COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN CONSIDERS REPORT OF MONGOLIA
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has considered the fifth, sixth and seventh periodic reports of Mongolia on how that country is implementing the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
Ochir Baigalmaa, State Secretary of the Ministry of Social Welfare and Labour of Mongolia, introducing the report, highlighted that, within the framework of legal reform, the Law against Domestic Violence had been enacted in 2005, and a Gender Equity Bill was being drafted. The Government had also developed and was implementing a number of national programmes, including the National Programme on Gender Equality, and the National Programme on Reproductive Health. Women's participation in economic, social and political life had improved, with relatively high representation of women in local government, and 60 to 80 per cent of the public administration employees, teachers and medical doctors were now women. However, the proportion of women had not increased to the desired degree in terms of high-ranking and decision-making posts, and in certain respects those levels had even decreased. To address that issue, the National Programme on Gender Equality had set the goal of raising the percentage of women among high-ranking officials in the public service to between 15 and 30 per cent. Consequently, the Parliamentary Election Law had indicated that 30 per cent of the candidates should be women at all elections. However, that provision has been removed in 2007 by the Parliament.
Experts asked a number of questions, including on available data or research on gender equality in the labour sphere, and whether a campaign to eliminate sexual stereotyping was in place, as well as guidelines for the media. A number of questions were asked on the recent increase in human trafficking in Mongolia, highlighting the lack of a specific law on this issue. Concern was also expressed about a perceived relinquishing of State responsibility for the creation of shelters and rehabilitation programmes for trafficking victims to NGOs. A number of comments and queries centred on the abolition by Parliament of the law to increase the percentage of women parliamentarians, despite the fact that parity was far from being achieved. It was highlighted that the percentage of women in high ranking political or government positions had fallen from 9.4 per cent to 5.2 per cent between 2000 and 2006, and Experts asked what were the root causes of that backward trend.
Danzannorov Boldbaatar, the Permanent Representative of Mongolia to the United Nations Office at Geneva, in concluding remarks, welcomed the fruitful dialogue and discussion, and said the Government would take all necessary steps to follow-up the recommendations of the Committee in order to fulfil its commitments under the Convention.
Mary Shanthi Dairiam, acting Chairperson of the Committee, also in concluding comments, said that, while the Committee recognized that the process of economic and political transition in Mongolia had posed certain difficulties, the concern of the Committee was that those difficulties should not disproportionately affect women and that women should not face increased discrimination. Women needed provisions for temporary special measures to overcome present structural inequalities. Those should not be seen as bias in favour of women, but as a necessary obligation that the Government had to address women's current situation.
The delegation from Mongolia included members of the Permanent Mission in Geneva, as well as other representatives of the Ministry of Social Welfare and Labour and the Ministry of Justice. As one of the 185 States parties to the Convention, Mongolia is obliged to present periodic reports to the Committee on how it is implementing the provisions of the treaty.
The next public meeting of the Committee will be held at 3 p.m. on Monday, 27 October, when it will meet informally with non governmental organizations to discuss the human rights situations in the countries whose reports will be considered during the second week of the session. Following the NGO meeting, the Committee will hold a similar meeting with national human rights institutions that wish to present their views.
Report of Mongolia
The combined fifth, sixth and seventh periodic reports of Mongolia (CEDAW/C/MNG/7) say an important step made by Mongolia to fulfil its constitutional obligation since the submission of its fourth report is the adoption and implementation of the Law on the Mongolian National Commission on Human Rights in 2003. According to the Law, the National Commission on Human Rights is an organization empowered to make proposals on any matters concerning human rights in Mongolia, to make recommendations and opinions on compliance of legislation and administrative decisions with basic principles of human rights and to give opinions on fulfilment of international treaties on human rights and on preparation of the relevant Government reports.
