Women's Human Rights: CEDAW in International, Regional and National Law
Abstract
As an instrument which addresses the circumstances which affect women‘s lives and enjoyment of rights in a diverse world, the CEDAW is slowly but surely making its mark on the development of international and national law. Using national case studies from South Asia, Southern Africa, Australia, Canada and Northern Europe, Women’s Human Rights examines the potential and actual added value of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in comparison and interaction with other equality and anti-discrimination mechanisms. The studies demonstrate how state and non-state actors have invoked, adopted or resisted the CEDAW and related instruments in different legal, political, economic and socio-cultural contexts, and how the various international, regional and national regimes have drawn inspiration and learned from each other.
... According to the United Nations Declaration on Violence Against Women (1993), the term GBVAW means "(…) any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life". GBVAW is any act of gender-based violence that results in harm, suffering or indignity to women (CEDAW, 1994;Hellum & Aasen, 2013). ...
... Some of the violence faced by women and girls are unique to them, like for example forced abortions, while others, such as domestic violence are disproportionately suffered by women and girls (Hellum & Aasen, 2013;Amnesty International, 2004). Women's abuse can have effects not only on women's bodies but can also have a tremendous negative impact on their daily life. ...
The current chapter will allow a better understanding of refugee women's situation in global-forced migration. It also offers a comprehensive account of the ways in which refugee women's experiences of violence are shaped by gendered relations and structures. Furthermore, the chapter will analyze the interactions between the gender identity formation of men and women, the context of escape, displacement and asylum seeking, and the experience or manifestation of gender-based violence against refugee women. Finally, it also intends to illustrate how structural and symbolic violence and power relations cooperate to shape experiences of violence for refugee women and how it can influence and perpetuate interpersonal violence. In this sense, several studies are presented that demonstrate, on one hand, how gender relations are affected by escape, displacement, and asylum, and how they can create different practices of structural and symbolic violence; and, on the other hand, draw attention to the current lack of gender-specific analysis of the problem of asylum and refugees.
... According to the United Nations Declaration on Violence Against Women (1993), the term GBVAW means "(…) any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life". GBVAW is any act of gender-based violence that results in harm, suffering or indignity to women (CEDAW, 1994;Hellum & Aasen, 2013). ...
... Some of the violence faced by women and girls are unique to them, like for example forced abortions, while others, such as domestic violence are disproportionately suffered by women and girls (Hellum & Aasen, 2013;Amnesty International, 2004). Women's abuse can have effects not only on women's bodies but can also have a tremendous negative impact on their daily life. ...
The current chapter will allow a better understanding of refugee women's situation in global-forced migration. It also offers a comprehensive account of the ways in which refugee women's experiences of violence are shaped by gendered relations and structures. Furthermore, the chapter will analyze the interactions between the gender identity formation of men and women, the context of escape, displacement and asylum seeking, and the experience or manifestation of gender-based violence against refugee women. Finally, it also intends to illustrate how structural and symbolic violence and power relations cooperate to shape experiences of violence for refugee women and how it can influence and perpetuate interpersonal violence. In this sense, several studies are presented that demonstrate, on one hand, how gender relations are affected by escape, displacement, and asylum, and how they can create different practices of structural and symbolic violence; and, on the other hand, draw attention to the current lack of gender-specific analysis of the problem of asylum and refugees.
... In some contexts, social norms tend to construct particular gender roles that form the basis of the national identity and can serve to keep the existing gendered social and cultural order, thus preserving the status quo of unequal gender relations (Holtmaat 2013). Transforming these norms and enforcing change require legal and cultural legitimization (Packer 2002). ...
... Transforming these norms and enforcing change require legal and cultural legitimization (Packer 2002). Yet while legal legitimization can be achieved through the ratification of international conventions, cultural legitimization can be particularly challenging as it entails overcoming deeply rooted gender stereotypes and modifying fixed gender roles (Holtmaat 2013). Furthermore, under certain circumstances there could be a backlash to increasing gains made by women (Kabeer 2016a;Klasen 2016), whether when they enter the labour market (Sender et al. 2006), gain access to credit (Rahman 1999) or participate in politics (Mueller 2015). ...
Gender equality lies at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which asserts gender equality as both a fundamental human right and a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world.
The evidence collected in this discussion paper shows that gender equality is critical to achieving a wide range of objectives pertaining to sustainable development. These include promoting economic growth and labour productivity, reducing poverty, enhancing human capital through health and education, attaining food security, addressing climate change impacts and strengthening resilience to disasters, and ensuring more peaceful and inclusive communities. It therefore argues that accelerating gender equality in all spheres of society leads to a more rapid increase in progress towards achieving the 2030 Agenda.
