THE WOMEN'S WATCH
Vol. 11, nos. 3 &
4
June 1998
CEDAW UPDATE: NGOs MAKE THEIR MARK
As this issue of the Women's Watch goes to press, the CEDAW
Committee has just completed its Nineteenth Session. This
session was marked by a consistent welcome to the considerable
NGO participation, supported in large part by UNIFEM, IWRAW
Asia Pacific, and IWRAW (global). Many of the NGOs who were
present at the Nineteenth Session were prepared for it by
participating in an intensive NGO training session held in
January 1998, organized by IWRAW Asia Pacific, UNIFEM, IWRAW
(global), the International Human Rights Law Group, and CIMA
(Concertación Interamericana de Mujeres Activistas por los
Derechos Humanos). This training provided a dramatic NGO presence
at the January CEDAW session as well as expanding the capacity
and quality of NGO shadow reporting to the Committee.
The NGO participation in June started with presentations
to the CEDAW pre-sessional working group. The pre-sessional
working group met for five days prior to the opening of the
official session, to review content of States Parties' second
and subsequent periodic reports and formulate questions to
be sent to the UN mission for response during the government
presentations.* NGOs from
countries presenting periodic (second and subsequent) reports
who were able to be in New York at that time, were invited
to make presentations to the working group. The working group
responded by incorporating many of the NGO points into its
questions to the governments. Many more NGOs were present
during the full CEDAW session, monitoring their governments'
presentations and working informally to make their concerns
known to the Committee experts.
For their part, many of the CEDAW experts welcome the written
information provided by the NGOs and use it in formulating
questions to governments during the formal review sessions.
In addition, the Committee has adopted the practice of holding
midday informal meetings during the first two weeks of the
session, to hear country-specific information directly from
NGOs. The Committee uses NGO information and government responses
to its questions to formulate concluding comments, which include
an evaluation of the Convention implementation efforts and
recommendations for additional action with respect to women's
human rights.
As more NGOs become involved in the reporting process and
in interaction with the Committee, the NGO community has become
more expert in preparing information for presentation. They
arrive with reports that thoroughly analyze the government's
Convention implementation efforts and note the gaps and misstatements
in the government reports. They also produce summaries of
their reports, keyed to Convention articles and major issues
for easy reference. They prepare for oral presentations and
lobbying opportunities by isolating key points they want to
make. They monitor the formal review sessions carefully, noting
matters that have been left out of the discussion or appear
to have been misstated. They have taken in stride the sometimes
surprised reactions of government officials who find themselves
in the UN meeting room face-to-face with the NGOs they have
worked with-or ignored or maligned-at home. And they are prepared
to use the results of the session to move their agenda forward
when they get home.
IWRAW has just published Producing NGO Shadow Reports to
CEDAW: A Procedural Guide, an eight-page set of suggestions
for effective presentation of NGO information to the Committee
prior to and during the session. The Guide is currently available
only in English; translations are in process. NGOs in countries
that are on the review list for 1999 should start the process
of preparing information immediately. Price: US$5; free to
NGOs in developing countries. Contact IWRAW at the address
on the back page to obtain copies.
The list of
countries to be reviewed by CEDAW in 1999 has been announced.
NOTE that this list is subject to change as governments may
fail to accept the invitation to be reviewed. If a country
appears on the list it is likely to be reviewed within a year
if not in the session designated. The countries currently
listed for review are:
January 1999:
Initial reports: Algeria, Jordan, Liechtenstein. Second periodic
reports:: Chile, Greece (2d and 3d), Thailand. ¼Third periodic
reports: Austria, China (including Hong Kong), United Kingdom.
Fourth periodic reports: Colombia.
June 1999:
Initial reports: Democratic Republic of Congo, Belize, Georgia.
Second periodic reports: Ireland. Third periodic reports:
Egypt, Germany, Spain.
New CEDAW Committee
Members. On 17 February 1998 the States parties to the
Convention elected eight new members and reelected four experts
to serve four-year terms beginning January 1999. The newly
elected and reelected experts are: Feng Cui of China; Naela
Gabr of Egypt; Savitri Wimalawathie Ellepola Goonesekere of
Sri Lanka; Rosalyn Hazelle of Saint Kitts and Nevis; Rosario
G. Manalo of the Philippines; Mavivi Lilian Yvette Myakayaka-Manzini
of South Africa; Zelmira M.E. Regazzoli of Argentina; and
Chikako Taya of Japan. The re-elected members are: Charlotte
Abaka of Ghana; Emna Aouij of Tunisia; Ivanka Corti of Italy;
and Carmel Shalev of Israel.
