THE WOMEN'S WATCH
Volume 10, No. 4
March 1997
CEDAW IN ITS FIFTEENTH YEAR
The January 1997 CEDAW session saw a dramatic increase in
NGO presence and attention to the Committee's work. In addition
to representatives of international NGOs, some of whom have
been faithfully observing CEDAW sessions for years, several
national level organizations were on hand to observe the review
of their governments' reports and to learn more about the
reporting and review process. IWRAW - Asia Pacific, in collaboration
with UNIFEM, brought eight NGO representatives from reporting
countries to New York for a CEDAW orientation. Several of
these NGOs returned home to brief their colleagues or hold
press conferences to publicize the testimony of their government
delegations concerning implementation of the Convention.
The sixteenth session also marks the first time that the
Committee itself has formally encouraged the advocacy role
of NGOs in the work of the Committee. Although no formal mechanisms
have been adopted yet, a decision was taken to hold informal
lunchtime meetings with NGOs at the next session in order
to continue exploring ways of formalizing relationships with
NGOs. All the other human rights treaty bodies have established
mechanisms that provide a forum for NGO input regarding matters
of mutual concern.
The Committee acknowledged that NGO information is invaluable
in shedding light on the de facto implementation of the Convention.
It also emphasized that NGO information was not clandestine
in any way, and that making it available before a session
to the States Parties under review would contribute significantly
to raising the level of the discussion. This does not mean,
however, that the sources of all independent information must
be identified. The Committee remains sensitive to the fact
that, while some NGOs welcome the opportunity to make their
opinions better known, others may be putting themselves at
risk by providing alternative information.
Once again the Committee encouraged States Parties to consult
national level NGOs in the preparation of reports, but it
also suggested that UN resources be made available to train
national NGOs to prepare 'shadow' reports. Committee members
expressed frustration that too often well-intentioned NGO
reports were unusable, either because they are not translated
into the UN languages or because they arrive too late. The
Committee recommended that specialized agencies and other
UN bodies with local offices be encouraged to cooperate with
NGOs in the work they are attempting to do with the Convention,
including the preparation of alternative reports.
CEDAW to hold two sessions per year
Angela King, the Director of the Division for the Advancement
of Women, announced that the General Assembly, on an interim
basis, had approved the Committee's request for two three-week
sessions annually. The seventeenth session of CEDAW will be
held in New York from 7 - 25 July 1997. The eighteenth session
will be held in January 1998.
Countries to be reviewed at the seventeenth session 7 -
25 July, 1997
The following countries have been scheduled for review in
July 1997. If any scheduled countries decline or do not reply
by 15 March, 1997, one or more of the countries on the reserve
list will be asked to present reports in July. States Parties
often ask for postponements, and with two sessions per year
it is advisable for interested NGOs to begin preparing alternative
reports as soon as possible, even if their countries are currently
on the reserve list.
Scheduled
countries |
Reserve
list |
Initial
reports |
|
Antigua and
Barbuda
Armenia
Israel
Namibia
Luxembourg |
Belize
Azerbaijan
Zimbabwe
Croatia |
Second
periodic reports |
|
Dominican
Republic
Argentina
Italy |
Equatorial
Guinea
Bulgaria
Republic of Korea |
Third and
fourth periodic reports |
|
Bangladesh
Australia |
Countries scheduled
for review at the eighteenth session in January 1998:
Initial reports
Azerbaijan
Belize
Croatia
Zaire
Zimbabwe
Second periodic
reports
Bulgaria
Equatorial Guinea
Indonesia
Third periodic
reports
Mexico
Republic of Korea
IWRAW strongly
urges women's groups in the above countries either to produce
a national NGO "shadow" report or to submit information through
IWRAW, preferably both. If you decide to produce a report
on your own, you should be aware that a report sent by a coalition
of organizations tends to be more persuasive than one submitted
to CEDAW by a single group.
IWRAW submits
independent reports to all of the CEDAW members, as well as
the country rapporteurs, at least one month before each session.
These reports include information from individuals and groups
as well as summaries, whenever possible, of national NGO reports.
