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UN Link to CEDAW Committee - 43rd
Session - Scroll Down to GUATEMALA and click multiple documents.
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Direct Link to Full FIAN Statement
to CEDAW Committee in Review of Guatemala Report:
FIAN
- International Organisation for the Right to Food - FoodFirst Information and
Action Network
Food - Poverty -
Indigenous & Rural Women - Education - Violence - Land +
FIAN, the international organisation for the Right to Food (FoodFirst Information and Action Network) is highly pleased about the Concluding Observations of the CEDAW Committee (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women) regarding Guatemala, published on February 12, 2009, after its 43rd session.
In coordination with the network IWRAW-AP, FIAN International presented a parallel information about the right to food of peasant and indigenous women in Guatemala, pointing out that in Guatemala 60 % of the population live in rural areas and that 61 % are indigenous. The mentioned population is suffering poverty and extreme poverty which affects especially peasant and indigenous women. The situation of these women is marked by a high work load (domestic and agricultural), lacking access to education and information, high vulnerability for all kinds of violence and the lack of access to productive resources like land and other possibilities to be able to feed themselves and thus exercise their Right to Food.
FIAN asked Guatemala to take measures to fulfil and guarantee in a progressive way the right to food and alimentary security and sovereignty for the peasant and indigenous women. The main focal points were their access to resources like land and credit, and their empowerment by acceding participation in all instances which might influence their enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights.
The CEDAW Committee even though it did recognize the efforts made by the State of Guatemala in the assistance and introduction of communal projects to economically empower women, did express its preoccupation about the effects and sustainability of those programmes, the continuing high levels of poverty and social exclusion of women, especially in rural areas. In consideration of the issues presented by FIAN, the Committee also felt concerned about the lacking access to land by women in general and for indigenous women in particular, who "…can be displaced as a result of new economic development plans."
Therefore, the Committee recommends that the State party ensures "…that economic and social policies and public investment take into specific account the situation of women and monitor the impact resulting from these programmes. The Committee urges the State party to strengthen initiatives aimed at encouraging women's economic sustainable empowerment, in particular promote women's access to land and to credits."
As follow-up to the Concluding Observations of CEDAW, FIAN has urged the Government of Guatemala to fulfil these recommendations.
FIAN International has a special interest in that CEDAW will adopt a systematic approach and eventually a General Comment on the Right to Food. Such a General Comment could bring about that the member states of CEDAW will apply monitoring tools regarding the Right to Food with a special gender emphasis, using the FAO Voluntary Guidelines as a monitoring instrument of state actions against Hunger.
To read more: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/cedaws43.htm
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