COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN EXCHANGES VIEWS WITH NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS FROM FIVE COUNTRIES

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women this afternoon held informal discussions with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on Cameroon, Germany, Guatemala, Haiti and Rwanda, whose reports will be considered by the Committee during this session.

On Cameroon, speakers said a plethora of discriminatory laws still existed, including the law on adultery, age of marriage for the girl child, polygamy, law on women exercising a trade, widowhood rites, and the choice of the family home, and adequate measures had not yet been taken to repeal them. The Committee should urge the Government to give priority attention to the design and implementation of a comprehensive strategy to combat and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls and strengthen protection and assistance to victims.

With regards to Germany, speakers said the Government had obviously abandoned the equality strategy of gender mainstreaming. In Germany, transsexual women were treated as men with a psychiatric disorder. The identity of inter-sex persons, girls and women should be respected, and without experiments. In future, couples hoping to establish a family should receive support without any form of discrimination.

On Guatemala, speakers said the situation of rural women of Guatemala was marked by a high load of domestic and agricultural work, and by the lack of access to sources like land and other economic resources to feed themselves and thereby exercise their right to food. Women's organizations were still fighting in order to have opportunities in health, housing, labour, and lives free of violence. The Committee should recommend to the State and Government that it act concretely with regards to the violations of human rights of indigenous women.

Speaking on Haiti, the speaker said there was a lack of harmonisation of Haitian laws with the Constitution, which had no definition of discrimination. An effort to harmonise laws with the Convention and the Constitution was needed to ensure the protection of women's rights. Sexist stereotypes and prejudices were deeply embedded in Haitian mentality, and this could be seen at many levels. The participation of women in the decision-making sphere could help ease the implementation of the Convention.

On Rwanda, the speaker said the State should allocate a budget line to establish more legal clinics to support victims of gender-based violence, particularly domestic violence and rape victims. Overall, there continued to be a lack of women representation in decision-making levels, such as higher education, hospitals and local governance. The State should ensure recruitment of women in critical, decision-making positions within Government.

Speaking this afternoon were the representatives of FIDA Cameroon, Women in Research and Action, Alliance of German Women's Organizations, Human Rights and Transsexuality, Association of Intersexed People XY-women, WUNSCHKIND e.V., Movement of Indigenous Women Tz'ununija, CLADEM Guatemala, FIAN International, Organization for the Development of Thomonde Network People in the Rural Population, and a representative of collective Rwandan women's NGOs.

The next meeting of the Committee will be on Tuesday, 27 January at 10 a.m. when it will consider the combined initial to seventh periodic reports of Haiti (CEDAW/C/HTI/7).

Statements

Cameroon

BETTY LUMA, FIDA, Cameroon, said in Cameroon, women were not legally excluded from participating in politics, but the reality was that few women were found in the top ranks of political parties. The Committee should urge the Government to at least implement temporarily the 30 per cent quota system to ensure balanced participation of women and men in politics and other decision-making positions. A plethora of discriminatory laws still existed, including the law on adultery, age of marriage for the girl child, polygamy, law on women exercising a trade, widowhood rites, and the choice of the family home, and adequate measures had not yet been taken to repeal them in spite of the Committee's last concluding comments urging the State to undertake a comprehensive reform of legislation.

SUME EPIE EYOH, Women in Research and Action, said violence against women was an issue which was not generally considered as a serious problem by most people. Women were perpetual victims due to discriminatory laws, customary practices, stereotypes and ignorance. The Committee should urge the Government to give priority attention to the design and implementation of a comprehensive strategy to combat and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls and strengthen protection and assistance to victims. The majority of women in Cameroon lived in rural areas and they bore the brunt of harmful traditional practices and stereotypes, more than urban educated women. The Committee should urge the Government to ensure that rural women had access to healthcare, education, justice, clean water, electricity, land, micro-credit, good transport infrastructure, and also take account of the specific needs of old women. The Committee should also urge the Government to enact the land reform laws as a matter of urgency.

