Women and Gender Issues
Message from the Secretary-General of the United Nations
The high standards trust in humanity and hope for the future that are expressed in UN human rights instruments require sound accountability mechanisms for their realization. If those who sign agreements such as the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women or who endorse the Beijing Platform for Action do not translate commitments into actions and are not held to account for these actions these texts lose credibility. Accountability is essential if the world is to realize women’s rights and gender equality.
Introduction
Violence against women and girls (‘VAWG’) has long been a pervasive and universal human rights issue rooted in unequal power relations structural inequalities and discrimination. It is estimated that just over one in three women worldwide (35 per cent) experience physical or sexual violence mostly perpetrated by an intimate partner and this statistic does not include sexual harassment. Other forms of VAWG include gender-related killings (also referred to as ‘femicide’) non-partner sexual violence; trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation and other forms of forced labour; female genital mutilation/cutting and other harmful practices such child early and forced marriage and so-called ‘honour killings.’ Women and girls often experience multiple forms of violence as part of a continuum - in times of peace or conflict or in the wake of conflict - and in multiple settings including within the family at work at school in the community online and in public spaces.
Foreword
This report the first of its kind was initiated by the United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE) the single largest network of gender focal points in the UN system in order to provide an overview of the UN system’s work on gender equality and the empowerment of women. It covers the period 2014-2019 and presents the collective findings of how 51 UN entities have supported the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in that period. It demonstrates overall growth in scope and strength in the work to build an enabling environment for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls including in the context of UN reforms. In addition the UN system’s accountability for its work on gender equality has been harmonized and standardized to a very large extent with system-wide accountability frameworks in practice at both headquarters and country-team levels.
مقدمة
يمثل تحقيق المساواة بين النساء والرجال والقضاء على جميع أشكال التمييز ضد المرأة حقين أساسيين من حقوق الإنسان ويندرجان ضمن قيم الأمم المتحدة. ومع ذلك، تتعرض المرأة في شى أنحاء العالم وفي جميع مراحل حياتها لانتهاكات منتظمة لحقوقها الإنسانية، ولم يشكل إعمال حقوق الإنسان الخاصة بالمرأة دوماً إحدى الأولويات. ويقتضي تحقيق المساواة بين الرجل والمرأة فهماً شاملاً للطرق الي تتعرض فيها المرأة للتمييز وتُحرم فيها من المساواة حى يتسى وضع اسراتيجيات ملائمة للقضاء على هذا التمييز.
Institution building for an effective and accountable response to VAWG
In accordance with UN standards every police or other law enforcement agency should be representative of responsive and accountable to the community it serves. These are the critical elements to being perceived as a legitimate essential justice service provider.
Standards for gender equality
This chapter sets out to discuss how voluntary standards – including norms developed at national regional and international levels as well as sector-focussed and sustainability standards – can further gender equality and women’s empowerment as a key dimension of Agenda 2030. The analysis builds on existing literature as well as on information that the author has collected through her role as convener of the “UNECE Gender Responsive Standards Initiative” (reviewed in Section 5). It is structured along three key roles standards play in policy-making social and economic life.
Forewords
In recent years violent extremist activities have escalated dramatically. Around the world such groups increasingly target women and women’s rights. Using sexual and gender-based violence they terrorize communities and destroy the social fabric.
