HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL HOLDS PANEL DISCUSSION ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS AND THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN

The Human Rights Council today held its annual discussion on integrating the human rights of women throughout the United Nations system with a focus on economic, social and cultural rights and the empowerment of women.

In opening remarks, Bacre Ndiaye, Director of the Human Rights Council and Special Procedures Division of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said considerable progress had been seen in advancing women’s rights worldwide, in education, employment and legislation. However, these were still not on a substantive equal basis with men and a lot remained to be done to ensure their enjoyment.

Maria Soledad Cisternas, Expert from the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in brief opening remarks, indicated that the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was mainly concerned about women suffering from difficulties and disabilities, who represented around 50 per cent of this category. She called for aid to be provided to non-governmental organizations so that they were able to participate in the debates of the Council on such issues.

Radhika Balakrishnan, Executive Director, Centre for Women’s Global Leadership, Rutgers University, also in opening remarks noted that the economic crisis involved the reduction of resources dedicated to direct spending on the protection of women’s economic, social and cultural rights. It also involved the deterioration of the quality of life of women given the reduction of salaries and employment. In this respect, gender analysis was very useful.

The Panelists were Leilani Farha, Director, Member of the International Network on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Executive Director, Canada without Poverty; Magdalena Sepulveda Carmona, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights; Fatima Duarte, President of the Portuguese Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality; Moez Doraid, Director, Coordination Division, United Nations Women; and Pregs Govender, Deputy Chair, South African Human Rights Commission.

Leilani Farha, Director, Member of the International Network on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Executive Director of Canada without Poverty, said that women suffered disproportionately and therefore in order for different human rights mechanisms to ensure a substantive equality approach to women and housing, the Council should develop a substantive understanding of the meaning of equality. The Council could consider establishing a gender focal point to ensure a more systematic approach to the integration of gender in its work.

Magdalena Sepulveda Carmona, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, said she worked closely with women’s organizations to look at the different impacts of policy on men and women and how women’s poverty was entrenched and exacerbated. Further efforts must be made in all reports to integrate the gender perspective in analysis, communication and recommendations.
States should specifically include gender in the work of all Special Procedure mandate holders and harmonization between United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations was noted as a challenge to be addressed.

Fatima Duarte, President of the Portuguese Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality, said it was easy to conclude that in spite of the progress seen in the reduction of inequalities, this burden was a great obstacle to women. She suggested to the Human Rights Council that more work should be done on the right to work and social security, and in the Universal Periodic Review gender pay gaps and parental leave schemes should be considered, with both parents considered equally.

Moez Doraid, Director, Coordination Division, United Nations Women, said the new post-2015 development agenda and framework should recognize gender equality as a central component; be based on human rights; include a separate set of targets and indicators on gender equality; integrate accountability measures; drive new data collection on gender equality; reflect all forms of inequality and present data disaggregated on the basis of several factors; and include women’s voices and aspirations.

Pregs Govender, Deputy Chair, South African Human Rights Commission, said that South Africa had made important human rights commitments in its Constitution, national laws and international obligations; those had often been undermined by international and national trade choices, with devastating impact on the rights of women and gender equality. The political will of a Government was key to advancing the human rights of its citizens. Governments must also address policy fragmentation and incoherence and its impact on gender inequality.

In the discussion, speakers said that the integration of a gender perspective must take into account the interdependence of all rights. No country could claim total equality. What were the greatest challenges the United Nations faced in integrating gender and how could Member States help? Speakers encouraged the Council not to ignore the situation of vulnerable women, including those belonging to minority groups. Early marriage continued to affect many girls as young as nine-years old. Violence against women, including rape as a weapon of war, remained one of the most insidious challenges.

Chile on behalf of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries, Australia, Senengal on behalf of the African Group, Maldives, European Union, Canada, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Finland, Azerbaijan, Paraguay, Estonia, South Africa, Turkey,
Portugal, United Arab Emirates on behalf of the Arab Group, Thailand, Russia, Cuba, Qatar, Syria, Peru, Honduras, Algeria, China, Egypt, Denmark and Argentina took the floor.

The Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines and the Canadian Human Rights Commission spoke. The following non-governmental organizations also spoke: Sudwind, World Blind Union, COC Netherlands and Action Canada for Population and Development.

The Council today is holding a full day of meetings. In its afternoon meeting, the Council will consider outcomes of the Universal Periodic Review on the Philippines, Algeria and Poland.