... CEDAW advocates transformations in public and private spheres as well as individual mindsets (Englehart & Miller, 2014) by acknowledging that governments must go beyond domestic laws and work towards 'formal and substantive gender equality' by eliminating regressive gender stereotypes (Hintjens, 2008). Its transformative, holistic, and gender-specific approach (Hellum & Aasen, 2013) specifically addresses all pervasive discrimination against women. CEDAW acknowledges that extensive discrimination against women violates the principles of equality of rights and respect for human dignity (Freeman et al., 2012). ...
In India, consistent marginalization of women suggests that broader societal transformation is needed to transcend gender stereotypes and foster gender equality. Effective school curriculum and textbook content can influence and revitalize mindsets to respect and uphold women’s rights (WR). This research examines the manifestation and extent to which WR is addressed in Indian school social science textbooks using qualitative content analysis. Data from official primary and secondary school textbooks published between 2006 and 2013 and reprinted between 2017 and 2019 were analyzed, based on the components of WR prescribed by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), using descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage). The results indicate that there is negligible focus on WR in textbooks at the elementary level. While both explicit and implicit focus on WR increased at the secondary and senior secondary levels, some vital aspects were either marginally represented or completely missing.
... International initiatives for the recognition of women's rights and reproductive health rights in the 1990s, coupled with the growing evidence that most maternal deaths are preventable, led to further recognition of maternal mortality as a human rights issue. Today, maternal mortality is used as an indicator not only of the strength of health systems and gender equity but also of compliance with certain human rights (De Brouwere et al., 1998;Cabal and Stoffregen, 2009;Aasen, 2013;Yamin, 2013). Understanding the scale, trend and distribution of maternal mortality and identifying causes and contributing factors to maternal deaths have been fundamental in efforts to address the challenge (WHO, 2015). ...
The Maternal Death Surveillance and Response (MDSR) system is designed to continuously identify and review all maternal deaths. It aims to assist countries in understanding the scale and distribution of maternal deaths, identifying their causes, and informing corrective measures to address the challenge. Despite the growing adoption of the MDSR by numerous low- or middle-income countries, its implementation faces various challenges, including legal ones. This scoping review was conducted to map legal issues and challenges that arise during the implementation of the MDSR. It adapted the Bain and Kongnyuy framework, categorising legal issues into data, people, use of findings, and legal regulation. Literature was retrieved from seven databases, complemented by additional online searches. We included studies published in English between 2010 and November 2022 that report on legal issues arising during the implementation of MDSR. Out of 1,174 studies screened, 31 were selected for review. The review highlighted the limited attention given to the legal dimension of the MDSR by the research community. It also documented the lack of adequate legal framework essential for the system’s effective implementation. Inadequate safeguards for informational privacy and the lack of confidentiality reinforce a prevalent sense of being blamed, mainly among health workers. Consequently, widespread underreporting and intentional misattribution of causes of maternal death, defensive referrals, and disengagement from the MDSR process were reported. We recommend that implementing countries regulate the gathering and use of MDSR data through suitable laws and legally ensure that the MDSR data are only used for the intended purpose. Appropriate complaint-handling mechanisms are needed in health systems to prevent the misuse of the MDSR. Future studies on MDSR implementation would benefit from involving legal experts, considering the multifaceted legal dimensions of the MDSR.
... I discovered that these violations had a serious cumulative negative effect on the overall wellbeing of the women. Aasen (2013) is of the view that lack of access to adequate healthcare services is seen as a violation of women"s rights to life and health. This is greatly accelerated by gender-based discrimination and structural disadvantages that affect poor women who come from low income households (Articles 1 and 2 of CEDAW). ...
... International human rights norms require states to respect, protect and fulfill women's right to life and health [1] [2]. The international community address avoidable maternal mortality as a discrimination and violation of women's right to life and Health [3] [4]. Ninety-nine percent of the global maternal deaths occur in the developing countries most often in poor, rural areas, with sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) contributing over half of these deaths. ...
Background
Maternal mortality rates are still unacceptably high in many countries, indicating violation of women´s human right to life and health. Access to adequate information about maternal health rights and available services are essential aspects of realizing women´s right to accessible health care. This study aimed at assessing awareness of the right to access maternal health services among women who had recently given birth, and the association between such awareness and the utilization of maternal health services in two districts in Tanzania.
Methods
This study was cross sectional in design. Interviews were conducted with women who gave birth within one year prior to the survey in two different district councils (DC) namely Hai DC and Morogoro DC, selected purposively based on the earlier reported rates of maternal mortality. We used a two-stage cluster sampling to select the study sample. Analysis employed Chi-square test and Logistic regression.
Results
A total of 547 respondents were interviewed. Only a third (34.4%) reported to be aware of their right to access maternal health services. Main sources of information on maternal health rights were the media and health care providers. Occupation and education level showed a statistically significant association with awareness of access rights. Hai DC had higher proportion of women aware of their access rights compared to Morogoro DC. Women who were aware of their right of access were almost 5 times more likely to use skilled birth attendants compared to those who were not (AOR 4.61 95% CI: 2.14–8.57).
