THE WOMEN'S WATCH
Volume 9, Number
3
January 1996
THE NEXT PHASE
This first post-Beijing Women's Watch coincides with the
annual session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
Against Women-and with a new level of attention to the Women's
Convention. The Platform for Action represents an advance
of light-years since the Forward-Looking Strategies, and the
essence of the advance can be seen in its stated goal of universal
Women's Convention ratification by the year 2000. The premises
of the Convention form a subtext for the entire Platform,
a reaffirmation of the fundamental principle that the human
rights of women are universal and indivisible and that "the
full enjoyment of all human rights and the fundamental freedoms
of all women throughout their life cycle" must be protected
and promoted. The Platform unequivocally states women's rights
to full participation and outlines what must be done for those
rights to be realized.
The Platform reads this way because long before the Beijing
meeting, women all over the world made their governments understand
that they are a constituency to be reckoned with. The draft
Platform that was presented to the Commission on the Status
of Women in March 1993 was a basic outline of problems, but
it contained few references to rights. In eighteen months
the document changed dramatically, in direct response to the
demands of governments-who were listening to their citizens.
From the very beginning of the preparatory process, NGOs were
active in articulating the equality and rights issues, working
as responsible participants in the process. They succeeded
because they showed that they knew what they were doing. By
the time of the Beijing Conference, it was clear that governments
had recognized a constituency of women - the official delegations
were full of NGO representatives. We worked with IWRAW friends
and colleagues in the delegations of Malaysia, The Philippines,
Mali, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Colombia, Bangladesh, Australia,
Canada . . .
The Platform for Action represents only a list of promises.
It will only mean something for women when they make it mean
something. Certainly the performance of the women's community
at Beijing indicates that we know how to do that. The Women's
Convention provides a framework for monitoring government
action in every section of the Platform as well as a legal
obligation to back up the commitments made at Beijing. Everywhere
in the world governments know now that women are watching
them, and that they must meet both the promises of the Platform
and the premises of the Convention.
An acknowledgment. Those who have worked with the IWRAW
project know that we could not have carried out the IWRAW
program through Beijing without wonderful support from staff,
only some of whom were visible on site. Thanks to Valerie
Zamberletti, Sharon Ladin, Linda McFarland, Johanna Bond,
Karen Brown Thompson, Akemi Kinukawa, Christine Avenarius,
and Keith Vargo.
HUMAN RIGHTS - Convention Articles 2 and 3
An Algerian
feminist living under a fatwa, or call for death, for the
past two years urges greater awareness and activism to counter
the campaign of death that Algerian fundamentalists are waging
against individuals who speak out for human rights. Khalida
Messaoudi, formerly a mathematics teacher and member of the
Algerian interim parliament, has been living underground in
Europe and elsewhere for the past two years, unable to work
or stay in the same place for more than two consecutive nights.
Her recently released book, Une Algerienne Debout, includes
a translation of the death threat issued against her by a
fundamentalist group that identifies her as an enemy of their
efforts to establish an Islamic state. Messaoudi is reportedly
disappointed and distressed that the world pays so little
attention to the fear and human suffering caused by continual,
indiscriminate death threats against so many people.
IWRAW receives
frequent Urgent Action Appeals concerning individuals who
are living under the threat of a fatwa, not only in Algeria
but elsewhere in the world. The most recent concerns Zara
Mahamat Yacoub. Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WMUML) issued
an Appeal in October 1995 on Yacoub, who has had a fatwa pronounced
against her after the showing in Burkina Faso of her very
successful film Dilemme au Féminin, (Feminine Dilemma). The
film shows nudity (during an excision), and other things determined
to be blasphemous by the Imam of the Grand Mosque of Ndjamena
in Chad, where Yacoub lives. In a letter addressed to the
Chadian people, an association calling itself the Union of
Young Chadian Muslims has declared that the film is against
good morals, human values and divine law. They have demanded
that severe administrative sanctions be taken against Yacoub
and against the Director of Television in Chad. Despite the
death threats, no official action has been taken. WLUML asks
that people react as soon as possible by writing to: His Excellency
Monsieur Idris Deby, President of the Republic of Chad, BP
74, Ndjamena, Chad. Fax: 235 51 45 01; or Monsieur Maldome
Bada Abass, Minister of Justice of the Republic of Chad. Fax:
235 52 58 85. Ask for anulment of the fatwa against Yacoub
and official protection for her and for others involved in
the film.