Please contact IWRAW if you have any questions concerning
the reporting and review process, or if you wish to contribute
information to the CEDAW Committee.
Country rapporteurs
The Committee
decided in January to designate both a rapporteur and a back-up
rapporteur for each country scheduled for a particular session.
Working closely with their back-ups, the rapporteurs are responsible
for briefing the Committee in closed session prior to the
first meeting when a country is discussed and for preparing
the concluding comments on that country. It is the rapporteur's
responsibility to provide the Committee with additional information,
not merely to summarize government reports. It was suggested
that concluding comments from the other treaty bodies be included
in the briefings.
Concluding Comments
Concluding comments
are the most important communication from the Committee to
the States Parties. Concluding comments and recommendations
are adopted at the end of the session and sent in unedited
form directly to States parties as soon as possible after
the close of a session. Unedited concluding comments were
sent to the following States parties whose periodic reports
were reviewed by CEDAW at the sixteenth session in January:
Morocco, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Slovenia, Turkey,
Venezuela, Denmark, The Philippines and Canada. (IWRAW will
be happy to furnish copies of any of these comments upon request.)
Edited copies of the concluding comments are included in the
official report of the session, which will probably be available
sometime after June 1997.
In its last three
sessions the Committee has refined its procedure for concluding
comments. However, neither the Committee nor the UN Division
can facilitate circulation of the concluding comments beyond
the government. Unless a government takes the initiative to
publicize CEDAW's comments, it is up to national level NGOs
to obtain these comments and to make sure they are circulated.
For this reason IWRAW sends the unedited concluding comments
immediately after a session to all the NGOs on its database
from the reviewed countries.
Election of officers
The new officers
for 1997-98 were elected by acclamation: Salma Khan (Bangladesh),
Chairperson; Charlotte Abaka (Ghana), Carlota Bustelo (Spain)
and Miriam Estrada (Ecuador), Vice-Chairpersons; and Aurora
Javate de Dios (Philippines), Rapporteur.
New members
The newly elected
members are Ayse Feride Acar (Turkey), Yolanda Ferrer Gómez
(Cuba), Aída González Martínez (Mexico), Yung-Chung Kim (Republic
of Korea) and Anne Lise Ryel (Norway). Six members were re-elected:
Carlota Bustelo (Spain), Silvia R. Cartwright (New Zealand),
Aurora Javate de Dios (Philippines), Salma Khan (Bangladesh),
Ahoua Ouedraogo (Burkina Faso) and Hanna Beate Schöpp-Schilling
(Germany).
Continuing members
whose terms will expire in two years are Charlotte Abaka (Ghana),
Tendai Ruth Bare (Zimbabwe), Desiree P. Bernard (Guyana),
Ivanka Corti (Italy), Miriam Estrada (Ecuador), Sunaryati
Hartono (Indonesia), Ginko Sato (Japan), Carmel Shalev (Israel),
Lin Shangzhen (China), Kongit Sinegiorgis (Ethiopia) and Mervat
Tallawy (Egypt).
Women's Rights
Unit
Ms. Jane Connors
has been appointed Chief of the new Women's Rights Unit in
the Division for the Advancement of Women. Ms. Connors, an
internationally known expert on the CEDAW Convention and on
violence against women, will provide valuable additional technical
support to the Committee.
VIOLENCE AGAINST
WOMEN - Convention Articles 3, 5, 6, 12, 15 & 16
"Justice in
Peru: The Victim Gets the Rapist for a Husband." This
headline from the New York Times (March 12, 1997) actually
is old news. Under Peruvian law, a rapist is exonerated if
he offers to marry the victim and she accepts. Since 1991
the exoneration has extended to co-defendants in a gang rape.
The Congress is now debating a change in the law, with feminists
supporting complete revocation of the law and President Fujimori's
party favoring elimination only of the provision that exonerates
co-defendants. Similar laws exist in fourteen other Latin
American countries. They are based on the premise that a woman
who is raped is "damaged goods" and unmarriageable, so marriage
to the rapist is an appropriate way to force the rapist to
take responsibility for the consequence of his action. The
practical result is forced marriage, with coercion by the
family seeking compensation for the dishonor and the rapist
seeking exoneration from punishment. Beatriz Merino Lucero,
president of the congressional committee on women, says that
"to believe in 1997 that it is intelligent and moral for a
rapist to marry his victim as a mechanism for pardon shows
me that some of my colleagues in Congress don't fundamentally
understand what rape is."
