WUNRN
Our
main conclusion is that the current trends of increased conservatism,
militarisation, and reliance on religion as a sole source of legislation are
becoming global and not necessarily limited to the Arab region. With
these trends going unchecked, the risks to women are increasingly coupled with
devastating manifestations of violence in the private and public spheres.....
WLP STATEMENT TO UN COMMISSION ON
THE STATUS OF WOMEN 57
The theme of the United Nations'
2013 Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is violence against women. As part
of our activities to commemorate the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based
Violence, we are sharing WLP's official statement to the Commission, which will
be in session in New York, March 4-15, 2013. The purpose of this statement,
written in collaboration with WLP Lebanon/Collective for Research and Training
on Development–Action, is to highlight increased threats to women’s security
and ability to realize their full human rights, resulting from the rise of regressive
and extremist groups that have been newly empowered in the wake of political
transitions in the Arab region and beyond.*
The main theme of the 57th
Commission on the Status of Women is violence against women. We at
Women’s Learning Partnership believe this theme to be timely, relevant, and
critical, especially in light of the recent revolts and on-going transitions
occurring in parts of the world where democracy and full human rights have yet
to materialise for women.
Over the past year, Women’s Learning
Partnership, an international partnership of twenty active, independent women’s
organisations across the world, which works to strengthen women’s leadership
and political participation as well as confront violence against women, has
been engaged in the creation of various spaces in the Arab region and beyond to
ensure that the voices of women are heard, especially in response to increasing
manifestations of violence in countries in transition.
Throughout the past year, as a
result of a combination of grassroots work and international engagement, we
have noted some critical trends that appear to be setting the clock backward
for women. The main trends we have observed are as follows:
1. The widespread occurrence of
uncontrolled violence against women in the public sphere across much of the
Arab region. Street harassment, intimidation of women and girls, and
outright violent physical and sexual attacks and verbal abuse have become
commonplace in many countries, sometimes at the hands of law enforcers.
2. Mechanisms that were otherwise
put in place to offer some kind of protection against domestic violence have
become totally non-operational.
3. After making headway and becoming
a public and political issue – particularly as a result of feminist activism
inspired by the Fourth UN Conference on Women (1995) – attention to violence
against women appears to have been abandoned as an issue of major concern.
Moreover, newly empowered political groups are advancing ideologies and
policies that undermine women’s rights, choices, and bodily agency, such as
lifting all forms of restriction on minimum age of marriage, and encouraging
female genital mutilation, as well as polygamy.
4. This is accompanied by a consistent
effort to alienate and even intimidate women from being present, visible, and
vocal in the public and political spheres. Indeed, women’s representation
in most post-revolt electoral processes has significantly diminished.
This is consistent with the fact that women have been aggressively
isolated and kept out of various forms of nation building processes and
mechanisms such as electoral, administrative, and legislative reforms.
5. Constitutional reforms, a process
that could provide opportunities to strengthen human rights, has been used as a
weapon to erode the gains that women made during the past decades. Women
were again kept at a safe distance away from constitutional commissions and
other similar processes. As a result, constitutional reform processes
have moved away from international conventions as their frame of reference and
have further cast religion as a unique source of law.
6. Of considerable added concern is
the usage of patriarchal language by political leaders, such as the attempt to
frame women as “complimentary to men” rather than citizens deserving full,
equal rights as displayed in the latest discussions over the constitutional
reforms in Tunisia.
To meet these serious threats to
women’s human rights and bodily security, over the past year Women’s Learning
Partnership has convened dialogues and exchanges in various parts of the world
to facilitate analysis and collective strategizing.
Our main conclusion is that the
current trends of increased conservatism, militarisation, and reliance on
religion as a sole source of legislation are becoming global and not
necessarily limited to the Arab region. With these trends going
unchecked, the risks to women are increasingly coupled with devastating
manifestations of violence in the private and public spheres.
Women’s Learning Partnership calls
on the United Nations and its member states to:
• Recognise the increasing
violations to the rights of women and increasing manifestations of gender-based
violence;
• Publicly condemn any state or
non-state entity perpetrating or contributing to these forms of violence;
• Ensure that international
instruments are binding, adhered to, and sanctionable in cases of violation;
• Recognise and support the efforts
of the women’s movement in denouncing and challenging the combined impact of
extremism, militarism, and fundamentalism, which is resulting in the curbing of
the human rights of women and girls worldwide.