WUNRN
International Women's Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific -
IWRAW AP
IWRAW AP Website: http://www.iwraw-ap.org:80/
CALL FOR REPLIES TO QUESTIONNAIRE ON
STRATEGIES FOR
RATIFICATION OF CEDAW & CEDAW OP
Questionnaire Replies to: iwraw-ap@iwraw-ap.org
Questionnaire that follows now is in English. For the
Questionnaire in French, Spanish, or Russian, please contact: IWRAW Asia
Pacific -
CEDAW Optional Protocol: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cedaw-one.htm
Subject: Tell us how you did it!
Strategies for Ratification of CEDAW and the Optional Protocol to CEDAW
To help us better do this, we would
like to document the various experiences of women's groups around the world who
have lobbied for their government to ratify the OP CEDAW. How do we push a
women's agenda with our governments and convince them that ratifying an
international instrument on women's rights is a good thing to do? Your
experiences will help enrich the work of other women's groups pushing for
ratification and will be included in a publication of IWRAW Asia Pacific which
we will publish this year - your contribution in this publication will be
recognised.
Whether you have successfully
managed to convince your government to ratify the OP CEDAW or you are still
trying, we hope you will take the time to answer these questions in as much
detail as possible:
Part 1:
If your country has ratified the OP
CEDAW, did your organisation or other women’s groups in your country advocate
for the ratification?
If your country has ratified the OP
CEDAW, what do you think really motivated the government to ratify?
What is the ratification process in
your country and how did you influence this process?
What strategies did you use (or are
you using) to push for ratification? e.g. petitions, targeting of key ministry
officials such as foreign affairs, justice national machinery for women,
friendly MPs, media, community awareness raising/building up grassroots
support, etc
Which organs/parts of government did
you engage with? Before engaging, what sort of preparation did you have to do?
What arguments did you use to
convince the government that they should ratify? What worked and what did not
work?
What other actors did you engage
with? Why did you choose to engage with them?
Which actors opposed your work and
on what grounds? And which helped?
What were some of the obstacles you
faced in pushing for ratification?
What were the opportunities that
supported ratification in your context?
How long did it take for your
government to decide to ratify the OP CEDAW (length of the campaign)? If your
government has still not ratified, how long have women’s groups been lobbying
for the government to ratify?
If your state has now ratified:
What are the additional benefits to
your advocacy on women’s rights that have come about from your OP CEDAW
ratification campaign? For example has the government taken any steps to more
effectively implement the Convention, train judges and law enforcers on their
obligations, make women more aware of their rights etc?
What steps do you think need to be
taken to enable women to use the OP CEDAW in your country?
If your state still refuses to
ratify, what reasons are they giving and what are the follow-up actions you
will be taking?
Part 2:
How did you and your organisation
benefit from the Global Campaign on the Ratification and Use of the OP CEDAW in
carrying out your advocacy at the national level for the ratification of the OP
CEDAW?
We would also welcome experiences of
successful lobbying for ratification of other instruments relating to women's
rights including CEDAW as well as your experiences lobbying for the removal of
reservations to CEDAW.
If you have any papers or
publications already written on this subject please do send these to us also.
Are there other individuals and
organisations which you recommend we contact that could contribute to this
study and publication? Please do send their contact on to us.
Thankyou all very much in advance
for your contribution to this important study.
We look forward to hearing from you
soon
IWRAW
Lisa Pusey
Programme Officer
International Women's Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific
80-B, Jalan Bangsar
59200 Kuala Lumpur
MALAYSIA
Telephone: (603) 2282 2255
Fax: (603) 2283 2552
Email: iwraw-ap@iwraw-ap.org, iwraw_ap@yahoo.com
Website: www.iwraw-ap.org
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