The 11 members
who will continue to serve on the Committee until 31 December
2000 are: Ayse Feride Acar of Turkey; Carlota Bustelo Garcia
del Real of Spain; Silvia Cartwright of New Zealand; Yolanda
Ferrer Gomez of Cuba; Aida Gonzalez of Mexico; Salma Khan
of Bangladesh; Yung-Chung Kim of Republic of Korea; Ahoua
Ouedraogo of Burkina Faso; Anne Lise Ryel of Norway; Hanna
Beate Schoepp-Schilling of Germany; and Kongit Sinegiorgis
of Ethiopia.
CEDAW UPDATE,
Part II:
OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO THE CONVENTION
As reported by
Andrew Byrnes, Faculty of Law, University of Hong Kong
The efforts to
adopt an Optional Protocol to the Convention that would permit
complaints to be submitted by individuals and inquiries to
be carried out by the Committee, made further progress at
the March 1998 session of the Commission on the Status of
Women. A specially formed working group of the Commission
started work on the Protocol in 1996 with a general discussion
and in 1997 began work on a draft prepared by Aloisia Woergetter
of Austria, chairperson of the working group. In the 1998
session the working group made some progress in resolving
some of the outstanding issues and developing a more concise
draft.
The overwhelming
majority of States that participated in the 1998 working group
supported the effort to move forward, although not all agreed
that a draft should be completed for adoption in 1998. However,
a small group of States-led by Egypt, Algeria, Cuba, China,
and India-tried to delay the work by opposing central provisions
that the majority supported. This group proposed amendments
to dilute or undermine the draft and engaged in simple filibustering.
The result was that work on the draft was not completed and
central issues remained unresolved. These include:
- the question
of standing (who may lodge a complaint-individuals only,
or groups as well)
- inclusion of
an inquiry procedure (allowing the Committee to act without
a submitted complaint) and whether such a provision should
include an opt-in or opt-out clause
- whether reservations
to the Optional Protocol will be permitted
The chairperson's
summary of the discussion and the current draft can be found
on the UN Division for the Advancement of Women's Web site:
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/chair.htm
OR
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/scw/advance.htm.
The working group
is scheduled to take up the draft again in the March 1999
CSW session. Supporters should start now to mobilize pressure
on those countries that have been standing in the way of progress
on this effort to add to the CEDAW Convention a mechanism
that can only make it stronger.
HUMAN RIGHTS AND
DISCRIMINATION - Convention Articles 2, 3 and 5
Month after
month, dismaying reports on the treatment of women in Afghanistan
cross our desk. Occasionally a bright spot is seen, such
as the May 1998 Taliban signing of a Memorandum of Understanding
with the United Nations that allowed the UN to lift a two-month
suspension of its activities in the southwestern part of the
country. The Memorandum of Understanding established the Taliban's
agreement to allow UN personnel to work free of harassment
and to employ staff "without distinction based on race, gender,
religion or nationality" and, according to a UN statement,
outlined activities designed to enhance women's access to
health and education. This agreement followed the April visit
to Afghanistan by UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy,
who warned that the UN would suspend all but life-saving programs
if the Taliban failed to take concrete action to loosen restrictions
on women's activities and to stop harassing international
aid workers. Recent news reports indicate that some women
have indeed been invited back to their jobs and that enforcement
of dress restrictions has loosened a bit.
But in June
the Taliban ordered the closing of all the private schools
and vocational centers that were established in Kabul to educate
girls after the public schools were closed to girls and
female teachers were ordered off the job. The government insists
that it will allow girls to be in school only to the age of
eight and only to learn the Koran. On June 30 the Taliban
ordered all foreign aid agencies to vacate their offices in
Kabul and relocate outside the city, in an isolated hostel
that lacks water and electricity. And despite protests, there
is no indication that the government has modified its recent
ban on allowing expatriate Muslim women into the country unless
they are accompanied by a male guardian. The ban prevents
aid agencies from employing women from other Muslim countries
to work with them Afghan women.
Women in Nepal
held a demonstration to demand equal rights to inheritance.
Nearly 200 women from various organizations, representing
60 districts in Nepal, took part in the May 1998 demonstration
to protest Parliament's failure to discuss a controversial
bill which would give women equal rights in inheritance. The
demonstration disrupted traffic for more than two hours. More
than 100 women were arrested, dragged into police cars by
female police officers, when they tried to force their way
into the house of representatives. Several protesters received
minor injuries when the police made a baton charge. The arrested
women, including Nepal Communist Party chairperson and MP
Sahana Pradhan, were released later in the day.
