MILLIONS OF WOMEN AROUND WORLD WAITING FOR STRONG, EFFECTIVE OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO ANTI-DISCRIMINATION CONVENTION, COMMISSION ON STATUS OF WOMEN TOLD
Press Release
WOM/1114
MILLIONS OF WOMEN AROUND WORLD WAITING FOR STRONG, EFFECTIVE OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO ANTI-DISCRIMINATION CONVENTION, COMMISSION ON STATUS OF WOMEN TOLD
19990308 Millions of women around the world were waiting for a strong and effective optional protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, to address the violence and discrimination they faced in their everyday lives, Doris Mpoumou of Equality Now told the Commission on the Status of Women this afternoon, as it met to hear a briefing from the Chairperson of the Open-ended Working Group on the Elaboration of a Draft Optional Protocol to the Convention.The optional protocol is intended to give women the right to complain to the Committee about violations of the Convention by their governments. The protocol is also meant to enable the Committee to conduct inquiries into serious or systematic abuses of women's human rights in countries that have become party to it.
Mrs. Mpoumou, who spoke following the Chairperson's briefing, added that the optional protocol must offer at least as much protection and rights as other international human rights instruments. She was deeply concerned about the possibility that the negotiations would sacrifice elements that were essential for an effective protocol. She asked governments to bear in mind that the draft should contain strong and effective complaint and inquiry procedures.
Aloisia Worgetter (Austria), Chairperson of the Open-ended Working Group, said the Working Group had began its work last week with the goal of completing the optional protocol by the end of the Commission's session, on 12 March. It had progressed on schedule and had cleared most of the paragraphs that were considered non-essential. Provisions that were still under discussion included: article 2, on who would be able to make complaints before the Committee; article 11, on inquiry procedures; and article 20, on reservations to the draft protocol.
In response to questions from delegations, she discussed the status of various articles of the draft. On the article dealing with reservations, she said it was important to include a clause that did not allow reservations to be made to the protocol. On the question of how the draft was developing, she
Women's Commission - 2 - Press Release WOM/1114 11th Meeting (PM) 8 March 1999
said the Working Group would ensure that the protocol would not fall behind the standards set by other human rights instruments. If the Working Group continued to negotiate in good faith, it would create a protocol that would be strong enough to help women all over the world.
Also this afternoon, Elissavet Stamatopoulou-Robbins, of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, made a statement regarding three humanitarian workers who were recently kidnapped and killed in Colombia. The three workers were: Ingrid Washinawatok, Terence Freitas and Lahe'ena'e Gay. She said they had travelled to Colombia at the invitation of the Uwa Nation -- a tribe of Colombian indians resisting the efforts of an oil company to drill on their land. She said that, for two decades, Ms. Washinawatok had participated in a number of United Nations forums and had worked tirelessly for human rights, especially in regard to the situation of indigenous peoples. She had a gentle humanitarian spirit that would inspire all people to work for human rights, for which she had dedicated her life.
The Commission on the Status of Women will meet again at a time to be announced in the Journal.
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