Muslim and Western nations late Friday [15 Mar 2013] overcame deep divisions to agree a landmark United Nations declaration setting out a code of conduct for combating 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 \u201cany custom, tradition or religious consideration.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Michelle Bachelet, executive director of UN Women, said it had been an \u201chistoric\u201d meeting. It was announced straight after that Bachelet would be leaving her post to return to Chile.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople worldwide expected action, and we didn’t fail them. Yes — we did it,\u201d Bachelet said.<\/p>\n
UN leader Ban Ki-Moon said UN members had committed \u201cto take action to prevent violence and provide justice and services to survivors\u201d of violence against women, which he called a \u201cglobal menace\u201d and \u201cmoral outrage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iran, the Vatican and Russia and other Muslim states had formed what some diplomats had called \u201can unholy alliance\u201d to weaken a statement calling for tough global standards on violence against women and girls.<\/p>\n
They had objected to references to abortion rights and language suggesting that rape includes forcible behavior by a woman’s husband or partner.<\/p>\n
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood had called the proposed UN document un-Islamic and warned it would lead to the \u201ccomplete degradation of society.\u201d<\/p>\n
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 \u201ca global wave of conservatism, of repression against women.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The last attempt by the UN commission to agree a declaration on violence against women in 2003 ended in failure.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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,\u201d said the declaration.<\/p>\n
It added that states should \u201cdevote particular attention to abolishing practices and legislation that discriminate against women and girls, or perpetuate and condone violence against them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Countries should \u201caddress and eliminate as a matter of priority domestic violence,\u201d went on the declaration.<\/p>\n
The United States welcomed the accord. It was an important first step to ensure that women and girls \u201clive productive and safe lives, free from the scourge of violence and abuse,\u201d senior US envoy Terri Robl told the meeting.<\/p>\n
Germany’s UN ambassador Peter Wittig said the document was \u201cbalanced and strong.\u201d Wittig tweeted that the declaration \u201dsends a much needed message to the women around the world: your rights are crucial\u201d.<\/p>\n
A World Bank report estimates that in the age range of 15 to 44 more women die as a result of rape and domestic violence than of cancer, traffic accidents, wars and malaria taken together.<\/p>\n