HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL HOLDS ANNUAL DISCUSSION ON THE INTEGRATION OF A GENDER PERSPECTIVE IN THE WORK OF THE COUNCIL

The Human Rights Council this morning held its annual discussion on the integration of a gender perspective in its work. The panel discussed how well the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms had integrated a gender perspective into their work, and identified lessons-learned, obstacles, shortcomings and challenges to the integration of a gender perspective throughout the work of the Council.

Introducing the panel discussion, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kyung-Wha Kang said the theme of today's discussion tied in very well with the review of the work of the Council, to be undertaken over the next few months. In order to properly internalise a gender perspective, and make it an integral part of the work done, there was a need to be prepared to embrace profound change, and this must be actively fostered. Attention to the goal of gender equality had to be central to all activities - policy development, research, advocacy/dialogue, legislation, resource allocation and planning, implementation and monitoring of programmes and projects. The establishment of a new mechanism on discriminatory laws and practices would be a further step in the Council's work to strengthen the protection of women's rights per se, and would also contribute to an analysis which would underpin further gender integration, Ms. Kang concluded.

Panellist Emmanuel Decaux, Member of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee, said that even if the Advisory Committee was far from being gender balanced, all its members were mobilized by the question of integrating a gender perspective in the work of the Council. The Council asked the Advisory Committee to set up draft guidelines on ways to improve gender mainstreaming in the work of the Council, which did not come to immediate fruition. Mr. Decaux reiterated the need to look at the qualitative side of women’s rights and not just the quantitative statistics, strengthen the complementarity of all United Nations bodies working on the issue of gender equality and incorporate a gender perspective into all United Nations Agencies, not just in New York and Geneva but also in the field.

Panellist Roberto Garreton, Member of the Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, said that the approach and the understanding of the concept of gender integration were not entirely clear and suggested instead the use of the concept of the right to security, which was a human right of greatest importance. Women must enjoy security in order not to be victims of violations and discrimination, he said. If security was a human right, then States had an obligation to ensure and respect security of all. Public policy with gender focus, based on the right to security of women, meant that the State must prosecute acts of insecurity against women based on law and the principle of fair trial. It would also mean that policies on health and education would be stronger in recognising the rights and needs of women in those sectors.

Panellist Florence Simbiri-Jaoko, Chairperson, Kenyan National Human Rights Commission and Vice President of the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions, said that crucial to gender integration was the need for disaggregated data, information and analysis, which should enable States and other stakeholders to identify gaps and look for appropriate interventions. The Universal Periodic Review was a critical tool for both the State and stakeholders to have a forum for constructive engagement on human rights issues and the implementation of agreed recommendations. Ms. Simbiri-Jaoko then made specific recommendations on integrating a gender perspective to Universal Periodic Review, Human Rights Council, Special Procedures and States.

Panellist Cynthia Rothschild, Independent Gender Expert, said there were many lessons learned from the last few years of attention, or lack thereof, to the integration of a gender perspective in the Council’s work. Some lessons were complicated and nuanced, which others reflected common sense. The Universal Periodic Review process deserved a greater focus on gender analysis and the experience of women, she said, while States should use a consistent gendered lens in their reviews, reports and recommendations. Furthermore, Special Procedures mandate holders should receive additional gender related training. Ms. Rothschild concluded by reiterating the need for resources as a reflection of the political commitment to integrate gender perspectives into its work.

Panellist Jane Hodges, Director, Bureau for Gender Integration, International Labour Organization, outlined the gender integration model in the International Labour Organization, from vision, to policy, plans and tools. The vision was clarified in the 2009 Conclusions on Gender Equality at the Heart of Decent Work. The 1999 Office Policy on gender mainstreaming set up an accountability framework for achieving the goal of gender equality in the areas of staffing, structures and substance, while various Action Plans on gender equality adopted under the policy testified to the seriousness of integrating gender into all aspects of the organization’s mandate and at all levels. Ms. Hodges concluded by saying that the new United Nations Women was an excellent opportunity for delivering results for women and men in the field.