On violence against women, the Law on Fighting against Domestic Violence regulates relations related to seeking by a victim of domestic violence for protection of his/her rights, imposing liability on the violators, preventing from various forms of domestic violence and ensuring participation of state and non governmental organizations as well as individuals in the fight against such violence. The law provides for victims remedies such as bringing a victim to a shelter house, giving the victim temporary protection of parents, relatives or community, transferring the victim to a childcare centre or social welfare organization if necessary, giving the victim necessary information as well as legal and other advice, and providing medical care and rehabilitation services if the victim is temporarily psychologically affected or physically abused. The National Centre against Violence together with the police has started projects on proper treatment of victims of crime, provision of legal remedies and improvement services for victims and set offender identification rooms with special equipment. Such measures are significant in creating conditions to prevent victims from being identified by suspects and accused, which may lead to threat and revenge. With the implementation of the Law on Fighting Against Domestic Violence, the Working Group led by the Minister of Justice and Home Affairs was established by the Prime Minister’s decree to develop a National Programme on Fighting against Domestic Violence.
Introduction of Report
OCHIR BAIGALMAA, State Secretary of the Ministry of Social Welfare and Labour of Mongolia, introducing the report, said that, as a country that endorsed all the articles of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Mongolia ensured that all its legislation respected human rights and prohibited discrimination based on age, sex, race, nationality, language, culture and religion. Within the framework of legal reform, in 2005, the Law against Domestic Violence had been enacted and had begun to be enforced. Also, the Criminal Code, the Labour law and the Law on the National Human Rights Commission should be mentioned here. In addition, work was being continued to review and improve some laws, including the Family Law, which was being revised to reflect the changes and trends occurring in family relations in Mongolia, and a Gender Equity Bill was being drafted.
Since the presentation of its third and fourth periodic reports, Mongolia had been enhancing its policies and programmes aimed at ensuring the population's development and protection of human rights. In that framework, the Parliament had adopted the State Policy on Population Development, and the Policy on Family Development. The Government had also developed, approved and had been implementing other national programmes such as the National Programme on Gender Equality, the National Programme to Combat Domestic Violence, the National Programme on the Promotion of Adolescent and Youth Development and the National Programme on Reproductive Health.
During the transition period, women's participation in economic, social and political life had been improved, Ms. Baigalmaa noted. The increase in the proportion of women candidates at all elections had resulted in relatively high representation of women in local government. In addition, 60 to 80 per cent of the public administration employees, teachers and medical doctors were women. However, the proportion of women had not increased to the desired degree in terms of high-ranking and decision-making posts at management levels, and in certain respects those levels had even decreased as compared with the previous regime. To address that issue, the National Programme on Gender Equality had set the goal of raising the percentage of women among high-ranking officials in the public service, decision-makers and political administrators to between 15 and 30 per cent. Consequently, the Parliamentary Election Law had indicated that 30 per cent of the candidates should be women at all elections. However that provision has been removed in 2007 by the Parliament.
Turning to issues of violence against women, Ms. Baigalmaa observed that the occurrence of domestic violence had not diminished. Women and children were also becoming victims of human trafficking. In 2007, 10 cases of human trafficking had been registered, and 17 persons had been involved. During the first four months of 2008, seven cases involving 17 persons had been recorded and investigated. That revealed that the number of human trafficking cases was increasing.
Ms. Baigalmaa said that the National Millennium Development Goals of Mongolia aimed at reducing the infant mortality rate from 63.4 (per 100,000 live births) in 1990 to 22 by 2015, and Mongolia had already achieved that goal. Also, Mongolia aimed to reduce maternal mortality from 200 (per 100,000 live births) to 50 between 1990 and 2015. This year, the maternal mortality rate was at 89.6 (per 100,000 live births), and the goal was considered to be achievable by 2015. Most of the women who died due to birth and pregnancy complications were women with low incomes. Therefore, Mongolia took measures to provide all pregnant women with early antenatal care and to deliver maternity home services to pregnant women in rural areas.
