Build sustainable society

The world needs to move from ritual and rhetoric to genuine actions for safe and healthy existence of half of the world’s population that faces gender-based inequality, discrimination and violence. Before the onset of Covid-19, a staggering 243 million women and girls (aged 15-49) were globally subjected to sexual or physical violence. This has only worsened during the pandemic.

Safer world: Global efforts are needed to ensure that women are not subjected to any form of discrimination. Reuters

Bharat H Desai

Jawaharlal Nehru Chair & Professor of International Law, JNU

The International Women’s Day 2022 comes with a futuristic gaze for a sustainable world. It will coincide with the 66th session (March 14-25) of the UN Commission on the Status of Women.

The metaphor of ‘sustainability’ has a deeper meaning in the 21st century world mired in institutionalised bias, especially by the male gender against the female gender, resulting from a deeply entrenched mindset. The global campaign seeks minimal acceptance of female gender as equal in all respects. It is a real challenge to walk the talk on elimination of gender-based bias that is against the order of nature and the root cause of many of the global ills.

At the advent of the United Nations, the first decisive step on gender equality was taken when feisty Indian delegate Hansa Mehta shook the western women members out of their stupor at a meeting of the UN sub-commission on the status of women. She is credited with getting the line “All men are born free and equal” changed to “All human beings are born free and equal” in Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted on December 10, 1948. The ‘gender neutrality’ pioneered by Hansa Mehta holds the key for global mainstreaming of gender equality. It vividly came out in the UN report of May 13, 1946. “Freedom and equality are essential to human development and whereas woman is as much a human being as man and, therefore entitled to share them with him,” the Sub-commission said.

A March 9, 2021, WHO report showed the data for 161 countries on intimate partner violence and 137 countries for non-partner sexual violence. It is concerning that one in three women (30%) above 15 years of age has experienced physical and/or sexual violence at least once in their lifetime from a male intimate partner or others. The use of the rubric ‘Intimate partner violence' shows only the tip of the iceberg. It does have ominous consequences for most women. A closer study of the reality of violence against women (VAW) shows that gender inequality remains at the root of pervasive violence against women and girls.

Now there is a growing acceptance of the existence of VAW. As a result, the 2021 WHO report estimates multi-sectoral VAW policies were found in 81% of all 194 countries, 53% of them had a national health policy that mentioned VAW and 48% countries have clinical guidelines/protocols to address the menace. Still, operationalisation of the policies does not match since funding allotted for VAW was reported only in 42% of the countries.

There is an imposing corpus of global instruments to address inequality, discrimination and violence against women prevailing in all the countries. These include the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the 1997 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Optional Protocols. They, in turn, provide a comprehensive set of measures for realising gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls rooted in human rights and fundamental freedoms. The UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) plays a central role in promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. In fact, it coordinates all UN system-wide action on all issues affecting women.

In view of critical issues, especially conflict-induced VAW, on March 8, the presidency of the UN Security Council, led by the United Arab Emirates will witness an open debate on ‘women, peace and development’ (WPS). This ‘securitisation’ of VAW in conflicts has been institutionalised through the historic UNSC resolution 1325 (2000). The UNSC debate assumes significance since 100 million people now experience food insecurity and an unprecedented number of 82.4 million people are forcibly displaced. There is a growing scholarly view on an inextricable link between sex, gender inequality and violence.

The report of the UN Secretary-General (UNSG) on September 27, 2021, called on the UN member-states to implement measures to increase women’s equal participation in peace, political and other decision-making processes. There is a widening global gender gap wherein 23% women delegates took part in the UN-led peace processes, 5.2%women took part in peace operations and women held a mere 18.9 per cent of parliamentary seats in conflict-ridden countries.

The UNSG’s 2021 report spells out persistent gaps in women’s role, equality and participation at various levels in national societies. The primary challenge pertains to the control over female sexuality amidst outdated social, cultural and State-driven normative systems. Even as the UN has called for elimination of the global scourge of female genital mutilation (FGM), in 2021, some 4.16 million girls globally faced the risk of undergoing FGM. Covid-19 has only worsened the plight of women as it exacerbated sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), resulting from deep-rooted patriarchal systems, stereotyped gender-based norms and harmful cultural practices.

“Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is a heinously prevalent scourge, too common in all societies. It is also exacerbated by conflict, as well as other humanitarian crises and the climate emergency,” Peter Maurer, President of the ICRC, Geneva, said. Ironically, international law is not adequate in specifically addressing SGBV and it requires a global Lex specialis for bridging the ‘normative gap’ in the field.

As we celebrate yet another International Women’s Day, the world needs to move from ritual and rhetoric to genuine actions for safe and healthy existence of half of the world’s population that faces gender-based inequality, discrimination and deep-rooted violence. Before the onset of Covid-19 pandemic, a staggering 243 million women and girls (aged 15-49) were globally subjected to sexual or physical violence. This has only worsened during the pandemic. The global cost of VAW has been estimated by UN Women at $1.5 trillion. It is likely to have reached frightening proportions with no let-up during the two years of pandemic. It is high time this yearly global campaign is translated into measurable concrete action at the national level before it is too late.