In the ensuing discussion, speakers agreed that today's discussion was an opportunity to evaluate ongoing progress, and pinpoint existing challenges. In spite of ongoing efforts by the international community, the achievements had been modest, and there was a need for a coherent and collegial approach to further empower women in society. Protecting and promoting the rights of women was the responsibility of the whole system, so the Council, when carrying out its own gender-based activities, could not function in isolation, and without taking account of the gender-based reform of the United Nations system as a whole. When UN-Women became operational, it would enhance, not replace, the work of other parts of the United Nations system, speakers said. The Human Rights Council and the new body would both benefit from coordination and the achievements gained. Gender integration should be seen not only from the human rights or social dimension, but also from the development perspective, as women all over the world could help achieve the Millennium Development Goals and reduce poverty. Further efforts should be made to combat sexual violence, and it was urgent to act in this regard. There were no quick-fix solutions or ready-made answers in the elimination of discrimination against women. In fact, according to some speakers, the very basis of discrimination against women had not yet been fully addressed in the Human Rights Council. As such, several delegations mentioned their support for the creation of a new mechanism to deal with the issue of discrimination against women. This mechanism could focus on the legal aspects of gender equality and could help guide States in their adoption of more gender-sensitive and gender-balanced legislation.

Speaking in the discussion were the representatives of Chile, France, Viet Nam on behalf of ASEAN, Costa Rica on behalf of the Group of Latin American And Caribbean Countries, Russian Federation, Indonesia, United States, Philippines, Argentina, European Union, Republic of Korea, Norway, Thailand, Brazil, Syria on behalf of the Arab Group, Turkey, Switzerland, Iran, Iraq, Slovenia, Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Conference, Paraguay, Mexico, Azerbaijan, New Zealand, Lithuania, Morocco, Australia, Japan, Bangladesh, African Union, Ukraine, Tunisia and the Maldives.

Also speaking were Worldwide Organization of Women and Centro Regional de Derechos Humanos y Justicia de Genero-Corporiacion Humanas.

This afternoon at 3 p.m., the Council will hold a general debate on follow-up to and implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action.

Opening Statement

KYUNG-WHA KANG, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, introducing the panel discussion, said the discussion should be of the highest calibre. The Human Rights Council was explicitly called upon to integrate attention to gender perspectives related to all issues on its agenda, including in the development of its methods of work. The Council had reaffirmed its commitment to effectively integrate the human rights of women and the gender perspective in its work and that of its mechanisms. Evaluating its own work, and suggesting ways of improvement, was an innovative step. Past annual discussions had focused on Special Procedures and the Universal Periodic Review - the theme of today's discussion was “lessons learned, shortcomings and future challenges 2007-2010”, and this tied in very well with the review of the work of the Council, to be undertaken over the next few months. Women around the world continued to be discriminated against, and constituted the majority of the poorest and disempowered, with limited access to rights, resources and opportunities. The Council had and should continue to tackle this on two fronts, deepening and expanding the attention given to the scope of the thematic issues lying at the core of gender discrimination.

In order to properly internalise a gender perspective, and make it an integral part of the work done, there was a need to be prepared to embrace profound change, and this must be actively fostered. For the Office as well as for the Council, effectively ensuring gender integration involved ensuring that gender perspectives and attention to the goal of gender equality were central to all activities - policy development, research, advocacy/dialogue, legislation, resource allocation and planning, implementation and monitoring of programmes and projects. The process of integrating a gender perspective could uncover a need for changes in goals, strategies and actions to ensure that both women and men were in a position to influence, participate in, and benefit from development processes. The work of integrating a gender perspective began with the acknowledgement that gender equality was not only a goal but must also be made an integral aspect of sustainable human development and the achievement of human rights for all. The establishment of a new mechanism on discriminatory laws and practices would be a further step in the Council's work to strengthen protection of women's rights per se, and would also contribute to an analysis which would underpin further gender integration.

