Statement of
the International Federation of University Women,
the International Council of Women
and Femmes Africa Solidarité,
on item 6 : Women's Human Rights .

STATEMENT TO THE 55TH SESSION OF THE SUBCOMMISSION ON THE PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
25 JULY-15 AUGUST
by Conchita Poncini (International Federation of University Women)

ITEM 6: Women's Human Rights

Madame President:

I am speaking on behalf of the International Federation of University Women, the International Council of Women and Femmes Africa Solidarité.

In 2005 the Fourth World Conference on Women will be celebrating its 10th anniversary. At the 47th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the Commission decided to review the full implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Actiion.at its regularly scheduled 49th Session based on a questionnaire that the UN Division for the Advancement of Women will be sending out for this purpose.

In the discussions among the NGO community, questions were raised about the ways the women's movements should continue to work with the UN. One of the points brought out was the notable success women have had in influencing the international agenda and lobbying governments by bringing their concerns and ideas to the UN, including the empowerment this has offered women vis-à-vis their national governments.

Along the lines of Item 6 of this Sub-Commission, on Women's Human Rights (and Empowerment), I wish to inform the Sub-Commission, as president of the Geneva NGO Committee on the Status of Women of the Conference of NGOs, that the Committee celebrated its 30th anniversary of UN advocacy this year, with a 2-day Forum, bringing together governments, NGOs, relevant UN agencies and programmes and research agencies,. the purpose of which was to exchange information and evaluate how far governments have implemented or have helped to implement the 12 critical areas of concern in the Beijing PFA.. What strategies would be recommended as necessary to make member states accountable to their commitments and non-state actors responsible for the outcomes.

An array of 45 brilliant and high-powered speakers addressed the Forum plenary roundtables and interactive workshops, followed by lively discussions, centering on gender mainstreaming and how women's rights and empowerment has been and should be tackled from the rights-based and developmental approach to the reproductive role of women. A full report on the proceedings will be published thanks to funding received from the Swiss Development Aid and Cooperation and will be disseminated, including to the Sub-Commission members.

I wish at this point to refer to Challenge No. 5 on Injustice and Empowerment of Women:
by the Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights, Bertil Ramsharan, in his opening
statement.

First any injustice to humanity is an injustice to women as half of the population. But injustice or discrimination against women emanates from social relations, culture and unilateral beliefs which have placed special and oftentimes insurmountable constraints on the advancement of women's rights throughout her life course. As a matter of fact, Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Special Rapporteur on Violance Against Women who terminated her 9-year mandate this year, said that progress has been noteworthy in national legislation and international standards but it is the cultural relativism that has been the most diffiicult obstacle she had faced in her entire mandate. This is borne by the fact that at this year's session of the Commission on the Status of Women, no agreement was reached on the agenda item on Violence Against Women because of certain governments who opposed culture, tradition and religion as a factor of VAW. The President of the 59th Session of the Commission on Human Rights, Madame Hajjaji, undescored that the historical phenomenon of VAW founded on culture and tradition, should not be left unpunished. We therefore ask the Sub-Commission to give priority to this issue, ensuring that stakeholders notably women (as well as men) from the baseline are participating in bridge-building?

2. How are the PFAs of other world conferences being synergized to bring in the gender perspectives in a systematic manner to bring to fore the inequalities and disempowerment of women that have led to the feminization of poverty, their social exclusion and the violation of their rights to sustainable development? Gender Mainstreaming is not just cross-cutting but must have equal involvement of women and men at all levels, using women's best practices and models on a case by case basis, underscoring as well some of the pitfalls.

3. In the world of work, one of the ways of obtaining an integrated and holistic approach is to institutionalize a gender audit to bring visibility and specific action to gender balance. In this regard it is indispensable to have local, national and international statistical systems disaggregating information and data by sex, age and ethnic origins to identify the differential impact and disparities between women and men and how is gender intersecting with race and other minority groups.

4. There are new and emerging issues and trends which are threats to global peace and security, namely the pandemic of HIV/AIDS and its feminization, increasing traffic and sale of women and girls, and biogenetics: How do they relate to the reproductive role of women, population growth and gender-based demographic developments, longivity, health and social security issues, and the development of Information and communication technologies (ICTs).

5. How are the paradoxal effects of a knowledge-based society, i.e. the digital divide on the one hand and the development of electronic commerce and business on the other being addressed from the rights of women to information? How is networking through e-mails and internet enhancing or exacerbating women's advancement of their social status, their political empowerment and their intellectual property rights? On the other end of the spectrum, how is the media harnessing the detrimental effects of pornography to children, girls and boys alike?

6. How is accountability being monitored within the framework of MDG time-bound programmes in human development and capacity building of children especially the girl child, eradication of poverty, reducing maternal mortality, etc.

7. Finally, how are the experts of this Sub-Commission methodically and systematically integrating the gender perspective in their studies, reports, statements and recommendations?

8. Madame President: I wish to call attention to the Draft Protocol to the African Charter On Human and Peoples' Rights, on the Rights of Women in Africa, adopted by the Meeting of Ministers in Mobotu on 8 March 2003. This protocol reaffirms the principle of promoting gender equality as enshrined in the Constitutional Act of the African Union and the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD). We urge government members concerned to ratifiy this protocol as soon as possible.

Thank you Madame President.

International Federation of University Women
International Council of Women
Femmes Africa Solidarite

30 July 2003

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