The San Francisco
(California) Board of Supervisors has adopted a city ordinance
to implement the CEDAW Convention in city policy. The
law designates the San Francisco Commission on the Status
of Women as the implementing body. The Commission will conduct
qualitative as well as quantitative gender analyses of employment,
funding allocations, and direct and indirect service delivery
practices of selected city departments. It will develop action
plans to address discrimination as found, and will provide
training for all city departments. Further information: Krishanti
Dharamaraj, Women's Institute for Leadership Development,
(415) 837-0795.
The South African
Women's Budget Initiative is providing a model for other countries
to closely examine the impact of national budget priorities
on women's lives. According to a recently published study
of the Women's Budget Initiative, in addition to looking at
the budgets for programs specifically targeted at or including
women, such as training, health programs, or employment recruiting,
the examination must include analysis of general expenditures
to determine their effects on women as a category. For example,
if a high proportion of illiterates are women, allocations
for literacy programs and adult education should be designated
to reach a high proportion of women. South Africa's budget
initiative has inspired similar exercises in other Commonwealth
countries, and the Commonwealth has designated South Africa
as a pilot country for assistance in engendering economic
policy. The success of the Initiative thus far is largely
attributed to the efforts of MP Pregs Govender, who has consistently
advocated for it. The most recent analysis of the Initiative,
edited by Debbie Budlender, is available from Community Agency
for Social Enquiry, Cape Town; tel (27-021) 47 9852; fax (21-021)
448 6185; e-mail .
Canada's reorganization
of its budget and allocation of responsibilities for social
welfare programs to the provinces has had a dramatic impact
on implementation of equality rights, according to a new
study by Shelagh Day and Gwen Brodsky. The authors conclude
that the 1995 Budget Implementation Act (BIA), by eliminating
federal standards and reducing federal contributions to social
programs, violates Canada's obligations under the CEDAW Convention
and its own constitution. Women and the Equality Deficit:
The Impact of Restructuring Canada's Socia Programs is an
important contribution to understanding the linkage between
national budget policy and social and economic rights. Available
from: Status of Women Canada, 360 Albert St., Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 1C3 Canada.
VIOLENCE AGAINST
WOMEN - Convention Articles 3, 5, 6, 12, 15 and 16
A Maasai woman
in Kenya has asked the courts to formally outlaw wife-beating.
Agnes Siyiankoi Risa was beaten frequently during her twelve-year
marriage. In September 1997, after a five-hour beating during
which her husband threatened to kill her, she decided to press
assault charges. Because Kenya lacks laws specifically addressing
domestic violence, Risa's husband was charged with "unlawful"
assault under the criminal law. Traditionally claims of spousal
assault have been met with a defense that the assault is "lawful"
because customary law allows it. Risa also has sued in civil
court, seeking an order that would eliminate custom as a defense
for assault of one's wife, under the Constitutional provision
protecting an individual from cruel, inhuman and degrading
punishment. Although the Kenyan constitution permits application
of customary law only as long as it does not conflict with
statute, and assault is prohibited by statute, the custom
of wife-beating has been allowed to stand unchallenged until
now. According to Ele Pawelski, who reported this case in
an article written for an international journal, Risa's challenge
has made the issue clear, with significant consequences to
her. Women in the Maasai community are angry with her, and
her own family has criticized her for challenging the status
quo. The civil case will be taken up after the criminal case
against her husband is decided.
Senegal President
Abdou Diouf has appealed for a law to end FGM. According
to a government statement, the President called for a national
dialogue to raise consciousness regarding the risks involved
in the practice of FGM. In 1997, women of Malikunda, a village
in southwestern Senegal, enlisted religious leaders and local
chiefs in a decision to stop practicing FGM. Citing this example,
Diouf called for a national dialogue and village-level action
to end the practice. The issue will be particularly difficult
in the northern and eastern parts of the country, where it
is widely practiced by several ethnic groups. The President
said the fight against female circumcision was an important
step to promote human rights and women's equality.
The South African
courts no longer must assume that rape victims are lying in
their testimony, according to a recent ruling by the Court
of Appeal. In March 1998 the Court threw out the long-standing
"cautionary rule," which had made it almost impossible for
women to pursue charges against a rapist. The rule required
the presiding officer to discount a woman's testimony as to
the sexual assault on grounds that women were assumed to "habitually"
lie about rape. The challenge to the rule, characterized by
the Cape Attorney General as "chauvinistic, archaic and unfair,"
was taken up by a team of female prosecutors.
The government
of Spain takes steps to suppress violence against women.