The pressure
exerted by the fundamentalists affects even Tunisia, which
has a reputation for being liberal and open-minded. Two
well-known human rights activists, Alya Cherif Chammari and
Khemais Chammari, have been prohibited from leaving the country.
Their passports were taken away as they were about to embark
for Malta in October 1995 to participate in a colloquium of
the Mediterranean Center for Human Rights. Mrs. Chammari is
a Tunisian lawyer well known for her work for women's rights,
and her husband is one of the founders of the Arab Institute
of Human Rights. Mrs. Chammari was to go from Malta to Abu
Dhabi, to attend the trial of Sarah Balabagan on 30 October.
According to WLUML, this attack against the Chammaris "is
one of the numerous signs of the phenomenon, and we are deeply
worried that attacks against liberal personalities followed
by a reign of terror would develop in Tunisia, as it has done
in Algeria."
TEMPORARY SPECIAL
MEASURES - Article 4
A landmark
ruling by the European Court of Justice limits affirmative
action programs. According to The New York Times, the
Court ruled that governments could not impose affirmative
action programmes that give women absolute priority for jobs
and promotions, because such programs violate European Union
equal opportunities law. The case was brought by a male landscaper
from northern Germany who was passed over for a promotion
in the Parks Department of the city of Bremen. He was contesting
a state law that required public agencies to give preference
to female candidates with the same qualifications as male
applicants for posts where women were underrepresented. The
Court's decision is likely to affect other job preference
programs in the 15 EU member states. Women's rights groups
in Germany condemned the ruling, and several German state-level
women's affairs ministers joined to issue a statement asking
the federal government to lobby for a change in European policy.
In contrast
to the European action, Israel's Knesset amended the Civil
Service Law in July 1995, obligating the Civil Service Commissioner
to implement affirmative action. The new law, to assure
"appropriate representation of both sexes wherever this does
not as yet exist," applies to all government offices, national
nongovernmental institutions, and government-owned companies.
According to the Israel Women's Network, it will soon undoubtedly
affect the private sector as well. Coincidentally, one day
after the law was passed, a committee on women in the public
service appointed in 1993 by the Minister of Economic Planning
announced wide-ranging recommendations, referring to the civil
service, political positions, the armed forces and the police.
VIOLENCE AGAINST
WOMEN - Articles, 3, 5, 6, 12, 15, 16
The United
States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) has issued
new guidelines that formally recognize gender-based persecution
as a potential ground for asylum. Refugees can now cite
gender-specific abuse such as domestic violence, rape or genital
mutilation in making their cases for asylum. Asylum is not
guaranteed, however, for all battered women from countries
where such violence and sexual abuse is tolerated. Like any
other claimant, a woman must demonstrate that she cannot avail
herself of the protection of her government because of "persecution
or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race,
religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group,
or political opinion."
Effects of
the new guidelines have already begun to appear. In May
1995, an immigration judge for the first time granted asylum
to a Jordanian woman on the ground that the Jordanian government
had failed to protect her from physical and verbal abuse by
her husband. The Immigration Law Center in Lynn, Massachusetts
reported to IWRAW in September 1995 that an asylum petition
by a woman from Zimbabwe was approved based on her claim of
domestic violence. The key evidence in the case was a detailed
statement from the Musasa Project, the domestic violence project
in Harare, concluding that the legal system of Zimbabwe fails
to protect women from domestic violence and sexual abuse.
Legal counsel for the Musasa Project stated that in practice
a "binding over" order (an order to appear in court to respond
to an accusation of violent behavior) will be issued based
only on actual abuse and not on threats of violence, and that
the courts do not have the power to oust a spouse from a matrimonial
home.
