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Human Rights Council
MORNING
12
September 2008
The Human Rights Council this morning held its annual
discussion on gender mainstreaming in the work of the Council.
Navi Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights, said this annual discussion was an opportunity to examine the
progress made in ensuring that a gender perspective was integrated in all
activities of the Human Rights Council. Integration of a gender perspective
into the human rights system as a whole, together with attention to the human
rights of women represented key priorities for the Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights. Although remarkable progress had been achieved
since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, much work
still remained as women throughout the world were amongst the poorest and
most marginalized, with limited access to rights, resources and
opportunities.
Clemencia Forero Ucros, Permanent Representative of
Colombia to the United Nations Office at Geneva and Moderator of the
Discussion, highlighted the three concepts essential to the work of the
Council today and to which Colombia attached great importance: differentiated
treatment of women, which recognised the specificities of women, protection
and non-discrimination, and participation of women. The Human Rights Council
had a special mandate to integrate gender perspective in all its activities.
Gender mainstreaming was more about the process than the content and the
Council had to ensure it considered and integrated perspectives of both women
and men in all its activities.
The panellists in the discussion were the Special
Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, its causes and consequences; the
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms
of indigenous people; the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child
prostitution and child pornography; and a representative of Active Canada for
Population and Development and the Sexual Rights Initiative, representing
civil society.
Gulnara Shahinian, Special Rapporteur on contemporary
forms of slavery, its causes and consequences, said that mainstreaming gender
in the work of the Human Rights Council meant developing a comprehensive
system for the systematic analysis of attainment of men and women of their
rights. The panel was an important initiative of the process as it gave an
opportunity to develop joint strategies. It was especially important to her
to integrate the gender perspective into her mandate, for example on
traditional forms of slavery.
S. James Anaya, Special Rapporteur on the situation of
human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, noted that in
both industrial and less-developed countries, indigenous people existed at
the margins of power and were almost invariably at the lowest rung of the
socio-economic ladder. Special attention should be paid to indigenous women
who faced multiple forms of discrimination as indigenous persons, as women,
and often as members of the poorer classes.
Najat M'jid Maalla, Special Rapporteur on the sale of
children, child prostitution and child pornography, said it was clear that
gender-based violence existed and this violence reflected the status of women
in society and discrimination in access to basic services, particularly for
girls. Women were more affected and more exposed to poverty than men, making
them vulnerable to exploitation and sexual and gender-based violence. Ms.
Maalla noted that a child rights-based approach would be the starting point
for all activities of gender mainstreaming in her mandate.
Sandeep Prasad of Active Canada for Population and
Development and the Sexual Rights Initiative, elaborated on the definition of
a gender perspective and noted that integrating a gender perspective required
adopting a perspective of the fundamental equality of women and men in
analyzing human rights issues so that specificities in experience breaking
down along the lines of gender could be addressed with the aim of achieving
substantive equality. Addressing violence against women clearly required more
than merely treating such violence as isolated incidents, instead it required
consideration of the social conditions of inequality and power dynamics that
shaped men's attitudes towards women.
In the interactive dialogue, speakers agreed on the
importance and relevance of gender mainstreaming in the human rights system,
starting with the Council and Special Procedures. It was particularly
important as women continued to suffer from all forms of exploitation,
inequality and exclusion, together with additional issues such as
feminisation of HIV/AIDS, growing poverty and inequality, use of rape and
sexual violence as a weapon of war. Some speakers wanted to hear proposals on
how the Council could support the implementation of gender recommendations
contained in the reports on Special Procedures. Speakers stressed the need to
ensure close coordination with the process of reform of the gender
architecture currently on-going in New York and to ensure the contributions
of the Council and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to
setting up a well-functioning, effective and non-duplicative United Nations
gender architecture.
Speaking in the first part of the interactive dialogue
were Chile, on behalf of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States,
France, on behalf of the European Union, Pakistan, on behalf of the
Organization of the Islamic Conference, Russian Federation, Cuba, Canada,
Philippines, Slovenia, Switzerland, Republic of Korea, Algeria, Oman and
Norway.
Human Rights Watch also took the floor.
Speaking in the second part were Argentina, Nigeria,
China, Jordan, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, Azerbaijan, Morocco, Finland, Thailand,
New Zealand, Islamic Republic of Iran, Turkey. A representative of the United
Nations Population Fund also took the floor.
Also speaking was Development Alternatives with a New Era
and Federation of Cuban Women.
When the Council resumes its work at 3 p.m. this
afternoon, it is scheduled hear a statement from Okechukwu Ibeanu, Special
Rapporteur on the adverse effects of the illicit movement and dumping of
toxic and dangerous products and wastes on the enjoyment of human rights,
within the framework of the review, rationalisation and improvement of
mandates process. It will also hear a statement by Arjun Sengupta,
Chairperson of the Working Group on the right to development. It will then
conclude its interactive dialogue which started on Wednesday, 10 September
with the Special Rapporteurs on contemporary forms of slavery and on the sale
of children, child pornography and child prostitution.
Opening Statements
NAVI PILLAY, United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights, introducing the annual gender discussion, said that it provided
an opportunity for them to consider the steps that had been taken by the
Human Rights Council since its panel last year, to ensure that a gender
perspective was integrated into all its activities. Attention to the human
rights of women and ensuring that a gender perspective was integrated into
the work of the human rights system as a whole represented a key priority for
the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Office was
dedicated to encouraging all States and stakeholders to focus on the
promotion and protection of the human rights of women.
As a long-time advocate for women's rights and gender
equality, Ms. Pillay said that she believed that today's discussion was
essential. In South Africa, she had worked to ensure the inclusion in the
Constitution of South Africa of the equality clause, which prohibited
discrimination on the basis of sex. At the International Tribunal for Rwanda,
she had helped to establish rape as one means of perpetrating genocide. She
had also co-founded an international women's rights organization. Through her
experience, she had learned that equality and non-discrimination on the basis
of sex were not only goals in their own right, but were also essential for
the achievement of human rights for all. Since the adoption of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, remarkable progress in the development and
implementation of national laws, policies and programmes directed to women's
equality with men had been witnessed, but much more needed to be done. Women
throughout the world were amongst the poorest and most marginalized, with
limited access to rights, resources and opportunities. Gender roles were
deeply rooted in every culture but over time, in every culture, these roles
changed and kept changing.
Ms. Pillay underlined that no effort should be spared to
persuade countries to repeal laws and discourage customs, practices and
prejudices that negated or undermined the achievement of equality between
women and men. That was an indispensable stating point for the creation of a
level playing field for women and girls, required for the achievement of
substantive equality. Since the early formulations of gender mainstreaming in
1997 to today, recognition of the gender dimension in all activities had been
part of United Nations strategies aimed at putting an end to the social,
political and economic discrimination that women faced. However, such strategies
had produced few tangible results. This might be due to a lack of clarity
regarding both the broad contours and the specific components of gender
integration, as well as patchy and disappointing attempts at implementation.
This task required sustained attention, in particular so that all aspects of
the Council's work and its subsidiary bodies and Special Procedures truly
integrated a gender perspective, rather than just adding women.
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