Legislation for Women’s Human Rights in the UK
Certain human rights have been provided to women and girls in the country under the terms of relevant legislation, which were codified by the United Nations for every human being on the globe approximately 70 years ago. These rights span every element of life, including health, education, political engagement, economic well-being, freedom from violence and discrimination, and the ability to live in a society with respect and dignity, and are essential for peace, security, and long-term development of women. However, it has been observed that certain crimes or acts harm women’s rights, such as rape, sexual harassment, domestic violence, and obscenity, as a result of all of these; women are forced to face situations of violence, affecting their freedom from violence. This is no minor issue since it has an effect on women’s overall health whose rights have been violated. Physically, a breach of the right to be free from violence can result in the victims suffering from wounds, cuts, shattered bones, and dee harm to any organ. And the denial of their human rights can lead to despair, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other personality disorders as the consequences of mental health issues. As a result of this circumstance, the UK government, as well as the worldwide community, have established specific laws and organisations to protect women’s health and safety.
These laws and institutions offer people the right to register complaints with competent authorities regarding infringement of their human rights, who will respond in accordance with current laws and regulations. However, the situation in the country and globally is not favourable to women, and violations of their human rights continue to occur. As a result, this paper will cover the numerous legislations in the United Kingdom that aim to safeguard women’s human rights, as well as the notion of Regional Human Rights Mechanisms that encourage the protection of women’s human rights. However, after all these human right mechanisms and other social activities, many regimes targeted women’s rights in methods that effectively deprived women of their legal personality through overt discrimination. Nigerian, Kenyan, Zambian, and other African nations, for example, restricted female equal inheritance and ownership of property. Women who engaged non-nationals were denied the right to personal and own assets in their very own names by the Thailand government. Egyptian discriminating against women who married non-nationals by fails to offer their children Egyptian citizenship.
Syria made a female’s wedding decision contingent on the agreement of a male companion. Despite the fact that men are not subject to such restrictions, women in Venezuela are not permitted to marry for 10 months after a separation or divorce. Authorities that denounce certain forms of violence and prejudice against women frequently fail to pursue the perpetrators. Jordan and Pakistan opposed domestic abuse, males who committed “honour” offenses on female family members received lower terms. South Africa condemned sexual abuse in general, but struggled to follow necessary measures to safeguard girls in schools from rampant sexual assault by teachers and students. Even after progress in women’s human rights, over 2.4 billion women of formal employment are starved of equal financial opportunity, and 178 nations retain legislative obstacles that prevent them from completely take part in the economy. Women have occupational restrictions in more than 85 nations, while 95 nations do not ensure equal pay for women on the same work.
Violations of Women’s Human Rights in the UK and Globally
The United Nations is accountable for safeguarding of basic civil rights of the people as one of Europe’s countries. In addition, the creation of Regional Human Rights Systems has provided global protection for women’s human rights. The regional human rights system was established to represent regional beliefs and to give a more specialised framework than the United Nations system. In other words, in addition to the United Nations’ framework of international conventions and organisations established to protect civil liberties at the world stage, various organisations have been established for the protection of basic civil rights. Such a framework would be more in tune with local reality and would allow for a variety of techniques for enforcing standards. Regional human rights systems defend human rights, especially women’s rights, by taking into account all factors such as regional norms, values, culture, and practices. The Importance of Regional Human Rights When domestic institutions fail to uphold the law, or when they are violators of the law, a mechanism is invoked. The parties or women whose rights have been violated might then seek remedies for their grievances outside of national borders.
When a case for a violation of human rights is brought before a regional body, two conditions must be met: first, the victim’s country must be a member of this regional framework, and all domestic and national remedies must have been exhausted or deemed insufficient to provide a solution to the victim for the violation of their human rights. This is followed by the Inter-American system and the growing pan-African system in providing justice to victims of human rights violations. This authority has the strength and distinguishing qualities to settle the matter of human rights violations, especially those of women.