Conclusion and recommendations
Awareness of the right to access maternal health services was low in the studied population. To increase awareness and hence uptake of Pregnancy care and skilled birth attendants at delivery we recommend the government and partners to prioritize provision of information, communication and education on women´s human rights, including the right to access maternal health services, especially to women in rural areas.
... The two reproductive rights in the articles indicate that women have the right to freely decide on their reproductive rights, which includes access and the right to undergo safe and legal abortions (most induced abortion cases are considered to be a criminal offence in many other countries), as family planning (see Aasen (2013)). Hence, the study conducted by CEDAW revealed that there was a significant number of women who had improper abortions or no health care. ...
... Of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) established with a global focus on reducing extreme poverty at the turn of the century, MDG 5 aimed to reduce maternal mortality ratios by three-quarters between 1999(United Nations 2000. However, South Asian countries in particular struggled with improving reproductive health as the maternal mortality rate only dropped 64%, missing the target (Aasen 2011;United Nations 2015). A World Bank study attributed this to the lack of skilled birth attendants, early marriages, high pregnancy rates, low contraceptive prevalence rate, and inequity in access to maternal health due to gender and income inequality (El-Saharty et al. 2014). ...
Access to reproductive health services and products in remote and rural communities is a critical area of concern for developing countries. This article considers a pilot intervention in three districts of Pakistan where “Business-in-a-Box” as a model of place-based social innovation is used to improve the socio-economic conditions of women in remote rural settings through socially responsible micro-franchising. It finds that such programmes help build a sense of community, ownership and grassroots capabilities and skills. The article also discusses the impacts of such actions on the individual and community life, and the need to upscale and sustain these initiatives.
FGM is the partial or total removal of female genitalia for cultural reasons and this ancient practice negatively affects the work performance of women who have undergone a cut. It is important to create awareness on ills of FGM and improve the work performance of FGM survivors, through corporate social responsibility. CSR embraces responsibility for the company’s actions and encourages positive impacts to its stakeholders. The effects of FGM in this study are mental disorders, low self-esteem, poor employee relations and poor work performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of CSR on FGM survivors’ work performance. The objective covered in this paper is to examine how CSR increases employee work performance of cut women. The study used qualitative research using interview guide. Interviews were conducted virtually and lasted for ten minutes. There were 10 respondents obtained by stratified sampling: among them staff and volunteers. Data was analyzed using thematic analysis. Thematic analysis is one of the most widely used methods of qualitative analysis and has previously been used to identify themes and patterns within a given study. The study used stakeholder management theory and Teule Kenya as a case study. The findings in this paper are that CSR increases employee performance. Findings from this study will help policy makers advocate against FGM and improve the life quality of these victims. The study recommended that Teule engages in more CSR activities to improve the work performance and lives of these women. Hence, Teule will achieve its objectives and improve the work performance of FGM survivors.Keywords: Female genital mutilation, corporate social responsibility, teule Kenya, work performance
Sexual education has become an essential component of comprehensive health education programs worldwide. However, views and understanding about sexual education can differ greatly among people and have a big impact on how people’s mental health. The researcher in this study used a diagnostic research design. All the higher secondary school students in the Theni District, Tamil Nadu constituted the study population. The researcher used stratified random sampling in this study, and the sample size was 500 higher secondary students in the Theni District, Tamil Nadu. A semi-structured interview schedule was developed to better understand the socio-demographic conditions of the students and to measure their attitudes, knowledge, and perceptions relating to sexual education. The mental health of the respondents was measured by the Rand Mental Health Inventory (MHI) with 18 items. There is a significant positive link between knowledge of sexual education and attitudes toward it and mental health. This study found that the more people knew about sexual education, the more positive their attitudes were toward it. A better level of understanding regarding sexual education promotes mental wellness. Knowledge of sexual education correlates negatively with age. It demonstrates that younger respondents had a higher level of knowledge regarding sexual education than older respondents. There is a significant link between perception toward sexual education and attitudes toward sexual education. According to this study, individuals who are younger have more positive opinions toward sexual education than those who are older. There is no significant correlation between attitude toward sexual education and mental health. Perception of sexual education has a significant positive link with mental health. The study found that the respondents had a positive attitude toward sexual education and are in good mental health. Age had no significant link with perceptions of sexual education. This study will provide important implications for health education programs and methodologies by highlighting the necessity of addressing attitudes toward sexual education in promoting favorable mental health outcomes.
In this chapter, Eileen M. Hunt reveals new intellectual ties between Bentham and Benthamite thought and the political ideals of Wollstonecraft and Shelley, who theorized the relationship between women’s misery and women’s rights in British international thought from the end of the eighteenth century through the first few decades of the nineteenth century. Hunt argues that Wollstonecraft’s political ideas influenced her daughter Mary Shelley, leading her to develop a critique of Malthusian and Benthamite views on misery and population control that inscribed new political and feminist arguments into the global reception of British international thought.