In April 1998 Spain's cabinet passed new measures to deal
with rising cases of spousal abuse. The measures authorize
forcible separation of wife-abusers from their spouse, and
automatic legal proceedings against abusers. Women's affairs
units will be created in police stations. The Labor and Social
Affairs Minister says the main goal is "for all forms of abuse
to be reported, and for no more women to die." The authority
reported 91 cases of women murdered by their husbands or ex-husbands
in 1997, a significant increase from 64 cases in 1996. The
worst case is one in which a man burnt his 60-year-old wife
to death because she went on television to expose years of
abuse by him. Meanwhile, 19,000 abuse complaints were received,
compared with 13,000 the year before. Women's groups estimate
that only one in ten cases is actually reported. The government
also called for the creation of more shelters for battered
women and training courses for police and is planning a public
awareness campaign against domestic violence.
Five Filipina
lolas rejected an apology from Japan's Prime Minister Ryutaryo
Hashimoto in January 1998. "Lola" is a Tagalong word for
grandmother that is also used to address Filipina wartime
military sex slaves. Lola Fedencia David, president of Lila
Filipina Metro Manila, said Mr. Hashimoto's apology was refused
because it did not meet their demand for Japan to admit its
official accountability for the war crimes of rape and sex
slavery committed by the Japanese military. She said she only
accepted the Asian Women's Fund (AWF) private donations because
it came with sincere wishes from Japanese citizens. Lola Cristita
Alcober has rejected the Y1.2 million Medical and Welfare
Assistance for Lolas in Crisis Situation (ALCS) because it
was not the same amount given to their Korean and Taiwanese
counterparts. Lola Gloria Cayanan disagrees with the arrangement
that the fund has to be given through the Department of Social
Welfare and Development on a five-year installment plan. Survivors
in South Korea and Taiwan each receive Y3 million in lump
sum directly and immediately upon identification by AWF, according
to Nelia Sancho, coordinator at the Manila office of the Asian
Women's Human Rights Council. The five lolas have been active
in local and international campaigns that demand state legal
compensation and official apologies from the Japanese government.
The South Korean
government has been considering compensating Korean comfort
women directly and seeking payment from Japan after the fact,
according to a recent news release. The Korean Foreign Ministry
takes the position that the government of Japan must compensate
the comfort women, and that a privately supported Japanese
compensation fund allows Japan to evade responsibility for
the actions of its wartime government. The direct payments
from the Korean government would forestall Korean comfort
women from relying on the private fund.
The office
of the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women requests
information to be used in the next report to the UN Commission
on Human Rights. This report will revisit the issue of
domestic violence and assess state compliance with recommendations
set forth in the Special Rapporteur's second report, which
focused exclusively on domestic violence. The Special Rapporteur
has asked states to provide a written account and copies of
measures taken since 1994 with respect to (1) national plans
of action; (2) statistics; (3) training for all members of
the justice system; and (4) support services for victim-survivors.
The report will focus particularly on violence against women
resulting from social and economic policies and will examine
the intersection between reproductive policy and violence
against women. The Special Rapporteur notes that information
is needed specifically demonstrating the linkage between economic
and social policy and violence. Information should be carefully
documented and should be either country-specific or provide
specific examples to illustrate general theoretical pieces.
Case studies are especially useful. Deadline is September
1, 1998. Send material to: Office of the UN Special Rapporteur
on Violence Against Women, ICES, 2 Kinsey Terrace, Colombo
8, Sri Lanka. Tel: (94 1) 685085/698048; fax (94 1) 698048;
e-mail (attn: Lisa Kois).
SEX ROLES AND
STEREOTYPING - Article 5
A major study
by the Women's Media Centre of Cambodia has found that the
nation's media promote stereotyped images that systematically
degrade women. The majority of print and broadcast stories
and programming portray women as in traditional roles, and
as victims or sex objects, "sources of pleasure and pain,"
according to the Media Centre's monitoring group. In the surveyed
media, women were the subject of only seven percent of the
newspaper stories but appeared in 92 percent of the cartoons
and drawings-and over three-quarters of those were found by
the monitors to be obscene. Women who broke the stereotypes
were portrayed as ultimately manipulative and troublesome,
inviting tragedy for themselves and their families.
In Russia,
changes in economic and political systems have had little
impact on stereotypical views and treatment of women.
Women who are "unknown" to hotel staff are prohibited from
meeting in hotel lobbies-on the pretext that they could be
prostitutes. Female drivers still are rare, and drinking is
a primarily male activity (which largely accounts for the
fifteen-year difference in male and female life expectancy).
A bizarre sort of chivalry applies to protect women from some
of the unsavory aspects of contemporary Russia-they rarely
are asked to pay the standard bribes to traffic police who
stop motorists on pretext, and they are less likely than men
to be attacked for failing to pay protection money to the
local Mafia.
Women journalists
in China are monitoring media to fight negative stereotyping.