Furthermore, the European Courts of Human Rights, which works to defend the people of the country’s human rights under the Regional Human Rights Mechanism framework, is known as the European Convention of Human Rights. The European Court of Human Rights is a group of 47 judges who hear cases concerning human rights abuses. Any individual or group of individuals can submit a court application on being the victim of the violation of their conventions or its Protocols’ rights by one of the States parties. The European Court of Human Rights will consider the UK’s case regardless of the role of Brexit in this issue. When a matter is presented to the European Court of Human Rights, the court weighs both sides of the argument before making a ruling.
However, in the United Kingdom, one in every four women will experience domestic violence and one in every five sexually assaulted during her life. According to the Crime Survey of England and Wales, 20% of women had been sexually assaulted since the age of 16, resulting in approximately 3.4 million female victims. The epidemic has brought to light long-standing shortcomings in the UK administration’s approach to family violence. “The loss of assistance for specialist family violence facilities was already a national tragedy, and now is the time for the administration to show big commitment to these programs for each and every female.”
The Importance of Regional Human Rights Mechanisms
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women is another organisation that works on an international level to protect women’s rights (CEDAW). It is an international legal document that compels governments to remove all kind of discrimination against the female empowerment in all the areas of country and to encourage equality in their rights. Furthermore, this convention also covers the issue of human reproduction as well as the impact of cultural factors on gender relations. Preconceived ideas, customs, and norms are all manifestations of these variables, resulting in a slew of legal, political, and economic impediments to women’s advancement. While there are adequate policies and strategies are being initiated by the government, there are several cases of human right violation.
Following this line of reasoning, it was determined that the European Court of Human Rights is an international court that deals with human rights abuses and interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is frequently referred to as the most powerful international human rights court in the world. And also the CEAW is working at the international level by considering all the points of discrimination with the women’s at the international level but still violation of the Women’s human rights continues to be infringed upon.
There are several cases where women’s human right was not treated adequately. Pakistan was placed 150th out of 153 countries for female’s participation, law, and security, with the most abuses against females and the weakest access to financial services. It also finds roughly 500,000 “missing girls” in Pakistan between 2010 and 2015, implying that half a million more female kids should been born throughout that time if it was not for son-bias. Each of these situations violates women’s conversation of women’s right in some way. Another example is of Saudi Arabia . Females in Saudi Arabia experience structural racism in all parts of their lives, with females denied fair access to employment, obliged to follow stringent dress standards, and separated in mainstream society. Infringements of the attire rule were met with public bashings by religious police. Kuwait’s history on female issues was likewise dismal: women were denied the opportunity to vote, were separated, and were obliged to wear veils in public. The global society’s lack of concern about such nations’ women’s record on human rights highlighted a fact that female’s rights advocates struggled with all around the world: women’s rights are still being contested, and abuses of female issues often attract only passing attention.
After doing research, it was discovered that the right to be free of violation is the most regularly infringed right of women. At least once in their lives, 736 million women around the world have faced the situation of abuse in their sexual intimate relationships or by the partner, sexual assault by other person, or both, with 30% of these women being under the age of 15. Furthermore, regression results for measuring productivity loss due to violence show that women who are assaulted earn 35% less than women who are not assaulted, indicating that they are experiencing another downturn in their economic cycle.
Inter-American and Pan-African Systems for Justice on Human Rights
Women who have been forcibly evicted are now included in the WPS Index. Refugee women and girls have a heightened risk of all kinds of gender-based abuse, economic injustice, and economic marginalization, according to findings from nations across Africa, including Somalia, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Nigeria, and Sudan . Refugee women endure a 25 percent deficit on average and are more likely to face domestic abuse than women in the host society, with rates as high as 41 percent in South Sudan. The Taliban have made serious constraints on females after getting control of Kabul on August 15, 2021. Females have been ordered that they cannot come back to work or travel in publicly without even being followed by a Male relative, with the exclusion of health professionals and some minor exceptions.