In the economic sphere, Ms. Baigalmaa observed that, since the 1990's, when Mongolia began its transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy, unemployment and poverty had newly emerged in the country. Mostly women were severely affected by these new phenomena. The unemployment rate of women had always been high and wage disparities were emerging due to the sectors and positions that women were serving. A substantial number of women were working in the informal sector or doing unpaid domestic work. Many measures had been taken aimed at reducing poverty and increasing household income of the population, but a recent significant rise of gasoline and fuel prices resulted in higher inflation and increase in the prices of food, goods and products. Moreover, half of the population of Mongolia lived in rural areas, where the power supply, infrastructure and telecommunications were unevenly developed, access to information technology was limited and quality of and access to health, education, culture and common services were insufficient. Despite those challenges, certain progress had been made in providing rural households with power generators, telecommunication services and other mobile services.
Among achievements and successes in follow-up to the Committee's recommendations following its consideration of Mongolia's third and fourth periodic reports, Ms. Baigalmaa highlighted the extensive work to improve information and research activities and to ensure gender mainstreaming in national policies, programmes and activities by making them gender sensitive; the work of NGOs, which filled the gap in services that pubic services failed to reach, and the conclusion of cooperation agreements by the Ministry of Social Welfare and Labour with national NGOs; and the steps taken to establish a national system that dealt with gender issues. In the latter context, a National Committee for Gender Equality had been set up, with the Prime Minister as Chairman. A working group of the National Committee had also been established to create the necessary and effective working conditions for improving coordination of sectors in gender issues and providing concerned organizations with professional guidance.
Among concerns still to be addressed, Ms. Baigalmaa drew attention to the need to intensify capacity-building and regularly organize training and activities aimed at shaping attitudes to address any issue from a human rights perspective, such as the training of teachers; the need to establish a system that ensured the integration of the Convention with planning, policy and programmes in all sectors; and the need to establish a database system to monitor the Convention and to create a system for external auditing.
Questions by Experts
Regarding the draft law on gender equality, an Expert wanted to know to what extent Parliamentarians were involved in its drafting and what the timeframe was for its adoption? Moreover, would the law include provisions for temporary special measures and for the banning of sexist advertising, as well as for a complaint mechanism?
An Expert was disturbed and intrigued by the information in the report that there was a lack of research and data compilation activities in the labour sphere to ensure gender equality policies in the labour relations, and that disaggregated statistics should be gathered in this area. It led her to question who had written the report. This section of the report appeared to be more a recommendation to the Government than a report by the Government to the Committee.
Other questions focused on issues of the National Committee for Gender Equality, its members and functions; what the National Human Rights Commission's functions were and whether it had had input into Mongolia's report; and the abandoning of the law to increase the percentage of women parliamentarians in 2007, despite the fact that parity was far from being achieved. Several Experts recurred to the latter issue, and highlighted that the percentage of women in high ranking political or government positions had fallen from 9.4 per cent to 5.2 per cent between 2000 and 2006. An Expert asked what the root causes of that backward trend in terms of women's participation in high-ranking posts were and what the thinking was behind the abandoning of the quota law.
Response by Delegation
On the draft gender equality law, the delegation clarified that that had been drafted at the initiative of the women members of the previous Parliament. The working group in the Ministry of Social Welfare working on that law was doing so in conjunction with other ministries and the members of the previous Parliament who had initiated it. Unfortunately, because elections had been held in June 2008, the law was stagnating. The new Government was still deliberating over the main issues, laws and policies that it would address over the next four years, in the form of a four-year plan. The timeframe for the adoption of the draft law would depend on that plan. The best the delegation could say was that they thought the draft gender equality law would be on that four-year plan.
Regarding sexist advertisements, there were two main laws that regulated that issue, regarding obscenity and advertisements. It had been shown that when there was an increase in human trafficking and prostitution, there was a degree of increase in sexual and discriminatory advertising. The State had understood that correlation, and the current Government intended to reform its present law on obscenity and advertisement, the delegation said.