Germany

MARION BOKER, Alliance of German Women's Organizations, said the Organization was very concerned that many of the problems which had already been mentioned during the last session of the Committee and for which the Committee had claimed action and recommended measures in the concluding comments of 2004 from the German Government were still existing unchanged and partially had even increased in their discriminating effects on women or on grounds of gender. There was still very little knowledge of the Convention and its Optional Protocol even among law professionals in Germany. The Government had obviously abandoned the equality strategy of gender mainstreaming. Migrant women were targeted by the selective educational system, and the consequences were not only less participation and access in many fields of daily life or in decision-making levels and positions, but as well a higher danger of poverty whilst raising children and in older age and retirement. There was more discrimination, especially the denial of the full normal share of social welfare and the access to work for female refugees, asylum seekers, and non-German national migrant inhabitants, especially migrant women. Germany had one of the biggest pay gaps in Europe. The percentage of women in business management positions had nevertheless remained unchanged and marginal. The Committee had recognised the problem in 2004 and made recommendations, none of which had been taken. There should be implementation of equality legislation for the private sector. Protection from violence had huge lacks and gaps between different groups in Germany.

CHRISTINA SCHIEFERDECKER, Human Rights and Transexuality, said the human brain was the most important sexual organ. Many studies showed that the brains of transsexual women were female brains, and thus transsexual women were women, born in the wrong body. In Germany, they were treated as men with a psychiatric disorder. Transsexual women had to pay more than $ 2000 to get their names change, and gender identity was not included in laws. Gender identity was part of human dignity, and should be respected as such. There should be legal options so that transsexual people could change their names without any legal requirement.

LUCIE VEITH, Association of Intersexed People, XY-Women, said there should be no surgery without free or informed consent of the intersexed person. The identity of inter-sex persons, girls and women should be respected, and without experiments. The rights according to the Convention against circumcision, violence and health should be respected. Inter-sex people in Germany relied on the support of the Committee, and it should allow that minority to survive and regain its dignity.

BEATE TURNER, WUNSCHKIND e. V., said procreation was a basic biological need, like nutrition, mobility and communication. The right to establish a family was in the Convention, and in other laws and conventions on discrimination. Reproductive disability created a special distress for women. Reproductive treatment could ease this. These basic human rights were disagreed with by the German state - reproductive ability was not sufficiently protected, and childless couples were denied access to healthcare in this regard. In future, couples hoping to establish a family should receive support without any form of discrimination.

Guatemala

JUANA MATILDE MULUL CASTRO, Organization of Indigenous Women, Tz'ununija, said different studies and reports showed the situation of vulnerability, discrimination and defenselessness of indigenous women, although the Government of Guatemala had subscribed to different international instruments which provided the judicial-political framework on which to ground the protection, defence and promotion of the rights of indigenous women. The programmes of official justice were not designed and developed looking at the needs of the four populations which inhabited Guatemala. Due to the lack of opportunities and life conditions in Guatemala, indigenous women had felt strong necessity to migrate, and this was why it was necessary to guarantee policies to defend their human rights in respect to their status as migrants. The State had not stopped displacement policies against rural women and their communities. The Committee should recommend to the State and Government that it act concretely with regards to the violations of human rights of indigenous women.

FLORIDALMA CONTRERAS VASQUEZ, CLADEM Guatemala, said with regards to violence against women and the participation of women in public life, there was still an idea of subordination of women in Guatemala. There had been no change in educational policies or in the mass media in order to end the murders and violence against women. Women's organizations were still fighting in order to have opportunities in health, housing, labour, and lives free of violence. A law against murder of women and other forms of violence against women had been passed which punished this - in spite of this, the crimes had not decreased, and impunity continued to exist. The judicial system was deficient, and the judges did not apply national legislation. Many women were being stigmatised by being prostitutes or street children. Discrimination against women was clear in the violence perpetrated against them.