EMMANUEL DECAUX, Member of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee, said that even if the Advisory Committee was far from being gender balanced, all members, men and women alike, were mobilized by the question of integrating a gender perspective in the work of the Council. One of the strengths of the Advisory Committee was its ability to unite men and women, hailing from all continents and walks of life, to think collectively in the constant search of consensus. The role of the Committee was to address the major challenges in the field of universal human rights, without distinction to race, gender, language or religion.

It was also worth noting that even prior to the establishment of the Advisory Committee, the Sub-Commission had fought long and hard to devote attention to the fundamental rights of women and their work. The Sub-Commission had undertaken a number of studies on gender discrimination and violence against women. The Advisory Committee continued in the path of the Sub-Commission on various issues, including the persons affected by leprosy, the right to food and missing persons, throughout which a perspective on women’s rights and gender equality was always maintained. Along these lines, the Advisory Committee was asked by the Human Rights Council to set up draft guidelines on ways to improve gender mainstreaming in the work of the Council. However, this did not come to immediate fruition and only led to a statement from the President stating the need to examine the issue further in the context of the next sessions of the Human Rights Council. Mr. Decaux reiterated the need to look at the qualitative side of women’s rights and not just the quantitative statistics. It was equally important that the concept of empowerment, which was difficult to translate into French, be integrated into the work of the Council. Finally, there was an urgent need to strengthen the complementarity of all United Nations bodies working on the issue of gender equality and to incorporate a gender perspective into all United Nations Agencies, not just in New York and Geneva but also in the field.

ROBERTO GARRETON, Member of the Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, said that while the incorporation of a gender perspective was crucial to ensure gender equality, this approach and the understanding of the concept of gender integration was not entirely clear. The Special Procedures, which were the eyes and ears of the international community in respect of human rights, had made significant progress in integrating gender in their work, which was much appreciated particularly by members of civil society. In its country visits the Working Group on arbitrary detention always ensured it visited places of detention for both women and men and to conduct gender-focused interviews with women, which would include questions related to gender discrimination and gender-based violence. Mr. Garreton suggested to the Council to take on board the difficulties of the concept of gender perspective and to consider the right to security. This was a human right of greatest importance, which did not have the necessary juridical development. Women must enjoy security in order not to be victims of violations and discrimination, he said.

Security had always been understood as state security, national or public security. The United Nations had seen the emergence of the new concept of human security, centred on individuals and not States. If security was a human right, then States had an obligation to ensure and respect the security of all. Security of some could not be guaranteed through insecurity of others. There must not only be negative but also positive behaviour of States and this should be translated into respect and upholding of all rights of all peoples. Public policy with gender focus, based on the right to security of women, meant that the State must prosecute acts of insecurity against women based on law and the principle of fair trial. It would also mean that policies on health and education would be stronger in recognising the rights and needs of women in those sectors. In closing, Mr. Garreton welcomed the establishment of United Nations Women, which would regroup all functions that were currently been carried out by four agencies and would ensure coordination, coherence and integration of gender perspective throughout United Nations system.

FLORENCE SIMBIRI-JAOKO, Chairperson of the Kenyan National Human Rights Commission and Vice President of the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions, said equality and non-discrimination on the basis of sex were fundamental principles which formed the core of all United Nations human rights instruments which sought to protect women from discrimination and achieve equality between men and women. Crucial to gender integration was the need for disaggregated data, information and analysis, which should enable States and other stakeholders to identify gaps and look for appropriate interventions whether of a policy, legislative or administrative nature. Since its inception, the Human Rights Council had been and continued to play an important role in the promotion of the rights of women and the attainment of gender equality. National human rights institutions had a critical role to play in ensuring that the Human Rights Council's resolution 6/30 became a reality for citizens in Member States.