On assistance to women victims, the delegation said that, in 2008, for the first time, legal aid centres had been set up in Mongolia, which sought to target criminal and family cases. The legal aid was State-funded. There was also a State forensic medical centre, which, for example, provided medical care as well as psychological and legal counselling for victims of trafficking and prostitution. In terms of awareness-raising and counselling functions for victims of violence, there was a trend to transfer those functions to the very competent and professional NGOs which had a long presence in Mongolia.
With respect to the abolishment of the Parliamentary Election Law, establishing a 30 per cent quota of women, in 2007, the delegation read that decision as a purely political move. Everyone agreed that gender issues were important and should be taken into consideration in all political parties. The delegation also noted that the individual parties themselves had kept the 30 per cent quota in their candidate lists.
As for the discrepancy between anti-discrimination laws and a lack of statistics, some numbers were available, the delegation affirmed. For example, women's income index was 0.55, which meant that women's economic status was slightly lower than that of men. Also, around 51.4 per cent of unemployed people were women. That did not mean that women were discriminated against because of their gender. That was because of the lack of registration of the unemployed men. Women were more likely to register themselves as someone looking for a job. Moreover, the National Statistics Committee published figures on employment, including specific data on women's employment, annually, and next year the country would be conducting a new census which would include questions on employment of disabled women.
In the present Parliament, only 3 members (out of 90) were women. But in terms of high-ranking government officers, 53.7 per cent of posts were occupied by men and 46.1 per cent by women, although the ratio varied by ministry. Women were also making advances in terms of high-ranking posts in education, rising from 16 to 25 per cent of school directors in the period 2004/2005 to today. Despite discrepancies in certain sectors, the general tend was towards the greater participation of women in high-level posts in the administration over the last five years.
The National Human Rights Commission was an independent institution competent to hear complaints of human rights violations and had a highly defined complaints system, the delegation said. There were other fora to address human rights complaints, however, and Mongolia had particularly been working to set up a very independent judiciary. Individuals could bring human rights complaints directly to the courts, via the Constitutional Courts.
Questions by Experts
In a further round of questions, Experts wondered, among others, about the links between new laws against gender violence and social morals, which was seen as de-emphasizing the primary victims of such violence; whether analysis and research had been undertaken on sexual stereotyping of women in advertising and the media and its effects on political participation and public policy; whether a campaign to eliminate such stereotyping was in place; measures to eliminate sexual-based stereotyping in terms of students' choice of educational subjects; whether guidelines for training were given to media in the area of sexual stereotyping; the lack of a specific law on trafficking in Mongolia, despite a rise in human trafficking; whether Mongolia had acceded to the trafficking Protocol to the United Nations Convention on Organized Crime; and the fact that Mongolia had been relinquishing State responsibility for the creation of shelters and rehabilitation programmes for trafficking victims to NGOs, when State funds should be allocated.
An Expert noted the low number of cases brought on gender discrimination in Mongolia, in particular given a high level of domestic violence. That indicated that violence against women was not considered as a component of discrimination against women, although it was considered so under the Convention.
Response by Delegation
Responding to questions on human trafficking, the delegation said Mongolia was making significant strides in reducing human trafficking, which had been a major change in policy-making and enforcement, since 2007. In particular, the Government had made significant changes to the Criminal Code in 2008, bringing it into line with the United Nations Convention on Organized Crime and its Protocol on trafficking, which it had acceded to in May 2008, and with the Palermo Convention and its protocols. Over the next four years comprehensive changes were contemplated to the 2002 Criminal Code. So significant efforts had been made to address this new trend which had come with rising poverty and unemployment.
