COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN MEETS WITH NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS AND NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTION

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women this afternoon discussed with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) the situation of women in Bolivia, Burundi, Saudi Arabia and France whose country reports it will consider this session, following which it heard a statement from the national human rights institution of France.

On Bolivia, NGOs said rural aged women of indigenous origin experienced multi-layer discrimination in many fields, including access to health care. Equality of rights, the weakness of governmental follow-up on policies on women, and other issues, including continuing violence against women and girls and obstacles to access to justice, were all problematic. The State recognised the principle of equality and forbade discrimination on the basis of sex, but de facto inequality due to stereotypes persisted.

With regards to Burundi, NGOs said Burundian women had concerns on five basic points: discrimination in the legal area, legal gaps, gender-based violence, trafficking in women and girls, and discrimination in women’s situation in political parties. There was a persistence of violence in the family and in the community as a whole. There were many cases of State violence against women. Thousands of women lived in desolation and fear.

Taking up Saudi Arabia, NGOs said the priority issues facing women in Saudi Arabia were encapsulated in five trends: their lack of legal status and ability; women’s participation in public affairs; women’s education policy; women’s employment; and many disadvantages in a wide range of legal fields. In terms of freedom of movement, no country restricted the movement of women more than Saudi Arabia.

Concerning France, NGO speakers said there should be an institutional context in which the Convention applied, including women’s participation in public life, continuation of harmful prejudices, participation of women in work, and violence against women. With regards to trafficking, on the legislative level, there had been real progress in France - in 2003, the Penal Code included for the first time a definition of trafficking, and this definition had been improved in 2007. However, the victims of trafficking were treated like clandestine migrants, and not victims of human rights violations.

Speaking this afternoon were the representatives of Help Age International, Catholics for the Right to Decide, CEDEF, Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture, International Women’s Rights Action Asia-Pacific, Human Rights Watch, United Nations Watch, European Lobby for Women La Clef, and the French National Consultative Committee for Human Rights.

The Committee will hear from NGOs again later in the session, on Monday, 21 January, when the organizations will submit statements on the country reports to be considered during the second week of the session.

The next meeting of the Committee will be on Tuesday, 15 January, at 10 a.m., when it will consider the second, third and fourth periodic reports of Bolivia (CEDAW/C/BOL/2-4).

Statements on Bolivia

BRIDGET SLEAP, Help Age International, said rural aged women of indigenous origin experienced multi-layer discrimination in many fields, including access to health care. They lacked identity documentation which proved their age and their right to access to benefits. The Government should support the collection of disaggregated data on age and sex, making this easier. Older women, particularly in rural areas, suffered disproportionally from poverty, facing discrimination from public officials, and the prohibitive cost of travel to claim social security payments. Despite legislation, many were unable to access their right to free basic health care. The Government should provide training in geriatric medicine to health care providers including medical staff working in rural areas.

JULIET MOUTARIO, Catholics for the Right to Decide, said equality of rights, the weakness of governmental follow-up on policies on women, and other issues, including continuing violence against women and girls and obstacles to access to justice, were all problematic. The State recognised the principle of equality and forbade discrimination on the basis of sex, but de facto inequality due to stereotypes persisted. There was weakness in the governmental mechanism to follow-up on women’s policies, one of the weakest parts of the governmental structure. There was no serious sustainable gender policy. Changes in political ideology and development did not change the patriarchal situation. The weakness of the Government mechanism and lack of continuity in plans to combat violence meant that domestic and sexual violence could not be overcome, as there was a lack of understanding for the need for policies to continue beyond an administration.

Statements on Burundi

BEATRICE NTARE, CEDEF said Burundian women had concerns on five basic points: discrimination in the legal area, legal gaps, gender-based violence, trafficking in women and girls, and discrimination in women’s situation in political parties. Some elements of legal discrimination were not contained in the governmental report. Burundian nationality was in principle transmitted by the father, and only through women in exceptional circumstances. The penal code treated men and women differently for adultery. Maternity was considered a social function. There were legal gaps including on the law of inheritance and matrimonial regimes. Gender-based violence had doubled since the submission of the report, and legislation was lacking in this regard, with significant gaps. The practice of arrangements contributed to making it an every day thing. Elements of trafficking were not yet recognised, such as the large scale of trafficking to Lebanon. The electoral code was poorly interpreted, and women were discriminated against simply due to their gender. The Government, as guarantor of the implementation of the Convention, should take a wide range of measures to remedy the situation, including a national policy to combat gender-based violence.

