Topic: Violence Against Women
Country: Germany
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Germany position papers GLIMUN 2018 committees
The United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.” This expansive definition nonetheless serves to limit the scope of the committee’s focus, by separating the unique challenges faced by women and girls from more generic or incidental forms of violence that are not targeted. Within this limited scope are two broad categories of violence: physical violence, that is, harm to the body, and violence aimed chiefly at the mental or emotional well-being of its target. Physical violence, while often the most publicized, is statistically much less common than mental violence. This is not to say that physical violence targeted against women is uncommon, however – 35% of women worldwide are estimated to have experienced some form of gender-based physical violence over their lifetimes, with some nations reporting rates as high as 70% when violence from intimate partners is included. The effects of violence against women are felt by the victims and their communities alike and are as diverse as the causes are numerous. The health effects alone are catastrophic, with rates of sexually transmitted infections more than 1.5 times as high among women who have experienced physical or sexual abuse as for the general population, and the risks of miscarriage, stillbirth, and birth defects significantly above baseline, as well. Mental and emotional violence, the effects of which are less directly measurable, nevertheless contribute to financial, educational, and professional disparities at all levels of society. The task of UN Women will be to examine these issues and come up with broad-based, inclusive, and actionable strategies for preventing violence against women and mitigating its effects.
In Germany, it is known that the forms of violence differ between men and women. Men are more often affected by violence carried out in public places, whereas women experience violence more often within close social relationships. This also lends support to two studies published in 2004 in Germany. In a representative study investigating “life situation, safety, and health of women in Germany” [4], it was shown that in 99% of the cases, violence against women is carried out by men. A pilot study investigating violence against men [5] showed that men are especially prone to be victims of violence in public settings; however, men were also found to experience violence in intimate relationships. Violence against women creates a base to target men for others behaviors and giving women physical, emotional, and psychological pain that can't be easily healed because of the predators that create the problem for women. That's why we need laws in place to help this problem
This problem is ongoing, but Germany has ways of fighting against it, such as our Criminal Code and how to combat against different forms of violence against women. We have sections relating from Forced marriage, stalking, all the way to violence against women. We propose that each country introduces laws and proper discipline against violence and violence against the women of its country or nation. By introducing a law to this problem, we can cut back on how much violence we have and create a better life for every woman. If each country introduces their own laws and rules according to their beliefs and amendments, then we will not have to cross the line of foreign sovereignty and give everyone a chance to fight against this problem, or create a bigger problem for themselves, showing each nation of the world why we need laws in place to protect our women and give everyone a chance to live a happy and stress free life away from predators.