Three US Army
instructors in Germany are accused of sexual assault.
The United States Army acknowledged on February 15 that three
male training instructors had been suspended from duties and
two of them detained after eleven women soldiers complained
of sexual mistreatment at a base in Germany. The accusations
against the instructors include rape, forced sodomy, indecent
assault, cruelty and maltreatment of subordinates, according
to an army statement. No details of the accusations have been
made public by the Army.
Murder charges
dropped against Mexican woman pleading self-defense in attempted
rape. Claudia Rodriguez was charged with murder when,
in the early hours of the morning, she shot and killed an
acquaintance who had followed her out of a bar and sexually
assaulted her. Rodriguez claimed she acted in self defense,
but prosecutors charged her with murder. According to an Associated
Press article last February, the judge refused to dismiss
the murder charge, assuming that she had enticed her attacker
in the bar. According to the judge, "in remaining in the company
of her aggressor, despite his propositions to her, she provoked
him to attack her so she could shoot him in some vital part
of his body." After continuing protests from women's groups,
the murder charge was dropped. Rodriguez was required to pay
$1,538 in damages to her attacker's family, and a fine of
$256, for "using excessive force in her legitimate defense."
POLITICAL AND
PUBLIC LIFE - Convention Articles 7 & 8
Women are in
the vanguard of a Turkish campaign to preserve secularism.
Thousands of Turks, most of them women, marched through the
streets of Ankara in February in the first major public protest
against the policies of the Islamic-led government. According
to the New York Times, marchers carried signs and chanted
slogans condemning what they believe are efforts to move Turkey
closer to sharia, the strict law of the Koran. More than two
thirds of the marchers were women. Sponsors of the march included
not only women's groups but also labor unions, legal and medical
associations and cultural and retirees' organizations. "We
are marching against sharia and the darkness that aims to
leave women outside of humanity," said a leader of the Modern
Lawyers' Association, quoted by the Times. "Every day, women's
rights are being degraded by those who want to control us
and our bodies."
Justice at
last for assassinated Dominican women. According to journalist
Larry Rohter, history and the Dominican people have found
a particularly appropriate way to avenge the assassination
by the dictator Rafael Trujillo of three of his enemies. The
current Vice President and Deputy Foreign Minister of the
Dominican Republic are descendants of "the Butterflies," as
the Mirabal sisters were known in their days as members of
the anti-Trujillo underground. A change in the country's political
climate has completed the transformation of the Mirabal sisters
into symbols of both popular and feminist resistance. Throughout
Latin America, the Mirabals are regarded as feminist icons.
The most visible manifestation of the Mirabals' vindication
will soon be on display along the Malecon, the capital's seaside
promenade. There, a 137-foot obelisk that Trujillo put up
in his own honor is now enveloped in scaffolding in preparation
for the installation of a mural with the image of each of
the three dead women and their surviving sister. The Mirabals
are also to be given recognition in Dominican textbooks as
national martyrs.
HUMAN RIGHTS AND
DISCRIMINATION - Convention Articles 2 and 3
Female ritual
slavery in Ghana. According to the New York Times, there are
several thousand female ritual slaves in southeastern Ghana.
Once a girl is given to a priest to appease the gods for crimes
committed by relatives, she is considered his property. She
can be freed only by the priest, in which case her family
must replace her with a new young girl. Although Ghana's Constitution
bars slavery, a new bill is pending before Parliament that
would specifically outlaw this traditional form of bondage,
which dates at least as far back as the 17th century and also
persists in neighboring Togo, Benin and southwestern Nigeria.