LUCIE MEICANA, of Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture, said the Constitution of Burundi did include the Convention, but there were gaps in laws, and women were not always covered. Gender inequality was the cause of much violence, and there was trivialization of such crimes. The Government had not established a national policy, or any strategy to remove the obstacles to changing the situation. Violence against women was staggering. There was a persistence of violence in the family and in the community as a whole. There were many cases of State violence against women. Thousands of women lived in desolation and fear. The Government should immediately initiate a law on gender-based violence, and properly ratify the Convention, with a national practice, a data collection system, and a fund to compensate the victims of violence, including medical, legal and psychological assistance.

Statements on Saudi Arabia

AUDREY LEE, International Women’s Rights Action Asia-Pacific, said Saudi Arabia did not allow the formation of non-governmental organizations for the purpose of women’s rights. The Ministry of Social Affairs declined to give these organizations permits. The priority issues facing women in Saudi Arabia were encapsulated in five trends: their lack of legal status and ability; women’s participation in public affairs - no women could participate in public affairs, including elections, despite the Government’s promises; women’s education policy included discrimination against women, who were characterised as inferior, and had a different curricula, nor was their obligatory education for girls; women were prevented from working in many professions, in particular where they could not be separated from men; and family law, as in the absence of codified Family Law and the hostile atmosphere in Sharia courts, women suffered from many disadvantages in a wide range of fields, including custody of children and divorce.

FARIDA DEIF, Human Rights Watch, said there was systemic and widespread discrimination against Saudi women, which seriously restricted their rights, and impeded them from exercising a place in society. The Government’s role in establishing and enforcing male guardianship and sex segregation was ambiguous - there appeared to be no written decrees on the two issues, and yet their application was universal. On access to education, the access of women and girls depended on the good will of male guardians, who needed to give permission. On the right to employment, Saudi women were marginalised almost to the point of exclusion from the workforce. Saudi women’s fundamental right to health was also jeopardised by male guardianship, which also made it nearly impossible for the victims of domestic violence to seek protection or criminal redress. In terms of freedom of movement, no country restricted the movement of women more than Saudi Arabia.

OPHELI NAMIECH, United Nations Watch, said there was gross and systematic violation of the principles of the Convention in Saudi Arabia. Violence against foreign women was also endemic, and women suffered from discrimination which prevented them from achieving a fair trial. Such issues also covered such cases as that of the “girl from Qatif”, pardoned only after international outcry. These cases illustrated the gross violations of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia, in contravention of the Convention.

Statements on France

NICOLE RENAULT, European Lobby for Women La Clef, said there should be an institutional context in which the Convention applied, including women’s participation in public life, continuation of harmful prejudices, participation of women in work, and violence against women. The Convention was integrated in French law, but was still widely unknown. Legislation rarely referred to it, and jurisprudence never had. A constitutional review should be undertaken to ensure equality at the legislative and other levels. Institutionally speaking, setting up a higher authority to combat discrimination was major progress, but it lacked representation of women’s organizations. On the participation of women in public and political life, many women had entered these. Pecuniary sanctions to parties that did not respect parity were not sufficiently persuasive. There was persistence of sexist stereotypes - sexism and machismo were present everywhere, including vocabulary, discriminatory names for women, negative imagery in the media and advertising, and others, including school manuals imposing traditional views of women. Women also suffered from negative employment conditions, in particular foreign women. Violence against women was present throughout society, in the streets and in private.

NICOLE SAFI, French Human Rights and Citizens League, said with regards to trafficking, on the legislative level, there had been real progress in France - in 2003, the Penal Code included for the first time a definition of trafficking, and this definition had been improved in 2007. All forms of direct exploitation by traffickers themselves were punished. However, the legislation of 2003 was not yet known nor applied by judges, and no sentences had been handed down in this regard. Secondly, trafficking concerned essentially women of foreign origin, who on their arrival were viewed as coming under the legislation on aliens. There was no legal entitlement to residence permits, nor could women press charges against traffickers until 2007, nor on traffickers not resident in France. They were treated like clandestine migrants, and not victims of human rights violations. Further, there were no rehabilitation programmes, and facilities were extremely limited.

Questions and Comments by Committee Members

In questions and comments, Committee Members asked, among other things, what the Burundian NGOs thought of women’s machinery in the country, including the Parliamentary Commission on Gender Issues, and whether it really played a role; what was the practice on amicable settlements with regards to cases of rape and to what level were they officially encouraged by the judicial authorities; on Bolivia, whether details could be given on the situation with regards to femicide, and whether the figures were due to inadequate laws, further, what was the response of the judiciary; whether it was only older women who lacked identity documents, or whether other women also lacked these; on France, issues related to the law on defamation and criminal libel; whether the Government respected traditional and religious law in certain fields with regards to immigrants, as this was not the impression given by the Government’s report; on Saudi Arabia, whether in finding the facts in that country, Human Rights Watch could have come across some undercurrents of change, such as the establishment of the National Commission on Human Rights, and whether this had had any impact on the discussion of the protection and promotion of human rights; and questions related to figures on the participation of women in the labour force.