As a result of gender disparity, women’s rights breaches are on the rise. In the workplace, women’s continue to be diminished. The current employment rate for women is 66.8%, whereas the current employment rate for men is 78.1 percent. In other words, the employment gap between men and women is 11.3 percent. Even if more women join the workforce, the weight of private and care commitments, as well as unpaid work, is borne predominantly by women. Women graduate from university at a higher rate than men in Europe. On the other hand, women’s are not provided the same employment opportunities as the men’s have. As a result of this bias, women’s political rights have been hindered; according to studies, only 31.4 percent of government members across all Member States were women in 2019. This percentage has risen in comparison to prior years; however, the situation for women has not improved significantly.
The Taskforce on Discrimination Against girls and women agreed in 2016 to raise awareness about the specific problems that women human rights defenders (WHRDs) confront all around world. Many pregnant females in South Sudan lack the means and healthcare treatment they require, so if difficulties arise, the women may not survive. As a result, with such a maternal mortality rate of 788 deaths per 100,000 live births, South Sudan does have one of the biggest mortality rates in the world. According to a UN report on female issues in , pervasive rape is being held across the nation by all militant groups, mostly as part of security tactics for which military and government representatives are liable, whether for failure to protect these activities or for failing to penalise those engaged. The study is based on many years of conversations with victims. Survivors described horrific gang rapes done against them by many men, frequently while their spouses, parents, or kids were forced to see them helplessly. Therefore, it is clearly evident that there is no adequate protection of women right take place.
This predicament is at the global level, as stated above. Although various legislation and regulations for the preservation of human rights have been passed in the past, and several acts particularly seek to protect women’s rights, the situation for women has not improved. The Human Rights Act of 1998 is a separate piece of legislation dedicated to the protection of human rights. This act protects people from violations of certain laws, including the life and liberty, protection from violence and brutal treatment, protection from forced labour, right to a fair trial, no discrimination, right to education, and other rights that are necessary for people to live their lives with dignity and respect. If a person’s rights are violated, they have the right to bring a claim in the UK courts, as well as to require public agencies like the government, police, and local authorities to treat people fairly, with dignity, and admiration. In this line, other laws have been established expressly for the protection of women’s rights, which further contributes to violations of women’s human rights. The Protection from Harassment Act of 1997, the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act of 2004, and the Equality Act of 2010 are the laws in question. The Protection from Harassment Act, for example, protected to women, primarily against stalking. It does, however, cover a much wider variety of behaviour, including that which bothers or concerns the victim. This act provides for both civil and criminal remedies. It is considered a criminal offence when a harassing act or an act that puts the victim in fear of harm is committed. Furthermore, the Equality Act was passed to eliminate discrimination based on protected characteristics such as sex, caste, religion, and place of origin. If any person, including women, is discriminated against in the workplace, that person or woman has the right to file a lawsuit in a court of law to assert their right to equality in the workplace. The Domestic Violence Act statute serves the same objective. This law protects women against all forms of abuse, including physical, emotional, mental, and financial assault, perpetrated by family members. In this area, the country’s criminal law also covers since it protects citizens from heinous crimes such as rape and murder. As a result, the notion of a Regional Human Rights Mechanism has been established. However, this did not succeed, and the number of cases of women’s rights violation in the United Kingdom has not decreased. There are also raising cases of women right violation in the world.
The European Court of Human Rights
Even after enacting legislation at the national level or enlisting the assistance of the European Court of Human Rights, the situation has not changed as much as it should have. According to the report, there were around 1.6 million cases of violence against women in the UK as of the end of March 2020. Domestic violence is a problem that affects women aged 16 to 74. 3 percent of women in the same age group had also been victims of sexual assault. These patterns have not changed in the last ten years. After reviewing these statistics, it is clear that women’s rights to live their lives free of violence are severely violated in the United Kingdom. Women’s safety is also at risk. Unwanted pregnancy has become the leading cause of women’s poor health, as well as an increase in their suicide rate. After dealing with such pregnancy issues as a result of the women’s lack of access to competent treatment, their health is also affected.
