PRESS BRIEFING ON CURRENT SESSION OF COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN
Press Briefing
PRESS BRIEFING ON CURRENT SESSION OF COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN
19970130
FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY
The sixteenth session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, scheduled to conclude tomorrow, focused on the issues of sexual exploitation, prostitution, trafficking in women, and the various forms of violence against women, the Chairperson of the Committee, Salma Khan, of Bangladesh, told a Headquarters press briefing this morning.
Also participating in the briefing were Ruth Bare, of Zimbabwe, chairperson of working group I of the Committee; Charlotte Abaka, of Ghana, chairperson of its working group II; and Angela King, Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Director of the Division for the Advancement of Women.
In opening the briefing, Ms. King said her colleagues in the Division for the Advancement of Women welcomed the interest of the press in the work of the Committee and the very critical issue of discrimination against women. It was particularly important considering that the fiftieth anniversary of the Commission on the Status of Women would be celebrated in March.
Ms. Khan explained that the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was essentially a bill of rights for women, and reaffirmed that women's human rights were inalienable, indivisible and an integral part of universal human rights. The Convention covered a full range of women's rights -- civil, political, economic, cultural, as well as rights within the family.
The 23-member Committee was the expert body that monitored the Convention's implementation, and each of the countries that had ratified the Convention was required to submit a report within one year of accession and periodic reports at least every four years thereafter, she continued. At its current session, which began on 13 January, the Committee had considered the initial reports submitted by Morocco and Slovenia; the combined initial, second and third reports of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; as well as periodic reports from Venezuela, Turkey, Denmark, Philippines and Canada. An oral report, on an exceptional basis, on Zaire was also heard.
During the session, Ms. Khan continued, the Committee also consulted with the chairperson of the working group on the optional protocol to the Convention, which would meet parallel to the forty-first session of the Commission. The Committee's two working groups also met during the session. Working group I, which discussed the ways of expediting the work of the Committee, had made recommendations to enhance its work, particularly regarding interactions with non-governmental organizations. Working group II formulated a general recommendation on articles 7 and 8, which concerned equality of women in political participation and public life.
The Committee focused on a number of issues during its consideration of reports, and those were highlighted in the Committee's concluding comments on the reports of each State party under review, Ms. Khan said. It had focused on reservations to the Convention, particularly to article 16, concerning equality in family life, and article 2, which constituted a broad guarantee of non-discrimination and obligated State parties to take various measures to eliminate gender discrimination. The Committee also examined the growing feminization of migrant labour and the risks that female migrant workers faced. Sadly, violence against women, particularly in the family, was revealed as a danger to women in most States parties, irrespective of their level of development. Yet, the Committee was gratified that most States had taken legal and other measures to address that problem.
Ms. Khan said the Committee was further gratified to learn that most of the States parties under review had taken positive steps to secure de jure equality of women and men. However, in all reporting States it was clear that, irrespective of whether de jure equality existed, de facto equality was far from realization. It was the Committee's view that concrete urgent measures were needed to address the question of de facto equality, and that such measures might include temporary measures of affirmative action.
Asked how close the Convention was to reaching its ratification goal, Ms. Khan said that even though 155 States had already ratified the Convention, there were impediments to full ratification. For example, under article 28, State parties could enter reservations under any article, sub-clause or part of an article, and a large number of States parties had entered reservations to some of the substantial articles, including articles 2 and 16.
The same correspondent asked if the General Assembly had introduced a resolution to limit the extent of reservations. Ms. Khan said the issue had been discussed in the Assembly, and the Committee had already undertaken a study to analyse the impact of reservations. Countries practising Muslim law had particular reservations on some articles, and other countries, where common law was still prevalent, had other specific reservations.
Unfortunately, the Convention itself gave room for reservations, Ms. Abaka added, and that was really the problem, especially since the Committee was in the process of drafting an additional protocol. If a country ratified the Convention with reservations to articles 2 and 16, it made the ratification virtually irrelevant. The Committee attempted to circumvent reservations by issuing general recommendations on the articles of the Convention. There was already a general recommendation on reservations and it needed to be publicized, so States parties could take note and act accordingly.
The Committee would soon issue a general recommendation on the participation of women in the public sector, concerning articles 7 and 8, she continued. That was a timely recommendation because the session of the Commission on the Status of Women would discuss strategic objective 7 of the Beijing Platform for Action, which dealt with the equal participation of women at the decision-making level. It was heartening that during the Committee's current session, the head of the Women's Advancement Division, Ms. King, had been promoted to the level of Assistant Secretary-General. That was a move in the right direction, but it was not sufficient. Hopefully, it would be a first stage.
