UN experts say: HR for women must be on top of agenda
UNB, Dhaka :
A group of United Nations women’s human rights experts on Tuesday urged governments around the world to give the issue of women’s rights to equality high visibility and top political priority.
They said the struggle to end discrimination against women remains an unfinished agenda despite notable achievements since International Women’s Day was first observed over a century ago.
The UN experts are Alda Facio, Kamala Chandrakirana, Frances Raday,
Eleonora Zielinska, Emna Aouij, Chair-Rapporteur and members of the Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice; Dubravka Šimonovic Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences; UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
“The continuing existence of direct and indirect discrimination, both visible and invisible, is responsible for women lagging behind in a number of fields,” the experts said in a statement UNB received from Geneva on Tuesday.
Speaking in advance of International Women’s Day that falls on March 8 they noted that although discriminatory laws have been repealed in many countries, such laws – especially those governing family life – are still in force in many others. Some countries have a lower minimum age of marriage for girls, while others still prevent women from passing their nationality to their children and husbands. In some States, women are also deprived of custody rights, polygamous marriages which subordinate them are allowed and they continue to suffer discrimination in property and land rights. The experts were also concerned that women and girls continue to be denied equality in succession and inheritance rights. The underlying social, economic, cultural, and political causes of inequality have not been successfully and fundamentally tackled, they said.
Women still live with the threat of criminal punishment in some countries for sexual or reproductive conduct such as adultery, prostitution, or termination of pregnancy, they said. The human rights experts noted that women’s high educational achievements worldwide have not always translated into corresponding leadership positions or even equality in the economic field. Violence against women persists in every country, despite the enormous energy invested over the years in its eradication. Gender-based violence cannot be effectively addressed unless we dismantle the foundations of the discriminatory system that gives women a lower status in society, they stressed. Not only is the advancement of women taking a long time and full equality far from a global reality, but women’s hard fought achievements now face the risk of being reversed, warned the experts.
An unprecedented pushback has been launched across regions by an alliance of conservative political ideologies and religious traditionalism, they noted. Today we need more than ever to unite forces to preserve the democratic space, they said. The fight against all forms of discrimination against women must continue until women everywhere obtain full equality in public, political, economic, social, family, cultural and religious life, they said.
A group of United Nations women’s human rights experts on Tuesday urged governments around the world to give the issue of women’s rights to equality high visibility and top political priority.
They said the struggle to end discrimination against women remains an unfinished agenda despite notable achievements since International Women’s Day was first observed over a century ago.
The UN experts are Alda Facio, Kamala Chandrakirana, Frances Raday,
Eleonora Zielinska, Emna Aouij, Chair-Rapporteur and members of the Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice; Dubravka Šimonovic Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences; UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
“The continuing existence of direct and indirect discrimination, both visible and invisible, is responsible for women lagging behind in a number of fields,” the experts said in a statement UNB received from Geneva on Tuesday.
Speaking in advance of International Women’s Day that falls on March 8 they noted that although discriminatory laws have been repealed in many countries, such laws – especially those governing family life – are still in force in many others. Some countries have a lower minimum age of marriage for girls, while others still prevent women from passing their nationality to their children and husbands. In some States, women are also deprived of custody rights, polygamous marriages which subordinate them are allowed and they continue to suffer discrimination in property and land rights. The experts were also concerned that women and girls continue to be denied equality in succession and inheritance rights. The underlying social, economic, cultural, and political causes of inequality have not been successfully and fundamentally tackled, they said.
Women still live with the threat of criminal punishment in some countries for sexual or reproductive conduct such as adultery, prostitution, or termination of pregnancy, they said. The human rights experts noted that women’s high educational achievements worldwide have not always translated into corresponding leadership positions or even equality in the economic field. Violence against women persists in every country, despite the enormous energy invested over the years in its eradication. Gender-based violence cannot be effectively addressed unless we dismantle the foundations of the discriminatory system that gives women a lower status in society, they stressed. Not only is the advancement of women taking a long time and full equality far from a global reality, but women’s hard fought achievements now face the risk of being reversed, warned the experts.
An unprecedented pushback has been launched across regions by an alliance of conservative political ideologies and religious traditionalism, they noted. Today we need more than ever to unite forces to preserve the democratic space, they said. The fight against all forms of discrimination against women must continue until women everywhere obtain full equality in public, political, economic, social, family, cultural and religious life, they said.