Key women’s rights treaty celebrates 30 years
The most important and comprehensive United Nations human rights treaty for women, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), recently celebrated its 30th anniversary since adoption by the UN General Assembly.
Building on the fundamental provisions set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the convention has been crucial for calling attention to the less recognised human rights violations of the other half of the world’s population – those silently endured by women and accepted or excused by society at large.
The convention establishes a comprehensive definition of discrimination against women and sets out a clear agenda for action by member countries on how to empower women and achieve gender equality.
In May, Seychelles will celebrate its 18th year of membership of CEDAW since acceding to the convention on May 5, 1992.
This is a memorable time, as the Ministry of Health and Social Development is now working on the first Seychelles State Party report to CEDAW.
The report will examine the status of women in Seychelles and monitor the progress made between the years 1992-2010 towards meeting the provisions set out in the convention.
The provisions of the convention are set out in its 16 main Articles and 26 General Recommendations. The following is a summary of the main provisions of the Convention:
Article 1: Defines discrimination against women as any “distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of marital status, on the basis of equality between men and women, of human rights or fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field”.
Article 2: Mandates that States Parties (members of the convention) condemn discrimination in all its forms and ensure a legal framework including all laws, policies and practices that provide protection against discrimination and embody the principle of equality.
Article 3: Requires States Parties to take action in all fields – civil, political, economic, social, and cultural – to guarantee women’s human rights.
Article 4: Permits States Parties to take “temporary special measures” to accelerate equality, for example gender-specific actions (quota system/positive discrimination etc) and gender mainstreaming.
Article 5: Declares the need to take appropriate measures to modify cultural patterns of conduct and gender stereotypes, as well as the need for family education to recognise the social function of motherhood and the common responsibility for raising children.
Article 6: Obligates States Parties to take measures to suppress the trafficking of women and the exploitation of prostitution of women.
Article 7: Mandates States Parties to end discrimination against women in political and public life.
Article 8: Requires measures allowing women to represent their governments internationally on an equal basis with men.
Article 9: Mandates that women have equal rights with men to acquire, change, or retain their nationality and that of their children.
Article 10: Obligates States Parties to end discrimination in education, including in professional and vocational training, access to curricula and other means of receiving an equal education as well as to eliminate stereotyped concepts of the roles of men and women.
Article 11: Mandates the end of discrimination in the field of employment, including the right to work, employment opportunities, equal remuneration, free choice of profession and employment, social security, and protection of health including maternal health, and also in regard to discrimination on the grounds of marriage or maternity.
Article 12: Requires steps to eliminate discrimination in healthcare, including access to services such as family planning, if necessary; these services must be free of charge.
Article 13: Requires that women be guaranteed equal access to family benefits, bank loans, credit, sports and cultural life.
Article 14: Focuses on the particular problems faced by rural women, including poverty.
Article 15: Obligates States Parties to take steps to ensure equality before the law and the same legal capacity to act in such areas as contracts, administration of property, and choice of residence.
Article 16: Requires steps to ensure equality in marriage and family relations including equal rights with men to freely choose marriage, equal rights and responsibilities towards children, including the right to freely determine the number and spacing of children and the means to do so, and the same rights to property.
General Recommendation No. 12: Considering that articles 2, 5, 11, 12 and 16 of the convention require the States Parties to act to protect women against violence of any kind occurring within the family, at the workplace or in any other area of social life, State Party Reports should include information and statistics on violence against women and efforts towards eradicating it.
General Recommendation No. 19: Outlines that gender-based violence is a form of discrimination that seriously inhibits women’s ability to enjoy, in the same way as men, basic universal human rights and fundamental freedoms and places direct responsibility for such human rights violations on States Parties.