Continuing on the topic of States parties entering reservations, Ms. Bare said that the Committee had benefited enormously from the information provided to it by international and local non-governmental organizations. During its current session, the Committee had met with non-governmental organizations to discuss how they could further develop their collaboration. It had also held a workshop with non-governmental organizations in which they provided country-specific information regarding how the Convention was being implemented and how it had positively and negatively impacted women. Further collaboration was now being decided upon by working group I.
Asked if any countries had ratified the Convention without entering a reservation, Ms. Khan said a majority of the countries had not entered reservations. Of the 155 States parties that had ratified the Convention, only 44 had entered reservations on substantive articles. And there was a detailed list of all reservations entered by States parties available to the press.
A correspondent asked Ms. King if she, as someone who had come up through the United Nations system, would be more aggressive in dealing with gender issues within the Organization. Ms. King said she was not sure if improving gender issues in the United Nations required an "aggressive" approach. She believed in a positive and participatory approach, which was the leitmotif of the new administration. What had happened in the past was that there had been little inclination to work with whoever was the head of gender issues. With the current delegation of authority and the participatory type of approach, more of the responsibility of trying to improve the situation of women in the Secretariat would be shifted to the heads of departments, working in cooperation with the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General.
What was your reaction when you heard that only two women were among the 19 appointments announced by the Secretary-General on Tuesday, 28 January? the same correspondent asked. Ms. King said she had been disappointed by the number of women appointed. However, the Secretary-General had said very strongly that this was just an initial phase and that he intended to introduce another round of reforms by July. She looked forward to additional changes at that time.
Asked if the Committee had made any substantive findings regarding abuses committed against female migrant workers, Ms. Khan said violence against female migrant workers was a great concern of the Committee. In response to the report by the Philippines, the Committee had noted in its concluding comments that not much had been done to mitigate the problems of the 6 million migrant workers in that country, of which 3 million were women. Many of the women migrant workers were being trafficked and abused. In their host countries, migrant workers were not provided with the information and training they needed before proceeding to recipient countries. The Committee suggested a large number of measures, because the issues of migrant workers had still not been addressed in the Philippines.
A correspondent asked if the Committee had any broad conclusions, positive or negative, on Canada's progress in implementing the Convention. Ms. Abaka said that Canada had always been one of the States parties that others looked up to in the area of women's equality. The Government had put quite a number of positive measures into place. However, the global trend of restructuring, in whatever form, was having an adverse affect on women, including women in Canada, particularly in the area of health. The Canadian health system was in the process of being privatized, and that process always had a negative effect on women because medical expenses in the private sector were higher. In its concluding comments, the Committee suggested that Canada take steps to combat that problem. In the area of political participation, Canada was not doing badly, but there was still room for improvement.
One important decision that had been made in Canada, Ms. Bare added, was to grant refugee status to women who had been persistently and violently abused. The Committee believed that was a landmark decision and hoped that other countries would follow suit and give refuge to women who suffered consistently from violence of any kind.
In response to a question regarding how rape was used as a weapon of war in Rwanda but not prosecuted as such in the country's judicial system, Ms. Abaka said the Committee had asked for a report from Rwanda, on an exceptional basis, relating to the genocide, and the Committee had made recommendations based on that report. The Committee did not accept the position that ethnic, tribal, or traditional practices could be used as a reason to violate women, whether in times of peace or war. The Committee had also briefed the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on violence against women, in order to coordinate the work of the two bodies. She said that it was regrettable that the International Tribunal for Rwanda had not had a successful beginning and that more work needed to be done there. The Committee was also considering asking for another report on an exceptional basis because there had not been much improvement in the situation.
A correspondent asked how the Committee dealt with countries that followed Muslim law, particularly regarding the Shariah and honour killing? Ms. Khan said that those issues varied a great deal among Muslim countries. Approximately 27 countries with membership in the Organization of Islamic Conference had ratified the Convention, and others were considering ratification, including Iran. But there was no consistent pattern in that issue, and implementation was actually greater concern. Iraq had not entered any reservations, but most of the articles of the Convention were being violated there. Similarly, in Indonesia, polygamy was being practised to some extent, yet they had not entered any reservations. Most of the Islamic countries had mentioned that Shariah was a major impediment to granting women equal rights. Regarding honour killing, in Turkey, despite a secular constitution, it was still being practised and diminished punishment was being given. The Committee, in its working group I, was seriously considering organizing a workshop on those aspects of Islamic law and how they affected the status of women in the purview of the Convention.
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