Human Rights and Ending Violence Against Women

TIMES KUWAIT REPORT

International Human Rights Day, observed annually on 10 December, commemorates the adoption on this day in 1948 of one of the world’s most seminal and influential covenants—the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Regarded as a foundational document in the history of human rights, the UDHR underlines the supreme value of the human person and advocates for the basic rights and fundamental freedoms of everyone, everywhere.

Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948, the UDHR enshrines the inherent and inalienable rights that every individual is entitled to as a human being. The universal character of the document means that it is applicable to everyone, irrespective of their race, religion, gender, national or social status, language, wealth, political or other affiliations.

Despite the universality of UDHR, a most pernicious form of human rights violation—violence against women and girls—persists worldwide. The theme for this year’s Human Rights Day, ‘Our Rights, Our Future, Right Now’, underpins the need to ensure that violence against women and girls is eradicated and they enjoy their inalienable human rights. The participation of all of humanity is vital if the world is to mold a better, more peaceful, secure, equal, and sustainable tomorrow.

Following its independence in 1961, Kuwait was admitted as the 111th member of the United Nations, and became a signatory to the UN Charter in 1963. The UDHR is a fundamental constitutive document of the United Nations and, by extension, of all 193 parties of the United Nations Charter. Aside from its commitments to the principles of UDHR as a UN member state, Kuwait is also constitutionally bound to protect and promote human rights.

Articles within the Kuwaiti constitution specifically state that: ‘All people are equal in human dignity and in public rights and duties before the law, without distinction to race, origin, language, or religion’. The constitution also notes that ‘Justice, Liberty, and Equality are the pillars of society’, and the document guarantees the freedom of belief, of opinion, and of expression of all citizens.

Kuwait’s commitment to human rights was reiterated last week by the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Human Rights Affairs, Sheikha Jawaher Ibrahim Duaij Al-Sabah, who emphasized that Kuwait has made significant strides in recent years in promoting and protecting human rights, in accordance with international standards, and in empowering women and promoting gender equality.

Speaking at the fifth round of Informal Dialogue on Human Rights between the European Union (EU) and Kuwait, held in Kuwait last week, Sheikha Jawaher Al-Sabah pointed out that hosting the informal dialogue in Kuwait reflected the country’s openness to cooperation, the exchange of views, and active participation in promoting universal human rights principles. During their talks Kuwait and the EU also discussed strengthening joint cooperation in the field of human rights and women’s empowerment.

Sheikha Jawaher Al-Sabah also noted that in the ‘Kuwait Declaration’—issued at the end of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Supreme Council Summit in Kuwait on 1 December—the GCC leaders affirmed their commitment to promoting and creating inclusive opportunities for women’s participation in all fields. This further highlights Kuwait’s commitment to making gender equality and women’s empowerment fundamental pillars within the framework of human rights, said the minister.

Violence against women and girls remains one of the most pervasive and egregious human rights violations in the world. Although the UDHR was espoused by the United Nations in 1948, it took another 45 years before the world body officially recognized that violence against women violates their human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Acknowledging the need for universal application to women of the rights and principles enshrined in the UDHR, the UN adopted the ‘Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women’ (EVAW), on 20 December 1993. The declaration also urged the global community to work towards ensuring equality, security, liberty, and dignity of women and girls everywhere.

However, despite the passage of nearly 25 years since designating 25 November as ‘International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and more than three decades since adoption of the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, as well as over 75 years since adoption of UDHR, the global scale of violence against women continues unabated.

Latest data from the Global Database on Violence Against Women, published by UN Women, the United Nations entity for gender equality and empowerment of women, reveals that globally an estimated 736 million women—almost one in three—have been subjected to physical or sexual violence at least once in their life. More deplorably, around 60 percent of all violence against women is committed by current or former husbands or intimate partners.

Figures from the database show that in 2023 more than 51,000 women and girls worldwide were killed by their intimate partners or other family members. This means that on average every 10 minutes a woman is killed somewhere in the world by someone in her own family. Additionally, nearly 1 in 4 adolescent girls (15 to 19-year olds) who have been in a relationship have already been physically, sexually, or psychologically abused by a close partner.

Other alarming facts from the UN database show that the intersecting global crises, including conflicts, economic crises, and climate change disproportionately impact women and exacerbate gender-based violence. More than 80 percent of people displaced by climate change are women; over 90 percent of human trafficking victims for sexual exploitation are women and girls.

Moreover, technology-facilitated violence, including online harassment and abuse, overwhelmingly target women and girls. Studies and survey data show that over 60 percent of women internet users in the Arab states experienced online violence last year; one in ten women in the European Union reported facing cyber-harassment since the age of 15; and around 73 percent of women journalists have experienced online violence in their line of work.

Solutions to violence against women call for robust responses, more resources, better legislation, prosecution of perpetrators, more services for survivors, and training for law enforcement personnel. However, as decades of studies on gender violence reveal, there is only so much that laws and policies against gender violence can achieve. As one social worker noted,, “you cannot legislate your way into a person’s head”.

In many places, the normalization of violence against women—from domestic abuse to harassment at work and in public spaces, and online violence—are often the result of a social and cultural milieu that considers women as inferior to men. This mindset has propagated social attitudes that condones violence and abuse of women and girls, and a culture where perpetrators of such violence often enjoy impunity. To comprehensively eradicate violence against women and girls and ensure the inviolability of their human rights, we must begin in our homes, in the hearts and minds of our family members. In particular, men and boys need to be educated on positive masculinity, and be made aware of respectful, non-violent resolutions to disagreements within family relationships.

In her observations on the UDHR in 1948, former US first-lady and first chairperson of the UN Commission on Human Rights, Eleanor Roosevelt noted that the search for universal human rights must begin in our homes. “Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere else in the world,” said the former first-lady.
This profound message is as relevant today as it was back in 1948. All of us have a role in ending gender-based violence, and ensuring that women and girls everywhere can live a life free from violence, and enjoy the full rights promised in the UDHR to all human beings.