The US guidelines
ultimately affect only a few women, but they represent a critical
step in addressing gender based asylum claims. A Harvard
Law School instructor, Nancy Kelly, explains its importance
as establishing "the principle . . . that the harms women
face because of their gender must be recognized and taken
seriously." In the past, gender-specific claims may have been
dismissed or overlooked, but now the INS is expected to increase
its commitment and its ability to make accurate decisions
regarding such cases. In doing so, the INS-and the US government-go
on record as recognizing and condemning the failure of other
governments to protect the human rights of their female citizens.
Gross violations
of women's human rights, including deliberate use of rape,
were perpetrated and condoned by the Cedras coup regime in
Haiti, according to a Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights
report. The Minnesota Advocates delegation visited Haiti
in July 1995 to investigate violence against women during
the three year reign of the coup regime and to evaluate possible
mechanisms to respond to those human rights violations. Although
women and their families still suffer from the trauma and
other effects of the violence, Minnesota Advocates claims
that the Haitian justice system is not being used effectively
by or for the victims. Haitians lack access to and confidence
in the system. Prosecution for rape has been extremely difficult
and rare; no trial for rape has been held in Port-au Prince
since at least 1985. The Ministry on the Status and Rights
of Women has focused on meeting the immediate needs of individual
women or providing social, psychological and medical assistance,
rather than on seeking legal redress. A copy of the report
is available from Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, 400
2nd Avenue South, Suite 1050, Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA. Phone:
612 341 3302.
The United
States' Violence Against Women Act of 1994 has been used for
the first time, reports The New York Times, June 4, 1995.
Because he crossed a state border, Christopher Bailey faces
up to 20 years in prison for locking his wife, Sonya, in the
trunk of a compact car for six days. He is the first person
convicted of violating this new federal law that makes crossing
a state line to assault a spouse or domestic partner a federal
crime. The new law allows victims of violent crimes "committed
because of gender" to bring civil lawsuits even if the perpetrator
has not been charged with a criminal act. Lynn Hecht Schafran,
director of the National Judicial Education Program of the
National Organization for Women (NOW), points out that the
law breaks new ground in recognizing women as a group against
which crimes are committed solely because they belong to that
group, much as civil rights laws historically have addressed
crimes against racial minorities.
Swazi men recently
called for non-discriminatory laws that would protect men
as well as women from rape. According to an article that
appeared on 7 November, 1995 in The Namibian, a daily newspaper,
MPs in Swaziland have asked Justice Minister Chief Maweni
Simelane to introduce a law to protect men from rape and sexual
harassment by women. One MP, Mr. Robert Mbhawali, said that,
while the existing laws provided for tough penalties for men
rapists, especially for offences against girls under 16, the
law was silent regarding women raping men or young boys.
POLITICAL AND
PUBLIC LIFE - Articles 7 and 8
The Women's
Health Project has called on South African women to join women
throughout the world to oppose the Vatican's United Nations
status as as a Non-member State Permanent Observer. The
role of the Vatican in the International Conference on Population
and Development and in the Fourth World Conference on Women
exceeded the appropriate scope of activity for an observer
state. During the preparatory process for Beijing, the Vatican
opposed the expansion of women's sexual rights, the promotion
of women's reproductive and health rights, the usage of the
term gender, and the use of the word equality rather than
that of equity. While its views ultimately did not prevail,
the Vatican's actions created major difficulties and disruptions
in the negotiating process, deflecting energy and attention
from the primary purposes of the World Conference. Information:
Women's Health Project, PO Box 1038, 2000 Johannesburg SA.
Tel (011) 489-9917. Fax (011) 489-9922.
UNICEF has
suspended its support for education programs in two Afghan
cities to protest the closure of girls' schools by Islamic
radicals known as the Taliban, and warned that it may suspend
other aid programs in areas controlled by the Taliban.
