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SUBCOMMISSION HEARS REPORTS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN, DENUNCIATIONS OF ALL FORMS OF GENDER BIAS
13 August 1999
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AFTERNOON
HR/SC/99/14
13 August 1999
The Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights continued its examination this afternoon of the implementation of human rights with regard to women, hearing remarks from a number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) calling, among other things, for greater efforts to end abuses of women’s rights by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan; for further progress in ending female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to the health of women and girls; and for greater protection of women in times of armed conflict.
A representative of the Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation said Afghani women had been abducted and raped by members of various warring factions in the country and under the Taliban regime had been denied access to health care, education, employment and humanitarian aid, as well as freedom of movement.
A representative of the International Movement for Fraternal Union Among Races and Peoples, speaking on behalf of the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children, said women and girls continued to suffer from harmful traditional practices, including genital mutilation, while, too often, Governments showed little conviction about ending such abuses. Change was possible if Governments and United Nations agencies were committed to it, this speaker said.
And a spokesperson for France Libertes - Fondation Danielle Mitterrand said rape had been used as a means of ethnic cleansing during recent conflicts in the Balkans, and women there who had been subjected to rape were in positions of extreme distress, often ostracized by their communities sometimes even expected to commit suicide.
Subcommission Experts and Alternates addressing the meeting were El-Hadji Guisse, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, Gay J. McDougall, and Sang Yong Park.
The following NGOs also delivered statements: Association for World Education; Transnational Radical Party; World Organization against Torture; American Association of Jurists; France-Libertes - Fondation Danielle Mitterand; International Association of Democratic Lawyers; International Confederation of Free Trade Unions; Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation; Asian Women's Human Rights Council; International Movement for Fraternal Union Among Races and Peoples (on behalf of the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children); Liberation; General Arab Women Federation; and European Union of Public Relations.
The Subcommission will reconvene at 10 a.m. Monday, 16 August, to continue its discussion of human rights with regard to women.
Statements
DAVID LITTMAN, of Association for World Education, citing a lecture at Tel Aviv University Law School, said the Universal Declaration of Human Rights had become the standard by which others were judged and by which people judged themselves. While the world community was well aware of the violation of women's human rights based on religious law in Muslim and Catholic countries, Jewish women were also victims of human-rights violations in matters of religious marriage and divorce.
Another topic what was still called traditional practices affecting the health of women and the girl child, which was a shameful euphemism for female genital mutilation. The Association congratulated the Special Rapporteur for her latest report on the issue and trusted that her efforts would aid in the eradication of a plague that should be labelled a crime against women and which should not leave anyone -- male or female -- indifferent.
OLGA CECHUROVA, of Transnational and Transdivisional Radical Party, said the situation of human rights for all persons in Afghanistan, especially women, was constantly degenerating. Referring to the report of the Secretary- General on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, the speaker said Taliban officials insisted that Shariah law must take supremacy over any international covenant or treaty which ran contrary to Shariah law.
Physical violence had likely passed unnoticed and unreported in Afghanistan due to the absence of United Nations agencies. It was the duty of the international community to ensure that those who received its assistance must also have their human rights guaranteed. The United Nations must ensure the protection of women's rights in Afghanistan. With the exception of humanitarian aid, all other assistance and co-operation with the Government in Afghanistan should be suspended until the Government showed respect for the human rights of both men and women.
CARIN BERINGER, of World Organization against Torture, said in some societies violence against women began before birth. After birth, there was continuing violence, with neglect of girls in terms of nutrition, basic health care and education. Girls were more likely to be raped or sexually abused by family members, those in a position of trust or power, or by strangers. Women were not protected from these crimes in Argentina, Bolivia, Pakistan, or Uganda, among other countries.
While there were some encouraging signs of progress in the development and implementation of new legislation and procedures with respect to violence against women, States were overwhelmingly failing in their international as well as national obligations to prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish violence against women. State responsibility for private acts was based upon the State's duty to exercise due diligence in preventing, investigating, prosecuting and punishing violations of human rights wherever they occurred. The different forms of violence against women could be prohibited by an array of international norms, but there was no human-rights treaty that explicitly dealt with gender-specific forms of violence, and this should be remedied.