But there is no discrimination against women’s in the UK in the education sector because a new survey has discovered that a large section of the population believes that education is a human right unless you are a girl or a refugee. According to the survey, 89 percent of 14- to 30-year-olds agree that education is a fundamental human right. However, just 44% strongly agreed that refugees are entitled to this. However, job discrimination against women’s rights exists in the UK at a large level, both in the private and public spheres. Women perform 2.6 times more unpaid care and household work than males. In comparison to men, women get paid less for doing the same task. Men, on the other hand, are well compensated. Even though more women have entered politics in recent years, but still the ratio of women’s in politics is 23.7%.
So, after considering all of the situations of women’s discrimination in the UK and around the world, as well as the efforts of country laws and Regional Human Rights Mechanisms, it is fair to believe that, while the situation for women in society has improved , it has not improved as much as it should have. As a result, the condition must be improved. And this condition will only improve if the work is done according to a proper strategy.
Strict implementation of the law
The government of the United Kingdom has enacted legislation to defend women’s rights, and efforts are also being made at the international level, but the benefits of these laws and regulations will only be available to women if they are implemented stringently. When law enforcement authorities receive a complaint about a violation of women’s human rights, they should only act to preserve their rights and not consider their interests.
Monitoring of the work of the responsible authority
To protect women’s human rights in society, the work of those who work to protect women’s rights should be properly monitored. This is vital to guarantee that those with the authority to enforce women’s rights, such as the police, the judiciary, and other regulatory bodies, have enough awareness of women’s rights. Also, they have not willfully or inadvertently misunderstood their obligations, because if there is an issue like this, it will be remedied at the beginning level if monitoring is done at the initial level. Finally, women’s rights would not be jeopardised.
Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault in the UK
To preserve women’s rights in society, it is vital to recognise that it is not only the responsibility of law enforcement officials but also of the general public who remains in the vicinity of women. To prevent violence against women, people should recognise that acts of violence are harmful to women’s physical and mental health; hence they should avoid participating in such activities . Concerning other women’s rights, such as the right to education, health, and employment rights, as well as their relevance in politics and the public arena, they should recognise that women have the equal rights in society as men and that these rights should be respected by others. It is especially important for women since these rights enable them to exist in society with dignity and confidence. However, if these rights are violated, their confidence is shaken, and they find it difficult to live a regular life in society.
Conclusion
As a result of the discussion, it can be concluded that certain rights have been added to the country’s constitution to protect women’s rights, and laws have been enacted in the UK to protect women’s rights and promote them to live their lives with admiration and dignity following the constitutional provisions. And, as a result of these legislations, suitable authorities for the execution of those laws and constitutional measures for women’s protection have also been authorised. However, improvements in human rights protection have not been embraced to the extent that they should have been. As a result, efforts have been made to preserve women’s rights at the global level through the establishment of Regional Human Rights Mechanisms. However, the findings have not improved significantly. As a result, this is a source of concern because it has worst impact on the lives of women. Deep-seated biases against female and misconceptions about their “right” position in society are driving these issues. Harassment, assault, and brutality are commonplace among human rights defenders. Females who work in this field face significant higher, distinct dangers. Misogynistic assaults and gender-based abuse are common targets for WHRDs. They do not have adequate protection or protection of rights. Their organisations also lack adequate funds. There are numerous such instances of women’s rights violations around the globe. As these human rights are provided to a human being for them to be able to live a life that satisfies their fundamental requirements and is free of oppression, which is suppressed by individuals who do not have these human rights. But the violation of these human rights in the case of women’s, is making the life of the women’s difficult. Hence it needs to be correct so that they would be able to live in a society with full confidence and comfortability. And these human rights can only be enforceable in the favour of the women’s when all the people with the responsibility for the women’s rights will work with proper strategy from planning to implementation with proper monitoring to ensure that there is no ambiguity or inadequacy in the system. And if there is a policy in place, suitable steps will be done right once to ensure that no major issues arise with the protection of women’s rights.
Shortcomings in UK Government’s Approach to Family Violence
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