Opening Statements

BACRE WALY NDIAYE, Director, Human Rights Council and Special Procedures Division of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, hoped that today’s debate would connect various other initiatives already taking place to define the post-2015 development framework, as it had become clear that any development agenda must incorporate the protection of human rights to have any chance of success. Considerable progress had been seen in advancing women’s rights worldwide, in education, employment and legislation, however these were still not on a substantive equal basis with men and a lot remained to be done to ensure the enjoyment of these. The Human Rights Council had a unique position as a catalyst to mainstream gender, and Resolution 6/30 on integrating the rights of women throughout United Nations systems reaffirmed its commitment. Now was the time to reflect if these efforts were constant and consistent and to how these could be better rationalized when only half of resolutions mentioned gender. Key issues the Human Rights Council could take up included recommendations pertaining to special temporary measures, ensuring women’s access to justice and effective practices in addressing intersectional discrimination. Efforts had also been taken to make the Human Rights Council more available to persons with disabilities.

MARIA SOLEDAD CISTERNAS, Expert from the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, briefly indicated that the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was mainly concerned about women suffering from difficulties and disabilities, who represented 50 per cent of this category. She called for aid to be provided to non-governmental organizations so that they were able to participate in the debates of the Council on such issues.

RADHIKA BALAKRISHNAN, Executive Director, Centre for Women’s Global Leadership, Rutgers University, noted that the economic crisis involved the reduction of resources dedicated to direct spending on the protection of women’s economic, social and cultural rights. It also involved the deterioration of the quality of life of women given the reduction of salaries and employment. In this respect, gender analysis was very useful. For example, there were fewer jobs and wage cuts and many women in the world were being pushed towards the informal sectors. When there was a reduction for particular goods, it was important to analyse what particular impact it had on women. Increases in the price of food constituted an extremely gendered issue and discriminately affected women.

Statements by the Panelists

LEILANI FARHA, Member of the International Network on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Executive Director, Canada Without Poverty, noted that women suffered disproportionately and therefore in order for different human rights mechanisms to ensure a substantive equality approach to women and housing, the Council should develop a substantive understanding of the meaning of equality. For example, the perspectives from people with disabilities regarding the challenges they faced to the enjoyment of their rights could contribute to a better understanding of their specific needs and the required reforms to ensure equal treatment. Furthermore, awareness of the different ways in which rights were violated was necessary in order to develop remedies. This kind of analysis was needed to ensure the right to adequate housing responded to women’s needs, the particular context of women should be at the centre of the analysis. This kind of analysis and conceptual clarity should contribute to the work of the Universal Periodic Review and other mandate holders. The establishment of a formal accountability mechanism, consistent with a human rights-based approach institutional reform would also be needed. Ms. Farha suggested that the Council develop a clear statement of vision concerning gender integration, including specific guidelines, deadlines and benchmarks of success. The Council could consider establishing a gender focal point to ensure a more systematic approach to the integration of gender in its work.

MAGDALENA SEPULVEDA CARMONA, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, said she worked closely with women’s organizations to look at the different impacts of policy on men and women and how women’s poverty was entrenched and exacerbated. In her work she engaged with grassroots organizations working with women, gave specific attention to gender issues during country missions, assessed the specific impact of Government policies and programmes and met with groups of women in a non-male environment. Under her remit, her reports sought to mainstream gender throughout the text and always included the gender perspective was well as had a discrete section on women in poverty. Her recent work on the impact of the crises and austerity measures stressed the disproportionate negative consequences on women.

Ms. Sepulveda Carmona noted that further efforts must be made in all reports to integrate the gender perspective in analysis, communications and recommendations. States should specifically include gender in the work of all Special Procedure mandate holders and harmonization between United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations was noted as a challenge to be addressed. Coordination between treaty bodies and Special Procedures should also be improved and synergies developed, with systems in place to keep staff informed and available as well as an increased budget for the Secretariat to support mandate holders.

FATIMA DUARTE, President of the Portuguese Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality, believed the right to work was a human right. Using Portugal as an example, she said that discrimination continued in practice mainly grounded in maternity, with women responsible for family care. Policies to promote work/life balance had been developed in the country, around parental leave for fathers and assistance with child care. Entrepreneurship was to be promoted through vocational training and financial initiatives. Education was important and stereotyping should be eliminated in this area. It was easy to conclude that in spite of the progress seen in the reduction of inequalities this burden was a great obstacle to women. She suggested to the Human Rights Council that more work should be done on the right to work and social security, and in the Universal Periodic Review gender pay gaps and parental leave schemes should be considered, with both parents considered equally.