Обязательства на глобальном уровне
Права женщин находились в центре внимания целого ряда меж- дународных конференций на которых были приняты весомые политические обязательства по поддержке прав человека и ра- венства для женщин. Начиная с 1975 года объявленного Меж- дународным годом женщины в Мехико проходила Всемирная конференция в рамках Международного года женщины итогами которой стали принятие Всемирного плана действий и проведение в 1975–1985 годах Десятилетия женщины Организации Объединенных Наций. В 1980 году в Копенгагене состоялась еще одна междуна- родная конференция по положению женщин и была открыта для подписания Конвенция о ликвидации всех форм дискриминации в отношении женщин. Третья Всемирная конференция по положению женщин была созвана в Найроби а в 1982 году приступил к работе Комитет по ликвидации дискриминации в отношении женщин. В ходе трех упомянутых всемирных конференций женщины из разных стран мира проявили чрезвычайную активность; ими была заложена осно- ва для всемирных конференций по правам женщин состоявшихся в 1990-е годы включая четвертую Всемирную конференцию по поло- жению женщин созванную в 1995 году в Пекине (см. ниже). Наряду с этим права женщин принадлежащих к особым группам населения таких как пожилые женщины женщины этнических меньшинств и жен- щины имеющие инвалидность были рассмотрены в ряде других меж- дународных директивных документов включая международные пла- ны действий по проблемам старения (Венский 1982 года и Мадридский 2002 года) Дурбанскую декларацию и Программу действий (2001 год) и Всемирную программу действий в отношении инвалидов (1982 год).
Achieve universal primary education
Girls’ education prevents the intergenerational transmission of poverty and spurs progress on other MDGs including reducing maternal and infant mortality. Educated women have fewer children and later and are more likely to send their children to school.
Security and safety
Conditions of security and safety differ widely by location and have far-reaching implications for the achievement of gender parity and the creation of an enabling environment. Those consulted for these Guidelines indicated that duty stations with high security risks or that are perceived to be unsafe may experience recruitment and retention challenges especially among women. Multiple colleagues identified that “the feeling of safety” affects well-being and performance.
Foreword
It is fitting that this edition of Progress of the World’s Women with its focus on justice is being published in the first year of the life of UN Women. The international community set up this important new agency in affirmation of a simple fact: achieving women’s equality is a fundamental human right and a social and economic imperative.
Public health emergencies and Non-Conflict Humanitarian Crises
On 31 December 2019 the Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organisation (WHO) that a pneumonia of unknown cause was rapidly spreading throughout China emanating specifically from Wuhan City capital city of Hubei province. Soon after the novel COVID-19 was identified (initially named “2019-nCoV”) by local experts local authorities ordered the population into mandatory quarantine to try to control the outbreak of COVID-19 and prevent deaths as well as the collapse of the health systems.
Priorities and Achievements
This section provides an overview of UN entities’ priorities and prominent achievements in their efforts to support implementation of the Platform for Action and the 2030 Agenda from 2014 to 2019. It also reviews entities’ new and emerging priorities for the subsequent five-year period 2020-2025. In addition and in line with the principle of leaving no one behind this section looks more specifically at the efforts of entities to eliminate discrimination and promote the rights of women and girls who experience multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination.
Investigation
Every investigation is different and may require a different investigation strategy or approach. Regardless of the strategy/approach employed international norms prescribing minimum standards require the police to respond diligently in a time-effective manner using all resources available without discrimination.
مفاهيم أساسية
تبلورت النظرة الي كان ينظر بها في الماضي إلى حقوق الإنسان بطريقة لم تأخذ في الاعتبار حياة المرأة وما تواجهه اعتيادياً من عنف وتمييز واضطهاد. ونتيجة لذلك، لم يتناول إطار حقوق الإنسان، حى عهد قريب نسبياً، تجارب المرأة بالقدر الكافي. وقد شكل العمل الذي اضطلع بها الناشطون وآليات حقوق الإنسان والدول عنصراً حاسماً في ضمان اتساع نطاق إطار حقوق الإنسان وضبطه لدمج الأبعاد الجنسانية لانتهاكات حقوق الإنسان من أجل حماية النساء بصورة أفضل. ويتطلب ضمان حقوق الإنسان للمرأة على نحو فعال فهماً شاملاً للهياكل الاجتماعية الأساسية وعلاقات القوة الي تحدد مدى قدرة المرأة على التمتع بحقوق الإنسان وتؤثر عليها. ولهياكل القوة هذه آثار على جميع جوانب الحياة، من القوانين والسياسات إلى السياسات الاقتصادية والاجتماعية والحياة الأسرية والمجتمعية.