Non-governmental Organizations Brief the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on the Situation of Women’s Rights in Bahrain, Mauritania and Costa Rica

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women this afternoon heard from representatives of non-governmental organizations about the situation of women’s rights in Bahrain, Mauritania and Costa Rica, whose reports the Committee will review this week. The Committee will also review the periodic report of Slovenia, but no non-governmental organizations spoke on the situation in that country.

In relation to Bahrain, speakers raised concerns about women’s lack of protection from domestic violence, patriarchal laws, and the prevalence of early marriage, among other issues.

Concerning Mauritania, speakers highlighted, among other issues, women and the death penalty, female genital mutilation, and Mauritanian family laws.

On Costa Rica, speakers addressed issues including the rights of the lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer population and abortion.

The following non-governmental organizations spoke on Bahrain: Bahrain Women Union, Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain, Musawah, Salam for Democracy and Human Rights, and Bahrain Centre for Human Rights.

The following non-governmental organizations spoke on Mauritania: Association Mauritanienne des Droits de l'Homme, Association Mauritanienne de la Mère et de l’Enfant, Voix Des Femmes, and AMPDH. APLCI and Association Mauritanienne d’Appui aux Nécessiteux spoke but the sound quality was too poor for interpretation

The following non-governmental organizations spoke on behalf of Costa Rica: Groupo de Trabajo de Agenda CEDAW, Mulabi/Espacio Latinoamericano de Sexualidades y Derechos, and Centro de derechos reproductivos.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women’s eighty-fourth session is being held from 6 to 24 February. All the documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found on the session’s webpage. Meeting summary releases can be found here. The webcast of the Committee’s public meetings can be accessed via the UN Web TV webpage.

The Committee will next meet in public at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 14 February to review the fourth periodic report of Bahrain (CEDAW/C/BHR/4).

Opening Remarks by the Chair

ANA PELÁEZ NARVÁEZ, Committee Chairperson, said this was the second opportunity during the current session for non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions to provide information on States parties whose reports were being considered during the second week of the session – Bahrain, Mauritania, Slovenia and Costa Rica.

Discussion with Non-governmental Organizations from Bahrain, Mauritania and Costa Rica

Concerning Bahrain, Bahrain Women Union said it was important that the provisions of national legislation were aligned with the Convention. The Women's Union and women's associations had not received any financial support for the past three years from the Ministry of Social Development, but the official report claimed otherwise. The current non-governmental organization law issued in 1989 was still enforced despite restrictions, but a series of circulars negatively affected women's and civil work. Bahrain was called on to scrap the non-governmental organization law, and to adopt an advanced law for civil society organizations that guaranteed freedom and independence.

Laws including the Family Law, the Protection from Domestic Violence Law, article 353 of the Penal Code, which exonerated perpetrators of rape from punishment if they married their victim, and the Bahraini Nationality Law, had many shortcomings. There was a need to review and close these legislative gaps to ensure gender equality. Legislation on the status of women at work needed to be reviewed to take into account the increasing unemployment rates among women, which amounted to 77 per cent. The situation of women working in the informal economy should also be addressed. Bahrain Women Union recommended amending the Family Code and the Bahraini Nationality Law to grant Bahraini women married to foreigners the right to pass on their nationality to their children, and repealing article 353 of the Penal Code.

Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain raised concerns about the dire situation faced by women in Bahrain with regards to domestic violence and human rights abuses. Despite repeated calls by international organizations and the Committee, Bahrain had failed to adopt laws that protected women from domestic violence and provided them with legal protection mechanisms. Women who faced violence at the hands of family members had no means to report such incidents without exposing themselves to retaliation. Bahrain had ignored the demands of the Committee to investigate the documented violations faced by female activists, journalists, and human rights defenders, including travel bans, arbitrary detention, torture, and sexual harassment. The Committee was urged to pressure Bahrain to adopt laws that protected women from domestic violence and to hold perpetrators accountable for human rights abuses.

Musawah asserted that Bahrain’s family laws remained fundamentally patriarchal, and that the State continued to justify its discriminatory family laws by stating that they were based on the ‘Islamic Sharia’. Musawah reiterated that there were juristic tools and concepts that existed within Muslim legal theory that could be used to reform discriminatory Muslim laws. Musawah encouraged Bahrain to review and amend all discriminatory family laws, including laws relating to marriage, the age of marriage, divorce, child custody and guardianship, and inheritance. The organization urged Bahrain to consider withdrawing its reservation to article 16 of Convention, as without equality in the family, there could be no equality in society.

Salam for Democracy and Human Rights said since 2017, women human rights defenders in Bahrain had been increasingly subjected to arrests without warrants, denial of legal representation, and interrogations entailing physical and psychological abuse, sometimes amounting to torture. Salam for Democracy and Human Rights called on Bahrain to stop prosecuting, abusing, and silencing women, and called on the Government to adopt gender-sensitive policies, including quotas and training, to end gender-based violence and discrimination within the criminal justice system.

Bahrain Centre for Human Rights said in Bahrain the law set the marriage age for women at 16 years, and girls could be married even younger than that with the permission of the court. The legal age of marriage should be strictly changed to 18. Women in Bahrain also suffered from many violations that disputed their rights guaranteed by international law. For example, women in Bahrain were unable to grant Bahraini nationality to their children from their foreign husbands, even if divorced. Women were also subjected to indirect violations. For instance, if the husband was arrested, the wife would be deprived of general rights. Bahrain Centre for Human Rights requested that the Government develop and implement equality and protection programmes to prevent gender-based violence and discrimination.

