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United Nations press release
UNITED NATIONS
Press Release
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COMMITTEE ON DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN MEETS WITH NON GOVERNMENTAL
ORGANIZATIONS
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Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
20 October 2008
AFTERNOON
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women this
afternoon discussed with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) the
situation of women Belgium, Canada, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Slovenia,
Uruguay and Ecuador, whose country reports it will consider this
session.
NGOs raised issues impacting the enjoyment of women's rights in these
countries, including with regard to sexual and reproductive rights;
violence against women; and funding for laws to protect women's rights
and ensure their implementation. A number of NGOs underscored the
continuing, and in some cases increasing, gaps between women and men
in terms of salaries, participation in political life, and access to
education.
Belgian NGOs were particularly concerned about a lack of coordination
at the federal level in action in favour of women. Canadian NGOs
stressed the "crisis situation" of indigenous women. For Kyrgyzstan
organizations, a lack of protection against violence and in particular
violence by both State and non-State actors against lesbian, bisexual
and transgender women was raised. Regarding Mongolia, NGOs highlighted
that to date a number of violent crimes against women such as marital
rape, incest and date rape were not formally criminalized. In
Slovenia, NGOs criticized a lack of governmental will to address
issues of equality, and a lack of attention to the issue of high
maternal mortality rates, which were increasing. Concerning Uruguay,
NGOs criticised a lack of action on violence against women and a need
to address high early school drop out rates. For Ecuador, particular
concerns of NGOs were the implementation gap between the rights set
out in the new Constitution, and women's rights on the ground, and in
particular in the area of sexual and reproductive rights, with a
recent ban on the "emergency pill" by the Constitutional Tribunal.
Speaking this afternoon were the representatives of International
Federation for Human Rights (FIDH); Canadian Feminist Alliance for
International Action, in a joint statement with Voice of Women for
Peace; the Haudensaunee Confederacy; Forum of Women's NGOs of
Kyrgyzstan; Labrys - Kyrgyzstan; Coalition of Mongolian Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Advocates; Centre for Citizens'
Alliance; Association S.O.S. Help Line For Women And Children -
Victims Of Violence; Slovene Philanthropy and Slovenia Women's Lobby;
CLADEM (Women's Collective) Uruguay; Mizangas; CLADEM - Ecuador; and
Corporacion Humanas - Ecuador.
At the outset, the Chairperson explained that the delegation of
Cameroon had informed the Committee that it was unable to travel to
Geneva in time to present its report tomorrow. The Committee's review
of the report of Cameroon had therefore been postponed to another
session.
The Committee will hear from NGOs again later in the session, on the
afternoon of Monday, 27 October, when the organizations will submit
statements on the country reports to be considered during the second
and third weeks of the session.
When the Committee meets at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 21 October, it will
begin its consideration of the combined fifth and sixth periodic
reports of Belgium (CEDAW/C/BEL/6), in Chamber A.
Statement on Belgium
GRATIA PUNGU, of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH),
drew the Committee's attention to the fact that Belgium had made
little progress in terms of monitoring the Convention or the rights of
women generally; that there was a lack of political coordination on
the equality of women and men, with older laws not updated and
modernized to suit the modern State; that measures that were taken
were done in a dispersed fashion, without correct evaluation or
follow-up; and that, while in dealing with the issue of discrimination
against women children's and women's groups were consulted, human
rights associations were not; that was to treat women's rights as if
they were not human rights.
Statements on Canada
SHARON McIVOR, in of the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International
Action speaking also for Voice of Women for Peace, said that Canadian
women seriously questioned whether Canada took the review by the
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
seriously. It had failed to implement the 23 recommendations that the
Committee had made in 2003, had directly flouted some of them and had
moved backwards on several issues. Aboriginal women in Canada were in
a "crisis" situation, continuing to live in impoverished conditions,
with high rates of poverty, poor health, lack of access to clean
water, low school completion rates and high rates of violence; rates
of poverty were high among women and girls, with women's incomes about
60 per cent that of men; social programmes vital to women, such as
child care, were in crisis; law enforcement agencies and Canada's
justice system continued to be inadequately responsive to violence
against women; and there were not enough shelters for women victims of
violence. In a shocking move, in 2006, the Government had cancelled
its funding to the Court Challenges Programme, which had provided
women with their only practical access to the use of their
constitutional equality rights. The Government had also changed its
funding guidelines, which meant that women's NGOs could not receive
funding for advocacy or research.
JACQUELINE HOUSE, of the Haudensaunee Confederacy, said that since
1924 Canada had declared war on the right of haudensaunee women to
live free in the natural order of law. Their women had been standing
up against government officials, who wanted to take their land, most
recently in 2006, when Canadian police used tasers against women and
children. They had over 9,000 acres under dispute with Canada.
