Should Countries That Fail to Protect Women's Rights Suffer International Sanctions?

The rights of women across the globe form an integral part of the human rights. The Universal Declaration of the human rights under the United Nations was declared in 1948, after the Second World War. The individual nations took in recognition of human rights charter through the domestic laws as well as national institutions. The process has however been dragging behind in some countries depending on the political and social goodwill to instill human rights agenda in the respective countries. The rights of women are one of the thorny issues in most countries leading to the international community concern on the need to have women rights in place across the globe (Posner, 2014). The extent of the powers accorded to women varies from one country to another. In some countries, women are but numbers with little contribution to the country's main agendas, leadership, or education. In line with the international laws, all states and groups are forbidden from direct or indirect intervention in the affairs of other countries (Baek, 2018). Sanctions can be in the forms of the arms embargo or economic sanctions to push the government to yield into international demands. The sanctions can easily be applied to push the countries that have not put in place measures to ensure the rights of women are upheld tore the line.

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According to Godha et al. (2016), child marriages among the Roma in Serbia is an all-time high case. The rate of child marriages in most European countries is relatively low, leading to the lack of scrutiny on the issue (McKinnon, 2017). However, early marriages among the marginalized groups are an all-time high as noted in the case of Roma community in Serbia (Huszka, 2018). The girls from poor household were the most affected by early marriages among the Roma community. The early marriages are directly proportional to the school enrollment rates and the completion rates (Bozrm & Kontula, 2014).

In West African and Central Africa, although reducing, the number of early marriages are prevalent. For instance, 5.6 % of young girls in Rwanda marry at a young age (Abbott and Malunda, 2018). On the other hand, Gambia has 3.3 % of the under 18 years of age in early marriages (Obiora, Amede, and Whalen, 2015). Also, Guinea Bissau reported 3.9 of the underage girls already married off (Sheldon and Van Allen, 2015). Ghana reportedly has 2.1 of the young girls already married off (Adjei, Ron, and Alexander, 2015). Child marriage practice is discriminatory through the perception that women and girls, in general, are inferior. They are expected to conform to the stereotypes that women are best valued as mothers, vulnerable and in need of men's protection, and sexual objects among others, and therefore, not entitled to personal rights (UNICEF, 2017).

In many regions, the cause of the early marriages can be attributed to peer pressure, poverty, non-implementation and gaps in laws, conflict, and emergencies, gender inequality, and lack of formal education (Bayisenge, 2010). The European Union, for instance, had an agreement with the Gambia, the Cotonou Agreement (Arts, 2017). The deal was geared towards human rights including the right of women; however, nothing has been achieved so far ("The Gambia - International Cooperation and Development - European Commission"). The EU advanced a grant of 69.1 million Euros for infrastructure and governance. Such grants without the country instituting the measures to enhance women rights should be put on hold until the rights of women are prioritized.

In some countries, the legal age for marriage is not enshrined in the law (McFarland). Such countries include the United States of America, Iran, Libya, Yemen, Saud Arabia, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, South Africa, Namibia, Canada, Indonesia, Oman, Madagascar, Morocco, and Zimbabwe (Kearney, 2016). It is easy to have people who exploit such gaps in the law to escalate the cases of early marriages. Girls below the age of 18 are considered children, and therefore, not legally capable of making decisions such as getting married (Sen, 2015). The early marriages deprive them of the right to enjoy childhood and to access education (Coquery-Vidrovitch, 2018). Advancement of economic sanctions against the countries that have not put on place measures to curb early marriages will push the governments to crack the whip on such communities.

Bangladesh, a country in the Indian sub-continent, is embroiled in modern slavery towards women (Azad, 2018). An estimated 1.5 million people are reported to work as slaves. As compared to forced marriages in Bangladesh, forced labor is 80 % more prevalent. Approximately 15 % of the people involved in forced labor were women (Kelly, 2013). Men are involved in labor mainly because they are perceived to be stronger. However, the trend in forced marriage is opposite. Approximately 88 % of forced marriage cases are women as compared to 12 % of men involved in forced marriage (Maswikwa et al., 2015). Forced marriage in Bangladesh indicates that 29 % of girls under the age of 15 are forced into early marriage. That figure of underage marriage is the highest in the world (Parsons et al.). Out of those reported early marriages in Bangladesh, 2 % are below the age of 11 (Kelly, 2013).

