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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS TO UN - GOOD
PRACTICES IN THE ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN IN POLITICAL &
PUBLIC LIFE
In 2012, the Working Group on Discrimination against Women in law and in practice intends to research, as a priority, the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice in public and political life.
Within this broad area of research, the Working Group will pay particular attention to efforts aimed at eliminating such discrimination undertaken in times of political transition, particularly transitions which involve fundamental changes of political regime and/or of the legal system.
The Working Group notes that situations of political transition provide a unique opportunity to address women’s participation in the political system and women’s human rights in the legal and social systems, including the elimination of discrimination against women in law and in practice.
This thematic research will culminate in the report that the Working Group will present to the Human Rights Council in 2013.
In this regard, the Working Group would like to invite anyone to contribute to its research by submitting information on:
- Constitutional and other legislative initiatives and
reforms put in place to promote women’s rights and gender equality,
including through the revision and repeal of discriminatory provisions in
legislation;
- Strengthening the framework of state institutions,
machineries and mechanisms to implement actions in order to eliminate all
forms of discrimination and violence against women;
- Improving women’s political participation, on equal
terms with men, in the transitional and post-transitional process at all
levels of decision-making, including through the adoption of temporary special
measures;
- and increasing women’s access to justice, including
transitional justice mechanisms.
The Working Group would like to encourage that the information on the above points and any additional information that may be submitted highlights in particular good practices, lessons learnt and promising experience in the elimination of discrimination against women in the field of political and public life both in general terms and/or with particular reference to times of political transition.
The Working Group sees the issue of women’s participation in political and public life as crucial as many obstacles still prevent women from participating in public and political life on an equal footing with men. Furthermore women are limited in their ability to pass on their nationality and citizenship to spouses and to children, in the way that men can. This discrimination strikes at the essence of women’s right to equal citizenship and human dignity and impacts on the freedom of movement of women.
The Working Group notes that various individuals and organisations may wish to develop documents and reports of consultations to submit for consideration. In accordance with the established practice of mandate-holders, the Working Group welcomes all relevant submissions that NGO’s and other independent experts may wish to transmit for its consideration in preparation of either the annual report on women’s participation in political and public in times of political transition or for the purpose of collecting good practices in this field in general terms.
These submissions should be sent to wgdiscriminationwomen@ohchr.org.