La reciente ratificación del Estado de Chile al Protocolo Facultativo de la Convención sobre la eliminación de todas las formas de discriminación contra la mujer (PFCEDAW) invita a reflexionar sobre el modo en que Chile se ha relacionado con procedimientos de comunicaciones individuales del Sistema Universal de Derechos Humanos. El presente artículo describe y analiza estos procedimientos, enfocándose especialmente en el rol del Comité para la eliminación de la discriminación contra la mujer. Además, analiza críticamente las razones que dilataron la ratificación del PFCEDAW, y articula los desafíos principales que supone este tratado internacional para la institucionalidad chilena de derechos humanos.
Due to its wide-ranging reservations and lack of effective enforcement mechanisms the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) has failed to dismantle widespread and systemic discrimination. The present paper proposes a broad, theoretical, preventive and relational approach to creating and enhancing the effectiveness of novel interventions to accelerate gender equality. We describe the main elements of affective empathy (i.e. intersubjectivity, multisensory engagement and empathic embodiment) and identify potential interventions that build on those elements to advance gender equality. We ultimately argue that increased empathy towards women, transwomen and girls is required to disrupt the beliefs and behaviours that lead to discrimination, and that these changes must be enacted alongside legislative reforms and community education that construct equality environments. Our affective empathy framework could have the capacity to operationalise the normative fight against gender stereotypes and inequality in line with article 5(a) of CEDAW.
Can commitment to international human rights law promote human rights when the commitment is not yet legally binding? I argue that treaty signature can be used by non-governmental organizations and other rights actors to mobilize around rights standards and hold states accountable in the lead up to binding treaty ratification. Using the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination (CEDAW) as a case, I argue that CEDAW signature can have a positive impact on women’s rights. I find overall support for the argument that, following signature, states are significantly and positively associated with higher women’s rights. The findings hold across numerous robustness checks. Using an illustrative case of CEDAW signature and mobilization in the United States, I demonstrate that activists drew on the treaty following signature in the absence of ratification. The argument and results contribute to the study of international law and women’s rights mobilization, highlighting the importance of signature commitment as a tool for advancing women’s rights in advance of treaty ratification.
In international human rights law, the right to food has become a widely accepted legal and normative framework for tackling the problem of food insecurity. However, as currently formulated, the right to food is insufficient as a framework to tackle gender-specific barriers that impede women's access to food, which has contributed to the persistence of women's food insecurity globally. While the equal enjoyment of the right to food is guaranteed by the non-discrimination and equality provisions in international law, this notion of equality, associated with the formal equality approach, fails to recognise and address women's historical experience of systemic discrimination. This article argues that women's food insecurity should be approached from a broader formulation of the right to food that is informed by a substantive equality perspective, drawing from contemporary interpretations and elucidations by human rights bodies which have pushed for a more substantive notion of equality.
This chapter will provide an overview on several aspects of the gender perspective in Human Rights Law. The chapter will therefore look at the civil and political rights from a gender perspective, as well as social, economic and cultural rights of women, non-binary and LGBTIQA+ persons. The aim is to increase the students’ awareness for the gender perspective in international human rights protection, by providing an overview of currently discussed issues in this area. Such issues include the prohibition of gender-based violence, contemporary forms of slavery and trafficking in persons, the freedom of religion, the right to private life, access to justice for women, women’s (political) empowerment, the prohibition of economic and social discrimination, and women’s right to education.
The state of the ‘social’ that individuals, social groups and societies experience are a focus of international conventions, declarations and goal setting documents. Many indicators of the ‘social’ and measures of well-being that contain sets of indicators of the ‘social’ exist to ascertain the state of the ‘social’ of individuals, social groups, and societies. Marginalized groups are well known to have problems with the ‘social’ they experience. Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) and similar phrases are used in policy discussions to deal with ‘social problems’ within research, education, and general workplace environments encountered by women, Indigenous peoples, visible/racialized minorities, disabled people, and LGBTQ2S+. The prevention of the worthening of the ‘social’ is one focus of science and technology governance and ethics discussions. Many health professions are also concerned about the ‘social’ such as the well-being of their clients and their roles as stated by many of their associations include being advocates and change agents. The objective of the study was to ascertain how the ‘social’ is engaged with in conjunction with the following international documents (“Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities”, “Convention on the Rights of the Child”, “Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women”, “Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”, “Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, “International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination”, “UN Framework Convention on Climate Change”, “transforming our world: the 2030 agenda for sustainable development” and “UN flagship report on disability and development Realizing the Sustainable Development Goals by, for and with persons with disabilities”; from now on called “the documents”). A scoping review using the academic databases SCOPUS, Web of Science, databases accessible under Compendex, and the databases accessible under EBSCO-HOST, coupled with a manifest hit-count coding approach was uses to answer five research questions: (1) Which terms, phrases, and measures of the ‘social’ are present in the literature searched (2) Which of the social issues flagged in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) are present in the academic abstracts mentioning the other eight documents? (3) Which EDI frameworks, phrases and social groups covered under EDI are present in the literature covered. (4) Which technologies, science and technology governance terms and ethics fields are present in the literature covered? (5) Which health professions are mentioned in the literature covered? The results reveal vast gaps and opportunities to engage with the ‘social’ in relation to “the documents” covered for all five questions.