Apart from early marriages in Bangladesh, more than 300,000 women are working under forced prostitution (Biswas, 2015). Bangladesh is among the leading garment producers in the world; most garment companies have their manufacturing sectors in Bangladesh due to cheap labor (Amin et al., 2018). More than 4 million people in Bangladesh are working in the garment industry. Out of all the garment factory workers, 85 % are women (Kamala, Mostafa, and Hassan, 2015). According to the Johan (2018), the garment industry is characterized by forced labor. This implies that majority of the women in the garment industry work under stringent conditions and others as forced laborers. Under the 2014-2020 indicative programs, the EU has advanced a 690 million Euros grant for the food and nutrition, governance, and education sectors in Bangladesh. Further, the EU offered 21.6 million Euros in humanitarian aid to the country in 2017 ("Bangladesh - Trade - European Commission"). The western countries are the main trading partners of Bangladesh. For instance, the US imported garments worth $5.5 billion in 2016 (Cookson, 2017). Bangladesh was the fourth largest exporter of garments to the US after China, India, and Vietnam.

On the other hand, the EU accounted for 24 % of the total trade with Bangladesh in 2015 ("Bangladesh - Trade - European Commission"). Regarding goods, Bangladesh was 35th largest trading partner for the EU. Among the imports from Bangladesh, 90 % of the imports are garments ("Bangladesh - European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations - European Commission"). The EU and the US and other democracies have the best chances of pushing the government in Dhaka to institute relevant legislation to curb the early marriages meted on young girls as well as forced labor evident in the garment industry across Bangladesh. The economic sanctions can be directed to the garment industry as well as withholding any aid to the country until relevant reforms as far as women issues are concerned takes place.

Saudi Arabia is major economic and political power in Arabian Peninsula and the larger Gulf region. However, the humanitarian record in Saudi Arabia towards record is very poor. According to Nebehey (2018), Saudi Arabia discriminates against women. It does not allow women to access the justice system wholly, and many do not have the freedom to go about their chores without a male guardian. Until recently, women were not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, that has changed, but they still have to drive around under the guardianship of a male relative. Women's potential in Saudi Arabia is limited to the traditional roles of a homemaker. The government in Saudi Arabia does not have a woman in the cabinet (Nebehey, 2018). Women cannot access medical care or any other service without a guardian's consent.

Further, women cannot acquire a passport or travel abroad for studies or any other activity (Al-Alhareth, Yasra, and Ibtisam, 2015). Forced marriages, child marriages, as well as a compulsory dress code for women characterize the Saudi Arabian society. Any dressing code that is perceived as immoral attracts harassment and violence from male guardians and the religious police (Amnesty International, 2018). All forms of violence against women including rape cases are not considered as crimes in line with the Sharia law in Saudi Arabia (Wilson & Graham, 2016). Not giving women a chance to carry out their activities without a guide in their environment limits their potential (Al-Bakr et al., 2017). Equally, prohibiting them from traveling abroad mainly for studies makes them less privileged compared to their male counterparts ("Human Rights Watch," 2018).

In contrast, Saudi Arabia is a member of the UN Human Rights Council. The United Nations Human Rights Council has 47 member states who are elected by the majority. Saudi Arabia was reelected to the council again in 2016 despite its poor records in regards to Women rights (Gulf Council Human Rights, 2018). The country targets all activists that advocate for women rights. The activists are arrested and locked without trial (Rajkhan, 2014). The EU is the leading trading partner in goods with Saudi Arabia at 16.3 % as compared to China's 14.1 %. Equally, with an estimated $34.9 billion worth of goods to-way, Saudi Arabia is the 23rd largest trading partner with the US. The scale of trade between Saudi Arabia and the US and the EU member creates a picture of the countries that are not keen in pressuring the Saudi Arabian regime to address the women rights issue. The imposition of sanctions on the oil trade and arms trade will push the Saudi Arabian government to consider further the need to entrench the rights of women in line with the set internal laws.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is clear that the rights of women have had a slow but steady recognition across different countries. The various political views among the states have made it difficult to address the women rights collectively in the international community. The rights of women are similar in most western countries. However, the rate at which the women rights are recognized and made part of the society in most countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America is slow. Countries such as Rwanda, Gambia, Colombia, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia exhibit draconian laws that do not foster women rights such as forced early marriages and in some instances forced labor and rape. Having in place sanctions in the economic sector towards the regimes in those countries can push them to take the rights of women in the society seriously.

Bibliography

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Al-Bakri, Fawziah, Elizabeth R. Bruce, Petrina M. Davidson, Edit Schlaffer, and Ulrich Kropiunigg. "Empowered but not equal: Challenging the traditional gender roles as seen by university students in Saudi Arabia." In FIRE: Forum for International Research in Education, vol. 4, no. 1, p. 3. 2017.

Al Alhareth, Yahya, Yasra Al Alhareth, and Ibtisam Al Dighrir. "Review of women and society in Saudi Arabia." American Journal of Educational Research, 3, no. 2 (2015): 121-125.

Amin, Sajeda, Ian Diamond, Ruchira T. Naved, and Margaret...