National human rights institutions considered the Universal Periodic Review to be a critical tool for both the State and stakeholders such as non-governmental organizations, the public and the institutions themselves to have a forum for constructive engagement on human rights issues and the implementation of agreed recommendations, and the significant role played by national human rights institutions in this regard was their ability to have the broader view, while ensuring that key issues that had the potential to derail the national human rights agenda were not lost. The reports of the Special Procedures were taken seriously not only at the national but also the international level, and it was encouraging that they were in all cases expected to take into account gender considerations and to report their findings irrespective of the mandate. Among specific recommendations were: for the Universal Periodic Review to have detailed reviews on what measures States had taken to ensure the realization of the rights of women in terms of the attainment of equality and non-discrimination; for Special Procedures to make specific considerations on gender and make detailed findings and recommendations thereon; for the Human Rights Council to promote sharing and showcase best practices in terms of practical steps taken by States towards the achievement of equality and non-discrimination; and for States parties to have the responsibility of ensuring that general recommendations from treaty bodies, Special Procedures as well as the Universal Periodic Review and other regional mechanisms were implemented in a gender integrated manner through specific measures, which ought to form a basis for an implementation framework and further reporting to the requisite body.

CYNTHIA ROTHSCHILD, Independent Gender Expert, said that she was honoured to be addressing the Council and had been asked to contribute in the absence of Sunila Abeyesekera, who could not be present. There were many lessons learned from the last few years of attention, or lack thereof, to the integration of a gender perspective in the Council’s work. Some lessons were complicated and nuanced, while others reflected common sense. She reminded Members of the Council that there was a decades-long history of the call for richer gender analysis with the United Nations system, with greater attention being given to the real experiences of women and others persecuted because of gender appearance, expression, identity and behaviour. The Vienna Conference led to the concept of “women’s rights are human rights”.
Ms. Rothschild provided certain recommendations for different parts of the Human Rights Council. To begin with, the Universal Periodic Review process deserved a greater focus on gender analysis and the experience of women. States should use a consistent gendered lens in their reviews, reports and recommendations. In terms of Special Procedures, mandate holders should receive additional gender related training, beyond the general information that they now received in their orientations. Moreover, guidance for integrating a gender perspective into working methods should be added within the manual of Special Procedures. States also had a responsibility and should support the creation of a new mandate on laws that discriminated against women, either through active co-sponsorship of the resolution or cooperation with the mandate once it was established. The independent gender expert concluded by reminding members of the Human Rights Council that resources needed to be made available as a reflection of the political commitment to integrate gender perspectives into its work.

JANE HODGES, Director, Bureau for Gender Integration, International Labour Organization, outlined the gender integration model in the International Labour Organization, from vision, to policy, plans and tools. Since the creation of the International Labour Organization in 1919 equality between men and women had been a common thread of policy and had been operationalised throughout the field structure. On the policy level, the vision of the International Labour Organization mandate in the world of work was clarified in the 2009 Conclusions on Gender Equality at the Heart of Decent Work, where gender equality cut across all four strategic objectives. There was a constant need to pay attention to gender concerns, particularly in the times of economic and financial crises and the Global Jobs Pact of 2009 was strong on gender and equality. The International Labour Organization was also examining its own documents and policies and mainstreaming and integrating gender into them, for example there was a text which stated that a director of the International Labour Organization could only be a man.

The 1999 Office Policy on gender mainstreaming set up an accountability framework for achieving the goal of gender equality in three areas: staffing, structures and substance. The various Action Plans on gender equality adopted under the policy testified to the seriousness of integrating gender into all aspects of the International Labour Organization mandate and at all levels. The latest plan for 2011-2012 respected the United Nations elements including accountability, results-based mechanisms, oversight, audit and reporting, necessary and adequate human and financial resources and coherence. To support the Action Plans, various tools such as participatory gender audit assisted in benchmarking progress towards gender equality at the country level. The new United Nations Women was an excellent opportunity not only for delivering results for women and men in the field, but also for enabling a one window entry point for the Decent Work Agenda to influence the United Nations system-wide policy advice on gender equality.