Response by Non-Governmental Organizations

Responding to the questions on Bolivia, NGO speakers said that with regards to impunity or the lack of State intervention, in the few cases that had been taken to court, because of the problem of evidence and economic resources for victims, as well as the delays in investigation, even where there had been a conviction, the guilty had continued to enjoy impunity. The provisions of the Convention had been disseminated primarily through NGOs - international human rights instruments had only been incorporated in the discourse of the judicial system since the establishment of the Constitutional Court, which latter was now headless. With regards to domestic violence, laws were preventive rather than punitive. The mechanisms established by the law had not, however, been made effective, as the State was not interested in combating domestic violence, although the issue was raised from time to time. To obtain identification papers, there was a need for various papers, and many women did not have these, as well as being illiterate, and often suffering from language problems, as indigenous women did not speak Spanish, which was the official language of the country.

On Burundi, NGO speakers said in 2003, a national gender policy had been adopted, with the aim of reducing the amount of discrimination that women suffered under. In practice, since 2003, the machinery of this policy had not seen the light of day, and only existed on paper. Further, it was only relevant to a couple of Ministries today, whereas it had been intended as a global measure to cover all national areas. The Gender Commission in the National Assembly was also in charge of AIDS related issues, and others, as well as the situation of women. It should be examining all legislation to ensure that gender equality was maintained, but this was far from being the case. On women’s representation in the national assembly, the Constitution stipulated that there should be 30 per cent representation at the higher levels - however, at the local and regional level, there were no such requirements. On amicable settlement in cases of sexual violence, this took place in the grassroots level, in villages, and even among police officials and the magistracy, which latter encouraged amicable arrangements to have the matter brushed under the carpet, mainly through a financial settlement. Corruption was rife in this area.

Responding to the questions on Saudi Arabia, NGO representatives said on undercurrents of change, the establishment of the new bodies had been an important step forward. The National Human Rights Institution was the only human rights institution in the country, and was an excellent body, which had done great work, but it faced serious obstacles in terms of combating violence against women. Participation of women in the labour force was a very tricky issue, and the Government possibly included inflated figures in the report, possibly by including the participation of foreign domestic workers. There were no female judges, public prosecutors, or law enforcement personnel, as there were no female practicing lawyers who could be drawn upon.

With regards to questions raised on France, speakers said the law defined sexual harassment very narrowly, and this was why the charge of slander or false witness was very grave, as it could be made against the victim. Women didn’t tend to make claims of sexual harassment, as it was thus a risky business. The definition of sexual harassment should be broadened in terms of European directives. Customary law had to be in line with the principles of French civil law, and could be applied as long as it was; however, the Government should be clearer on the nature of civil and custom law, as these could violate the principle of equality between men and women as stipulated in civil law.

Experts then asked further follow-up questions, to which speakers responded very briefly.

National Human Rights Institution

MICHEL FROST, National Consultative Committee for Human Rights of France, said for the last two years, the French institution had been more and more and better and better involved in France’s drafting of reports to the treaty bodies, although there was still room for improvement. A lot of the Institution’s comments had been taken up, and it was felt that this improved the quality and coverage of the report to the Committee. However, the Institution regretted it had not been consulted on the draft response to questions received, as this would have allowed it to correct mistakes, and fill in gaps. On reservations, the Institution regretted that the reservation on article 13C had not been lifted, and regretted the incompleteness of the reply on the reservation on article 16. The question of reservations to conventions was an important matter, and the Institution would soon be publishing a study on all of France’s reservations to its treaty obligations. On the application of the Convention by the French judiciary, the reply given by the Government was meaningless, and the Institution believed this would be remedied during the meeting, as it had clearly been botched. There was a gap on how France intended to implement the Convention with regards to overseas communities. On violence against migrant women, the Institution welcomed the replies, which were in alignment with the reservations it had made in the past.

In questions, Expert asked, among other things, with regards to the reservation on article 6, what was the opinion of the Institution as to whether this reservation was compatible with the objective and purpose of the Convention; whether the Institution was based on the Paris Principles; and what had been the nature of its substantive involvement in the report.

Responding, Mr. Frost said that the Institution considered that the way in which the written replies had been formulated was quite unsatisfactory. The Institution hoped to improve the quality and coverage of reports.

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