Blog 7: UN adopts Plan to Combat Violence Against Women

The UN is now taking action to prevent violence against women and girls. A staggering 131 countries came to the consensus for global methods of action to prevent violence on women. The biggest agitation to the proposed document comes from Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. They claim that advocating sexual and reproductive rights is a deceitful way of giving women sexual freedom, i.e. codification of promiscuity. To try and combat reproductive rights for women, Egypt proposed to add a clause saying each country can implement the ruling in accordance with their individual customs and traditions. This, of course, was over turned; the final text states countries are "to strongly condemn all forms of violence against women and girls and to refrain from invoking any custom, tradition and religious consideration to avoid their obligations with respect to its elimination."

This is the first step towards international solidarity on women’s rights. Egypt, surprisingly, joined to support the 17 page bill. Only Libya has completely with drawn support for the bill, although many Muslim and Catholic countries are expressing reservations. Those on the fence for adoption of this document are: Iran, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the Holy See and Honduras.

I am so excited at the prospect of the UN creating a document to officially unify the fight to end gender based violence. With a plan of action on how to correctly identify and prosecute sexual offenses, there is a finish line in sight for women’s equality. A lot of developing countries do not act against gender violence because there is no code of how to go about doing that. Not only is the immorality of violence against women going to be permanently stated, but the punishment for committing such a crime. It does not surprise me at all that the Muslim Brotherhood has the strongest rebuttal for such a bill. History has taught me that Islam is the least forgiving faith, and holds the mentality that violence against women is okay. It is hard to believe that such an ancient faith has not changed at all, though. We see countries moving away from theocracies, but Islamic states seem to hold fast. Hopefully this document will bring relief to battered women in those countries.

In light of the other blogs I’ve done, particularly about the young women horrendously raped in India, the adoption of this bill will do wonders.

Dylan Reddish
3/18/13 7:30pm
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/adopts-plan-combat-violence-women-18742740