This article analyzes the efforts of Egyptian feminist activists to insert gender equality in the country’s post-revolutionary constitutions in 2012 and 2014. While the literature on women’s political role during this period provides insights into exclusionary gender practices and conditions for bargaining power structures, this study contributes with a conceptual analysis of how feminist activists construed constitutional gender equality. The study is based on interviews with, and written statements by, activists engaged in the constitutional process. The article argues that these activists viewed the constitution as a central instrument in the struggle for gender equality and demanded a gender equality model beyond the sameness/difference paradigm. Instead, they argued for a substantive notion of gender equality that reflected women’s situated experiences while they, at the same time, navigated the legacies of Egypt’s earlier constitutions.
This chapter forms the substantive section on the historical genesis of the crime of trafficking in persons under international law. The chapter intends to provide the reader with a historical understanding of the stages and phases that took place and which finally resulted in the international community adopting the current TIP Protocol 2000 which provides the most widely accepted definition of what amounts to trafficking in persons. The chapter defines the crime of human trafficking and analyses its constituent three elements of the action, means and purpose elements and points out its implications for the states parties to the TIP Protocol 2000 and the Organised Crime Convention 2000. The chapter examines almost all the individual constitutive components of the action, means and purpose elements. This analysis serves to lay a foundation for examining the criminalisation provisions of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act 2008 in Chap. 7. It also helps to gauge Tanzania’s compliance or implementation of its international and domestic anti-trafficking obligations assumed under the TIP Protocol 2000 in so far as the obligation to criminalise the crime of trafficking in persons is concerned.
This unique textbook merges human rights law with its practice, from the courtroom to the battlefield. Human rights are analysed in their particular context, and the authors assess, among other things, the impact of international finance, the role of NGOs, and the protection of rights in times of emergency, including the challenges posed by counter-terrorism. In parallel, a series of interviews with practitioners, case studies and practical applications offer multiple perspectives and challenging questions on the effective implementation of human rights. Although the book comprehensively covers the traditional areas of international human rights law, including its regional and international legal and institutional framework, it also encompasses, through distinct chapters or large sections, areas that have a profound impact on human rights worldwide, such as women's rights, human rights and globalisation, refugees and migration, human rights obligations of non-state actors, debt and human rights, and others.
Cinsiyetlerin, farklı fiziksel, biyolojik, cinsel, sosyal fonksiyonlarına göre toplumsal ve kültürel olarak inşası, toplumsal cinsiyete dayalı kalıpyargıları ve rolleri oluşturmaktadır. Bu roller ve kalıpyargılar, bir insan topluluğunun özellikleri, rolleri, nitelikleri hakkındaki önyargılardan oluştuğundan, bazı durumlarda insan haklarından eşit şekilde istifade etmeyi engellemekte ve insan hakları ihlallerine yol açmaktadır. Kalıpyargıların ve rollerin özel bir görünümü olan toplumsal cinsiyet temelinde bir sorunsallaştırma ve kavramsallaştırma yapılması gerekmektedir. Buna karşın konu, ulusal hukuk literatürü ve uygulamasında yeterli ilgiyi görüp tartışılmamıştır. Uluslararası ve bölgesel insan hakları koruma mekanizmaları bu konuyu gündeme getirme ve tartışma olanağı sunmaktadır. Bu çalışmanın amacı da Kadınlara Karşı Her Türlü Ayırımcılığın Önlenmesi Uluslararası Sözleşmesi (CEDAW)’nin dönüştürücü etkisi çerçevesinde toplumsal cinsiyete dayalı kalıpyargıları ve rolleri bir insan hakları ihlali ve ayırımcılık biçimi olarak kavramsallaştırarak bunlarla mücadelede hukuki bir yol haritasını tartışmaya açmaktır. Bu kapsamda toplumsal cinsiyet rolleri ve kalıpyargıları, tanımlanmış, devletin yükümlülükleri açıklanmış, uygulamada karşılaşılan zorluklar ve çözüm önerileri incelenmiştir.
This encyclopedia entry on the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (the CEDAW Committee) forms part of the Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law.
