From Global to Local: NGOs and CEDAW

The strength of the CEDAW Convention rests on the global consensus (185 ratifications / accessions as of 23 October 2006) of support for the mandate of equality between women and men. This internationally supported mandate is a strong counter to claims that equality is contrary to culture and tradition. At the ground level, the advocacy for the application of the standards of the convention has to be linked to this international mandate. This linkage also requires the establishment of a relationship between women's groups and the CEDAW Committee.

The reporting process is an important monitoring mechanism set-up by the United Nations whereby women are able to participate and observe State party performance in reporting to the CEDAW Committee. At the same time they can interact with the Committee members to raise their awareness about issues critical to the women in their country. This is a strategic method which enhances the effectiveness of this monitoring mechanism. It has the synergistic effect of strengthening women's capacity to claim their rights while enhancing the Committee's ability to monitor State compliance and interpretation of the convention. This will be of tremendous benefit to both sides. The women in particular will be able to be more strategic in their own activism when they return home as they would have had first-hand knowledge of the Committee's recommendations to their government.

Since 1997, IWRAW Asia Pacific has run a project called From Global to Local which has facilitated the participation of women activists from over 100 organisations at the review of their government's report by the CEDAW Committee in New York.[1] This is the only project that attempts to facilitate the participation of women in the reporting process in a structured and purposeful manner. Their involvement in this process contributes to two interrelated, important aspects of human rights work at the international level. One is in the setting of norms and standards for human rights practice, and the other is to monitor and challenge non-compliance of their governments with the standards to which they have committed themselves internationally. This process will help facilitate the application of international human rights norms at the domestic level.

Preparation of a Shadow/Alternative Report

The participation of women in this process begins with the preparation of a shadow/alternative report written in collaboration with other women's groups drawing on each other's areas of strength and expertise to highlight the critical issues effecting women in their country. Besides encouraging collaboration and building of networks to work on CEDAW implementation, this has created the realisation that the CEDAW framework is an important tool that brings certain perspective, deeper understanding and analysis of any issue being studied/worked on by the different women's groups. IWRAW Asia Pacific provides women's groups with guidelines for the preparation of these shadow reports and offers technical assistance/suggestions in the writing/formatting of this. We also assist in the distribution of these reports to the CEDAW Committee members. A compilation of Shadow Reports (2005-present) that have been submitted to the CEDAW Committee are available here.

Participation in the Review Process

It is however the physical presence of women activists at the review itself, lobbying the CEDAW Committee members and observing the review of their government's report that has the biggest impact on this entire process. The >From Global to Local project involves the following activities:

Accomplishments

For most women who have participated in this programme, it is their first experience at the UN and with the CEDAW Committee and they gain first-hand knowledge and information on the workings of the UN human rights system. In fact, one of the greatest achievements of the programme has been the demystification of the whole process. Activists also come to realise that NGO input helps the CEDAW Committee in the formulation of questions that they pose to the State parties, and that their participation facilitates a process by which governments have had to accept the legitimacy of NGOs to contribute to the review process. Governments have greater respect for these women realising that they are not there as individuals but as a part of an international lobby.

"I think that knowing that you're part of a global monitoring process, that ends up at the UN can strengthen women's work at the national level" - Comment by participant (2001)

Seeing and hearing their government's views on equality and the status of women in the country has also given them a deeper understanding of what needs to be done to bring about de facto equality for women in the country as well as having the potential of holding the government accountable to its promises. The programme also creates the awareness of the need for priority goals and to strategise their advocacy utilising the information and experiences from this programme and the review.

"This programme is very critical to forming an "arm" of activists all over different countries, continents in order to bring de facto equality in the world. It is necessary as women that we be watchdogs of the actions of the government in terms of fulfilling their international obligations but we can only do so if we are knowledgeable of the processes of these international instruments which this programme has been able to do." - Comment by participant (2002)

NOTES
[1] The CEDAW Committee meets twice a year in January and June at the United Nations in New York for three weeks at a time.

"FROM GLOBAL TO LOCAL": SUCCESS STORIES As illustrated in the examples below, the From Global to Local project is a good illustration of how our efforts in capacity building have created different levels of activism for local-level groups. Use of Shadow Reports by the CEDAW Committee Indonesia: The alternative information provided by the shadow report of Indonesian women's groups was included by the CEDAW Committee in relation to the issues of sex roles and stereotyping, as well as the reproductive rights of women. India: The shadow report by Indian NGOs was utilised by the CEDAW Committee to question the State's role in relation to women in armed conflict, caste-based violence against women, and the plurality of personal laws that set different standards of rights for different groups of women. Sri Lanka: CENWOR coordinated the updating of the Sri Lankan Shadow Report and used its experience with the baseline report of the Facilitating Project not only to provide data on the situation of domestic violence, but also an analysis of State action in relation to CEDAW. This contributed to an effective review and a useful set of Concluding Comments. Follow-up on Concluding Comments at the national level Zimbabwe: At the 18th CEDAW Session, the government of Zimbabwe was praised for repealing the Legal Age of Majority Act 1982 which denied women the legal adult status. Upon their return home, however, the government announced that they would reinstate the Act. Drawing on their experiences at the UN, the four Zimbabwean women activists who had participated in the From Global to Local project and observed their government's review by the CEDAW Committee were able to widely publicise the contradiction in State action. The government subsequently withdrew its intention to reinstate this discriminatory Act. South Africa: A recommendation for a specific law to prohibit discrimination was made by South African women at the CEDAW review in 1998. This was echoed by the CEDAW Committee in its Concluding Comments. In September 2000, the South African government passed a law called the Promotion of Equality and the Prohibition of Unfair Discrimination Act. This Act has a section on gender discrimination.