Human Rights and Gender Violence: Translating International Law - Essay Example

MAIN APPROACHES TO DIMINISH GENDER VIOLENCE AND HUMAN RIGHTS MOVEMENTS Gender violence refers to the violation of ones rights, especially the violation of the human rights of a woman. The violence against women got considered as a violation in the later years of the twentieth-century. Gender violence gets interpreted in different ways in different countries. Women mostly get abused by their husbands or other members of their extended families. Worldwide, different communities treat gender violence in different ways. If a woman feels battered in her marriage, authorities in different locations approach the situation differently. Some authorities do not at all punish the offender (Merry 134). Countries like China and India do not allow women to own a house or home. Therefore, in case the woman separates with the husband, she is given a short-term residence option since she is expected to get back with her husband after a while. The law makes the situation more complicated. The woman must go back to her husband unless she prefers to remain in the streets, homeless. The laws seem unfair to the women since they depend solely on the presence of a man in order for them to own a permanent residence (Merry 136). The four main initiatives transplanted globally against domestic violence include criminalization, provision of social services, public education and survey research. Activists develop and get to pass laws that discourage gender violence. Additionally, they get to train police on how to arrest offenders. They also encourage prosecution of the offenders through training judges to view sexual assault and wife battering as serious offenses. To ensure that gender violence outlaw, the activists devote their energy to implementing particular set strategies. The activists devote their time because, in so many countries, gender violence offenders get off with lenient sentences (Merry 152). In some countries, the conviction does not satisfy the offense. In a country like Fiji, a man gets arrested if he batters his wife and receives a suspended sentence, and the sentence is suspended again if he repeats the violence. In other countries, the crime is not viewed with the seriousness it ought to get viewed. Although domestic violence gets recognized by the Indian Penal Code in Section 498A as cruelty by a husband or relatives to his wife, the practice of corruption by the police makes the law inefficient (Merry 164). Even with a little harassment being enough for a criminal conviction, the level of corruption makes it impossible for its enactment. Human rights activist, Sally, prefers that the Indian police interprets the violations against the women based on the horrific stories. During her interview with the police commissioner and presence in solving of most cases, she realizes that the cases only aimed at reconciling the couples. Some cases were so horrific to consider the option of reconciling the couples before resolving the problems causing the separation. Sally found out that the gender of most, almost all police officers in the station were men. The resolutions reached upon were biased since it considered the marriage continuity other than the safety of the complainant. The only basis for the interpretation of the cases being dowry and debt made its resolution incomplete since it did not consider the root causes (Merry 159-61). Indian law has provisions for civil remedies that allow women to live in their matrimonial homes, and protective orders that restrain a spouse from more abusing his wife or children in family court. The inefficiency of the civil or family courts has driven the womens rights groups towards working to expand the remedies for gender violence. The remedies have proposed the verdict focuses on a womans safety and her right to stay in the matrimonial home (Merry 163). Sally in her book suggests the translation of the human rights law to unite with the cultures of people in different countries. She anticipates that the transnational human rights ideas get merged into the local social and legal movements. Currently, the transnational activists, Middle-tier learned NGO leaders as well as the national, influential leaders have involved themselves in the program. They do so by actively participating in the appropriation of the global human rights agenda and turning them to suit into specific locations. They do so by offering gender training programs, domestic laws, human rights commissions or even the counseling centers for battered women (Merry 171). When the global human rights get employed, the process involves laws being appropriated and translated. If the programs suit the setting of the local context, the ideas become more acceptable among the communities. The appropriation and translation process should involve the local political leaders as well as local funding. By involving these particular individuals from the community, will result to its support for inception into the community more easily. If an individual or group of individuals needs to transform a community, it needs to convince its leaders first. The intervention of leaders on behalf of the activists eases the process and time the ideas will take before getting absorbed into the community (Merry 172-4). Although they get translated to the blend with the cultures, they should not blend completely since there will be no change. The ideas come about so as to change the community positively. If