According to an Associated Press release, in announcing the
action UNICEF director Carol Bellamy said, "the principle
of non-discrimination has guided UNICEF's work since its inception
nearly fifty years ago. UNICEF is committed to girls' education
as a human right." Self-appointed Islamic councils backed
by the Taliban have also threatened women going to work in
United Nations workplaces in Jalalabad, and the agencies have
kept women at home rather than risk collapse of the UN programs,
according to the New York Times.
The British
Council newsletter, Women's Network, reports that the political
and administrative decentralization under way in many Latin
American countries is providing opportunities to promote a
gender perspective in local development planning. Two
large municipalities in Ecuador, Quito and Cuenca, ran workshops
recently on 'Gender Policy and Planning in Local Development'
for municipal officials, decision-makers and NGOs. One case
study used in the Cuenca workshop was municipal legislation
for eliminating street vendors from the city center. A gender
diagnosis surprised workshop participants, who were largely
ignorant of the ways this particular law affected poor women
and children. The workshops were extremely well received and
have resulted in many requests from other municipalities in
the months ahead.
EMPLOYMENT - Article
11
The 1995 ILO
Annual Conference has provisionally voted to adopt a convention
on homebased workers. Because of the ILO's tripartite
structure, however, a final decision to adopt a convention
is far from certain and will have to be taken over the next
two years. The Asian Women Workers Newsletter reports that
the ILO workers'group has been solid and expects a renewed
wave of support at next year's conference, but the national
representatives of employers' federations have declared themselves
totally opposed to the creation of a convention for homebased
workers. These workers are virtually invisible -- they work
in the privacy of their homes, and about eighty percent are
women. For this reason they are susceptible to the same degree
of exploitation whether they work in rich or poor countries,
and the increasingly international nature of homebased work
has attracted the attention of the international trade union
movement that constitutes one part of the tripartite ILO body.
The move to adopt a convention rather than a simple recommendation
is significant, because it means that ratifying countries
will be obligated to convert its provisions into national
laws.
El Mercurio
newspaper in Chile reports that a bill to prohibit pregnancy
tests for work applicants has been presented to the Congress.
The initiative was drafted by Josefina Bilbao, head of the
national women's ministry, Sernam. According to El Mercurio,
the proposed legislation targets a common Chilean business
practice of demanding pregnancy tests from women applicants
in order to avoid paying pre- and post-natal expenses. Bilbao
said testing was becoming increasingly common in Chile and
that "it is discriminatory and undignified for women."
The U.K. plans
to achieve equality in the pensionable age of men and women-by
extending the work requirement for women. Women are currently
eligible to receive pensions at 60 years of age, while men
receive pensions at the age of 65. The change, which brings
the age for both up to 65, will be phased in over ten years,
beginning in 2010. No women now aged 44 or over will be affected.
According to Network News, newsletter of the Global Link for
Midlife and Older Women, this change in policy was unthinkable
in 1979, when the EU Council of Ministers adopted the first
directive on equal treatment of men and women in social security.
The conventional assumption at that time was that equality
would only be achieved by lowering the men's pensionable age
to that required for women.
HEALTH CARE AND
FAMILY PLANNING - Articles 10, 12, 14 and 16
The Women's
Health Advocates on Microbicides (WHAM) will work with the
scientific community to "provide advice and comments on all
stages of their clinical research on microbicides, including
scientific matters such as protocol design and the selection
of research sites." This new advocacy group grew out of
discussions of issues surrounding microbicides and a women-controlled
technology that would prevent infection from Sexually Transmitted
Diseases, especially HIV/AIDs, at a May 1995 international
meeting held by the Population Council, the International
Women's Health Coalition and the Pacific Institute for Women's
Health Scientists. Information on WHAM: Susan Wood, IWHC,
24 East 21st., New York, NY10010, USA. For more information
on microbicides research, contact: Sue Petronis, The Population
Council, 1 Dag Hammerskjold Plaza, New York, NY10017, USA.
