SHADOW REPORT
TO THE COMMITTEE ON THE
ELIMINATION
OF ALL FORMS OF
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN
FOR
THE
UNDER ARTICLE 18
OF THE CONVENTION
ON THE ELIMINATION
OF ALL FORMS OF
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN
FOR ITS
CONSIDERATION
AT THE 36th SESSION
7 to 25 August
2006
The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) is
an international public interest law organisation engaging in a range of
activities aimed at combating anti-Romani racism and human rights abuse of Roma,
in particular strategic litigation, international advocacy, research and policy
development, and training of Romani activists. Information about the European
Roma Rights Centre is available at http://www.errc.org.
Gender Studies, o.p.s.
(GS) is a non-governmental non-profit
organisation performing the function of an information, consultation, and
education centre on relations between women and men and their positions in
society. The goal of the organisation is to gather, analyze, work with and
disseminate further information related to gender-relevant issues. Via specific
projects, GS actively influences change concerning equal opportunities in
different areas such as institutional mechanisms, labour market, women's
political participation, information technologies, etc. GS also runs a library
offering a variety of publications and materials related to feminism, gender
studies, women's and men's rights. http://www.en.genderstudies.cz/
The League of Human Rights (League) is a
non-governmental organisation providing free legal aid to victims of gross human
rights violations, in particular to members of the Roma minority, victims of
domestic violence, and children. Its mission is to create a future in which the
Czech state actively protects the human rights of its citizenry and respects
both the spirit and the letter of the international human rights conventions to
which it is signatory. More at http://www.llp.cz
The three organisations named above have
contributed to this shadow report according to their expertise, as
follows:
·
European
Roma Rights Centre: anti-discrimination law, coercive sterilisation of Romani
women, discrimination against Romani women in sectoral fields including
education, employment, housing, health care and social services, including in
particular racial segregation issues in the field of
education;
·
Gender
Studies: anti-discrimination law, stereotypes, political participation,
education, the labour market, childcare.
·
League of
Human Rights: domestic violence, racial segregation of Romani children in
education, coercive sterilisation of Romani women.
Organisations have provided the material herein
according to their expertise. In some of the sections below, more than one
organisation has provided information.
The European Roma Rights Centre
(ERRC), Gender Studies, and the League of Human Rights (hereafter the
“partners”) jointly submit this shadow report to the United Nations Committee on
the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (hereafter the "Committee")
commenting on the Third Periodic Report of the Czech Republic submitted under
Article 18 of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (hereafter the "Convention").
The present shadow report addresses
a number of categories of serious human rights abuses of women, including
extreme forms of abuse such as domestic violence and coercive sterilisation, as
well as very problematic law, policy, and practice in a number of areas of
relevance to the Convention. This submission is not comprehensive. Its sole
purpose is to present several areas of problematic law, practice and policy
arising in Convention areas. The present submission is structured according to
relevant Convention articles.
Czech authorities have recently
recognized – but by no means yet addressed adequately – the problem of coercive sterilisation of Romani women.
In December 2005 the Public Defender of Rights (hereafter the Ombudsman) issued
a report concluding that, according to the Ombudsman's investigation,
sterilisation without free and informed consent was practiced during the
communist era as well as after 1989. The most recent documented case is from
2001. The overwhelming majority of the
victims are Romani women. The Ombudsman recommended several legislative,
methodological, and reparations measures. Despite the Ombudsman’s
recommendations, few victims have yet received compensation, and without
government action, most will be precluded from access to justice. No persons
have yet been prosecuted by Czech authorities in connection with these extreme
harms. Responses by the Czech Government to the questions of the CEDAW Committee
on these matters are inadequate in the extreme.
Regarding the problem of domestic violence, significant progress
has been achieved especially in regard to the legal protection of victims.
However, the effectiveness of legislation is compromised by insufficient
training of police, medical professionals, and staff of child protection
agencies; lack of an interdisciplinary approach to the problem at local level;
the absence of therapeutic programs for perpetrators as well as for victims; a
complete lack of services to victims in some regions and an overall lack of
comprehensive services nationwide; absence of an independent mechanism for
investigating allegations of crimes committed by police officers or ex-police
officers; the difficult financial situation of most victims; and lack of
protection against “stalking”.
Legal protection against
discrimination remains insufficient because, despite efforts and pressure by a
number of agencies including the European Union, the Czech Parliament has to
date failed to adopt a comprehensive anti-discrimination law. Women suffer direct and indirect
forms of discrimination on the labour market, and Romani women experience
particularly extreme levels of discrimination, often compounded by intense
levels of anti-Romani antipathy in the
Government policy to address
discrimination against women, and in particular against women from marginalised
groups, has been to date ineffective where existing, and is in many areas
completely non-existent. The ineffectiveness of governmental policies
is influenced by government failure to prioritise gender equality to the
level merited. In addition, there is a general lack of awareness among the
public and a general disregard for gender equality among the political
representatives. Support for gender equality by the government is neither
long-term nor structured. All activities in this area are almost entirely
realised by NGOs, activities that should be either developed by or at least
supported by the state. At the regional level there are no activities defined so
as to structurally consider gender equality issues. The government’s actions
against gender stereotypes are insufficient and insignificant. Multiple or
compound discrimination against Romani women is not the subject of any effective
government policy, and action in this area is extremely
weak.
