ON twenty-fifTH ANNIVERSARY OF WOMEN’S RIGHTS CONVENTION, COMMITTEE NOTES

 

PROGRESS, BUT FULL EQUALITY STILL TO BE ACHIEVED

(Issued on 14 October 2004.)

The twenty-fifth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was observed at the United Nations Headquarters on 13 October at an event attended by a number of persons involved in the issue over the years.

In a statement to mark the anniversary, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which elaborated the Convention, notes that, 25 years earlier, no countries in the world has achieved full equality for women both in law and in practice.  Actual implementation of its principles remains inconsistent with commitments, and reservations by States parties to key parts of the Convention continue to undermine its effectiveness.

“Discriminatory laws are still on the statute books of many States parties”, according to the Committee.  Many women continue to have unequal legal status with regard to marriage, divorce, property inheritance and access to economic resources.  For example, some countries maintain discriminatory laws governing ownership and inheritance of land, or access to loans and credits.  Discrimination against women also persists in some nationality laws, preventing women from passing on their nationality to their children.

“The coexistence of multiple legal systems, with customary and religious laws governing personal status and private life and prevailing over positive law and even constitutional provisions of equality, remains a source of great concern”, the Committee statement continues.

The scourge of trafficking of women and girls and the persistence or escalation of violence against women has been noted with concern by the Committee when monitoring the implementation of the Convention in both developed and developing countries. 

“Although violence against women -- a form of discrimination that seriously inhibits women’s ability to enjoy rights and freedoms on a basis of equality with men -- is now widely recognized as a public concern, it remains pervasive in all societies and is aggravated in situations of conflict and other forms of social upheaval such as economic and political crises”, the Committee adds.

The Convention calls for the elimination of discrimination against women in political and public life, yet women remain under-represented, or even absent, from legislative or executive bodies in many countries.  The persistence of traditions and customs which discriminate against women and continuing stereotypical attitudes towards the role of women and men in society are major impediments to equality and women’s enjoyment of human rights.  Such social and cultural factors take various forms in different countries and societies, including acceptance of polygamy, forced or early marriage, maltreatment of widows, denial of equal education or employment opportunities and lack of access to reproductive health care for women and girls.

The Convention, which advocates equality between women and men, was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1979 and is one of the most highly ratified international human rights conventions.  Yet, a significant number of the 178 States parties continue to hold reservations to key articles of the Convention.

Although the number of reservations to the Convention remains a concern, some 20 States parties -- among them France, Iceland, Lesotho and Mauritius -- have withdrawn their reservations to the treaty in full or in part since the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995.  Even those States expressing reservations are brought within the monitoring system of the treaty, and their commitment to promoting equality for women is subject to international scrutiny.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which examines reports from State parties on their implementation of the Convention, recently took action on the first individual complaint and concluded its first inquiry under the Optional Protocol.  (The Optional Protocol, which came into force in 2000, enables individual women or groups of women to submit claims of violations of rights protected under the Convention to the Committee.  It also allows the Committee to initiate inquiries into situations of grave or systematic violations of women’s rights.)

Many States parties have taken concrete steps to promote equality and eliminate discrimination against women, including recently:

-- Bangladesh has amended its Constitution to increase the number of reserved seats for women in the national parliament from 30 to 45;

-- Legal reform in Latvia now prohibits discrimination against women in the area of employment;

-- A new national ministry in Angola has been created for the promotion and development of women;

-- In Kyrgyzstan, gender studies centres in higher educational institutions have been opened;

-- In Ethiopia, there are now educational scholarship programmes for girls and at least 30 per cent of the total number of university seats are allocated to female students; and

-- In Argentina, two women judges have been appointed to the Supreme Court of Justice.

Among those who were to take part in today’s commemorative event were Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette, and present and past Committee chairpersons and members Feride Açar (Turkey); Dame Sylvia Rose Cartwright, the first female High Court Judge and the current Governor-General in New Zealand; Ivanka Corti (Italy); Salma Khan (Bangladesh); Aída González Martínez (Mexico); and Charlotte Abaka (Ghana).

Note:  (Please address) Renata Sivacolundhu, UN Department of Public Information, tel.:  +1 212 963 2932, fax:  +1 212 963 1186, e-mail:  mediainfo@un.org.  For the full text of the Committee’s statement, visit www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw.  For more information on the Convention, including States parties, reservations, and concluding comments of the Committee, visit www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw. 

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