Discussion

In the ensuing discussion, speakers said, among other things, that the Council needed to continue to propose policies to overcome obstacles on the path to democracy and equality. Today's discussion should give specific orientation to plans and open up new spaces for cooperation. The integration of the gender perspective was a universal means of increasing equality. Protecting and promoting the rights of women was the responsibility of the whole system, which should also promote rights and good practices. Empowerment was a prerequisite for the enjoyment of full economic, social and cultural rights and civil and political rights. All mandate holders should continue to integrate the gender perspective in their work. The Council must take an active part in the fight to improve the situation of women's rights. Further efforts should be made to combat sexual violence, and it was urgent to act in this regard. In spite of ongoing efforts by the international community, the achievements had been modest, and there was a need for a coherent and collegial approach to further empower women in society.

The Human Rights Council, when carrying out its own gender-based activities, could not function in isolation, and without taking account of the gender-based reform of the United Nations system as a whole. It also needed to consider how to organize the discussion within the sessions more effectively. Today's discussion was a good opportunity to evaluate ongoing progress, and pinpoint existing challenges. The Council should dedicate itself to ensuring that women everywhere could enjoy their rights - women's rights were human rights. When UN-Women became operational, it would enhance, not replace, the work of other parts of the United Nations system, and the Human Rights Council and the new body would both benefit from coordination and the achievements gained. Gender integration should be seen not only from the human rights or social dimension, but also from the development perspective, as women all over the world could help achieve the Millennium Development Goals and reduce poverty. Women should not be seen as victims. Actions should be made to contribute to applying the agreements obtained internationally in preventing and punishing violence against women, speakers said.

Speaking were Chile, France, Viet Nam on behalf of ASEAN, Costa Rica on behalf of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries, Russian Federation, Indonesia, United States, Philippines, Argentina, European Union, Republic of Korea, Norway, Thailand, Brazil, Syria on behalf of the Arab Group, Turkey, and Switzerland. Also speaking were the following non-governmental organizations (NGOs) Worldwide Organization of Women, and Centro Regional de Derechos Humanos y Justicia de Genero- Corporiacion Humanas.

In the second part of the discussion, speakers said, among other things, that they hoped that work on gender equality would be rooted in the cultural and moral values of nations, whilst avoiding unnecessary duplication in the work of the different mandates. Moreover, there was a need to enhance the power of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and to encourage States to implement its recommendations. There were no quick-fix solutions or ready-made answers in the elimination of discrimination against women. In fact, according to some speakers, the very basis of discrimination against women had not yet been fully addressed in the Human Rights Council. As such, several delegations mentioned their support for the creation of a new mechanism to deal with the issue of discrimination against women. This mechanism could focus on the legal aspects of gender equality and could help guide States in their adoption of more gender-sensitive and gender-balanced legislation. Women from different cultures, and mainly from the developing world, should also play a more active role and be more appropriately represented in the Council.

Many delegations also highlighted the importance of the annual discussion on integrating a gender perspective in the work of the Human Rights Council. The annual discussion was a testament to the significance of women’s rights and provided a platform for States to reflect on the progress that had been made in the course of the previous year. However, the discussion should not merely be an occasion to repeat the same mantra of commitment to women’s rights and needed to reflect real progress made on the ground, in the daily lives of women around the world. In addition, speakers welcomed the recent establishment of UN Women and expressed their commitment to working closely with that new UN entity, which would help to consolidate global efforts in the protection of women’s rights. A number of suggestions were made, including the need for panels on this topic to include experts that could provide insight, recommendations and best practices on the issue of women’s rights. Finally, Member States of the Council needed to exhibit greater solidarity in eliminating laws that discriminated against women.