"With a sense of duty and responsibility," a group of women
journalists from various news agencies have established the
Women's Media Monitoring Network. The Network calls for a
women's perspective and gender-balanced coverage in the media.
Commercials often indicate that a woman's personal value depends
on her sexual appeal to men. Women are also portrayed in literature,
movies, print media, and television as needing men's appreciation
and protection. Even more worrisome, according to the women
journalists, is that the negative stereotypes have taken deeper
and deeper root in women's own minds. In addition to a monitoring
hotline, the Network also publishes the results of its monitoring
work in Chinese Women's News (CWN), the national women's newspaper.
CWN has started two special columns, "Media in My Eyes" and
"Women and Media" to publish discussions on sex discrimination
in the media. As one reader wrote, "in this open and colorful
world, women's roles are varied, yet the media always ask
the same question to successful women: if you have to choose
between your career and family, what will be your decision?"
The Network's work has drawn considerable attention from social
activists, government officials, and publishers and magazines
that are criticized.
POLITICAL AND
PUBLIC LIFE - Convention Articles 7 and 8
Unity Dow,
a lawyer from Botswana whose 1993 nationality case became
a critical precedent for application of the international
right to nondiscrimination, has become a judge of the High
Court of Botswana. Dow is the first woman to hold a judgeship
in Botswana. She took up her duties as of February 1998.
Women's voices
were heard only with difficulty in the Northern Ireland peace
negotiations, and the rules for election to the new body that
will manage the peace threaten to exclude women altogether.
According to Monica McWilliams, leader of the Women's Coalition
that received enough votes to give women two delegates to
the negotiations, the new rules will not guarantee representation
by a wide variety of parties. Without such a guarantee, the
larger parties will take all the seats. Northern Ireland has
historically sent only men to the UK Parliament, and politics
remains a male domain. The Women's Coalition mounted a visible
campaign in support of adoption of the peace agreements in
the May 22 referendum but struggles with lack of funds and
organization as well as general suspicion of women in politics.
Sheikha Muza
al-Mussanad, wife of Qatar's Emir, says that women's participation
in politics is not a subject for debate but a "legitimate
right," according to the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat.
The newspaper's interview was itself a news item, as Gulf
leaders' wives rarely talk to the press. The Emir, Sheikh
Hamad, promised to hold municipal elections shortly after
he seized power from his father in a palace coup in June 1995.
The plan to hold elections was approved in 1997. It gives
women the right to vote and run for office. Though the date
of election is yet to be set, Sheikha Muza has asked women
to be prepared. A committee has been set up coordinate with
international organizations and help women participate in
the election. A few days after the interview, women were allowed
to compete in as well as watch the track and field grand prix
of the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF). IAAF
found this breakthrough very encouraging since women's sports
are generally banned in the Gulf countries.
Iranian women
are competing in sports again, including the Olympics.
Target shooter Lida Fariman carried the Iranian flag in opening
ceremonies of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. She represents
the two million women who now compete in some form of sports,
grown from about 400,000 two years ago and as opposed to fewer
than 10,000 who participated before the 1979 revolution. Much
of this increase is due to promotion of sports by MP Faezeh
Hashemi, daughter of former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
Hashemi believes that women can and should participate in
a broad range of sports-but that they must be dressed modestly,
their bodies fully covered, unless they are playing in private
or sex-segregated facilities. While the requirement of long
coats that hide the body hampers women from competing effectively
in sports such as track and field, soccer, or downhill skiing,
Iranian women have succeeded in international competitions
in which the mode of dress can be adapted to allow them to
perform. In addition to Fariman, the target shooter who aspires
to the Sydney Olympics, about 30 women compete seriously as
equestrians. Girls' soccer has been reintroduced in the schools,
and a first round of classes has been held to train coaches
and referees for women's soccer-although the sport remains
banned for adult women, who also are prohibited from attending
soccer matches.
In reaction to
these developments, Mostafa Hashei-Taba, head of the physical
education organization, was summoned by several conservative
MPs to explain the situation as to women's soccer. Hashei-Taba
is reported to have said that a decree from senior religious
jurists will be needed in order to lift the ban on women's
soccer. The edges of the revolutionary culture may have softened,
but the conservative center holds.
The quota will
be doubled for women's seats in municipal elections in Pakistan.
The decision was made by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government.
There had been around 10 percent of seats reserved for women
in local councils across the country. At a meeting in April
1998, Sharif's cabinet decided to increase women's seats by
100 percent. Feminist groups are also demanding 33 percent
seats in the federal parliament, but no decision has been
made regarding this issue.