In Brazil,
male responsibility in reproductive health is being addressed
through a media campaign and discussion groups, according
to a report from the UN Population Fund. PRO-PATER, a
Sao Paulo family planning clinic that caters to males, bases
its work on the idea that discussion among people is necessary
to raise awareness to a level at which change in attitudes
and behavior is possible. PRO-PATER's activities aim to address
the rooted traditions and prejudice that prevent people from
changing their behavior, despite information given through
the media. While demand for vasectomies did increase exponentially
after PRO-PATER used television to publicize the procedure,
media campaigns generally have limited effect: members of
the Brazilian Health Institute, which also uses group discussions,
contends that the media/reality gap can best be bridged through
"men from the same background discussing their problems within
the same space."
The Minnesota
State Supreme Court (US) ruled in December 1995 that refusal
to pay for therapeutic abortions for women using medical assistance
(health coverage for poor people) is contrary to the Minnesota
Constitution. The Court stated that the ban on state payment
violates a woman's fundamental right to choose whether to
have an abortion because it adds financial considerations
to a decision that is "intimate, personal and profound." Out
of the fifty states in the US, nine other states have ruled
similarly and three have ruled that the funding prohibition
is acceptable under that state's constitution. Because it
is a state constitutional ruling, the decision is unlikely
to be reviewed by the US Supreme Court.
MARRIAGE AND FAMILY
LAW - Article 16
Women's rights
to property will be a major issue in the next large UN conference:
the World Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II).
As reported in autumn 1995 by WEP International, Habitat II,
to be held in Istanbul from 3 to 14 June 1996, is being called
City Summit because it will deal mainly with the problems
of the cities. Some of the themes to be discussed are affordable
housing, safe living conditions, education, health care and
public transport. Two preparatory meetings have already been
held, and the third is planned for January 1996 in New York.
The International
Alliance of Women and GROOTS (Grassroots Organizations Operating
in Sisterhood) have formed a coalition on women's concerns
in Habitat and drawn up recommendations for the conference.
The main recommendations are: ensure the right of women to
own, inherit and administer land and buildings; equal access
to housing credits; organize training to enhance the influx
of women into the building and housing sector; gender training
to stimulate "women-friendly building." The NGO secretariat
for the conference is located in Canada: HIC Habitat II Secretariat,
Rooftops Canada Foundation, 2 Berkeley Street, Suite 207,
Toronto ON, Canada M5A 2W3. Tel: (416) 366-1445. Fax: (416)
366-3876.
The Kerala
High Court in India liberalized divorce for Christian women
in a ruling early in 1995. According to the Manavi Newsletter,
published by an organization that promotes grassroots women
in South Asia, prior to this ruling Christian women could
seek divorce only on the grounds of incest and adultery. Two
women challenged these provisions of the Marriages Act for
communities of minority religions, and according to the new
ruling, Christian women in India now can seek dissolution
of their marriage on the grounds of desertion, cruelty and
adultery, without having to prove adultery as they had had
to do under prior law. The Manavi newsletter remarks that
this is hopefully "an impetus for bringing about comprehensive
changes in the laws governing marriage and divorce in all
communities in India." Contact: Manavi, P.O. Box 614, Bloomfield,
NJ 07003.
In an extraordinarily
close decision, in November 1995 Irish voters approved the
removal of the constitutional ban on divorce. The divorce
prohibition, the only one in Europe, has left about 80,000
citizens in legal limbo, separated from their spouses but
unable to remarry. Statistics show that most separations have
been sought by women, many trying to escape abusive spouses.
The Japanese
Supreme Court in 1995 rejected an attempt to invalidate a
Civil Code provision that the children of unmarried parents
can inherit only half the amount of property inherited by
the children of a married couple. The Court upheld the
discriminatory clause against illegitimate children, reports
Japanese Women Newsletter. Five of the fifteen judges on the
Court stated that the clause was unconstitutional because
the Constitution prohibits discrimination in political, economic
or social relations based on the social status of the family
of origin.
