WUNRN
STATEMENT OF
FEMINIST & WOMEN’S ORGANISATIONS ON THE VERY LIMITED &
CONCERNING RESULTS OF CSW 56
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Call to Action: Click here to add your name to the endorsements Deadline: 5 April
2012 This
month the UN Commission
on the Status of Women failed to adopt agreed conclusions at its
56th session on the basis of safeguarding "traditional values" at
the expense of human rights and fundamental freedoms of women. Together
with our partner feminist and women's rights organisations, we say NO to any
re-opening of negotiations on the already established international
agreements on women’s human rights and call on all governments to demonstrate
their commitments to promote, protect and fulfill human rights and
fundamental freedoms of women. We
have outlined our concerns in the statement below, which will be submitted to
UN Member States, CSW and other relevant UN human rights and development
entities. Thank
you for your support. Asia
Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) Association
for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) International
Women's Heath Coalition (IWHC) International
Women's Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific (IWRAW ASIA PACIFIC) Women
Living under Muslim Laws/ Violence is not our Culture Campaign
We, the undersigned organisations and
individuals across the globe, are alarmed and disappointed that the United
Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) failed to adopt agreed
conclusions at its 56th session. This failure has diminished the considerable
work, energy, time and costs that women all over the world invested on the
56th session of the CSW. The advancement of women’s human rights should
not be put on hold because of political battles between states. We say
NO to any re-opening of negotiations on the already established international
agreements on women’s human rights and call on all governments to demonstrate
their commitments to promote, protect and fulfill human rights and
fundamental freedoms of women. We are particularly concerned to
learn that our governments failed to reach a consensus on the basis of
safeguarding “traditional values” at the expense of human rights and
fundamental freedoms of women. We remind governments that all Member States
of the United Nations (UN) have accepted that “the human rights of women and
of the girl-child are an inalienable, integral and individual part of
universal human rights” as adopted by the 1993 World Conference on Human
Rights in Vienna. Governments must not condone any tradition, cultural
or religious arguments which deny human rights and fundamental freedoms of
any person. After more than 60 years since the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights (UDHR) was embraced and adopted by the UN, the relationship
between traditional values and human rights remains highly contested.
We affirm the UDHR as not only ‘a common standard of achievement for
all peoples and all nations’ but a common standard of assessment for all
traditional values. The UDHR is an embodiment of positive traditional
values that are universally held by this community of nations and are
consistent with the inherent dignity of all human beings. We remind
governments that under the Charter of the United Nations, gender equality has
been proclaimed as a fundamental human right. States cannot contravene
the UN Charter by enacting or enforcing discriminatory laws directly or
through religious courts nor can allow any other private actors or groups
imposing their religious fundamentalist agenda in violation of the UN
Charter. “No one may invoke cultural diversity to
infringe upon human rights guaranteed by international law, nor limit their
scope. Not all cultural practices accord with international human
rights law and, although it is not always easy to identify exactly which
cultural practices may be contrary to human rights, the endeavour always must
be to modify and/or discard all practices pursued in the name of culture that
impede the enjoyment of human rights by any individual.” (Statement by Ms.
Farida Shaheed, the Independent Expert in the field of cultural rights, to
the Human Rights Council at its 14th session 31 May 2010) Amongst other things, it is alarming that
some governments have evoked so-called “moral” values to deny women’s sexual
and reproductive health and rights. Sexual and reproductive rights are a
crucial and fundamental part of women’s full enjoyment of all rights as well
as integral to gender equality, development and social justice. Social
and religious morals and patriarchal values have been employed to
justify violations against women. Violence against women, coercion and deprivation
of legal and other protections of women, marital rape, honour crimes, son
preference, female genital mutilation, ‘dowry’ or ‘bride price’, forced and
early marriages and ‘corrective rapes’ of lesbians, bisexuals, transgender
and inter-sexed persons have all been justified by reference to ‘traditional
values’. We remind governments that the CSW is the
principal global policy-making body dedicated exclusively to gender equality
and advancement of women with the sole aim of promoting women’s rights in
political, economic, civil, social and educational fields. Its mandate
is to ensure the full implementation of existing international agreements on
women’s human rights and gender equality as enshrined in the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the
Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, the Declaration on the
Elimination of Violence against Women, the Beijing Declaration and Platform
for Action and the International Conference on Population and Development
Programme of Action as well as other international humanitarian and human
rights law. We strongly demand all governments and
the international community to reject any attempt to invoke traditional values
or morals to infringe upon human rights guaranteed by international law, nor
to limit their scope. Customs, tradition or religious considerations
must not be tolerated to justify discrimination and violence against women
and girls whether committed by State authorities or by non-state actors.
In particular, we urge governments to ensure that the health and human
rights of girls and women are secured and reaffirmed at the coming Commission
on Population and Development and the International Conference on Sustainable
Development (Rio+20). Any future international negotiations must move
forward implementation of policies and programmes that secure the human
rights of girls and women. We call upon the member states of the UN
and the various UN human rights and development entities to recognise and
support the important role of women’s groups and organisations working at the
forefront of challenging traditional values and practices that are intolerant
to fundamental human rights norms, standards and principles. ASIA PACIFIC FORUM ON WOMEN, LAW AND
DEVELOPMENT (APWLD) ASSOCIATION FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN
DEVELOPMENT (AWID) INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S HEALTH COALITION
(IWHC) INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTION WATCH
ASIA PACIFIC (IWRAW ASIA PACIFIC) WOMEN LIVING UNDER MUSLIM LAWS (WLUML) / VIOLENCE IS NOT OUR CULTURE
CAMPAIGN
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