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A State Party to the Covenant that becomes a Party to the present Protocol recognizes the competence of the Committee to receive and consider communications from individuals subject to its jurisdiction who claim to be victims of a violation by that State Party of any of the rights set forth in the Covenant. No communication shall be received by the Committee if it concerns a State Party to the Covenant which is not a Party to the present Protocol.
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The United Nations Covenant on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights does not at present have an Optional Protocol for filing such INDIVIDUAL Complaints of alleged violations. ______________________________________________________________________________
BOTH CAN BE VERY IMPORTANT FOR WOMEN. This and the next WUNRN release will provide text and references about the Optional Protocol Mechanism, the Optional Protocol for the UN Convention on Civil & Political Rights, and the considered Optional Protocol for the UN Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Also pasted as part of this release is the past letter from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights indicating that only a small percentage of alleged human rights violations to UN Special Rapporteurs and Independent Experts are regarding WOMEN. Indeed, the procedures for such complaints is different than for complaints to the Committees reviewing Covenants, but the issue of having mechanisms in place and documenting and addressing these alleged violations of women's human rights through the UN system, CAN BE IMPORTANT.
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Quick Response
Desk
Special Procedures
Branch of the OHCHR
Geneva
2004
Dear
All,
We take
this opportunity to thank you for your continuous cooperation and precious
assistance in the work of the Special Procedures (Special Rapporteurs/Working
Groups/Special Representatives of the Secretary General/Independent Experts). In
view of this positive collaboration we would ask your further
support.
As you
may know, communications Special Procedures send to Governments are an important
part of their work. Special procedures send hundreds of cases, in the form of
letters of allegations and urgent appeals, to Governments every year.
Communications, together with the Governments’ replies, are then made public in
the reports that the different Special Procedures submit to the Commission on
Human Rights. As you are aware, communications are based on the information
received from you and your network of sources. Both your work and that of your
partners is of crucial importance to protect the rights of
people.
Gender disaggregated data on communications in the first months of 2004 indicate that only 10% of the individuals covered by urgent appeals and allegation letters are women and in several cases the sex of the victim(s) is not specified in the information we receive.
In view
of these figures and sure that we share common views on the importance to report
and seek redress for human rights violations affecting women as well as men, we
would like to share with you the following considerations and
suggestions.
In the
attempt to understand these figures and address the issue, we identified some
reasons that could explain the striking difference in communications concerning
men and those concerning women.
►The sex of the
victim(s) is often overlooked in the information received.
►Women’s human
rights violations tend to happen more in the so called “private” sphere, less
“visible” and considered by some to be more difficult to conceptualize in a
human rights framework.
►Human rights
violations occurring in the private sphere tend to be unreported, which in turn
triggers the vicious cycle of impunity and
re-victimization.
►Some human rights
violations affecting women are mistakenly thought not to be relevant to the
special procedures.
►Human rights
organizations might have limited contact with women’s
organizations.
In
light of these considerations, with a view to improving the communications’
gender sensitivity, the following suggestions have been identified:
1.
Always indicate the sex of individuals
2.
Try to report on less “traditional” cases of human rights violations which might
happen in less “public” contexts such as in communities and homes and might
affect women in particular.
3.
Locate broader sources of information, such as women’s community based
organizations and grass-root organisations, disseminate among them information
on special procedures and how these are relevant for human rights violations
affecting women.
3.
Explore the possibility of reporting cases of legislation (in force or to be
adopted) and policies that might affect the enjoyment of women’s human
rights.
4.
When
violations are committed by private individuals or groups (rather than
government officials), information is needed which might indicate that the
Government failed to exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate, punish, and
ensure compensation for the violations.
For
example, we would welcome information
on:
•
Whether or not there is a law which addresses the violation at
stake.
•
Any defects in existing laws such as inadequate remedies or definitions of
rights.
•
The refusal or failure by authorities to register or investigate the case and
other similar cases.
• The
failure by the authorities to prosecute case and other similar
cases.
• Patterns
of gender discrimination in the prosecution or sentencing of
cases.
• Statistics
and other data concerning the prevalence of the type of violation described in
the submission.
These
are just some considerations and suggestions that we would like to share with
you and your network of partners.
We
will continue monitoring gender disaggregated data on communications of special
procedures and will inform you on further developments in this
area.
Please
note that your views and suggestions on the above are welcome and we hope to
open up a constructive dialogue on this.
For
any further clarification, please do not hesitate to contact us through our
urgent-action e-mail (urgent-action@ohchr.org).
Once
again we would like to thank you for your valuable work and cooperation with the
special procedures.
Best
Regards
The
Quick Response Desk
Special Procedures Branch
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