WUNRN
Human
Rights Activists Urge the Parliament of Mongolia to Cancel the Law about No
Quota for Women Candidates in the Parliamentarian Election
We,
the Centre for Human Rights and Development (CHRD), together with its regional
partners in Asia - The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development
(FORUM-ASIA), and The Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD)
- strongly express our concern about the erasure of women’s quota in the
parliamentarian election in Mongolia.
On 26 December 2007, the Mongolian Parliament removed Article 28.2 of the Law
on Election of the State Great Khural (Parliament of Mongolia), which states
that “minimum 30 percent of candidates for parliamentary elections from each
political party should be women”.
We would like to remind the Parliament that Mongolia has been a State Party to
the 1979 Covenant on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women since July 20, 1981. Therefore, it has legally bound itself to the
principle of non-discrimination and gender equality.
We consider the removal of quota for women candidates in the parliamentarian
election incompliant with Article 7 of the covenant. Involvement of women in
decision making within the Parliament of Mongolia has been insufficient. The
women’s quota in elections was one of the significant ways to guarantee women’s
participation in state policy formulation and decision making process at all
levels and to promote and protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of
vulnerable groups such as women and children.
The Article 7 requires the State parties to ensure women’s right to be elected
to public office and to hold other government posts. These obligations can be
realised by including women on the lists of government candidates, affirmative
action and quotas, increasing promotion rates for women and developing a state
policy to attract larger numbers of women into meaningful political leadership
roles.
We would also like to note that the Mongolian Women NGOs Coalition and female
members of the current Parliament consider the erasure of women’s quota as a violation
of the Constitution and state policy to ensure gender equality.
The quota was included in Mongolia’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in
2005, which requires the State to take step-by-step measures including the
increase of women's participation in decision-making levels through quota
system in order to enhance gender equality in Mongolia.
While we welcome the President of Mongolia’s aspiration to ensure gender
equality, and his support to Mongolian women’s rights struggle, we express our
deep regret at the Parliament’s rejection of the Presidential veto. The erasure
of women's quota in Parliament may lead to negation of past efforts and
successes of women in Mongolia in pursuing equal rights and opportunities in
political processes.
We call for the cancellation of the Amendment of the Law on the Election of the
Parliament and urge the Parliament to clarify its recent decision including
whether it complies with the Constitution of Mongolia and its duty to
international human rights treaties to ensure equal participation of women in
political life.
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