As to whether there would be a separate trafficking law or not, so far there was no consensus. But the good news was that, with the amendments to the Criminal Code, a specific provision would be included for reparation and compensation to victims, and a separate fund would be established for victims, including victims of human trafficking, the delegation said. On the regional level, Mongolia was one of five countries involved in a regional human trafficking initiative.
As for a campaign on human trafficking, the delegation said that, prior to 2005, nobody in the country had been aware of the phenomenon. Today, through joint efforts to the Government and international NGOs, there was general awareness of the problem. For example, border officials closely questioned women from vulnerable groups travelling to other countries and provided them with passport inserts containing information on foreign embassies and hotline numbers they could contact.
The delegation highlighted that a programme had been established in 2005 to prevent the sale or sexual exploitation of women and children, and it was planned to expand the activities of the programme this year.
Shelters for victims of violence or prostitution were not just provided by NGOs in Mongolia, they were provided by police stations as well. The fact was, poverty not only affected the population in Mongolia, but the State itself. The police simply did not have the resources to provide enough female police officers, social workers or help for victims of crime. The delegation did not accept the view that the Government was reneging on its responsibility by giving all the burden of providing shelters to NGOs. The State funded most of those operations.
There was no analysis so far on gender roles between men and women, the delegation confirmed. There had been some studies done by NGOs, at their initiative. The Government had undertaken, however, studies on gender violence and violence against children.
On poverty issues, in conjunction with the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, this year the Government had organized a gender-responsive health and social issues workshop for policy-makers and others. A National Strategy on Ageing with a gender responsive framework was also planned. Here, the delegation noted that the economic situation of elderly women, often widows, was often particularly precarious.
In terms of laws on obscenity and the media, the Government was currently working on the reform of those laws, which would allow for severe punishments for media establishments infringing the rules, including the revocation of their licenses. However, it was necessary to weigh freedom of speech rights in that endeavour, the delegation said.
On the content of the draft Gender Equality Law, it dealt with defining gender equality issues, infringement of that equality and to what extent an individual's rights were enforceable in this sphere. It also set out how such complaints should be processed and punishments for violators of gender equality, and provided for a separate body to monitor implementation.
Questions by Experts
Among further comments and issues raised by Experts, it was suggested that one way to combat the low membership of women in the National Assembly was for the Government to compel all political parties to put forward women candidates, or their State subsidies would be cut off. On nationality, an Expert asked for assurances that Mongolian women were able to transmit Mongolian citizenship to their children, if the father was a foreigner. Other issues raised included measures to raise awareness among women of their labour rights; complaint mechanisms in the labour sphere; prosecutions for sexual discrimination in the labour sphere; plans for a sexual harassment in the workplace law; and reports of discrimination against women on the grounds of sexual orientation and identity.
Response by Delegation
Responding to these questions and others, the delegation said that, in addition to the quota scheme, political parties had programmes to help women candidates build their images and provided funds for training of women candidates to gain election experience. The Government, for its part, had publicized women candidates through billboards and in other media to encourage women's participation in the political process, in particular in rural areas.
On public awareness about women's labour rights, the Ministry of Social Welfare and Labour published its new laws and publicized them at the State level, the delegation confirmed. At the local level, the social welfare and development division was responsible for disseminating information and ensuring awareness about new laws. The Government also worked with many NGOs, in particular in rural areas, to raise awareness about new laws.
In terms of cases brought in the labour sphere, this year, the labour inspectorate had reviewed several complaints, the delegation said. A number of discrimination complaints had been brought by pregnant women, usually relating to pay. However, this year the law had been amended, raising the percentage of compensation for pregnant women from 75 per cent to 100 per cent of their regular salary.
So far, there was no law that covered sexual harassment in the workplace, the delegation added. The Criminal Code, however, had provisions to impose criminal liability on violence against women considering the offence as a crime against children, family and social morals, and included crimes of sexual harassment.