Table of contents:
A) Background
B) Institutional Set-up
C) The Work of the Committee
1 State Reporting and Concluding Observations
2 General Recommendations
3 Individual Communications
4 Inquiry Procedure
D) Interaction with Other Human Rights Institutions
1 The Committee and Other Human Rights Treaty Bodies
2 The CEDAW Committee and Other Procedures within the UN System Dealing with Women’s Human Rights
3 Unification or Fragmentation and Duplication?
4 The Committee and Regional Human Rights Bodies
E) Concluding Remarks
F) Cited Bibliography
G) Further Bibliography
H) Cited Documents
I) Cited Cases
En matière d’égalité entre les sexes, l’EPS a connu à la fin du XXe siècle une véritable révolution copernicienne en passant d’une prévalence séparatiste à une dynamique organisationnelle et didactique égalitaire. Si cette mutation s’inscrit dans une conjoncture politique et sociale favorable à l’amélioration des droits des femmes dans tous les espaces de la vie en société, elle est aussi le reflet d’une dynamique propre au champ de l’EPS dans laquelle se distingue Annick Davisse. Partant de l’analyse d’entretiens et de ses publications, cet article interroge son parcours et révèle une actrice clé d’un processus d’innovation sociale en faveur de l’égalité des sexes. Enseignante d’EPS, militante syndicale et politique, devenue inspectrice pédagogique régionale d’EPS, elle accède progressivement à des positions de pouvoir permettant d’agréger des soutiens autour de la cause des « démuni·e·s » de l’école, dont les filles en EPS. Ainsi, elle conceptualise et diffuse au fil de sa carrière une approche didactico-pédagogique visant leur meilleure réussite. Soutenues par des politiques internationales œuvrant pour l’élimination des discriminations à l’encontre des femmes, ses propositions trouvent preneur et s’institutionnalisent partiellement dans les programmes d’EPS de la fin du XXe siècle, non sans quelques déformations ou instrumentalisations.
The term 'Legal Pluralism' has been understood at two levels. At the first level it refers to the coexistence of two or more legal orders, as in post-colonial contexts where the same subject matter may be governed by various laws drawing from different sources. For instance, statutory laws on family law coexist with family laws drawn from custom or from religion, and all of these multiple sources are recognized as law. At the second level 'Legal Pluralism' is understood as phenomenon that goes beyond post-colonial settings. 1 Malaysia ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 5 July 1995 as part of its commitment to uphold and protect gender equality. However, there are still an areas of gross discrimination include divorce, polygamy, unequal inheritance, age of marriage, female genital mutilation (fgm) or cutting, whipping and workforce always being debated. Malaysia knows as plural legal system both Civil and Shariah, repeatedly reminded by the CEDAW committee to uphold the civil law as the law of the land, instead of religious and customary laws. Therefore, this article will discuss the dilemma issues facing by Malaysia to empower women's rights with plural legal systems challenges.
Iran, under the government of president Rouhani, adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, expressing its commitment towards its holistic and comprehensive implementation, albeit with some reservations expected from an Islamic country. The signing of the document was strongly criticized by the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who said this was not proper for an Islamic country, where Quran and Islamic rules are the benchmark for public and private living together. On June 23, 2017, the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution voted in favor of the non-implementation of the document of Agenda 2030 in Iran. Similarly, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was ratified by the reformist government of Mohamad Khatami, and was approved by the sixth parliament (2000–2004). However, the Guardian Council ultimately rejected it, arguing that it was incompatible with Islam. This chapter considers the traditional role accorded to women in the law of Iran in the light of the development of equality rights in international law. The two cases presented here are illustrations of two different interpretations of Islam and how these impact on equality rights and the traditional role accorded to women under law in Iranian society. What we see on the one hand is adoption by Khatami’s or Rouhani’s governments of important international agreements—the CEDAW and the 2030 Agenda—while on the other hand, both documents being rejected by the Supreme leader and fundamentalists in Iran because they are incompatible with Islamic values or teachings. This chapter will compare CEDAW as a set of criteria for gender equality with the current laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran. This comparison is necessary to recognize how CEDAW allegedly is in conflict with Iranian laws that are claimed to be based on Islamic laws. The aim is to illustrate the capacities, strengths and limitations of Islamic Laws for gender equality. Accordingly, this chapter aims to investigate the different interpretations of Islam to find out which interpretations are compatible with the global norms of justice and hence in accordance with gender equality.
International human rights law prohibits discrimination against women in their enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms. While non-discrimination is an essential component to the realization of women' s rights, its comparative approach measures women' s equality against men' s enjoyment of rights, reinforcing gender dualism and the masculinity of the universal subject of human rights law whose rights are fully promoted and explicitly protected. To the extent that violations experienced exclusively or primarily by women are expressly recognized in the founding human rights instruments, they are treated as a sub-category of the universal and often formulated as 'protective' measures rather than as human rights. There have been many efforts to address the resulting margin-alization of women' s rights, including the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women and the strategy of gender mainstream-ing in the application of general human rights instruments. While these efforts have been successful in many respects, there are continuing conceptual and practical problems, including, not only the limitations of anti-discrimination law and dualistic conceptions of gender, but the danger that specific recognition of women' s rights violations may simply reproduce women' s secondary status. recent attention to discrimination based on 'gender identity' opens new, although contested, opportunities for feminist change.