Women's admission
to a funeral prayer could redefine the relationship between
state and religion in Turkey. In January 1998, a local
religious leader in Izmir invited women to join the men in
prayer because he could not bear to see them crying in the
corner at a funeral. To his surprise, the gesture of kindness
received immediate national attention. Although Islam is the
dominant religion, Turkey is a secularly governed country;
the muftis, local religious leaders, are appointed by the
government's Department of Religious Affairs. The recent rise
of the Islamic Welfare Party has created a great deal of tension
between Islam and the state. Recently, state prosecutors charged
the Party with attempts to overthrow Turkey's secular regime
and obtained an order dissolving the Party. In this context,
the government quickly acted to advocate for women's admission
to prayer in the mosques. One day after the mufti's controversial
action, the President of Turkey attended a funeral prayer
where a woman was in the front row. The Department of Religious
Affairs has gone even farther and suggested that women should
be admitted to Friday prayers and Ramadan prayers as well.
Despite sharp criticism from conservative forces, the Dean
of the Theological Faculty at the University of Istanbul supports
women joining the prayers, noting that "this was the practice
in the lifetime of the Prophet."
Opportunities
for women in the military are expanding in a number of countries.
While human rights activists may or may not consider this
to be progress, it is notable in terms of achieving equality
and perhaps ultimately, reshaping "military" thinking. The
developments:
- Eighty women
were accepted for basic training after the Austrian Parliament
voted in December 1997 to allow women into the Army. They
were selected from 150 applicants who responded to the new
opportunity. Those who succeed in tests and training will
begin their military career this April as the first female
soldiers in Austrian history.
- As of January
1998, Israel is allowing female soldiers to enter enemy
territory. The policy will allow the army to send female
medics to treat wounded soldiers during the continuing fighting
in southern Lebanon. In 1996, the Supreme Court of Israel
authorized women to train in combat pilot courses, but so
far, none has graduated. However, air force commander Eitan
Ben-Eliyahu had already promised that he would advocate
for allowing women to enter enemy territory on military
missions once they completed the training courses.
- The first woman
to attend the Russian naval academy is surrounded by condescending
male peers and officers who think women's place is in the
home, but Lyudmila Yolshina is determined to carry on a
family tradition of Naval service and aspires to a captaincy.
While 800,000 women served in the Russian Army in World
War II, several thousand of them in combat, current policy
is to keep military women in background roles.
- The South African
military is about to adopt a new code outlawing sexual harassment,
unfair discrimination, and fraternization between different
ranks. The changes are designed to conform to the requirements
of the new South African constitution and international
human rights instruments. They also deal with the realities
of military life in which women serve side-by-side with
men.
HEALTH AND REPRODUCTIVE
RIGHTS - Convention Articles 10, 12, 14 and 16
New findings
spur concern about female genital mutilation (FGM) in the
United States. More than 160,000 girl and women in immigrant
communities may have been victims or are at risk of FGM, according
to a report by New York State Congresswoman Louise M. Slaughter,
who is active in a campaign to prosecute practitioners of
FGM. FGM has been illegal in the U.S. since 1997. However,
women's organizations have received reports from women seeking
help in avoiding FGM. There have been accounts of operations
performed by immigrants themselves or by foreign practitioners
who perform it in the ancestral country or in the U.S. at
invitation of immigrant families. Officials say precise figures
are difficult to collect because it requires physical examination.
But they believe there is cause for concern based on anecdotal
evidence. The New York State Health and Human Services department
has been developing educational materials for health professionals
encountering the problem for the first time.
In addition
to Catholic churches, parents are another important obstacle
to the right of teenage rape victims to obtain abortions.
Recently two hard-won rulings allowing girls to have an abortion
have been overruled by parents who decide the girl should
not have an abortion after all. In Brazil, a father said that
his eleven-year-old daughter would not have an abortion, after
a judge approved the procedure, because it might endanger
his daughter's life-although doctors said that it would be
safe. Because the father is the legal guardian, his decision
overrides both the court's approval and the doctor's opinion.
At about the same time, in Ireland, the parents of a 13-year-old
rape victim withdrew their support for her abortion after
the court ruled to allow her to travel to England for it.
The girl's father even asked the Archbishop of Dublin for
financial support to seek reversal of the decision through
appeal (the Archbishop refused). It was reported that the
parents changed their minds under the influence of an antiabortion
group.
A family planning
program in Peru invades the lives of poor rural women.
In 1995, the Peruvian Government launched an ambitious family
planning program. The Government has offered promotions and
cash incentives for state health workers who can meet sterilization
goals. The workers use gifts of food and clothes to induce
poor rural women to undergo tubal ligation. According to critics
of the program, they do not tell the women about alternative
methods of family planning or that tubal ligation is essentially
irreversible. While the women are given a consent form to
sign, they frequently are illiterate and do not understand
Spanish. According to the critics, many state doctors are
performing sloppy operations and cause serious health problems.