RESOURCES
The United
Nations has established a Human Rights Hot Line and a 24-hour
fax line for victims of human rights violations, relatives
of victims, and nongovernmental organizations. The hot
line will be especially useful for women attempting to establish
contact with the Special Procedure Branch of the Centre for
Human Rights. The number in Geneva is 41-22-917-0092. In addition,
the Centre for Human Rights is working on a database with
information on religious intolerance, torture, racism, and
repression of free expression. The database will be available
electronically when completed.
How have women
used global institutions to assure equality and a full partnership
with men? Women, Politics, and the United Nations,
edited by Anne Winslow, offers various perspectives on the
history of women's worldwide networking efforts at the United
Nations and at international conferences. It includes analyses
of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, the politics
of the first three world women's conferences, the evolution
of institutions set up to resolve key issues related to women,
and the changing conditions for women in the UN Secretariat
and specialized agencies. Also included is an article on the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women written by Arvonne S. Fraser. For further information
contact GreenWood Publishers, 88 Post Road West, P.O. Box
5007, Westport, CT 06881-5007. Tel: 203 226 3571. Fax: 203
222 1502.
A Thematic
Guide to Documents on the Human Rights of Women provides
a systematic guide to international human rights standards
relating to women. It is the first volume in a new series,
The Raoul Wallenberg Institute Human Rights Guides, designed
to provide orientation in international human rights standards.
Future studies in the series will focus on groups such as
children, minorities and migrants. From: Martinus Nijhoff
Publishers. ISBN: 90-411-0095-4.
FLACSO (Facultad
Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales) in Chile has published
a comparative regional study, including statistics and other
forms of information, concerning the situation of women in
19 Latin American Countries. The volume, Mujeres Latinoamericanas
en Cifras, contains information relating to economics, demography,
labor, education, health and socio-political participation.
Available in Spanish and English, the book costs US$50, including
mailing. Tel: (562) 2259938/2256955 or Fax: (562) 274 1004.
An English-Chinese
Lexicon of Women and Law has been published by UNESCO
and released at the Beijing Conference. Authors Sharon K.
Hom of City University of New York and Xin Chungying of the
CASS (China) prepared the Lexicon as a tool to facilitate
understanding of "the struggles and dreams woven from different
languages and cultures" and a catalyst for further development
of women's human rights and social change. From: UNESCO, 7
Place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris, France.
WOMEN'S WATCH
subscriptions policy. Women's Watch is sent free to groups
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are US$25 per year payable in US dollars only or an international
money order. Subscriptions are renewable as of January 1 of
each year. Checks in US dollars on a US bank should be made
payable to: IWRAW, Humphrey Institute. Other subscription
points: In Great Britain and continental Europe, send subscriptions
in pounds or Eurodollars to: IWRAW/Marianne Haslegrave, c/o
Commonwealth Medical Association, BMA House, Trafalgar Square,
London WC1H 9JP, United Kingdom. In Australia, send to: Hilary
Charlesworth, University of Adelaide, Law School, Adelaide,
South Australia. In Canada, Susan Bazilli, METRAC, 158 Spadina
Road, Toronto, Ontario M5R 2T8. In Japan, Japanese Ass'n of
International Women's Rights, Bunkyo Women's College, 1196
Kamekubo, Ohi-machi, Iruma, Saitama 354 Japan.
WOMEN'S WATCH
is published by the IWRAW project, Humphrey Institute of Public
Affairs at the University of Minnesota, USA. Editors: Marsha
Freeman and Sharon Ladin. IWRAW is a global network of individuals
and organizations that monitors implementation of the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women, an international treaty ratified by over 149 countries.
The University
of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.
The Humphrey Institute is hospitable to a diversity of opinions
and aspirations. The Institute does not itself take positions
on public policy issues. The contents of this report are the
responsibility of the editors. IWRAW is grateful to the Ford
Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation,
the Carnegie Corporation, Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, Shaler
Adams Foundation, the Netherlands Foreign Ministry, SIDA and
numerous other individuals and foundations for financial support.
Contributions to the project are welcomed and are tax deductible
for U.S. citizens.