MOEZ DORAID, Director, Coordination Division, United Nations Women, highlighted lessons learnt from the current Millennium Development Goals framework and said that the consensus emerged that gender mainstreaming was critical for their achievement. Progress had been made on a number of indicators and targets, including in world’s poorest countries; however, the way in which the Millennium Development Goals had been implemented left gaps that required urgent attention. The formulation of the post-2015 agenda was an opportunity to address those gaps, including the alignment of the Goals with the international human rights standards. The framework also failed to include violence against women and women’s inequality, including their access to land and other resources that had been linked to poverty and disempowerment. The new post-2015 development agenda and framework should recognize gender equality as a central component; be based on human rights; include a separate set of targets and indicators on gender equality; integrate accountability measures; drive new data collection on gender equality; reflect all forms of inequality and present data disaggregated on the bases of several factors; and include women’s voices and aspirations.

PREGS GOVENDER, Deputy Chair, South African Human Rights Commission, said that South Africa’s apartheid past and the current global economic system resulted in South Africa being one of the most unequal societies. Water was recognized as a fundamental human right and should not be seen as a commodity; however, the policy on access to water was often incoherent and fragmented. South Africa had made important human rights commitments in its Constitution, national laws and international obligations; those had often been undermined by international and national trade choices, with devastating impact on the rights of women and gender equality. The Commission’s work on water and sanitation emerged from a need for a specific approach on water and sanitation complaints the Commission was receiving, which was only the tip of the iceberg. The political will of a Government was key in advancing the human rights of its citizens; Governments must address policy fragmentation and incoherence and its impact on gender inequality.

Discussion

Chile, speaking on behalf of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries, said the integration of a gender perspective must take into account the interdependence of all rights. No country could claim total equality. What measures could now be taken on gender equality post-2015? Australia said integrating the gender perspective better equipped Australia to recognise women’s contribution to societies. What were the greatest challenges the United Nations faced in integrating gender and how could Member States help? Senegal, speaking on behalf of African Group, said at the normative level a number of charters in Africa included economic, social and cultural rights for women. However, more efforts were needed to strengthen capacity, pandemics and income generation.

Maldives said that in Maldives women had achieved parity with men in life expectancy and access to education; nevertheless discrimination and domestic violence persisted and exceedingly low parliamentary representation constituted a challenge. European Union said it had recently adopted a new act on gender equality, reaffirming its commitment to eliminate remaining gender gaps and to promote the participation of women in decision making; challenges remained. Women often faced low labour market participation and underemployment. Canada encouraged the Council not to ignore the situation of vulnerable women, including those belonging to minority groups. Early marriage continued to affect many girls as young as nine-years old. Violence against women, including rape as a weapon of war, remained one of the most insidious challenges. Slovenia requested examples of good practices for overcoming the protection gaps, particularly in cases of multiple discrimination. How could the Council and Special Procedures further contribute to the work of other United Nations entities in realising women’s rights?

Bulgaria said that the rights of women and men were enshrined in the Bulgarian Constitution. Bulgaria had a strategy for gender equality and its commitments had been developed, including ensuring representation of women in business and politics. Finland said that women, particularly those from vulnerable groups, were more likely to suffer from human rights violations. Finland asked how to best integrate women’s views into the post 2015 development agenda. Azerbaijan noted that the most egregious gap remained in the world of work and asked whether the practice of some governments in establishing quotas for the representation of women in company boards could contribute to this end. Paraguay asked which countries were at the forefront of delivering these rights and achieving success. Paraguay had promulgated to promote the rights of women and had increased women’s participation at decision-making levels. Estonia said it had recently finished an action plan for reducing the gender pay-gap, including the reconciliation of work and family life and addressing education, and it remained committed to developing a more balanced and equitable society.

South Africa noted the election of the first woman to head the African Union Commission and asked the panel to share examples of how women in businesses and corporate industries were advancing. Turkey said it had co-sponsored relevant documents to designate October 11 as the international day of the girl-child and asked the panel to elaborate on ways to include gender aspects in discussions on migrants.

The Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines asked the panel to include recommendations for States to nurture national human rights institutions in order to mainstream the gender perspective. Sudwind complained that the oil industry continued to discriminate against women, arguing that this work was not appropriate for women. It asked about the segregation of women in education in Iran. World Blind Union said that gender and disability should constitute an important part of the post 2015 development plan. Many among the millions of persons with disabilities in the world lived in the developing world without access to education and health.

RADHIKA BALAKRISHNAN, Executive Director, Centre for Women’s Global Leadership, Rutgers University, said that it was important when thinking about economic and social rights and women to look at the enabling environment. In terms of human rights perspective it was important to look at human rights as an ethical framework with which to judge economic and social policy. Women came in different sizes and with different qualities and they may not be thought of as a generic category. The Millennium Declaration was a human rights document but, somehow, the parts of the Declaration that really took on human rights seemed to have disappeared. There was a need to make sure that what came out post-2015 was very much part of a human rights agenda.