CARLY PRICE, IWRAW-AP, on behalf of FIAN International, said the world food crisis had worsened the food and nutrition situation for women. The situation of rural women of Guatemala was marked by a high load of domestic and agricultural work, and by the lack of access to sources like land and other economic resources to feed themselves and thereby exercise their right to food. Government programmes in Guatemala so far had not improved the situation - there was a general lack of access to land for rural and indigenous women and of their participation in cooperative councils, peasant committees, representations, official institutions, and NGOs. The Committee should adopt a general recommendation on the right to food in an integrated way for women, including the different dimensions of this right which should consider the diversity of women and their differences in food and nutritional necessities.

Haiti

GUERDA BENJAMIN, Organization of the Development of Thomonde Network Women in the Rural Population, said there was no definition of the term of discrimination in national legislation. Violence against women and ill-treatment against women continued, and there were many forms of discrimination against them. There was a lack of harmonisation of Haitian laws with the Constitution, which had no definition of discrimination. An effort to harmonise laws with the Convention and the Constitution was needed to ensure the protection of women's rights. Sexist stereotypes and prejudices were deeply embedded in Haitian mentality, and this could be seen at many levels. The Committee should urge the State to take measures to eliminate these. Many women and young girls were the victims of trafficking. Women were the victims of various types of violence, and did not enjoy free healthcare, fearing stigmatisation against themselves and their communities. There should be a law against domestic violence. The participation of women in the decision-making sphere could help ease the implementation of the Convention.


Rwanda

JUSTINE RUBEKA MBAZAZI, representative of collective Rwandan women's NGOs, said violence, particularly domestic violence, against women was on a rapid rise in Rwanda. There should be a concrete mechanism to help victims of domestic violence. There should also be de-criminalisation of abortion as well as programmes and action that would address the situation. The existing legal system did not take on board women's concerns and was inaccessible to poor and rural women. The State should allocate a budget line to establish more legal clinics to support victims of gender-based violence, particularly domestic violence and rape victims. Overall, there continued to be a lack of women representation in decision-making levels, such as higher education, hospitals and local governance. The State should ensure recruitment of women in critical, decision-making positions within Government.

Questions by Experts

Experts then raised a number of questions and issues. On Cameroon, these included a question on the use of the Optional Protocol; and why was there still the implementation of customary law in all areas covering marriage, divorce, succession, inheritance, female genital mutilation and others when the country had ratified the Convention and the Optional Protocol.

On Germany, these included whether in a recent Act adopted on discrimination in the workplace, if this included sexual orientation; whether there had been cases brought to justice on sexual harassment on the grounds of sexual orientation; was the option of adoption of children by same-sex couples as facilitated as for heterosexual couples; whether reproductive assistance was provided to women in same-sex partnerships; and a request for whether there was an ongoing debate on the obligations of Germany as a State Party to the Convention.

On Guatemala, questions and issues raised included the increasing number of murders of women, femicide, which was very common in Latin America, and a request for more information on the specific types of violence in Central America; and what had NGOs and the Government done to make the Optional Protocol visible and known and to what extent the two procedures were known and used in Guatemala for complaints and inquries.

On Haiti, questions included whether there was absolutely no definition of discrimination in the Constitution and whether there was case-law on the interpretation of this; a request for further information on Government efforts to eliminate sexual violence; whether NGOs had been involved in the drafting of a bill on human trafficking; how much did the NGOs try to involve men in changing the patriarchal structure of society; and why contraception use was so low.

On Rwanda, questions included what the penal code said on abortion; whether the 56 per cent of women in the Parliament was sustainable; why there was under-representation of women at the local government level and what were the measures that NGOs had suggested to the Government in this respect; what steps were being taken to disseminate the principles of the Convention; whether there was sufficient training for judges and the judiciary and public offices on the Convention; and whether there was general reform of the marriage code to incorporate the principles of the Convention.

Response by NGO speakers

The representatives of Cameroon NGOs said that the Optional Protocol was an important tool to be used for redress. Cameroon was aware of the fact that it had ratified the Convention without reservations but awareness-raising was very low, so the judiciary and the general population had not really taken it up. Awareness-raising should be intensified for women to benefit from its provisions.

