WUNRN
SPAIN - MORE THAN 200 ORGANIZATIONS
SIGN COLLECTIVE SPAIN SHADOW
PLATFORM REPORT TO UN CEDAW
COMMITTEE FOR SPAIN REVIEW
May 25, 2014 - State civil society, the different
Autonomous Communities and municipalities responded satisfactorily to the
proposed Shadow Report prepared by the Platform CEDAW Shadow Report Spain. More than 200 organizations have
endorsed this collective report , presented to
the United Nations so that the voice of civil society is also considered.
Thus, this report shade, made through
the efforts of more than 50 non-governmental women's organizations,
international cooperation and human rights that have been involved in the whole
process of development, increases their representative power and gains momentum
on its way to the evaluation of the implementation in Spain of the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW its
acronym in English) in the period 2009-2013.
Click image below to access full Spain CEDAW Shadow Report - in Spanish.
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SPAIN - INSTITUTIONAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
By Rosabel
Agirregomezkorta (CEIM)
Since the PP’s (Spanish right wing
party) arrival to power in 2011 -in a context of severe systemic crisis
provoked by the speculative neoliberal system- human rights have been at stake.
Specially the rights of women and vulnerable groups have been suffering
permanent and continuous attacks.
Numerous initiatives led by the
government show that a patriarchal neoliberal offensive is carried out. In the
field of education the government is supporting sex-segregated schools and
promoting (the funding of) religious private education in detriment of public education.
One of the biggest changes is a law change that allows private segregationist
colleges to receive public funds, which was not possible till now. In another
field, they are reducing public investment in the health sector and pushing for
privatization like in the case of Madrid, but not only there. In Madrid all health
services such as hospitals are being privatized. This affects women’s
access to key services. Regarding development cooperation the
funds have been severely reduced, which has led to the disappearance of 30% of
NGDOs. And the government has dismantled the existing model that was based on
decentralized cooperation and on Zapatero`s gender equality and human rights
approach.
The government has also directly
targeted gender equality policies by closing shelters for
battered women and pushing for male leadership into feminist’s and women’s
rights organizations. They wanted to impose a new criterion to
women`s organizations applying for funds. This criterion requested male
presence at the women`s and feminist`s associations Boards alleging that not
including men into these spaces is a form of “gender discrimination”. The
women’s rights organizations succeeded in halting this initiative.
And of course the projected reform of
the current Sexual and Reproductive Law[1] by the Minister of
Justice, Gallardón, is a red line for feminist organizations as it removes the
“sexual-affective education” from schools, attacks the women`s right to choose
for abortion and threatens women to go into hiding again putting their lives in
risk.
Obviously civil society -mainly
women`s and feminist organizations- are calling out all these initiatives. They
do that in a way that articulates their diversity and capacity in raising a
shared voice that totally opposes and rejects such policies. Moreover,
feminists and women`s organizations are not alone, and Gallardón`s reform
attempt is being contested by other voices that could hardly be branded as
feminists. Judges, progressive lawyers and medical associations, as well as
other political parties and politicians, have argued that the proposed reform
would be a risk to the women`s health and against the law.
All these policies are being
accompanied by other measures aiming at discouraging social participation and
protest, criminalizing social movements[2] along with a media campaign aimed to
discredit social movements. Here again, feminists are being especially
targeted, calling them “femi-nazis” as opposed to a submissive, domestic female
role model that is presented as desirable and that is functional to the
in-crises economic system. This conservative, heterosexual and Opusian
(Opus-Dei) imaginary is being publicly supported by the official Church
representatives and the so-called “pro-family” groups.
Taking all of this into account, Spain
faces a context of institutional violence against women, where the
Spanish state is leaving much of the population unprotected, dropping out of
their needs and interests. The state is violating its main function which is to
ensure people`s well-being and protection, especially of those most vulnerable.
This violation is also reflected in the monitoring of the progress on the
elimination of all forms of inequality and discrimination, as reflected on the
ongoing CEDAW shadow report (http://cedawsombraesp.wordpress.com) endorsed by more than
150 organizations, the largest amount of organizations involved in the CEDAW
shadow process so far in Spain.
The Spanish government not only does
not meet its responsibilities but actively promotes social, economic and gender
inequalities, discrimination and, therefore, violence against women.
European feminist and social activists
must unite to raise our voices and stop this trend, because, unfortunately,
this is not an isolated trend but is knocking the doors of Europe[3].
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1] The reform would replace the Organic Law 2/2010 of 3 March, on Sexual and
Reproductive Health and abortion, adopted in 2010 (based on deadlines for
abortion), for the present “Draft Law on protection of the life of the unborn
and the rights of the pregnant woman”, approved by the Minister`s Cabinet on
December 20, 2013. Take note of the denomination and its approach: “the life of
the unborn” and “the rights of the pregnant woman”. See the Draft Law at: http://www.mjusticia.gob.es/cs/Satellite/es/1215198252237/ALegislativa_P/1288774452773/Detalle.html (Computer
may translate).
2] During the drafting of the Public
Safety Act (known as The Gag Rule), the government considered, among other
things, organizing a public protest or concentration through the internet as a
“crime of membership to a criminal organization”. This draft could also
consider nonviolent active resistance as an “assault against authority”. Both
cases could eventually be punished by imprisonment of two to four years and
fines of up to 600,000 Euros. Finally and after many protest, the Public Safety
Act was approved by the Ministers Cabinet in November 2013, but with some changes
as it was questioned by the Consejo General del Poder Judicial, the major
Judiciary organism in Spain.
3] Women in Austria act in solidarity
with the Spanish women to stop the violence- you can join too!
Women across Europe unite against the push for a rollback of women’s rights.
The platform 20000frauen have sent out letters to the Spanish embassy and
organized in February a protest rally in front of the Spanish Embassy. Together
with Spanish activists they delivered a loud statement against the proposed criminalization
of abortion.