The participation of women in politics remains
low. A law aiming
to improve the representation of women in a number of representative bodies
(including Czech Parliament and the European Parliament) has not yet entered
into force, and in any case covers only a limited number of bodies. The
The government has not adopted any
actions to increase the low
participation of women amongst those studying the sciences and technology. Education reform has been cosmetic and
formal, with little impact of desegregating Czech education so that Romani
children might have equal access to education.
Child support is very difficult to access
in cases in which an authority has ordered
child support payments be made by a parent not present in the household and the
parent does not fulfill his/her obligations to pay alimony. This has a serious adverse impact on the
financial situation of single mothers. A bill proposing the state cover child
support for parents not fulfilling their obligations and then recover the
amounts due from the parent in question (instead of leaving all actions in such
matters up to the single parent caring for children) has been
rejected.
Finally, the
The European Roma Rights Centre
(ERRC), Gender Studies, and the League of Human Rights (hereafter the
“partners”) jointly submit this shadow report to the United Nations Committee on
the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (hereafter the "Committee")
commenting on the Third Periodic Report of the Czech Republic submitted under
Article 18 of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (hereafter the "Convention").
The present shadow report addresses
a number of categories of serious human rights abuses of women, including
extreme forms of abuse such as domestic violence and coercive sterilisation, as
well as very problematic law, policy, and practice in a number of areas of
relevance to the Convention. This submission is not comprehensive. Its sole
purpose is to present several areas of problematic law, practice and policy
arising in Convention areas. The present submission is structured according to
relevant Convention articles.
Czech authorities have recently
recognized – but by no means yet addressed adequately – the problem of coercive sterilisation of Romani women.
In December 2005 the Public Defender of Rights (hereafter the Ombudsman) issued
a report concluding that, according to the Ombudsman's investigation,
sterilisation without free and informed consent was practiced during the
communist era as well as after 1989. The most recent documented case is from
2001. The overwhelming majority of the
victims are Romani women. The Ombudsman recommended several legislative,
methodological, and reparations measures. Despite the Ombudsman’s
recommendations, few victims have yet received compensation, and without
government action, most will be precluded from access to justice. No persons
have yet been prosecuted by Czech authorities in connection with these extreme
harms. Responses by the Czech Government to the questions of the CEDAW Committee
on these matters are inadequate in the extreme.
Regarding the problem of domestic violence, significant progress
has been achieved especially in regard to the legal protection of victims.
However, the effectiveness of legislation is compromised by insufficient
training of police, medical professionals, and staff of child protection
agencies; lack of an interdisciplinary approach to the problem at local level;
the absence of therapeutic programs for perpetrators as well as for victims; a
complete lack of services to victims in some regions and an overall lack of
comprehensive services nationwide; absence of an independent mechanism for
investigating allegations of crimes committed by police officers or ex-police
officers; the difficult financial situation of most victims; and lack of
protection against “stalking”.
Legal protection against
discrimination remains insufficient because, despite efforts and pressure by a
number of agencies including the European Union, the Czech Parliament has to
date failed to adopt a comprehensive anti-discrimination law. Women suffer direct and indirect
forms of discrimination on the labour market, and Romani women experience
particularly extreme levels of discrimination, often compounded by intense
levels of anti-Romani antipathy in the
Government policy to address
discrimination against women, and in particular against women from marginalised
groups, has been to date ineffective where existing, and is in many areas
completely non-existent. The ineffectiveness of governmental policies
is influenced by government failure to prioritise gender equality to the
level merited. In addition, there is a general lack of awareness among the
public and a general disregard for gender equality among the political
representatives. Support for gender equality by the government is neither
long-term nor structured. All activities in this area are almost entirely
realised by NGOs, activities that should be either developed by or at least
supported by the state. At the regional level there are no activities defined so
as to structurally consider gender equality issues. The government’s actions
against gender stereotypes are insufficient and insignificant. Multiple or
compound discrimination against Romani women is not the subject of any effective
government policy, and action in this area is extremely
weak.
The participation of women in politics remains
low. A law aiming
to improve the representation of women in a number of representative bodies
(including Czech Parliament and the European Parliament) has not yet entered
into force, and in any case covers only a limited number of bodies. The
The government has not adopted any
actions to increase the low
participation of women amongst those studying the sciences and technology. Education reform has been cosmetic and
formal, with little impact of desegregating Czech education so that Romani
children might have equal access to education.
Child support is very difficult to access
in cases in which an authority has ordered
child support payments be made by a parent not present in the household and the
parent does not fulfill his/her obligations to pay alimony. This has a serious adverse impact on the
financial situation of single mothers. A bill proposing the state cover child
support for parents not fulfilling their obligations and then recover the
amounts due from the parent in question (instead of leaving all actions in such
matters up to the single parent caring for children) has been
rejected.
Finally, the
......................................