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1. VIOLENCE
AGAINST WOMEN AND OBSTACLES TO PARTICIPATION IN PUBLIC LIFE ARE DOMINANT
THEMES IN NGO SNAPSHOTS SHADOW REPORTS TO CEDAW
Women’s and civil society organizations in Burma/Myanmar,
Canada, Ecuador, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Portugal, Slovenia and Uruguay used
the CEDAW space and process to bring onto the international arena major
obstacles confronting women in their respective countries through the
preparation of shadow reports. The purpose of the shadow report is to provide
the CEDAW Committee with information on the substantive rights outlined in
the CEDAW Convention. (Guidelines for writing a shadow report can be found on
the IWRAW Asia-Pacific website at http://www.iwraw-ap.org/using_cedaw/sreport_guidelines.htm.)
Despite the broad political spectrum of countries
reporting, violence against women - in all its manifestations - was a
re-occurring theme throughout all the Shadow Reports. Obstacles thwarting women’s participation
in the public and political arena were also frequently noted in the majority
of reports.
Because NGO shadow reports offer unique “snapshots” of
women’s issues at community and country level at a particular point in time,
IWTC is presenting a synopsis of shadow reports presented at the recent CEDAW
session held in Geneva 20 October
through 7 November 2009. It should be noted that in some instances,
more than one NGO or coalition of NGOs in a country has prepared a Shadow
report. Information as to where to
access the full shadow report is indicated at the end of each country
synopsis.
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Burma/Myanmar
The Women’s League of
Burma expressed concern that no evidence can be found in the Burmese military
regime’s report that it understands
either the definition of gender discrimination or the purpose of CEDAW.
Further, none of the country’s laws have been revised to address direct and
indirect discrimination nor have the principles of CEDAW been incorporated
into domestic legislation. Customary laws, emphasizing women’s roles as
child-bearers and homemakers while giving men greater economic and
decision-making power in domestic affairs, are still utilized in marriage,
adoption, property ownership and inheritance cases. According to the group,
the regime publicly supports traditional values and women’s inferior position
in society, describing women’s
abilities as limited. In the conflict zones of eastern Burma,
health services are so limited that almost a quarter of children will die before
the age five and one in twelve women will lose her life as a result of
pregnancy-related causes. The systematic violation of human rights, including
gender-based violence, by the regime in the rural ethnic areas, have driven
many people to become internally displaced, or to flee as refugees and
undocumented migrant workers to neighboring countries. Further, because of
the regime’s failure to acknowledge discrimination and violence against
women, there is a climate of impunity for military rape. There is mounting
evidence of military rape against women and girls. For full report see http://www.iwraw-ap.org/resources/pdf/42_shadow_reports/
BURMA_SR_WLB.pdf
- Canada
Canadian women’s organization’s submitted three shadow
reports. A report from women in British Columbia
concluded that “women in British
Columbia are
marginalized and politically disempowered, that women in the province face
increasing social and economic deprivation, and that
issues of women’s equality are erased from the political
agenda.” The report asked the committee to hold the Government of British
Columbia accountable for each of the specific breaches of the convention and for its
failure to implement programs and policies that “have the goals of changing
cultural attitudes and social patterns that foster, minimize or ignore
women’s inequality in British
Columbia.” For
full report see http://www.iwraw-ap.org/resources/pdf/42_shadow_reports/Canada_SR_BC_CEDAW_Group.pdf
The
Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA) in its report
concluded that “Canada is in violation of the rights set out in the CEDAW convention.” For full report see http://www.iwraw-ap.org/resources/pdf/42_shadow_reports/
Canada_SR_FAFIA.pdf
An additional report highlighting
effect-based discrimination and torture by non-state actors in the private
sphere was submitted by Jeanne Sarson and
Linda MacDonald, members of
NGO Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW). For full report see http://www.iwraw-ap.org/resources/pdf/42_shadow_reports/Canada_SR_Voice_of_Women_for_Peace.pdf.
- Ecuador
The shadow report by
the Latin American and Caribbean Committee for Defense of Women’s Rights
(CLADEM) highlighted increasing inequity and spirals of violence, which have
lead to increasing violations against women. The report raised concerns
regarding women who have no constitutional guarantees to personal freedom or
lives free of violence; domestic violence; the situation of foreign refugee
women and of migrant women workers; the right to fair participation of women
in politics, socio-cultural stereotypes; state weakness to combat crimes of
human trafficking and sexual exploitation; persistent discrimination against
women in the exercise of their rights to education, employment and health;
and restrictions in the use of emergency contraception. For full report and
recommendations see http://www.iwrawap.org/resources/pdf/42_shadow_reports/Ecuador_SR_CLADEM_
combined_Eng_Spa.pdf
Alternative shadow reports were also prepared by Corporacion Humanas http://www.iwraw-ap.org/resources/pdf/42_shadow_reports/Ecuador_SR_Humanas.pdf
Organizacion Ecuatoriana de Mujeres
Lesbianas - OEML (Spanish) http://www.iwrawap.org/resources/pdf/42_shadow_reports/Ecuador_SR%20_
OEML_Spanish.pdf
- Kyrgyzstan
The shadow report prepared by the Forum of
Women’s NGOs of Kyrgyzstan highlighted the issues of domestic violence and
political participation. In 2003 Kyrgyzstan
adopted the Law on Social-Legal
Protection from Domestic Violence of the Kyrgyz Republic to address the
problem of domestic violence. Law enforcement and government officials have
however failed to integrate the law into their work. There are no statistics
on domestic violence but Kyrgyz NGOs, as well as a 2006 Human Rights Watch
Study State Failure to Stop Domestic
Abuse and Abduction of Women in Kyrgyzstan
report that domestic violence in the country is increasing. Forum of
Women’s NGOs recent study Monitoring of
Violence against Women in all regions of Kyrgyzstan
for the period of September 2006 – May 2007 shows lack of enforcement of the
Domestic Violence Law.