Concerning Mauritania, Association Mauritanienne des Droits de l'Homme said Mauritania continued to sentence women to death, and they were victims of intersectional discrimination. Although only one woman was on death row, the risk of being sentenced to death was particularly high for women, where the criminal justice system continued to discriminate against them. This discrimination could be seen in access to a fair trial, often denied to the women sentenced to death, who were usually from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds and did not speak Arabic, which was the language of the trial. The Committee should recommend that Mauritania take all measures to move towards the abolition of the death penalty; ensure that the criminal justice system took full account of all mitigating circumstances related to women's backgrounds; promote mandatory training on gender-based discrimination and violence; and adopt the draft law on the protection of women and girls against all forms of violence.

Association Mauritanienne de la Mère et de l’Enfant said Mauritanian women continued to suffer from all forms of violence. Sexual violence reached its peak during the COVID 19 pandemic with the sharp rise of femicide following domestic violence. The phenomenon was further aggravated by the lack of effective legislation to protect women from these grave violations. Female genital mutilation was also practiced, with statistics showing that 66 per cent of girls under five had undergone some form of female genital mutilation, and 40 per cent of those surveyed had undergone early marriage. Mauritania should adopt the Gender Based Violence Bill, and accelerate the revision of the Personal Status Code by harmonising it with the provisions of Convention and the Maputo Protocol. A strategy should also be developed to protect women in times of crisis. Among other measures, a comprehensive national database on sexual exploitation and abuse needed to be established, as well as a specific body to assist victims of sexual exploitation and abuse. The Mauritanian Government should also grant at least 33 per cent of parliament, diplomacy and command posts to women, and ensure that 33 per cent of all magistrates were women.

Voix Des Femmes said Mauritanian family laws remained fundamentally patriarchal, and the implementation of favourable policies for women remained a challenge. Women could not get married without the consent of their guardian, and child marriage continued to be an issue. Discriminatory provisions still existed regarding custody and guardianship of children, divorce provisions, as well as a woman’s right to confer citizenship to her spouse and children. Polygamy was still legal and practiced in the country. Voix Des Femmes was concerned that the Mauritanian Parliament failed to pass the draft law on violence against women in 2016 because it was in conflict with ‘Shariah law’. The Committee should urge Mauritania to urgently pass the draft law on violence against women proposed in 2016, and ensure the implementation of all policies, plans and programmes mentioned by Mauritania in their report. Mauritania should also withdraw its reservation to article 16 of Convention and make efforts to comply with all of its international human rights obligations.

APLCI spoke but the sound quality was too poor for interpretation.

Association Mauritanienne d’Appui aux Nécessiteux spoke but the sound quality was too poor for interpretation.

AMPD said the United Nations Charter reaffirmed the laws on the fundamental rights of the men and women, and also noted that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reaffirmed the principle of non-discrimination. In this context, it was important to specify that the Mauritanian woman and girl needed to have all their rights, and should not be prevented from accessing a good education. The State party should adopt the bill which aimed to prevent violence against women and girls.

On Costa Rica, Groupo de Trabajo de Agenda CEDAW said there had been a constant questioning of the legitimacy of the structures and mechanisms for the recognition of human rights in Costa Rica, in particular populations which had been historically disregarded, such as women. The Ombudsperson’s Office, historically, had been a State institution that supported civil society. However, in the last four years, this support was restricted until it disappeared. A recommendation should be issued on the importance of actions by the Ombudsperson’s Office for the defence of human rights, in conjunction with civil society and within the framework of the Convention. Despite having repeatedly requested the support of the Ombudsperson’s Office and other State institutions since 2017, there was still no mechanism and protocol for the protection of women human rights defenders. Not only was there no guarantee of access to justice, but the Costa Rican justice system reproduced discriminatory practices against victims of violence, including State violence. Special State protection actions for minority groups, including indigenous women, rural women, and women with disabilities, among others, was also requested.

Mulabi/Espacio Latinoamericano de Sexualidades y Derechos said testimonies had been received about conversion therapies, where people were subjected against their will to procedures that sought to modify or annul sexual orientation or gender identity. Although the bill 20,970, sought to prohibit such “therapies", religious councils presented motions to block its approval. The Labour Code was expanded, prohibiting all discrimination at work. None of the grounds for discrimination included discrimination based on gender identity, even though trans people continued to be discriminated against in workspaces. Costa Rica should prohibit and penalise any action that sought to modify the sexual orientation or gender identity of lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer people. Costa Rica should also generate State policies aimed at promoting the employment of the transgender population. The Ministry of Labour was urged to carry out studies on complaints and administrative processes in workplaces on acts of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. It should also be guaranteed that intersex people were not subjected to surgeries without their consent.

Centro de derechos reproductivos said the Committee had recommended that Costa Rica consider abortion as a legal procedure, and five years later, this still had not occurred. None of the recommendations had been adhered to. The Costa Rican Demographic Association estimated that there were about 27,000 induced abortions per year in Costa Rica; a rate of 22.3 abortions per thousand women between the ages of 15 and 49, as well as an average of 38 abortions per 100 live births. All of this was outside the formal health system.

The lack of data was a key factor that prevented a serious public policy on abortion. The lack of access to voluntary termination of pregnancy for women and girls had serious consequences, including physical harm, unwanted pregnancies, maternal mortality, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and suicide, among others. The Committee was asked to escalate the language of the recommendation to Costa Rica to legalise abortion, in line with the World Health Organization recommendations, and to adopt measures to address it as a public health issue and not as a criminal law issue.

Questions by Committee Experts

A Committee Expert said it was a pity that there were no non-governmental organizations from Slovenia present. In Mauritania, what was happening regarding legislation on abortion? How was legislation on reproductive rights implemented?

One Committee Expert asked about the stereotypical conditions in which Costa Rica violated article 5?
Another Expert asked about comprehensive sex education in Costa Rica. Could more information be provided?

An Expert asked about the inappropriate relations law? Did this fly in the face of human rights as a piece of legislation?