PREGS GOVENDER, Deputy Chair, South African Human Rights Commission, said that the question of gender-responsive budgeting was critical but that it was important to look at what policies created the size of budget from which persons could make choices. On the issue of food and policy incoherence, the Special Rapporteur had said that there was enough food to feed everyone. The food industry was one of the most profitable and yet almost one billion persons were starving. On issues of militarisation, military spending in budgets reflected not just priorities, but also what was valued on using violence to resolve conflict at the global, local and household level. In terms of States which needed to ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, she urged her own country to move more quickly in that regard.

MOEZ DORAID, Director, Coordination Division, United Nations Women, said that he had attended a workshop that brought together 20 United Nations entities at the International Labor Organization to work on implementation and the rolling out of the system-wide action plan. There were 12 indicators against which United Nations entities measured their performance. The question on how Member States could help and support the United Nations system in applying the system-wide action plan was a key one. Support and engagement from Member States was very much needed. One aspect was political support, and expressions acknowledging the institutionalisation of the action plan. Mr. Doraid said that a recent analysis of the current economic crisis had noted that if boards of corporations and banks had more women in them, the crisis could have been averted.

FATIMA DUARTE, President of the Portuguese Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality, stressed again the importance of gender education with regard to gender stereotypes. Advertisement and media were other main areas where combating gender stereotypes should take place, for example through the increase of the number of women on their management boards. With regard to the integration of a gender perspective in the work on migrants, Portugal was a model country in welcoming migrants and had programmes against female genital mutilation developed by immigrant associations.

MAGDALENA SEPULVEDA CARMONA, Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, said that gender inequality was one of the principal barriers to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and the Human Rights Council and the international community had the obligation to make sure that the new framework was in line with human rights standards, including with the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Answering the question concerning the follow up to the Special Procedures recommendations, Ms. Sepulveda Carmona said that it required active participation of States. It was important to double the efforts to include gender into the work of national human rights institutions.

LEILANI FARHA, Director, Member of the International Network on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Executive Director, Canada without Poverty, said that the work of the Human Rights Council and its Universal Periodic Review mechanism was a good way to bring gender back onto the global human rights agenda. It had been an experience of non-governmental organizations from many countries that women’s issues that were not linked to violence against women often received insufficient attention in the global fora and human rights agendas. Women were achieving best results vis-à-vis the enjoyment of their economic, social and cultural rights in States which recognized those rights, including through the ratification of relevant international instruments.

Thailand stressed the importance of women’s empowerment and gender equality for the achievement of sustainable development, the Millennium Development Goals and the post-2015 development agenda. Cuba and China noted that feminization of poverty, violence and discrimination against women continued to be issues of concern in many areas of the world today, despite the existence of bilateral and multilateral mechanisms for the achievement of gender equality. Equality was difficult to achieve for women facing discrimination on multiple grounds, such as minority, disabled and single parent women, said Canadian Human Rights Commission. Denmark underlined the need for a deeper analysis of how the rights of women were neglected and violated and how to facilitate transformative change.

COC Netherlands said that in 2007, many States had worked diligently to create a programme to ensure that the Human Rights Council boldly integrated gender in all its work through the resolution of 6/30 and the panel today was the continuation of that commitment. However, Syria said that integrating the rights of women into the work of the Human Rights Council should not overlook the suffering of women in the Occupied Arab Territories, including the violations of rights of Syrian women.

United Arab Emirates, on behalf of the Arab Group, described initiatives by the Arab countries to set up mechanisms for the emancipation of women and to enable them to participate in the Arab world. Russia had formulated its state policy to ensure gender equality not only in politics and public life, but also at home, employment and the workplace; 70 per cent of small enterprises in Russia were women. Egypt paid attention to the rights of women and had established several institutions, such as the National Council for Women and Qatar developed programmes to boost participation of women on national, regional and international levels and had acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Argentina described the participation of women in public and political life in this country, including in the Parliament, Government, Supreme Court and national banks.

Portugal, Peru, Honduras, Algeria and Action Canada for Population and Development asked how to evaluate the impact of compound discrimination in the evaluation of economic, social and cultural rights of women; what practical mechanisms could be adopted by States to improve economic, social and cultural rights of women living in extreme poverty; how could the goal on gender equality be formulated in the post-2015 agenda; about the role of the United Nations in the promotion of gender equality in the post-2015 period; and how the conclusions from this panel could be implemented.

RADHIKA BALAKRISHNAN, Executive Director Centre for Women’s Global Leadership, Rutgers University, in concluding remarks and on behalf of the panelists, expressed thanks for all who had participated in the discussion that had taken place. Ms. Balakrishnan emphasized the need for accountability mechanisms, as well as the need to support the efforts of the Special Procedures to integrate gender efforts into the Universal Periodic Review.


For use of the information media; not an official record

HRC12/114E