Recently, the New York Times reported the case of Bernidina
Alva, who died of complications of tubal ligation. Alva, who
could barely feed her family, accepted two dresses for her
daughter and a T-shirt for her son in exchange for her agreement
to undergo the procedure. Ten days later, she died of complications,
leaving behind three young children. The family was told they
could not sue the government because Alva had consented to
the operation.
The Algerian
government is allowing abortions for women who are abducted
and raped by Islamic militants, despite the official total
ban on abortion. The Islamic Supreme Council, the highest
religious authority, which usually reflects government policy,
authorized the abortions in April 1998. The number of women
abducted by Islamic militants since 1994 is officially estimated
at approximately 1600, and many have been raped. Women who
are raped cannot return to their families because of traditional
attitudes. According to activists, the government also is
providing funding for homes in which rape victims are placed.
Abortion is
legally available to a majority of women in the world, but
in some countries women are imprisoned for obtaining one,
according to a major study carried out by the Center for Reproductive
Law and Policy (CRLP). Recognizing the significant impact
of law on the availability, accessibility and affordability
of abortion services, CRLP recently reviewed abortion-related
laws in 152 nations and dependent territories with populations
of one million or more. The study also documented changes
in these laws since 1985. According to this study, 61% of
the world's people live in nations where induced abortion
is permitted with few or no restrictions. Twenty-five percent
of the world's population live in countries where abortion
is generally prohibited. Since 1985, nineteen nations have
significantly liberalized their abortion laws. The only exception
is Poland, which has substantially limited legal access to
abortion.
In countries where
abortion still is criminalized, poor women are disproportionately
affected. According to the study, for example, two-thirds
of all women who are incarcerated in Nepal are imprisoned
on the ground of undergoing an illegal abortion, and most
of them are low-income. And, according to a separate CRLP
report, under the oldest criminal code in Latin America, Chilean
women regularly are sent to prison for obtaining abortions.
Most of those who are prosecuted are single, poor, undereducated,
and young. They usually are reported to police by hospital
authorities when they come in for treatment of medical problems
resulting from abortion. The Global Review of Laws on Induced
Abortion, 1985-1997 and the separate report on Chile are available
from CRLP, 120 Wall Street, NY NY 10005 USA; tel (212) 514-5534;
fax (212) 514-5538.
MARRIAGE AND FAMILY
LAW - Convention Articles 14 and 16
Women challenge
polygamy in Uganda. Polygamy is legal and endemic in Uganda;
by expert estimate, forty to fifty percent of all unions are
polygamous. But women have begun to challenge the practice,
which can cause the existing wife humiliation, loss of property
and maltreatment of existing children when a husband takes
a new wife. The challenge has become the center of a serious
fight in the Law Reform Commission. The Commission initially
recommended that a man be restricted to two wives and justify
the "need" for taking a second wife before a Family and Child
Court. This proposal caused heated and emotional debates between
women and Muslim advocates. Miria Matembe, a legislator and
member of the original Constituent Assembly, argues that restriction
is of little use and that the practice must be outlawed entirely.
Muslim advocates criticize the proposal as an imposition of
Christian values on Muslims. Although the Muslim community
constitutes just over 10% of the population of 21 million,
its argument prevails at present. But women's advocates feel
hopeful that with more women gaining access to power and education,
the clash with polygamy is inevitable.
A state commission
has recommended that Turkish law be changed to eliminate legal
recognition of male dominance in the family. The commission
recommended provisions stress equal rights and duties of both
spouses and raise the minimum age of marriage to 18 for both
males and females. The proposal would eliminate the designation
of the husband as head of the family, having sole right to
decide on matters relating to bringing up children and to
decide where the family lives. The requirement of a husband's
permission for a woman to work outside the home also would
be eliminated. To become law, the recommendations must be
adopted by Parliament. The public discussion is likely to
be heated, as male power in the family is a strongly entrenched
tradition in many parts of Turkey, and the continuing sociopolitical
struggle between secularists and Islamicists will surely color
the debate.
Child marriage
is illegal but remains common in part of India. Indian law
sets 18 as the minimum age for a woman to marry and 21 for
a man. The Indian Parliament also adopted the Child Marriage
Restraint Act in 1978. However, the practice is still common
in the northern states. In Rajasthan, a government survey
of more than 5,000 women in 1993 showed that 56 percent had
married before they were 15. Of those, three per cent were
married before they were five years old and another 14 percent
before they reached the age of ten. Extreme poverty has pushed
parents to marry off girl children so that they will not have
to support them, while in-laws receive the benefit of the
girls' labor. To stop child marriages, the National Commission
for Women once urged the government to unify the separate
marriage laws for different religious communities and to require
that all marriages be legally registered. But the government
insists on not interfering in the personal laws of the distinct
religious communities unless the initiative comes from the
communities themselves.
