Beijing Platform for Action. Chapter IV Paragraph 147(l)
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2019/03/18
Strategic objective E.5.
Provide protection, assistance and training to refugee women, other displaced women in need of international protection and internally displaced women
Actions to be taken
147. By Governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and other institutions involved in providing protection, assistance and training to refugee women, other displaced women in need of international protection and internally displaced women, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Food Programme, as appropriate:
l. Provide, as appropriate, women who have been determined refugees with access to vocational/professional training programmes, including language training, small-scale enterprise development training and planning and counselling on all forms of violence against women, which should include rehabilitation programmes for victims of torture and trauma; Governments and other donors should contribute adequately to assistance programmes for refugee women, other displaced women in need of international protection and internally displaced women, taking into account in particular the effects on the host countries of the increasing requirements of large refugee populations and the need to widen the donor base and to achieve greater burden-sharing;
Beijing Declaration (1995)
The 147th paragraph of the Beijing Declaration focuses on the forms of education available for women who happen to exist in some of these contexts of terror and precarity. When it comes to the transitioning of individuals and societies out of desperate circumstances, some of the more straightforward points of contact on the journey come in acknowledgement, in education, in planning programs, in providing metrics to measure the degrees to which these are continual issues for the affected populations, and so the communities can adjust the programs to better provide for the relevant needs of the affected women, whether refugees or generally displaced persons.
In section (l), the emphasis, appropriately, is on the vocational and the professional training programmes with an emphasis on language training. This one seems straightforward with the idea of the advancement of the language abilities of women to be able to access various relevant services in the area and to take part in the wider culture, including work and educational contexts.
Other important areas include the small-scale enterprise development training and planning in this ability to found a business or some small enterprise to, as per previous articles, become independent in some capacity. It is working towards financial independence. In this economic autonomy, a refugee woman can find a sense of self-efficacy and autonomous movement throughout the world.
Another important provision is counselling on all forms of violence against women. Where violence against women is a significant issue around the world, no doubt about it; however, an additional focus would be the emphasis on the knowledge about it, for the women – to notice this happening to them or happening to others around them.
As well, there are issues of rehabilitation for victims of these forms of violence. Violence is one issue. Recovery from the trauma of abuse is another one. All of the fallout from abuse, trauma, and the requisite need for a formal recovery procedure through rehabilitation is part and parcel of a civilized global society based on mutual sympathy and solidarity.
In the context of war, many women refugees and displaced persons can be subjected to various forms of formal torture in addition to various traumas. It becomes difficult to overcome. Imagine having everything stripped from you, being raped, being forcibly impregnated, reduced to an object, and then forced to leave one’s homeland and internal infrastructure of the state to support oneself, we come to an obvious acknowledgement of trauma within the society. It’s everything; all of it, everything is gone forever, then being demonized while trying to train, educate, and recover and rehabilitate while being traumatized in a number of wars.
The focus of (l) is the governmental and donor assistance in the efforts for dealing with the issues facing refugee women and displaced women, who would be “in need of international protection.” Some of the host countries who may demonize and neglect the refugee populations and displaced person; in fact, they would be neglecting the foundations of common humanity, the universality of human rights, and not taking up their share of the global or international problem of sharing the burden of women in terrible, awful, and desperate circumstances.
It incumbent upon international and national actors to – well – get their act together. It was a problem in 1995; it continues to be a problem now.
–(Updated 2020-03-07, only use the updated listing, please) Not all nations, organizations, societies, or individuals accept the proposals of the United Nations; one can find similar statements in other documents, conventions, declarations and so on, with the subsequent statements of equality or women’s rights, and the important days and campaigns devoted to the rights of women and girls too:Documents
- 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).
- Some general declarations (not individual Declaration or set of them but announcement) included the UN Decade for Women (1976-1985).
- Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979) and the Optional Protocol (1999).
- 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), 2242 (2015), and 2467 (2019).
- 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
Strategic Aims
- 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, emphasis on the entirety of the goals with a strong focus on Goal 5
- 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.
- The Spotlight Initiative as another important piece of work, as a joint venture between the European Union and the United Nations.
Celebratory Days
- February 6, International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation is observed.
- February 11, International Day of Women and Girls in Science is observed.
- June 19, Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict is observed.
- June 23, is International Widows’ Day is observed.
- October 11, International Day of the Girl Child is observed.
- October 15, International Day of Rural Women is observed.
- November 25, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is observed.
Guidelines and Campaigns
- Gender Inclusive Guidelines, Toolbox, & United Nations System-wide Strategy on Gender Parity.
- Say No, UNiTE, UNiTE to End Violence against Women, Orange the World: #HearMeToo (2018), and the 16 days of activism.
Women and Men Women’s Rights Campaigners
License
In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.
Copyright
© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.
In-Sight Publishing 