Speaking were Iran, Iraq, Slovenia, Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Paraguay, Mexico, Azerbaijan, New Zealand, Lithuania, Morocco, Australia, Japan, Bangladesh, African Union, Ukraine, Tunisia and the Maldives.

JANE HODGES, Director, Bureau for Gender Integration, International Labour Organization, in closing remarks, referred to the question related to the promotion of good practices in the integration of gender and said that the first condition was the political will. Without political will no changes would happen. There was positive experience with the institution of champions, and patience was also needed as well. The main message here, she underlined, was the need for consistency and inclusiveness. An organization had to have vision, policy, plan and tools. Staffing was indispensable too and nothing could happen without resources. The importance of getting sex disaggregated data in the International Labour Organization was possible by strengthening national statistic agencies, which were collecting and analysing the necessary data related to employment, joblessness and others.

CYNTHIA ROTHSCHILD, Independent Gender Expert, said there was a question asking for additional information on gender integration for the Special Procedures, and the latter needed to ensure that they heard the voices of activists, women, and special groups, but also needed to be clear on why they did not listen to some voices. A delegation had mentioned gender as an "add-on", and there was often a "gender paragraph" in a document, and that was insufficient. However, UN Women was born from paragraph 59 of the Outcome Document of the 2005 World Summit. She had been involved in the development of the new body since that time, and was enthusiastic - all she wished to say was that it needed substantial, regular and predictable funding in order to do its job properly.

FLORENCE SIMBIRI-JAOKO, Chairperson of the Kenyan National Human Rights Commission and Vice President of the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions, in her closing remarks, said that it had been an interesting annual discussion and she thanked everyone for their valuable contributions. She reiterated that it was important that the points raised in these high-level discussions were translated to efforts and progress in the field. In closing, Ms. Simbiri-Jaoko agreed with the statements made by the Philippines and the United States that women’s rights were human rights.

ROBERTO GARRETON, Member of the Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, said that improving the relations between Special Procedures and Special Rapporteurs was important. He gave the example of the Code of Conduct: gender integration had not been included in it, although it was an opportunity to do so. The Code of Conduct should not impose limitations on Special Rapporteurs, but should empower them to do their work better. There was a need to recognise that the Special Procedures were the eyes and ears of the United Nations on the question of human rights and their mandates must be strengthened with gender perspective and obligation to work on gender questions. It would be very important to have a Special Rapporteur on discriminatory laws and one example in this respect could be a Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism that also had the mandate to examine the laws in relation to terrorism. There must be a broader perspective and longer-term vision, Mr Garreton said. Over the last 20 years there had been considerable progress that fed aspirations and required further progress.

EMMANUEL DECAUX, Member of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee, said he regretted that there was no time to go into more detail, but on the composition of the bodies, particularly the Advisory Committee, there was a very simple idea with no financial implications, that was to reduce the number of alternates. With regard to the comments by Chile, for example, the Advisory Committee was prepared - it began its work under resolution 6/30, but this was then suspended, and it was awaiting a clear signal from the Presidency to relaunch these reflections, which had started off well, with a strong involvement and commitment from the Advisory Committee Members. Even if the request had to be reframed to "identifying lacunae and seeking good practices", then this could be undertaken very seriously. The Advisory Committee did not think that women were so much vulnerable, but more actors for change, and wanted to ensure a full application of human rights of all women, avoiding double discrimination and the feminisation of poverty, and changing the international agenda with an improvement of the situation in society. For that to be done, the first thing was to have a legal inventory to ensure there was no divorce between international law and domestic law, and the mandate of a Special Rapporteur was very important in this regard. There should be a new dynamic, and something had to happen in Geneva in terms of coordination with New York.

SIHASAK PHUANGKETKEOW, President of the Human Rights Council, thanked the speakers for the interesting discussion and echoed the sentiment of some of the speakers that while the vision was important, implementing change on the ground needed to remain at the focus of any discussion on eliminating discrimination against women.


For use of the information media; not an official record

HRC10/108E