During my time as the 2018 German youth delegate at the G20, I worked on policy recommendations on gender-based violence. During a three month research period, conversations with policy experts and the final negotiations with my G(irls)20 team, we developed policy recommendations to the G20 leaders.
Our vision for 2030 was the following:
All forms of violence against women and girls in the private and public sphere will be significantly reduced. Women and girls will have safe and easy access to legal mechanisms to report and be protected from gender-based violence.
At the 2018 G20 Summit, we call upon each G20 government to enforce legislation in line with Article 2 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and Article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights focused on the prevention of gender-based violence and femicide, the protection of young women, strict punishment for aggressors and to:
1. Incorporate training and educational programmes into the formal education system to teach women and girls about their rights on gender-based violence as it relates to the domestic context.
2. Require that law enforcement treats all reports of gender-based violence as high priority, especially in life-threatening situations. Create mandatory training to include response protocols, trauma, bias, cultural sensitivity, evidence-collecting, victim and aggressor interviewing, and risk assessment.
3. Provide funding for comprehensive services for survivors including financial support initiatives, mental health services, and access to safe spaces for reporting and protection. Additionally, provide funding for rehabilitation services for aggressors, including counselling.
4. Require employers to have policies that protect women against gender-based violence and harassment. These policies should be in line with standards laid out by the International Labor Organisation and UN Women.
5. Create an official body to monitor sexual harassment in the workplace at the national level.