DOREEN SILVERSMITH, also a Haudensaunee member, said that a lot of
people did not know about the violent police actions against the
haudensaunee women. She encouraged the Committee members to read their
report.
Statements on Kyrgyzstan
BEKNAZAROVA MUNARA, of the Women Support Centre, said that there was
vertical and horizon gender segregation in the labour market in
Kyrgyzstan, and there was a tendency for the gap between women's and
men's salaries to grow. Today, women's average salary amounted to 66.6
per cent of that of men, whereas in 1996 that indicator had been 73
per cent. Moreover, statistical information on the growth of
trafficking on women was very approximate. No systemic monitoring or
evaluation was being conducted, although Kyrgyzstan was still a
sending, transit and receiving country for such traffic.
CHINARA KARTANBAEVA, of the Forum of Women's NGOs of Kyrgyzstan,
speaking on violence against women, noted that while Kyrgyzstan had
adopted a law on domestic violence in 2003 there were no obligations
on financing the law or mechanisms for its implementation. The level
of issuance of protective orders was very low. For instance in 2006,
where 150 cases of appeal on the issue of domestic violence were
recorded in one region, only 4 protective orders were issued.
Furthermore, no compensation to victims of domestic violence existed.
SYINAT SULTANALIEVA, of Labrys, said that there was a latent division
of women in Kyrgyzstan into two classes: the upper class women who
deserved their human rights because they obediently followed the
patriarchal norms, and the lower class women who did not fit into
those standards and thus did not deserve human rights. They were
lesbian, bisexual and transgender women, and women selling sex. Those
women did not have access to education, legal aid, health care,
employment, or political representation. Secondly, institutional
violence against women selling sex should be stopped.
Statements on Mongolia
ANARAA NYAMDORJ, of the Coalition of Mongolian Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
and Transgender Rights Advocates, said that the Government of Mongolia
had acted and continued to act in contravention of its international
obligations under the Convention and other international conventions
through its engagement in exclusionary practices that denied lesbian
and bisexual women and female-born transgender persons the enjoyment
of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Lesbian, bisexual or
transgender persons were often subject to a range of human rights
violations, including harassment, physical violence, hate crimes and
sexual assaults. There was enough anecdotal evidence to suggest that
sexual violence against such persons in Mongolia by both State and
non-State actor was pervasive, and that the Government had failed to
provide protection.
ZANAA JURMED, of the Centre for Citizens' Alliance, said that high
rates of unemployment and poverty among young women made women more
vulnerable, in particular to trafficking and sexual harassment.
Furthermore, discrimination and violence against disabled women,
Kazakh and reindeer women remained rampant and without redress.
Mongolia to date had not criminalized a number of violent crimes
against women such as marital rape, incest and date rape. And,
although the law on domestic violence had been in force for over three
years now, only 20 cases had been prosecuted under that law, while the
National Centre Against Violence provided legal and psychological
support and counselling to six women per day.
Statements on Slovenia
SPELA VESELIC, of the Association S.O.S. Help Line For Women And
Children - Victims Of Violence, said that gender equality mechanisms
at the local level in Slovenia remained very poor. On the national
level, the governmental Office for Equal Opportunities had become
weaker partly also due to its transformation into a general
anti-discrimination body. Gender equality coordinators in most of the
ministries lacked power and training. One of the obligations of the
Office for Equal Opportunities was to monitor the action plans of the
political parties for equal representation of men and women, and the
low influence of that Office on election results was one example of
their weakness. As a result, in this year's elections, there were only
12 women parliamentarians, or 13.3 per cent of parliamentarians were
women.
OBERSNEL KVEDER DUNJA, of the Slovene Philanthropy and Women's Lobby
of Slovenia, complained that the Government had not tackled the issue
of maternal mortality, as had been suggested by the Committee. The
maternal mortality rate was consistently above the average of the
other countries in the European Union. That rate was not decreasing,
but increasing. It had increased from 12 per 100,00 live births from
1995 to 1999, to 15 per 100,000 live births in the period 2000 to
2002. This was owing to the fact that it was more and more difficult
for women to access the legally prescribed preventive programmes on
sexual and reproductive health, and a lack of monitoring of the
situation.
Statements on Uruguay
FLOR DE MARIA MEZA TANANTA, of CLADEM (Women's Collective) Uruguay, on
the issue of violence against women, said that no specific budget had
been set aside for the adequate implementation of the Law on Domestic
Violence. She was also concerned that the Government failed to provide
shelters for victims.
MYRIAM ELIZABETH SUAREZ GARCIA, of Mizangas, was concerned about the
high level of dropouts for girls in school, in particular in the early
years of secondary education. Universal, free education had to be
guaranteed. There was a lack of specific statistical data, but it was
clear that the poverty of the rural population hindered women's access
to secondary education.