the laws retain the practices of the community, they make no difference. The advocates in different communities need to tell stories that make women more assertive. In India, the domestic violence advocates stimulate assertiveness among the Hindu women through telling stories of the powerful Hindu goddesses. In other countries like China, domestic violence activists brand abusive behavior as "feudal" . The branding makes abusive behavior seem shameful and not admirable or commendable. As a result, women become more aware of their rights. Bills against human rights violation get signed into law in the particular countries since they become acceptable (Merry 156). Sallys suggestions to diminish gender violence through human rights interference acceptance takes different duration in different communities. Outlawing gender violence proves inapplicable in various communities since gender violence interpretation means physical abuse. Although the laws get applied, some violators do not face the punishment they deserve. The implementation of the gender violence generated new ideas of humanity about ways that violate women although not physically. The development makes it hard to appropriate and translate the global human rights laws to suit some communities because they will not easily blend with the local beliefs and laws. Each location, therefore, has its unique established rule and political institutions that affect the translation of the model. The model in question has to adapt to the needs of a particular population (Merry 182). In China, domestic ensues among a larger number of family members. Therefore, the problem definition gets to be expanded to deal with that particular form of violence. However, in the United States, violence in homes is experienced in a nuclear setting that involves a single couple. A couple not only meaning a couple in a marriage, but also a couple living together. The laws have gradually changed to suit the current relationship set ups where couples move in before the official marriage. Although programs get framed into translatable forms that suit culturally specific ways, they do not get to the point of full indigenization (Merry 147). Objectively, propositions that human rights need translation into local webs of meaning based on ethnicity, religion, or place have only obtained a superficial recognition. They have neither achieved legitimation nor appeal in time. Protagonists develop new ideas on how to address the menace, gender violence, by dressing the act in conversant costumes on a day-to-day basis. Their new developments keep improving the situation as opposed to blending with the cultures. The use of examples based on their community cultures has proved productive. A social worker in Hong Kong treating men who batter their wives chose to frame his curriculum in terms of Chinese notions of masculinity and family headship. His frame defers with his therapeutic discussion groups held by men with identified social problems of domestic violence. His approach is commendable because it ensures he maintains the respects the community accords masculinity and family headship. His therapy as well plays a big role in educating the men to apply their masculinity appropriately. Introduction of new ideas of masculinity and family headship improves and even changes the violent mens mindset on what masculinity represents (Merry 153). To reduce gender violence, there has been need to do the following, absorption of international standards into domestic law. This involves creation of a womens commission as well as a human rights commission. There is also need for the promotion of the education programs that support international human rights. The judges, legislators, and government lawmakers play key roles in the implementation of the laws against gender violence. If all the key policy makers enact the laws that unite international human rights laws, gender violence will get crippled in all communities (Merry 187-192). The anti-rape and battered womens movements in the United States have played a major role in mobilizing results in the U.S. and internationally. The activists have devoted most of their time in implementing the human rights and gender violence laws. Formation of United Nations has also contributed positively to the achievement of human rights implementation in a wide range of countries. For instance, United Nations run UNICEF, which looks after the welfare of children through education. Secondly, the UN supports different programs in Africa meant to end FGM. Besides, it Sponsers human rights and advocacy programs to empower local communities in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa. The movements and easy access of information over the internet regarding human rights have further enabled people to obtain the knowledge of their rights. Women have benefited more from the awareness call by the feminists and activists in the movements (Merry 166-180). In so many occasions, womens rights were violated, and nobody paid any attention. After the U.S. emphasized so much on criminalization and later on civil protective orders, the actions got adopted by different countries in the long-run. The unity in the application of human rights and gender violence laws worldwide would improve the enforcement of laws upon the violators of the human rights. Works Cited Merry, Sally E. Human Rights & Gender Violence: Translating international law into local justice. Chicago: The University of Chicago, 2006. Print. Read More