WUNRN
Joint CEDAW
Committee NGO Statement on Land Rights of Rural Women
In
Geneva, on October 9, 2013, Violet Shivuste of HC member group GROOTS
Kenya
delivered a joint statement on behalf of ActionAid, Global Initiative for
Economic Social and Cultural Rights, Huairou Commission, International Accountability Project, International
Center for Research on Women (ICRW), International Land
Coalition (ILC) Secretariat, and Landesa at the United Nations Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), 56th Session (30 September
2013 - 18 October 2013), General Discussion on the Rights of Rural Women.
For rural women, secure rights to land are
essential to their ability to realize and enjoy the full range of their human
rights, including their right to equality. Such rights also help to ensure that
rural women are able to provide for the essential needs of themselves and their
families. On the global landscape, secure rights to land for rural women are
also increasingly seen as central to achieving many development goals,
including sustainable economic development, global food security, and combating
the HIV/AIDS pandemic. These rights are also important from the standpoint of
risk management and mitigation for rural women, for instance, via-a-vis climate
related shocks in rural areas.
While women's land rights are vital to
development, the reality remains that in many parts of the world these rights
are often not shared equally between men and women, and are routinely violated,
denied, and given insufficient protection and enforcement. Indeed, gender
inequality when it comes to land often lies at the heart of rural women's
poverty and exclusion. As highlighted by FAO, globally, "Gender
inequalities in land rights are pervasive.
Not only do women have lower access to land
than men. They are often also restricted to so-called secondary land rights,
meaning that they hold these rights through male family members. Women thus
risk losing entitlements in case of divorce, widowhood or their husband's
migration. Evidence also shows that women's parcels are generally of smaller
size and lower quality."
The obstacles that prevent rural women from
effectively enjoying these rights are complex. They range from inadequate legal
standards and implementation, to discriminatory norms, attitudes and barriers
at the local and community level which prevent rural women's enjoyment of
secure rights to land. Indeed, in many communities gender disparities with
regard to productive resources, including land, are linked to mistaken notions
that men are the sole stakeholders in a household or the broader community.
This includes ideas that women's productive resources will be lost to the
husband's family in the event of marriage or divorce, that men will provide for
women's economic security, or that women are simply incapable of managing
productive land effectively. These are the kinds of attitudes which must be
challenged and changed for women to claim secure rights to land in practice.
We believe that the General Recommendation
on the Rights of Rural Women by the CEDAW Committee is an important opportunity
to highlight the land rights of rural women, and to consolidate what has been
already said by the Committee on these issues. General Recommendation 21 on
'Equality in marriage and family relations,' upholds women's property and
inheritance rights within the context of marriage. It also provides that in
countries undergoing agrarian reform or redistribution of land, the right of
women, regardless of marital status, to share such redistributed land on equal
terms with men should be carefully observed. In addition, General Recommendation
29 of the Committee on economic consequences of marriage, family relations and
their dissolution, provides important guidance on property and land disposition
of widows.
With its General Recommendation on the
Right of Rural Women, the CEDAW Committee can build on this foundation, as well
as consolidate previous recommendations related to women's land and property
rights, for example, as made within its Concluding Observations on States
parties. For example, we encourage the CEDAW Committee to express concern and
clarify the obligations of States over the following issues:
·
That States have an obligation to establish clear legal
and regulatory frameworks to protect women's secure rights to land;
·
That States have an obligation to properly disseminate
information on women's secure rights to land so as to ensure legal literacy,
and that States have an obligation to ensure that women have effective access
justice to secure their land rights. Clear and accessible mechanisms must be
established for increasing access to justice for women in land matters;
·
That States have an obligation to ensure that prejudices
and discriminatory customary law do not hinder the realization of women's
secure rights to land. In this regard, positive measures and 'a comprehensive
strategy' must be implemented to address customs and traditional practices,
especially in rural areas, which affect full enjoyment of women's secure rights
to land; 5
·
That States have an obligation to protect women from the
negative impacts of confiscation of land by private and foreign companies, as
well as the negative impact of development projects and megaprojects; 6
·
That States have an obligation to refrain from
documenting and registering land only to male 'heads of household';
·
That States have an obligation to ensure outreach of
gender-sensitive agricultural programmes and that extension services must be
provided to women;8
·
That States have an obligation to ensure that
comprehensive data is collected on the de facto enjoyment of women's secure
rights to land;9
·
That States have an obligation to adopt and enact
temporary special measures to accelerate the advancement of women's secure
rights to land;10
·
That States have an obligation to ensure that clear and
accessible mechanisms for land administration and management are established
and maintained to protect women's secure rights to land; and,
·
That States have an obligation to ensure rural women's
participation and representation in all aspects of land related laws, policies
and programs.
We believe that articulating the
obligations of States under the Convention with respect to each of these issues
would help to ensure that rural women are able to enjoy their land rights in
practice, and we look forward to being able to continue our engagement with the
Committee on these issues.