Statements on Ecuador
SYLVANA SANCHEZ, of CLADEM (Women's Collective) Ecuador, said the 2008
Ecuadorian Constitution contained important advances for the rights of
women, but they had not been accompanied by the necessary policies and
budgeting for their implementation. The bridge between the
Constitution of 2008 and real advancement existed. The national
Women's Council had been institutionalized by an Executive Decree,
which left it up to the Executive's will to modify or abolish it.
Other concerns included wage gaps between men and women, sexual
harassment against bisexual and lesbian women, and the high number of
elderly women without any income.
ELISABETH VASQUEZ, of Corporacion Humanas - Ecuador, said that the
discourse on sexual and reproductive rights in the country had
continued to compromise women's rights. This led to, for example, the
Constitutional Tribunal to ban the "emergency" pill, under pressure
from the Catholic Church, and other measures. On violence against
women, there were documented cases of discrimination and torture of
bisexual, lesbian and transgender women, who were ordered to undergo,
among others, programmes in mental health institutions to correct
their "aberrant" behaviour. Domestic violence against women had
increased over the past two years. A minimum percentage of cases
brought to court were resolved. To date, domestic violence was not
defined in criminal law.
Questions and Comments by Committee Members
In questions and comments on Canada, Committee Members asked what
recourse indigenous women had to vindicate their rights in the courts,
given the Government's move in 2006 to cancel its Court Challenges
Programme. An Expert also asked if NGOs had an explanation for the
apparent rollback by the Government in the area of women's rights.
What was the existing legal protection system for native women, and
did access to shelters for such women exist.
On Slovenia, an Expert asked about strategies by NGOs to address
trafficking, and to increase women's political participation. On
Kyrgyzstan, NGOs were asked to elaborate on the very high statistic on
bride kidnapping, which was cited at 51 per cent in some communities.
Was bride kidnapping considered a crime?
In a general question, an Expert asked for NGOs to elaborate on
whether they had had input in formulating government policy in the
area of women, or if they had been invited to participate in drafting
reports to the Committee, for example. The Chairperson noted the
statement by a number of NGOs that their countries "did not take the
Convention seriously", or, in other words, that it was not really
implementing the normative framework for the rights pertaining to
women in their country. She asked the representatives of NGOs to
analyse why that was the case.
Response by Non Governmental Organizations
Responding to the questions on Belgium, NGO speakers pointed out that
Belgium did not have statistics on race, but only on migration, so it
was hard to show discrimination against women of ethnic minorities.
Nevertheless, reports had shown that non-European women were
discriminated against in terms of employment. On a second level, older
women were also the subject of discrimination.
On Canada, NGOs said that women were not taking the issue of murders
of women to the courts; and they took note of the comment about the
Optional Protocol. In terms of decreases of funds for NGOs, while the
pot of money had not been reduced, effectively NGOs were blocked from
using that money for any advocacy work.
On bride kidnapping, Kyrgyz NGOs explained how the practice was
carried out, where a potential husband merely picked his bride out on
the street and then proceeded to forcibly kidnap her. The level of
kidnapping was actually pretty much the same around the country,
something like 45 per cent of ethnic Kyrgyz women having been forced
into marriages. The "saving money" explanation for such marriages was
not founded. That was considered "consensual kidnapping" or in other
terms elopement. The statistic that they were giving here was for
non-consensual kidnapping.
Mongolian NGOs said that there were numerous programmes in place in
conjunction with international groups to combat trafficking, as well
as a provision in the Criminal Code and a National Programme to Combat
Trafficking. However, poverty remained. In that situation, it was hard
to stop the trade in women and girls, which brought in a lot of
income. Moreover, the political will to ensure that women's
participation in the political sphere was lacking, and the 30 per cent
quota for women's candidature had been abolished.
The high maternal mortality rate in Slovenia was indisputable, the
Slovenian NGOs said. On violence against women, they had 12 shelters,
with 197 beds, for a nation of 2 million. They also had a 24-hour help
line. As for support from the Government, their direct services, such
as shelters and the help line, were covered by the Government up to 60
per cent, but there was almost no chance of getting funding for
advocacy work.
NGOs from Uruguay said the Criminal Code was totally patriarchal,
including a chapter on "modesty and honour". While a reform of the
criminal code had been announced, human rights NGOs had not been
invited to participate. There had been huge difficulties in getting a
bill on reproductive rights through Parliament; they had been trying
since 1986. The legal profession did not think that it should be part
and parcel of domestic law, even if it was in contradiction of
Uruguay's international obligations.
Ecuadorian NGOs ran their clinics with private funding. It had been
very hard to bring to court cases of torture or ill treatment suffered
by bisexual, lesbian and transgender women, because they were often
subjected to such treatment in private clinics.
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For use of the information media; not an official record
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