In terms of nationality of children of women with a foreign husband, that was not a problem. The children had the option of having Mongolian nationality. The delegation, however, identified a new development in this area, with many Mongolian migrants working abroad, which was the issue of the nationality of the children of those migrants. Mongolia had no law so far on double nationality, and that was something that would need to be looked at in the near future.
Regarding discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, Mongolia had a conservative approach. Of course, fundamental rights and freedoms were applicable to everyone. However, with regard to family law, there was still a traditional understanding of the family and that was regulated by law.
As part of an answer on the backward trend in women's participation, the delegation explained that part of the dynamic currently occurring in the country was a rise in complaints by men that with the change from the socialized State to the free market economy, men had taken the brunt of the burden. It was men that were less well represented in schools, that were overwhelmingly over-represented in prisons and that were the ones who traditionally were forced to migrate to find jobs. The Government administration could only do so much to fight against rising public opinion and the policies set by Parliament.
Questions by Experts
Experts asked a number of questions on measures to improve the lives of rural women, including malnourishment and measures on food security; measures to address environmental degradation; and microcredit schemes for women. An Expert also asked about efforts to implement the Committee's prior recommendation that Mongolia develop a public policy of joint parental responsibility, in particular in view of a continuing population policy that encouraged women to have more children.
Response by the Delegation
As for economic conditions of women, it was true that there were currently 72,100 single-parent households in Mongolia, the delegation said, but there were no clear gender-related statistics on those households, showing how many were headed by men and how many by women. There were various kinds of family benefits, including new couple start-up funds and new child subsidies. It was also now possible for single parent heads of household to receive subsidies from the Social Welfare Fund until their children reached the age of 18. For single parents of more than four children, they were eligible for funds to start up small businesses.
Training facilities were available for rural women, providing short-term training in skills on how to run small businesses, such as hairdressers or bakeries that were needed in those areas. This year the land acquisition law was amended, allowing every family member the right to own land. Previously land was allotted by family and could not be divided.
Regarding microcredit and start up loans for businesses, registered unemployed women had the right to propose projects to banks via the labour mediation office. Loan interest would be waived for single heads of household, and would be paid by the employment fund, the delegation said.
With respect to malnourishment and food security, a national plan on food supply would be implemented as of 1 November this year, and a food stamp programme had been initiated for old people, with $12 million in funding already received for implementation. They were also hoping to work on food distribution, the delegation said.
To address issues of women's role in the home, the Government was putting together a new population policy that would look not just to promote the growth of the population but to improve the quality of the population. The delegation said that the new policy would provide alternative services for working women with children and would encourage joint parental responsibility.
Concluding Remarks
DANZANNOROV BOLDBAATAR, the Permanent Representative of Mongolia to the United Nations Office at Geneva, in concluding remarks, welcomed the fruitful dialogue and discussion held today on the report of Mongolia and he thanked all the members of the Committee for their comments, observations and questions. The Government would take all necessary steps to follow-up the recommendations of the Committee in order to fulfil its commitments under the Convention.
Mary Shanthi Dairiam, acting Chairperson of the Committee, also in concluding comments, said the Committee recognized that the process of economic and political transition in Mongolia had posed certain difficulties. The concern of the Committee was that those difficulties should not disproportionately affect women and that women should not face increased discrimination. The increase in alcoholism and crime among men should not be confused with that. Women needed provisions for temporary special measures to overcome present structural inequalities. Those should not be seen as bias in favour of women, but as a necessary obligation that the Government had to address women's current situation.
Changes in Government should not affect a country's obligations under the Convention, Ms. Dairiam observed. Therefore it was a matter of concern that there was so much hope and expectation placed on a coming into power or not of a particular Government. There had been achievements and progress for women, and they needed to build on those. Therefore the proposal to develop indicators on women was particularly welcome. Parliament was not alone in Government. Strengthening of judiciary was also part of the scheme, and it was hoped that plans to develop a strong and independent judiciary would help to better the situation of women in Mongolia.
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CEDAW08023E