Representatives of German NGOs said there was no new information from the Government on gender mainstreaming, only that the department working on this had been left, and there was work on understanding the English term of "gender mainstreaming". Intersexuality was a physical phenomenon, meaning that genitalia and chromosomes did not match the brain sex. Germany needed to realise that all human rights were higher-ranking than medical standards. Gender identity was not relocatable. Gender identity could not be taught. Intersex infants were still subject to human experiment. The main responsibility to respect human rights was with the State, and it needed to protect more. Intersexuality was still a big taboo in German society. The term "transsexual people" had nothing to do with sexual identity, but with gender identity. There were many gender stereotypes in Germany. Sex had been defined as either presence or absence of a penis, and the Government did not recognise that sexual identity was more complex. In Germany, transsexual women were made invisible as they were defined as men with a psychic disorder. The anti-discrimination law said there was no problem with transsexual women. The right of individuals to adopt children existed, and this therefore covered same-sex couples, although in practice this was denied, and the partnership could not adopt the child. In Germany currently women were getting lower-pay and temporary or part-time work, and women entrepreneurs were finding it very difficult to obtain credit. There was no dialogue between the Government and the NGOs with regards to inter-sex and transsexual people, as the Government did not include the latter in its perspectives.

Guatemalan NGO speakers said with regards to the murders of women, this had been increasing since the signing of the peace agreement. There had been an increase in the numbers of crimes of hatred against women, where the woman was not even known to the perpetrator. The State had no policies to eradicate violence. The Police and Public Policy offices continued with practices which hid evidence. Indigenous women were invisible in Guatemala, and the State had not developed the educational system so that women could promote their rights. Indigenous women needed to be able to benefit from educational services. In 98 per cent of cases, issues did not come to court - the law had not really had an impact. It was insufficient for a law to be approved - women had to have access to the courts. There were more and more women involved in public life who were seeking and demanding an improvement in their status, but at the same time there was increased pressure on women, as well as increased violence against women. There were complicated security systems which did nothing to prevent violence against women. No positive measures had been taken - the legal system had not been bolstered, the judiciary had not been trained, and the relevant institutions lacked a large enough budget.

The Haitian representative said where it came to sexist stereotypes, these circulated in schools thanks to school textbooks which had parts which were not of interest to the female sex. Very often it was boys and men who were shown doing things, and the books were essentially sexist. With regards to the Constitution, this incorporated international treaties, but there was still no definition of the concept of discrimination, which meant that even in the case of a complaint, there was no legal framework to combat this discrimination, no matter its form. There should be harmonisation of the Constitution and the Convention, making sure that this matter could be introduced into legal texts. Women did not have access to the courts in Haiti, for a number of reasons. The system did not work properly, and women could not afford it - they were also often the target of sexist insults, and judges often did not take women's complaints seriously, no matter the basis for that complaint. The Government was satisfied that, given the legal provisions to increase sanctions against rape, it had taken sufficient action on this topic. On trafficking in children in Haiti, this was a major problem, with a large number of children used as domestic workers.

The representative from Rwanda said the penal code said that abortion was a crime under the law, also under the law on children's rights. Women who aborted largely conceived through rape. Over 2,000 cases of rape were reported from 2005 to 2008. When it came to rape, women got pregnant - this was a crime and the Government should consider how women got pregnant, as opposed to punishing them for abortion, and the NGOs were advocating a change in this law. As for the participation of women in Parliament, this was sustainable, with the Committee's and every body else's help. Since Beijing, women's equality movements had advocated equal participation. The Rwandan Constitution gave women 30 per cent of the Parliament - and parties were encouraged to put other women forward, including youth and disabled parties. There was a need for more support from the Government as well as from the international community in this regard. Rwandan women would continue to push forward until women were represented and Africa was liberated. There was a political will to make changes happen - it was just a question of proper coordination between Government institutions and encouraging civil society to act. With regards to representation, change started from above, and women were advocating for representation. Women required support from the Rwandan Government to actually appoint women in more sensitive areas and to ensure women understood women's issues in critical decision-making. Rwandan children were now protected, and Rwandan NGOs and the Government were very proud of this.


For use of the information media; not an official record


CEDAW09006E