UNITED NATIONS, March 16, (AFP): Muslim and Western nations late Friday overcame deep divisions to agree a landmark United Nations declaration setting out a code of conduct for combatting violence against women and girls.
Iran, Libya, Sudan and other Muslim nations ended threats to block the declaration and agreed to language stating that violence against women could not be justified by “any custom, tradition or religious consideration.”
Western nations, particularly from Scandinavia, toned down demands for references to gay rights and sexual health rights to secure the accord after two weeks of tense negotiations between the 193 UN member states.
Some 6,000 non-government groups were in New York for the Commission on the Status of Women meeting. Cheers and wild applause erupted when the accord was announced in the UN headquarters late Friday.
Michelle Bachelet, executive director of UN Women, said it had been an “historic” meeting. It was announced straight after that Bachelet would be leaving her post to return to Chile.
“People worldwide expected action, and we didn’t fail them. Yes — we did it,” Bachelet said.
UN leader Ban Ki-Moon said UN members had committed “to take action to prevent violence and provide justice and services to survivors” of violence against women, which he called a “global menace” and “moral outrage.”
Iran, the Vatican and Russia and other Muslim states had formed what some diplomats had called “an unholy alliance” to weaken a statement calling for tough global standards on violence against women and girls.
They had objected to references to abortion rights and language suggesting that rape includes forcible behavior by a woman’s husband or partner.
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood had called the proposed UN document un-Islamic and warned it would lead to the “complete degradation of society.”
But the chief Egyptian official at the meeting, Mervat Tallawy, head of the country’s National Women’s Council, backed the accord. She said the declaration was needed to counter “a global wave of conservatism, of repression against women.”
With Norway and Denmark leading a European alliance with North America calling for tough language, right up to the final hours it had appeared that the meeting could end without an accord.
The last attempt by the UN commission to agree a declaration on violence against women in 2003 ended in failure.
“The commission urges states to strongly condemn all forms of violence against women and girls and to refrain from invoking any custom, tradition or religious consideration to avoid their obligations with respect to its elimination,” said the declaration.
It added that states should “devote particular attention to abolishing practices and legislation that discriminate against women and girls, or perpetuate and condone violence against them.”
Countries should “address and eliminate as a matter of priority domestic violence,” went on the declaration.
The conference had been made more emotive by the Taleban attack in October on 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai for her promotion of girls’ education in Pakistan and widely publicized gang rapes in India and South Africa.
The United States welcomed the accord. It was an important first step to ensure that women and girls “live productive and safe lives, free from the scourge of violence and abuse,” senior US envoy Terri Robl told the meeting.
But she added that “some important aspects” were omitted from the document and the United States believes the declaration should have clearly stated that it applied to lesbian women. “We regret that some delegations prevented this recognition explicitly,” Robl said.
Germany’s UN ambassador Peter Wittig said the document was “balanced and strong.” Wittig tweeted that the declaration “sends a much needed message to the women around the world: your rights are crucial.”
Tallawy stunned many at the UN Commission on the Status of Women — marked by blocking tactics by conservative Muslim and Roman Catholic states — by backing the document that set global standards to combat violence against women.
Despite growing human rights, wealth and other progress, Tallawy told reporters after the landmark accord was approved that there is still too much discrimination.
“Women are the slaves of this age. This is unacceptable and particularly in our region,” Tallawy said.
Tallawy, a diplomat turned politician and head of Egypt’s National Women’s Council, said “international solidarity is needed for women’s empowerment and preventing this regressive mood whether in the developing countries or developed, in the Middle East in particular.”
The Muslim Brotherhood, from which President Mohamed Morsi hails, said this week that the proposed UN document “undermines Islamic ethics” and “would lead to the complete disintegration of society.”
Tallawy said there is “a global wave of conservatism, of repression against women. And this paper is a message that if we can get together, hold power together, we can be a strong wave against this conservatism.”
When asked about the Muslim Brotherhood’s opposition, the official said she had already challenged Morsi in his office about Egypt’s constitution.
“I believe in women’s cause. I don’t take money from the government, I work voluntarily. If they want to kick me out they can, but I will not change my belief in women.”
The UN declaration broke new ground by stating that violence against women could not be justified by “any custom, tradition or religious consideration.” This had infuriated Iran and other conservative Muslim states.
But Western nations had to tone down their demands for references to gay rights and sexual health rights to secure the accord after two weeks of tense negotiations. The United States and others said there should have been an acknowledgement that lesbian women also deserve equal rights.
“I was really afraid that we would not have an agreement,” Norway’s Gender Equality Minister Inga Marte Thorkildsen told AFP. Scandinavian nations took a tough stance at the conference calling for an aggressive document.
“I am very happy that it was possible to isolate some of the most reactionary groups, including the Vatican and Iran.”
Thorkildsen was upset however that gender identity and sexual orientation was not included in the declaration.
“That was impossible and I think that it is sad that so many countries don’t want to protect their own inhabitants from violence just because they have a different sexual orientation or gender identity. I find that unacceptable.”
The minister said her concern now would be how countries apply the statement. The United Nations has called for concrete action to apply the commitments.
“It will vary to what extent the different countries will implement the different parts and that is worrying,” said Thorkildsen.
The minister said there also had to be action to prevent a weakening of women’s rights already achieved and highlighted “backlashes after the Arab Spring” to back comments made by Tallawy.
“There are too many forces who don’t accept that women have the exact same rights as men. We have to fight in the future,” said Thorkildsen.