Women have
a particular interest in current negotiations to establish
a permanent International Criminal Court (ICC). The proposed
ICC would have jurisdiction to bring to justice those responsible
for the most serious crimes under international law. A February
1997 PrepCom considered issues of jurisdiction, definitions
and elements of crimes, and general principles of criminal
law and penalties. Additional issues of standing, guiding
legal principles, and cooperation with national court systems
will be considered in upcoming PrepComs, to be held August
4-15 and December 1-12, 1997. Women's human rights advocates
are concerned that the ICC recognize crimes of violence against
women as within the ambit of genocide, war crimes, and crimes
against humanity. Contact: NGO Coalition for an International
Criminal Court, (212) 599-1320; e-mail .
Women in Kenya
are among the most vulnerable prisoners in police custody.
According to Interact, the bulletin of Amnesty International
USA, two women, Jane Wanbui and Virginia Nyambura Wambui,
were reportedly severely tortured after they were arrested
for robbery and taken to Kiambu Police station in Kikuyu Township.
They were later released on the order of a judge who determined
that they had been tortured. AI asks concerned individuals
to write to President Daniel Arap Moi, calling on him to ensure
that those responsible for the torture of these two women
are brought to justice.
Land reform
in Nepal has been reformed to eliminate discrimination.
The Land Reform Act 2021 in Nepal was challenged in court
by the Forum for Public Interest as discriminatory to women.
The Act contains a provision which denies the transfer of
tenancy rights to the daughters of a tenant, whether married,
unmarried or widowed. The Forum for Public Interest used the
CEDAW Convention to argue the case. In January 1997 the Act
was amended and now confers tenancy rights on daughters and
daughters-in-law who are at least thirty-five years of age.
EMPLOYMENT - Convention
Article 11
In El Salvador,
US clothing retailer The Gap agrees to a Code of Conduct for
its sub-contractors. According to the ICFTU newsletter,
Free Labour World, The Gap has agreed that its sub-contractors,
who operate in one of El Salvador's Free Trade Zones (FTZs),
should abide by a Code of Conduct concerning labor standards
that would be independently monitored. There has been considerable
negative publicity worldwide concerning poor working conditions
and subsistence wages received by the mainly female workforce
that assembles clothing for The Gap. The labor news in El
Salvador isn't all so reassuring, however. Free Labour World
also reports that in the same year at least six enterprises
in the country closed down to avoid being unionized, and then
reopened under another name, having sacked all the unionized
workforce.
Vienna Philharmonic
agrees to admit women musicians. In February, Anna Lelkes,
a female harpist who has been working with the orchestra on
an adjunct basis for 26 years, became the first woman to formally
join the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra since its founding
155 years ago. Consideration of the policy change raised both
unique and common objections -- that the sound of the orchestra
is attributable to its "maleness," and that maternity leave
would cost money. Facing public pressure, and particularly
the protests of women's groups during an overseas tour, the
orchestra gathered in an extraordinary meeting and agreed
to admit women, beginning with Ms. Lelkes. The decision was
made possible by the Government's guarantee to pay the salaries
of players who were substituting for women on maternity leave.
HEALTH AND REPRODUCTIVE
RIGHTS - Convention Articles 10, 12, 14 & 16
The Population
Research Institute (PRI) calls for ban on NORPLANT use.
PRI has called for NORPLANT to be removed from sale. PRI claims
that the contraceptive implant is a "flawed drug delivery
system" that carries unacceptably high risks; has the potential
for causing serious disability; an unacceptably wide range
of post-usage side-effects; an unknown long-term health risk
and a possible link with increased HIV risk.
Global campaign
to help women suffering after-effects of obstructed labor.
According to the Women's Health Journal of the Latin American
and Caribbean Women's Health Network, the Worldwide Fund for
Mothers Injured in Childbirth is undertaking a global campaign
to gather funds for women who have suffered obstructed labor.
Especially in developing countries, prolonged labor is the
frequent cause of obstetrical fistulae, which can severely
damage the bladder and the rectum and lead to loss of urinary
and bowel control. Lacking prenatal care and adequate care
during childbirth, millions of African women have been affected
by this serious, but preventable, condition. Contact: The
Worldwide Fund for Mothers Injured in Childbirth, 7200 Sears
Tower, Chicago, IL 60606, USA.
