WUNRN
Equality
Without Reservation
Eliminating
Discrimination Against Women in the Arab Region
Appeal
to all Arab Governments for the Withdrawal of Reservations and the Ratification
of the Optional Protocol to CEDAW 
While Arab
countries form a region rich in potential and resources, they are amongst the
least advanced in matters of equality between women and men. Progress achieved
in certain areas, through the efforts of women's movements, pales into
insignificance in the context of flagrant discrimination and violence
perpetrated against women in all spheres of life, both public and private.
Today, in
the overwhelming majority of countries in the region, laws
regulating family life constitute a system of exclusion and discrimination
against women. The negative impact of these laws are reinforced by other
bodies of legislation (Nationality Codes, Criminal Codes etc.). These laws
violate the most basic rights and the most fundamental freedoms of women and girls.
Such is the case where girls can be married as minors, where polygamy is
permitted and practised, and where women are deprived of equal rights in
marriage, divorce, custody of children and inheritance. In the majority of
countries in the Arab region, women cannot transfer
their nationality to their children. In certain countries, the law permits,
implicitly and in the name of honour, male family members to kill women, by
allowing the man to benefit from mitigating circumstances, under provisions
applying to so called 'honour crimes'.
In the same
vein, it is rare that the law protects women from discrimination and violence,
particularly in the domestic sphere. It is even rarer for states in the region
to put in place temporary measures to counterbalance glaring deficits in the
participation of women in political and public life, or to implement policies
promoting a general culture of equality.
The majority
of Arab countries have ratified, though belatedly, the Convention for the Elimination
of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), with the exceptions
of Sudan, Qatar and Somalia. However, ratifying CEDAW does not have a concrete
impact on the status and situation of women in the region for two main reasons:
- States in the
region have entered reservations to core provisions of the Convention,
in particular articles 2,9,15 and 16; and
- Ratification
has not generally been accompanied by the necessary strategies and
measures to bring public policies and national legislation into conformity
with the spirit and the provisions of CEDAW, including those in respect of
which no reservation has been entered.
In this
context, human rights organisations and women's rights organisations from
throughout the region united in Morocco in June 2006 to launch the Rabat Appeal for the regional campaign
Equality Without Reservation. Today, this campaign continues
and is gaining force both at the international and regional levels to demand
from governments in the region to take immediate action for:
- The
ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the withdrawal of all
reservations;
- The
implementation of the CEDAW Convention and the harmonisation of national
legislation with its provisions on civil, political, economic, social and
cultural rights;
- The
ratification of the Optional Protocol to CEDAW, as an essential instrument
to ensure its implementation and to reinforce the fight against violence
against women and violations of women's rights, individual and collective,
in Arab Countries.
Signatory
Organizations:
To lend your
support to the campaign, contact us at wlp@learningpartnership.org
___________________________________________________________________
http://www.fidh.org/spip.php?article5310
FIDH -
International Federation for Human Rights
6/03/2008
Women’s
Rights / League of Arab States / CEDAW
Campaign for “Equality Without
Reservation” in the Arab World" - The Campaign Follow-up Committee
with the support of the International Federation for Human Rights - FIDH
On
the eve of International Women’s Day, a delegation of the regional campaign for
“Equality without reservation!”, composed of human rights and women’s rights
organisations from the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf, supported by
FIDH, called upon the League of Arab States to take a strong role in the
promotion of women’s rights in Arab countries.
At
a meeting with the Director of the Human Rights Department, Mr Mahmoud Rasheed,
the delegation welcomed the fact that almost all Arab states have ratified the
UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), but
expressed their dismay that the vast majority have entered reservations to core
provisions of the convention, thereby manifesting their refusal to respect full
gender equality and, in many cases emptying their commitments of any meaning.
Indeed,
in the overwhelming majority of countries in region, legislation, in particular
in the domain of the family, violates the most basic rights and the most
fundamental freedoms of women and girls. Moreover, laws protecting women from
discrimination and violence are generally absent. The reservations entered to
CEDAW reflect these discriminatory legal frameworks and constitute major
obstacles to reform. The delegation urged the Arab League to engage Arab states
in dialogue with a view to the complete withdrawal of reservations.
“Ending
discrimination against women is above all a matter of political will. This is
why we consider that the Arab League could have an important role to play in
advancing the cause of equality without reservation”, underlined the
delegation.
At
the conclusion of the meeting, both parties agreed to continue dialogue on
women’s rights, reservations to CEDAW and overcoming barriers to gender
equality in the region.
“This
year as we mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, it is time, now more than ever, to affirm the principle that, ‘All
human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights’”, said Souhayr Belhassen,
FIDH President. “Today we call on the Arab League to take a leading role in
reaffirming the universality of human rights and that women’s rights are human
rights”.
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