The challenge regarding human rights that I would like to discuss is women's rights, including their right to life, health, and safety. More specifically, their rights during domestic abuse, their reproductive rights, and the application of the right to life of women. A core actor in this human rights challenge is the state, more specifically the government. They have a state responsibility to ensure all rights are applied to all their citizens; this may have become compromised during the COVID-19 global pandemic. I will be looking specifically at women in the UK and how they have been affected. The right to life is a first-generation right, a right that is there to protect personal autonomy regarding freedom, safety, and ownership, it is important that all women are entitled to this right. COVID-19 has increased domestic violence and made it more difficult for some women to access sexual health services and apply their reproductive rights. This has caused many questions and concerns regarding women's rights and human rights.
Domestic abuse takes away or compromises the right to life and the right to health of the victim, violence against women or girls is a human rights violation. Six women are killed every hour by men around the world, most by men in their own family or their partners; A new report shows that in the UK a woman is killed by a man every three days [1]. According to UN data, more than half of women or girls murdered by men are killed by their current partner. Women being killed by partners are being deprived of the right to life, women being beaten and injured (mentally, physically, emotionally, or sexually) are being deprived of their right to health and any woman who is suffering violence in their household is potentially being deprived of their right to safety. The right to life is a first-generation right to which every human being is entitled to under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person (UDHR), we all have the right to life, and to live in freedom and safety [2]. Women experiencing domestic violence will often be unable to feel safe and may suffer from mental health conditions e.g. depression, anxiety, PTSD, battered woman syndrome. This would clearly be compromising the person's right to health. Reports of domestic violence increased drastically during the COVID-19 pandemic. The UK police recorded 206,492 violence against the person offenses flagged as domestic abuse-related between March and June 2020, a 9% increase compared with the same period in 2019 [3]. This means that during the national lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, domestic abuse rose. Women were trapped in their houses with their abusers and the restrictions made it much more difficult for victims to reach out and access help services and safety. This suggests that when the government said 'stay at home' to the nation, they were not thinking about the victims who consequently suffered. The state has a responsibility to keep its citizens safe and ensure they have access to all of their human rights. By definition, the state is a nation territory that is considered an organized political community forming part of a country. By allowing women to be trapped indoors with their abusers and allowing domestic violence to rise, they are not fulfilling that responsibility because they put many citizens at risk of violence from their partners. When the state fails, other actors can step in, in this situation, helplines, refuges, and occasionally the courts can become involved. The Office for National Statistics reported that in mid-May 2020, there was a 12% increase in the number of domestic abuse cases referred to victim support [4]. More support could've been provided by the government establishing a more suitable plan to tackle the foreseeable risk of domestic abuse rising during the COVID-19 pandemic, or by helplines and other community actors being more involved with those in need during the national lockdowns.
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All women should be entitled to be in control of their own reproductive system and be able to access reproductive healthcare, safe abortion, birth control, and confidential advice. If they are denied their reproductive rights they are effectively having their human rights violated. Reproductive rights are important because this ensures that the person is being treated in a humane and fair way, many women worldwide are still not provided with the reproductive rights that everyone deserves. Sexual and reproductive health and rights mean the right for everyone, regardless of age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, HIV status, or other aspects of identity, to make informed choices regarding their own sexuality and reproduction [5]. Sexual and reproductive rights mean you should be able to make your own decisions about your body and: get accurate information about these issues, access sexual and reproductive health services including contraception, choose if, when, and who to marry, decide if you want to have children and how many; They also mean our lives should be free from all forms of sexual violence, including rape, female genital mutilation, forced pregnancy, forced abortion and forced sterilization [6]. However, this is not provided or only provided to an extent for some women. The case study of abortions in Northern Ireland shows some of the many effects that Covid-19 has had on reproductive rights. The UN, the government, and the state as a whole have a responsibility to ensure women's human rights are fulfilled and this is not being done if some women are not being given their reproductive and sexual rights. The 1967 Abortion Act, which allowed for abortion in England, Scotland, and Wales, did not include Northern Ireland, where abortion remained illegal except when a woman's life was at risk. Rape, incest, and fatal fetal abnormality were not sufficient grounds for abortion [7]. In October 2019 abortion was decriminalised and became lawful in Northern Ireland, a new framework for lawful abortion services came into effect on 31 March 2020 [6]. Though the law technically came into effect, services were not rolled out at the time. Guidelines for healthcare professionals who were ready to perform abortions were not issued [8]. This means that at-home abortion pills were supposed to be available to women in Northern Ireland however, guidelines were not given out to the health professionals who would be providing the service and so it did not happen as it was supposed to. This provided false hope to women in Northern Ireland and restricted their reproductive rights and therefore their human rights. Another human rights dilemma in reproductive rights is Christian protesters at abortion clinics and sexual health clinics. Everyone has the right to freedom of speech and the right to assembly (UDHR), so legally they are allowed to protest at these clinics. This however makes people uncomfortable and distressed when they are trying to access the services that these clinics provide. Some religious protesters are pro-life and believe that abortion is murder and is unacceptable in every case, this is why they protest. However, part of reproductive rights is the right to a safe abortion, as long as it is not being used as a long-term contraceptive method and therefore the women accessing these services should be allowed to do so without confrontation or judgment.
Women's rights contain many human rights challenges, women need extra rights to keep them safe and equal to men because of the human rights challenges that are specific to women. Many women's rights issues have worsened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including domestic violence and reproductive rights. Domestic violence is the cause of death, injury, and mental health problems for many women globally, in my essay, I have focused on domestic violence against women in the UK. Another human rights issue affecting women during COVID-19 that I have researched for my essay is reproductive rights, specifically in Northern Ireland where it was thought that women in Northern Ireland would be allowed to receive at-home abortion pills during lockdown but guidelines were never issued to the appropriate healthcare providers.
- Douglas Broom, 25 Nov 2020, https:www.weforum.orgagenda202011violence-against-women-femicide-census
- Amnesty International UK, 21 Oct 2017, https:www.amnesty.org.ukuniversal-declaration-human-rights-UDHR
- Domestic abuse during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, England and Wales: November 2020, Office for National Statistics, https:www.ons.gov.ukpeoplepopulationandcommunitycrimeandjusticearticlesdomesticabuseduringthecoronaviruscovid19pandemicenglandandwalesnovember2020
- Domestic abuse and Covid-19: A year into the pandemic, 11 May 2021, https: commons library. parliament.UK domestic-abuse-and-covid-19-a-year-into-the-pandemic
- Action aid, 24 Feb 2021, https:www.actionaid.org.ukour-workvawgsexual-reproductive-health-rights-women-and-girls
- Amnesty International: Sexual and reproductive rights, https:www.amnesty.orgenwhat-we-do sexual-and-reproductive-rights
- Division over abortion exposed during COVID-19 despite the change in law, Rohan Naik, 6 May 2020, https:www.thedetail.tvarticlesabortion-northern-ireland-covid-19
- Division over abortion exposed during COVID-19 despite the change in law, Rohan Naik, 6 May 2020, https:www.thedetail.tvarticlesabortion-northern-ireland-covid-19
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