With the worldwide sweep of gender-neutral, gender-equal or gender-sensitive public laws in international treaties, national constitutions and statutes, it is timely to document the raft of legal reform and to critically analyse its effectiveness. In demarcating the academic study of the public law of gender, this book brings together leading lawyers, political scientists, historians and philosophers to examine law's structuring of politics, governing and gender in a new global frame. Of interest to constitutional and statutory designers, advocates, adjudicators and scholars, the contributions explore how concepts such as equality, accountability, representation, participation and rights, depend on, challenge or enlist gendered roles and/or categories. These enquiries suggest that the new public law of gender must confront the lapses in enforcement, sincerity and coverage that are common in both national and international law and governance, and critically and pluralistically recast the public/private distinction in family, community, religion, customary and market domains.
O artigo analisará as recomendações do Comitê CEDAW ao Estado brasileiro. O Comitê é o mecanismo de monitoramento da Convenção sobre a Eliminação de todas as Formas de Discriminação contra a Mulher (CEDAW). Os Estados apresentam relatórios ao Comitê sobre o tratamento dos direitos humanos das mulheres dentro de seus territórios. Em paralelo, os atores não-estatais feministas apresentam relatórios alternativos com o propósito de subsidiar as atividades do Comitê CEDAW. Com base nos relatórios oficiais e nos relatórios alternativos, o Comitê apresenta recomendações aos Estados signatários da Convenção. Neste artigo, o objetivo será examinar o conteúdo das recomendações do Comitê endereçadas ao Estado brasileiro e verificar a compliance do Brasil em relação ao regime internacional estabelecido pela Convenção. Para desenvolver essa análise, serão apresentadas definições sobre regimes internacionais em geral e regimes internacionais de direitos humanos em particular. Na sequência, serão apresentados: (i) o funcionamento e o papel da CEDAW no cenário internacional; e (ii) seus princípios conforme relatados nos documentos oficiais. Em seguida, as recomendações do Comitê CEDAW ao Estado brasileiro serão examinadas contrastando com dados sobre o tratamento dos direitos humanos das mulheres no Brasil.
The role of the international norms in domestic politics is a central question in international relations. This article examines the major international treaty on the human rights of women, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and its impact on Italian politics, specifically on domestic legislation, case law and civil society activism, and institutional structure. The research contributes to the general debate on international norms diffusion and implementation, and identifies the factors which enable states to comply with these norms.
In the Western Balkans, just as in newly democratized countries in other regions, failures in gender policy implementation are often attributed to lack of “political will.” There is however a surprising lack of specificity concerning what is meant by it and how to measure its influence on the observed implementation gaps. To help to begin filling this research gap this article examines the extent to which Western Balkans countries might be failing in the implementation of their adopted gender policies and the reasons why decision makers seem to lack the political will to implement them. To allow for a more in-depth perspective, the analysis will concentrate on the case of the implementation of Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) on the municipal level in the three countries in its focus: Bosnia and Hercegovina; Macedonia; and Serbia. The empirical material used for it consists of primary data from telephone surveys, in-depth interviews with actors involved in GRB policy processes and official documents.
While women’s rights are more of a recent development in international human rights law, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) was the first international agreement to declare women’s rights as human rights. This article is both a description and an analysis of the Convention and the Optional Protocol, the reservations, general problems, and the issue of cultural relativism. An analysis of the United States in relation to CEDAW in terms of particular state issues of enforcement, ratification, and reservations brings to light possible solutions for further establishment of rights through CEDAW, including the organization of an interstate forum.