RESOURCES AND
OPPORTUNITIES
The Human Rights
Advocates Training Program at Columbia University is designed
for lawyers, journalists, teachers and other human rights
activists from non-industrialized countries where human rights
advocacy is limited. Full fellowships are available for this
one-semester program. Applications are due September 7 of
each year. Information: Ms. Chivy W. Sok, Program Director,
(212) 854-3014; fax (212) 316-4578; e-mail cws11@columbia.edu.
The International
Human Rights Internship Program supports staff development
and training for human rights advocates and organizations
from the global South, East Central Europe, and the former
Soviet republics. Information: IHRIP, c/o Institute of International
Education, 1400 K Street, N.W., Suite 650, Washington DC 20005
USA. Fax: (202) 326-7763; e-mail .
A Graduate
Scholarship in Reproductive Health Law is offered by the
University of Toronto Faculty of Law. The fellowship supports
studies leading to an LL.M. or S.J.D. The degree requirements
include a 12-month residence at the University. Information:
Graduate Admissions Office, Faculty of Law, University of
Toronto, 78 Queen's Park, Toronto Ontario Canada M5S 2C5.
tel: (416) 978-0213; fax (416) 978-2648; e-mail
.
Mapping Progress:
Assessing Implementation of the Beijing Platform 1998
is a summary of actions and policies adopted by governments
in compliance with commitments made in the Beijing Platform
for Action. Available from WEDO, 355 Lexington Avenue, 3d
Floor, New York NY 10017 USA. Tel (212) 973-0325; fax (212)
973-0335; e-mail wedo@igc.apc.org.
The Report
of the Expert Group Meeting on Adolescent Girls and Their
Rights is now available at http://www.un.org/dpcsd/daw/dawnew.htm.
If you are interested in obtaining a copy of the document
and do not have access to the Web, please contact Lea Browning
at W.E.A.R.E. for Human Rights. Tel: (US) (301) 270-0463;
Fax: (301) 270-0321.
UNICEF has
published Sharing from Zero: the Promotion and Protection
of Children's Rights in Post-Genocide Rwanda, July 1994-December
1996. The report examines the actors involved in the reconstruction
process and the impact of the Convention on the Rights of
the Child. It has general application to the development of
a coherent long-term policy on children's issues in post-conflict
situations. Contact: International Child Development Center,
Piazza SS. Annunziata, 12, 50122 Florence, Italy. Tel. 3955-2345258;
Fax: 3955-244817.
Falling Short:
The World Bank's Role in Population and Reproductive Health
reviews the reasons for World Bank's lack of attention to
population issues and the effectiveness of Bank projects on
reproductive health and family planning issues. Contact: Sally
Ethelston at Population Action. Tel: 202-659-1833; Fax: 202-293-1795.
Email: sae@popact.org.
The Global
Survival Network is facilitating an electronic mailing
list focusing on trafficking in women. The list will focus
on human rights abuses related to trafficking. To subscribe:
send an e-mail to In the body
of the message write: subscribe STOP-TRAFFIC Your Name. To
send a message to the list, send to .
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 centers. 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: Marianne Haslegrave, Commonwealth
Medical Assn., BMA House, Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9JP,
UK. In Australia: Hilary Charlesworth, Department of International
and Public Law, ANU, Canberra ACT 0200, 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. Editor: Marsha
Freeman. 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 161 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, Shaler Adams Foundation, SIDA, Catharine
Cram and numerous other individuals and foundations for financial
support. Contributions to the project are welcome and are
tax deductible for US taxpayers.
IWRAW
Humphrey Institute
University of Minnesota
301-19th Avenue South
Minneapolis MN 55455 USA
*
NOTE: The scheduling of the presessional working group will
be changed for future sessions. The Committee will hold the
presessional working group for each session immediately after
the close of the prior session (example: the presessional
working group for the January 2000 session will be held immediately
after the close of the June 1999 session.) In transition,
the presessional working group for the June 1999 session will
be held as a special working group during the January 1999
session. NGOs that wish to submit information to be used by
the presessional working group to prepare questions for June
1999 country reviews therefore must have their information
ready by January 1999. This schedule change affects only those
countries that are presenting second and subsequent reports.
NGOs should note also that although information submitted
after the working group meets will not be reflected in the
questions sent to the government six months prior to the Committee
session in which it will be reviewed, Committee experts will
still be interested in having NGO information during the country
review in the full Committee session. back