Honduran Church
stops government condom giveaway. The Roman Catholic church
in Honduras recently used its influence to prevent the distribution
of condoms during primary elections. The Honduran Ministry
of Health had planned to distribute more than one million
condoms at polling places where voters from the country's
two major parties were choosing candidates for the presidency
and other offices, but government officials said they canceled
the plans largely because of church objections. "I think that
continuing with the attitude of wanting to block out the sun
with a finger doesn't help at all in the fight against the
evil," Enrique Zelaya, Vice Minister for Health, said of Church
opposition to he plan, which was meant to combat AIDS. Honduras
has the most severe AIDS problem in Central America, with
8,300 reported cases and 1,032 deaths registered since 1985.
RESOURCES
The Vatican
has agreed to consider a gender-inclusive English edition
of Biblical readings for use during Mass. Developed by
the Catholic bishops of the United States four years ago,
the new edition substitutes, for example, "men and women"
or "the human race" for "man" and "men". The Associated Press
reported in December 1996 that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger,
head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, had agreed to form a working group of Vatican officials
and US bishops to consider the revised language.
Liberal Women's
Brain Pool (LEOS), the first women's NGO established in Mongolia
after the country abandoned communism, is dedicated to
championing the legal right of NGOs to address public issues,
raising the awareness of the positive role NGOs can play in
national development and increasing the participation of women
in public life. For networking activities and mutual support
contact: Oidov Enhtuya, Liberal Women's Brain Pool, Central
Post P.B.O.99, Ulaanbaatar 11, Mongolia. Tel: 976--1-310-775,
976-1-310-372-865.
From January
1997, the Human Rights Database of the Law-On-Line project
at the University of Hong will support only electronic archiving.
If an electronic copy of your publication is available and
you wish to send a copy via the internet to the Law-On Line
for public access, the email address is: amena@lawhk.hku.hk.
Women's Rights
Project/Human Rights Watch has released "All Too Familiar:
Sexual Abuse of Women in U.S. State Prisons," which documents
abuse directed against women prisoners in the US. For more
information, call 202-371-6592.
A World of
Widows, by Margaret Owen, provides a global overview of
the status of widowhood, an issue that has long been neglected
by human rights activists. The book is published by Zed Books
Ltd., 7 Cynthia Street, London N1 9JF, UK, and First AVenue,
Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey 07716, USA in 1996.
Women and Human
Rights; The Basic Documents, is available from: Center
for the Study of Human Rights, Columbia University, 420 West
118th Street, 1108 International Affairs Building, Mail Code:
3365, New York, NY 10027, USA. Tel:212-854-2479, Fax: 212-316-4587,
Email: cshr@columbia.edu, WWW: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/humanrights.
Time to Speak
Out: Illegal Abortion and Women's Health in Pakistan,
a special bulletin by the organization Women Living Under
Muslim Laws, is available from Shirkat Gah, Women's Resource
Center, 208-Scotch Corner, Upper Mall, Lahore-Pakistan. Tel:
042-576-0764, 042-575-9372; Fax: 092-42-571-3714.
Root Causes:
A Gender Approach to Child Sexual Exploitation, a WEDO
report on the First World Congress Against Commercial Exploitation
of Children is available. Contact WEDO, 355 Lexington Avenue,
3rd Floor, New York, NY 10017-6603, USA. Tel: 212-973-0325;
Fax: 212-973-0335; Email: wedo@igc.apc.org; WWW: http://www.wedo.org.
The International
Human Rights Internship Program has staff development
and training grants available for 1997-98. Application forms
are available from the program's office: International Human
Rights Internship Program, Institute of International Education,
1400 K Street, N.W., Suite 650, Washington, D.C. 20005, USA.
Tel: 202-326-7725; Fax; 202-326-7763; Email: ihrip@iie.org.
WOMEN'S WATCH
subscriptions policy. Women's Watch is sent free to groups
and individuals in developing countries and on an exchange
basis with libraries and documentation centres. Subscriptions
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, 6
Wood Lane, Braunston in Rutland, Leics, LE15 8 QZ, 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. This issue was written with the
help of Liu Dongxiao, IWRAW Cram-Dalton Fellow. 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 150 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. taxpayers.