ALEXSANDRO EUGENIO PEREIRA Doutor em Ciência Política pela Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Docente dos Programas de Pós-Graduação em Ciência Política (PPGCP) e em Políticas Públicas (PPGPP) da Universidade Federal do Paraná. RESUMO: O artigo analisará as recomendações do Comitê CEDAW ao Estado brasileiro. O Comitê é o mecanismo de monitoramento da Convenção sobre a Eliminação de todas as Formas de Discriminação contra a Mulher (CEDAW). Os Estados apresentam relatórios ao Comitê sobre o tratamento dos direitos humanos das mulheres dentro de seus territórios. Em paralelo, os atores não-estatais feministas apresentam relatórios alternativos com o propósito de subsidiar as atividades do Comitê CEDAW. Com base nos relatórios oficiais e nos relatórios alternativos, o Comitê apresenta recomendações aos Estados signatários da Convenção. Neste artigo, o objetivo será examinar o conteúdo das recomendações do Comitê endereçadas ao Estado brasileiro e verificar a compliance do Brasil em relação ao regime internacional estabelecido pela Convenção. Para desenvolver essa análise, serão apresentadas definições sobre regimes internacionais em geral e regimes internacionais de direitos humanos em particular. Na sequência, serão apresentados: (i) o funcionamento e o papel da CEDAW no cenário internacional; e (ii) seus princípios conforme relatados nos documentos oficiais. Em seguida, as recomendações do Comitê CEDAW ao Estado brasileiro serão examinadas contrastando com dados sobre o tratamento dos direitos humanos das mulheres no Brasil. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: CEDAW; Direitos Humanos das mulheres; Brasil. ABSTRACT: The article analyzeS recommendations of the CEDAW Committee to the Brazilian State. The Committee is the monitoring mechanism of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). States report to the Committee treatment of women's human rights within their territories. In parallel, the non-state feminist actors present alternative reports for the purpose of subsidizing the activities of the CEDAW Committee. Based on official reports and alternative reports, the Committee presents recommendations to the signatory States of the Convention. In this article, the objective will be to examine the contents of the Committee's recommendations addressed to Brazil and verify the compliance of the Brazilian State in relation to the international regime established by the Convention. To develop this analysis, definitions will be presented on international regimes in general and international human rights regimes in particular. The following will be presented: the functioning and role of CEDAW
Discrimination against women often hides itself behind ancestral traditions having transformed into written or unwritten rules,. One of the most widespread and insidious form of women discrimination is the implicit denial, by most domestic legal systems, of the right of women to transmit their family name to their children. The great majority of States indeed provides for the automatic assignment of the father’s name to a newly born child conceived in wedlock. The particular insidiousness of this practice consists in that it not only discriminates the women as mothers, but it discriminates also the women as children since it often causes a parents’, especially father’s, pervasive preference for baby boys over girls. The reason for this preference being mainly based on the boys ability to perpetuate the father’s surname.
This book takes as a point of departure for discussion the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights of January 7th, 2014, on the Case Cusan and Fazzo v. Italy. In this judgment the Court held the view that, in the context of handing down the family name, the child’s father and mother were treated differently. Unlike the father, and even in spite of an agreement between the spouses, the mother was unable to obtain authorization to give her family name to the baby. Accordingly, the Court found that there had been a violation of Article 14, taken together with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The book proceeds with an in-depth legal investigation into Italian private and family law, international law, EU law, comparative law and international private law.
About two decades ago, in Malawi, the issue of the numbers of women in politics was not newsworthy.
Few stakeholders showed any concern about the low number of women in politics.
Despite an overwhelming increase in the interest over the last years, this book notes that not much has
changed on the ground. The latest elections, in 2014, exposed a major setback in women representation
in parliament, thus putting into question all past efforts towards improving the status of women
in politics.
Consequently, this book is exploring the recent developments in women participation in politics in Malawi.
We are specifically inter alia examining the following key issues:
• The factors behind the slow but marked increase in women in political representation during the
multiparty era;
• The explanations for the recent electoral setback for women representation in politics;
• Possible options as to what can be done to improve women’s representation in Malawi, in terms
of numbers, in terms of popular attitudes to women politicians, and in terms of women’s political
influence.
It is our belief that a true democracy requires representation of both genders, and the current low levels
of women representation in Malawi constitute a democratic deficit.
This book is a product of collaboration between the Department of Political and Administrative Studies
(PAS) at the University of Malawi’s Chancellor College and Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) in Bergen,
Norway. The book has eleven chapters and the contributors are respected academics and activists drawn
from Malawi and Norway who utilised empirical as well as secondary data in their analyses.
This book is an invaluable resource for university students and lecturers, policy makers and practitioners
interested in having a deeper understanding of factors affecting women in politics in Malawi.
Pakistan is a democratic country, wherein women comprised half of its population. The plight of women rights in Pakistan is not satisfactory, but with the pace of time, the process of legal empowerment for women is in progression. The enforcement of laws lead towards safeguarding women rights more, which culminated into protection of women in a better way. In this study, the process of legal empowerment and protection of women rights has been evaluated in historical perspective. Women are fighting for their rights since colonial period. After creation of Pakistan, women are struggling for attaining more and more legal protection and empowerment. Laws are the reflection of the values of society. The military rulers who were always in quest of legitimacy repealed the laws to safeguard their own interests. which lessened the efficacy of these laws towards protecting women rights. The modernization of the society and awareness among the women compelled the elected Governments to take steps to repeal the discriminatory laws even Hadood Ordinance and honor killings. In Pakistan the lives of the women are governed more by the customs and values rather statutory laws. There are many factors responsible for the poor protection of women rights, lack of education, rigid values system, absence of proper implementation of the laws and complex judicial system.
This reflection responds primarily to the papers on legal agency and state intervention, with brief comments on the two other papers. The concept of transformative equality, developed in jurisprudence under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), can promote a deeper understanding of the rights of persons with disabilities. ¹ In particular, it is useful to address power relations between disabled and non-disabled persons not only with respect to family members and medical professionals, but also in the institutions of law and the state.
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