UNITED NATIONS ENTITY FOR GENDER EQUALITY AND THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN

PANORAMA MUN 2020

BackgroundPresident: Camila Michel Flores Alejandri Email: 174011@salleleon.edu.mx

President: Camila Michel Flores Alejandri Email: 174011@salleleon.edu.mx

Committee For many years, the United Nations faced profound challenges in its fight for the promotion of gender equality worldwide. These challenges included inadequate financing and the lack of some recognized momentum that led the activities of the United Nations on gender equality issues.

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, to find a solution to such challenges. Therefore, the Member States of the United Nations took a historic step by accelerating the objectives of the Organization related to gender equality and the empowerment of women.

Functions UN Women is one of the United Nations organ in charge of achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women. It was created with the objective of accelerate progress on women's needs worldwide through the establishment of international standards.

This organ works with governments and civil society to create the necessary laws, policies, programs and services to ensure that standards are effectively implemented and that they truly benefit women and girls around the world.

Topics Topic A: Facing the obstetric violence to women during childbirth in Africa

Topic B: Prevention of medical negligence to women in need of AIDS

treatments in America

Topic C: Protection against war crimes to women amid armed conflicts in

Middle East

UNITED NATIONS ENTITY FOR GENDER EQUALITY AND THE EMPOWERMENT OF

WOMEN

Background

Topic A: Facing the obstetric violence to women during childbirth in Africa

Obstetric violence is a specific type of violation of women’s rights, including the rights to equality, this refers to physical or verbal abuse of a pregnant woman during childbirth, this is a great foul of women's rights, such actions may include humiliations or verbal insults until the patient's medication against her will and unnecessary procedures. Unfortunately, obstetric violence is an often-overlooked type of Violence against women. This kind of violence is very common in African countries such as South Africa, Kenya and Ghana among others, in these countries the desire of women is not fully respected when giving birth, as already mentioned, in hospitals of these nations a pregnant woman is medicated or surgically performed without her consent. Possible examples of these actions include forcing a caesarean section when the baby can be taken naturally, excess in medications and even the position in which the woman wants to have the birth, without leaving on the insults or denigrations that these women’s suffer inside and outside the establishment. The importance of this topic is vital, many of these actions against the will of women end up in serious consequences for the women’s health, all as a result of not guaranteeing the rights of their patients

It is clear the need to find concrete proposals to reduce and eradicate this type of violence to women in order to provide the necessary help to a pregnant woman as long as she agrees with the procedures and medications, and finally provide the best treatment and that all the women’s feel confident during this process.

Guide Questions • What is the current situation of your delegation regarding the topic? • What actions has the delegation taken to solve this problem? • How does the obstetric violence affect your delegation? • What proposals does the delegation have to reduce and eventually eradicate

obstetric violence? • Are these proposals able to be applied in the African delegations?

Topic B: Prevention of medical negligence to women in need of AIDS treatments in America

Women account for more than half the number of people living with HIV worldwide. Young women (10-24 years old) are twice as likely to acquire HIV as young men the same age. HIV disproportionately affects women and adolescent girls because of vulnerabilities created by unequal cultural, social and economic status.

In some countries, women face significant barriers to accessing healthcare services. These barriers occur at the individual, community and societal levels. Barriers take many forms including denial of access to services that only women require, discrimination from service providers that stems from views around female sexuality and poor quality services.

Procedures relating to a women’s sexual and reproductive health, performed without consent, including forced sterilization, forced virginity examinations and forced abortion also deter women from accessing services. In some cases, healthcare providers do not fully understand laws around childbirth and HIV. This can lead to HIV-positive women choosing to have an abortion because they are misinformed about their options and how to protect their health.

A lack of access to comprehensive HIV and SRH services means that women are less able to look after their sexual and reproductive health and rights and reduce their risk of HIV infection.

Better strategies are needed across health systems to improve the accessibility, affordability, equitable coverage, quality, effectiveness and efficiency of services for women.

Guide questions: • What is the current position of your delegation in this topic? • What measures does your delegation can take to prevent negligence? • How can American delegations take in consideration of women with these

economical barriers? • What will happen to he doctors that don’t provide efficient treatments?

Topic C: Protection against war crimes to women amid armed conflicts in Middle East

In far too many conflicts around the world, rape and sexual violence — primarily targeted against women and girls — have been, and continue to be used as a strategic and tactical instrument of war. The past 20 years have shown that accountability for wartime rape and sexual violence victims has been the exception, not the rule.

Rape has been a central component of the genocidal campaign waged by Myanmar’s military and security forces against the Rohingya ethnic minority, in which Rohingya Muslim women and girls have suffered unspeakable sexual violence at the hand of powerful men, many wearing military or police uniforms.

A recent study has revealed an increase in violence against women and children resulting from the conflict in Yemen. Research shows women and girls in Yemen have been affected by rape, kidnapping and domestic violence, while boys face sexual violence and are forced to work. Yemen’s nearly five-year conflict is having disastrous consequences on its civilian population, according to the recent study, “A Gendered Crisis: Understanding Experiences of Yemen’s War.”

To sum up, it can be concluded that armed conflicts have the capacity to exacerbate existing inequalities in the society, and the patriarchal gender roles victimize women. That’s why it’s very important to take on consideration the women’s rights.

Guide questions: • How can the UN Women make the perpetrators face the consequences? • How can other delegations provide humanitarian help to women suffering

war crimes? • What measures should be taken to eradicate this problem? • What measures had been taken according to this problem?

References

UN Women: https://www.unwomen.org/en

Topic A • Obstetric violence in the daily routine of care and its characteristics.

(1970, January 1). Retrieved January 9, 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6280177/

• Obstetric violence | May 28. (n.d.). Retrieved January 9, 2020, from http://www.may28.org/obstetric-violence/

• World Health Organization. (2019, February 6). Prevention and elimination of disrespect and abuse during childbirth. Retrieved January 9, 2020, from https://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/maternal_perinatal/statement-childbirth-govnts-support/en/

Topic B • Stigmatization of people living with HIV/AIDS by healthcare workers at a

tertiary hospital in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: a cross-sectional descriptive study. (1970, January 1). Retrieved January 9, 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3878339/

• Vulnerability, Human Rights, and Comprehensive Health Care Needs of Young People Living With HIV/AIDS. (2006, June 1). Retrieved January 9, 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1470608/

• Women and girls, HIV and AIDS. (2019, October 10). Retrieved January 9, 2020, from https://www.avert.org/professionals/hiv-social-issues/key-affected-populations/women

Topic C • Thousands of women, men, children raped in Syria's war: U.N. report.

(2018, March 15). Retrieved January 9, 2020, from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-warcrimes-sexual/thousands-of-women-men-children-raped-in-syrias-war-u-n-report-idUSKCN1GR1PZ

• UN Women. (n.d.). UN Women. Retrieved January 9, 2020, from https://interactive.unwomen.org/multimedia/infostory/justicenow/en/index.html

• United Nations. (n.d.). Rape as a War Crime | United Nations. Retrieved January 9, 2020, from https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/rape-war-crime