individual basis certainly, the lowest crimes possible. The last section of this particular set of stipulations works within the framework training programmes at all levels of the society without respect to a particular focus. Literally, the focus becomes “judicial, legal, medical, social, educational and police and immigrant personnel” within societies and organizations.
Those pieces of training, as we have seen in other contexts, are an explicit effort to reduce and eventually eliminate the level of violence against women. The nature of hierarchical structures does imply, by their nature, power imbalances; power imbalances, without the appropriate checks and balances, that can be abused, whether by Christians against Indigenous populations, whites against minorities, or men against women, where the long history of much of the world reflects these truths coming through narratives or stories.
They do not need to be the future. There can be a healthier path. But it will require concerted efforts in line with some of the stipulations above-mentioned. It is providing a basis for awareness of all parties as to what is and is not acceptable, and then knowing how to deal with it in a strict procedural and respectful manner, and then having the mechanisms in place to do it.
–(Updated 2018-11-10) 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 and the optional protocol (1993).
- Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995), Five-year review of progress (2000), 10-year review in 2005, the 15-year review in 2010, and the 20-year review in 2015.
- United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000), and the UN Security Council additional resolutions on women, peace and security: 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), 1889 (2009), 1960 (2010), 2106 (2013), 2122 (2013), and 2242 (2015).
- 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.
- UN Women’s strategic plan, 2018–2021
- 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- 2015 agenda with 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (169 targets for the end to poverty, combatting inequalities, and so on, by 2030). The SDGs were preceded by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) from 2000 to 2015.
–Human Rights
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Led by: Scott Douglas JacobsenTo the socio-political Right, a disclaimer; to the socio-political Left, a trigger warning: the subject matter may be disturbing or triggering for some listeners, speakers, or call members. The statistics on international violence against women is disproportionately more than violence against men. In turn, there is violence against women committed by women against women but more often by men against women. It is the statistical difference, which is the basis for the international emphasis on violence against women in multiple spheres rather than localized differences. Wednesday morning, we will speak on violence against women for one hour or so.
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