The report
further highlighted the lack women’s political advancement. Lack of women in
decision-making bodies, according to the report, indicates serious problems
in the State’s attitude towards gender equality in political processes. For
full report see http://www.iwraw-ap.org/resources/pdf/42_shadow_reports/Kyrgyzstan_SR_%20Forum.pdf
The shadow report
submitted by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Organisation,
Labry, focused on the issue of forced marriages, and violence and
prejudice among social institutions, such as media, civil society and state.
The report had a specific focus on the rights of transgender people who need
special attention due to high level of violence and discrimination against
them. For full report see http://www.iwraw-ap.org/resources/pdf/42_shadow_reports/Kyrgyzstan_SR_Labrys.pdf
The report by Tais
Plus brought attention to the rights of sex workers. For full report see
http://www.iwraw-ap.org/resources/pdf/42_shadow_reports/Kyrgyzstan_SR_TaisPlus.pdf
- Mongolia
The Mongolian shadow report
prepared by representatives of the Coalition
of Mongolian LGBT Rights Activists called for new laws and legislations that would
ensure human rights and dignity for sexuality minorities. For full report see
http://www.iwraw-ap.org/resources/pdf/42_shadow_reports/Mongolia_SR_Coalition_of_
Mongolian_LGBT_Rights_Activists.pdf
The parallel shadow report submitted by the Mongolian Gender Equality Center
highlighted two predominant forms of trafficking of women in Mongolia; sexual
exploitation, which includes forced prostitution; and servile marriages to
foreign nationals. For full report see http://www.iwraw-ap.org/resources/pdf/42_shadow_reports/Mongolia_SR_MGEC.pdf
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Portugal
The Portuguese shadow
report, prepared by the Portuguese Platform for Women’s Rights, emphasized
the lack of visibility of CEDAW despite its status as national law of 30
years, and urged the government to reinforce partnerships with Women’s Rights
NGOs in order to strengthen the implementation of the convention. The report
stated that although there are no discriminatory laws in place there is a gap
between equality as defined by law and equality in reality. For full report
see http://www.iwraw-ap.org/resources/pdf/42_shadow_reports/ShadowReport_42CEDAW_Session_
PORTUGAL_PPDM_final.pdf
- Slovenia
This shadow report prepared by NGOs and independent experts focused on
political representation of women, violence against women and violence in the
family, elimination of prejudices and stereotypes, implementation of the UN
Security Council Resolution 1325, women’s reproductive health and rights, and
other areas of economic and social life. The report concluded that economic
and social status of women in
Slovenia
is deteriorating. The lack of women’s representation in decision making bodies
with executive power is especially discouraging. For full report see http://www.iwraw-ap.org/resources/pdf/42_shadow_reports/Slovenia_SR_combined.pdf.
- Uruguay
In its shadow report CLADEM Uruguay, Mizangas and RUDA emphasized the need for protection
measures for victims of domestic violence and urged the government to modify
existing discriminatory legislation regarding prostitution and trafficking.
The report demanded the
State equal the number of women with that of men in decision-making positions
in executive positions and promote the participation of afro-descendant women
in the political activity and the access to decision-making positions.
For full report see http://www.iwraw-ap.org/resources/pdf/42_shadow_reports/Uruguay_SR_CLADEM_combined_
English_Spanish_with_annex.pdf.
2. USING CEDAW
TO MONITOR IMPLEMENTATION OF SCR 1320 AND 1820
Increasingly, women are using CEDAW to strengthen other
international mechanisms. Of
particular interest for groups working on peace and security issues, is the
use of CEDAW to monitor action and accountability on Security Council
Resolution SCR 1325 and SCR 1820. In addition to reference to SCR 1325 in the
NGO Shadow Report of Slovenia, in the concluding remarks recently released of
the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women regarding
the 12 countries that reported at the 42nd CEDAW session (Oct 20
to Nov 7, 2008) the committee referenced UN Security Council Resolution (SCR)
1325 as well as SCR 1820 in its commentary on Myanmar. It requested that the Myanmar
government take account of both resolutions and encouraged it to “put in
place an action plan for the full implementation of these resolutions. It
further recommended that the government include information on steps taken to
eliminate sexual violence in Myanmar,
including the results achieved, in the next periodic report. For references to SCR 1325 made in the
concluding remarks of the Committee in previous sessions, please http://www.iwtc.org/cedaw.doc
The full text of the concluding observations for the
reporting countries, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Ecuador, El Salvador,
Kyrgyzstan, Madagascar, Mongolia, Myanmar, Portugal, Slovenia and
Uruguay, are now available at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/cedaws42.htm
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