RIGHTS: New Protocol Allows Women to Seek Justice Through United Nations

By Marwaan Macan-Markar Reprint | | Print |

Marwaan Macan-Markar

MEXICO CITY, Dec 23 2000 (IPS) - Women from 13 countries will be among the first to benefit from an international guarantee that ensures them the right to seek justice at the United Nations.

This right is found in the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) which went into force Friday.

Girls and women can now make use of this legal instrument to bring their complaints of rights abuses before a UN committee, says Angela King, the assistant secretary-general and special advisor to the UN secretary general on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women.

“It is a very significant development towards achieving women’s rights and to make them meaningful,” says King of the 21-article protocol, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly last year.

The London-based Amnesty International (AI) sees the protocol in similar light, too. “As of today, a woman whose human rights have been violated under the Women’s Convention (the CEDAW) will be able to take her complaint to the UN to seek justice and reparations,” it states in a press release.

But this international remedy will only cover abuses occuring from Dec. 22, the day it went into force, and it will be available only to women from the 13 countries which have ratified it. Those countries are Austria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Mali, Namibia, New Zealand, Senegal, Slovakia and Thailand.

However, King has been assured by some of the 62 states which have already signed the protocol that they are working on the ratification process.. “They have expressed interest in backing the protocol,” she told IPS.

The need for this protocol arose during the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, in 1995, following a strong case made to create an inquiry procedure at the international level when the rights guaranteed under (CEDAW) had been violated.

It was seen furthermore as an important mechanism to ensure that governments fulfilled their obligations towards the CEDAW, which was adopted in 1979 and has been endorsed by 166 states.

CEDAW defines discrimination of 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 their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field”.

Yet, as the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) states, a number of governments have refused to accept the idea that for women “to truly enjoy their human rights, they must be treated with dignity in all aspects of their lives”.

In its annual report released this month on the condition of human rights around the world, it declares, “government actions reflected the belief that women are not entitled to full enjoyment of their human rights.”

And such realities, it notes, has been evident in Morocco, Sudan, Japan, India, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Pakistan.

“Even those governments that claimed the mantle of leadership in promoting women’s rights – Canada, the United States and some European countries – failed to challenge this onslaught,” it adds.

Consequently, it argues, the prospect of the protocol as a tool to check this trend becomes significant, since it will “create a new mechanism for enforcing women’s human rights”.

According to the specifications in the protocol, however, women who have been victims of discrimination, sexual exploitation and other rights abuses need to first pursue legal remedies at the local and national level.

It is only after such options have been exhausted can they take their case before the UN committee assigned to investigate these complaints the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDW).

And once the committee receives complaints from individual women or groups of women, it has the power to initiate a confidential inquiry into alleged abuse or violations. Thereafter, the committee can make recommendations to ensure that justice is served and reparations are made.

“The mechanisms for this are already being worked out,” says Aida Gonzalez, the current chairperson of the CEDW, which has 23 members on it. “We want to make sure that women who approach us with complaints about violations by states will be guaranteed justice.”

Equally important, she adds, is for women to be aware of this new development. “The success of this legal option depends on all women being informed of this latest remedy available to them.”

And to achieve justice through such means, women can seek help from legal aid groups and non-governmental organisations, says Yakin Erturk, director for the Division of Women at the United Nations.

“All they have to do is write to the committee, send their complaints by fax or any other way, to begin the process of inquiry,” adds Erturk.