ADA BERAUN, of American Association of Jurists, said there were unfavorable conditions for women in the labor market. There were issues of inequality regarding wages paid and benefits. Attention should be paid to the excessive workload that women bore. Studies showed that women worked more hours than men. This became difficult for single-parent families.
There was an article that stated that the growing limitations imposed on women had led to deteriorating health conditions. When women could not take on any more work, more assistance was needed from their children. More often than not it was the girls who were brought out of school to help their mothers, ensuring another generation of women who were not educated. As for child labour, children were often sold by parents who could not afford them.
MELANIE LE VERGER, of France Libertes - Fondation Danielle Mitterrand, said the suffering of the women of the Balkans, especially following rape, was a concern. Rape had been used as a means of ethnic cleansing in this region, and women who had been subjected to rape were in positions of extreme distress . In this region, they were often ostracized in their communities; sometimes they were expected to commit suicide. Rape was a crime against humanity according to the list formulated by the Tribunal at the Hague. Men guilty of rape in ex-Yugoslavia should be brought to justice.
Women in Afghanistan were also subject to aggression. They were barred from obtaining educations, and some had not been able to receive medical assistance. Their basic human rights should be upheld.
KIM CHANG HWAN, of International Association of Democratic Lawyers, said women could be a major driving force for social and historical development. However, repression and violation of the dignity and rights of women remained of great concern. Historically, the most shameful violations of human rights were those committed against women. The Subcommission should present practical ways and means for eliminating these abuses completely.
Manifestations of violence against women could be found in the sexual-slavery crimes perpetrated by Japan against Korean and other Asian women during the Second World War. The Subcommission and the international community should urge the Japanese Government to accept legal responsibility for its actions and make due compensation to the victims and their families. Japan should also immediately stop discriminatory policies and human-rights violations affecting Korean residents in Japan.
EL-HADJI GUISSE, Subcommission Expert, said the paper prepared by M. Warzazi was a clear, excellent piece of work that touched on every important point. These practices unfortunately had not disappeared. Time was necessary, as was information, to eradicate such practices. Citizens must be informed about dangers to their own health, both physical and mental. In Africa, there had been legislation, but for some reason, that complicated things. Tradition must not be eradicated through legislation, especially when it criminalized something that used to be part of group behaviour. All criminalization would do was create new criminals, and punish people who did not really intend to commit a crime. A campaign of education was what was necessary. These phenomena should be ended, but not through fear and criminalization.
Girls in some countries did not enjoy the human rights enjoyed by children in other countries. Some were sold. Proper information and not judicial brutality was needed in dealing with these difficulties.
PAULO SERGIO PINHEIRO, Subcommission Expert, praised the work of NGOs and others who were taking an imaginative approach to ending harmful traditional practices against women. In terms of eradicating these practices, there was a delicate balance to be struck between culture and human rights. The cultural implications of the issue should be considered, and the input of NGOs and other groups was useful.
GAY J. MCDOUGALL, Subcommission Alternate Expert, said she would like to focus the attention of the Subcommission on gender. The prevention of all forms of discrimination was required, and special attention should be paid to the human rights of women throughout the international human-rights system. A study should be undertaken. The gender dimension was important in defining the substantive nature of human rights. If the realization of human rights for all was to be achieved, then the systematic and systemic nature of discrimination against women should be taken into account. Consistent and full efforts should be made to identify problems linked to gender. It was important to examine the intersection of aspects of individuality in order to understand how they impaired the full enjoyment of human rights.
There were situations in which racial discrimination would escape detection if there was no examination of the different ways in which genders were discriminated against. It was through acknowledging the gender dimensions of discrimination that programmes for combatting this discrimination could prove effective. Certain issues might not be revealed in an aggregate study. Useful work had been done by the UN in conducting gender analyses, including in the field of racial discrimination. Certain forms of discrimination, such as sexual violence, were directed towards women particularly. Frequently, their situation made them more vulnerable to racial discrimination, too.
In societies with disadvantaged communities, women suffered more than men, for example in terms of wage differences. Gender and race intersected in many ways, and affected women in gender-specific ways, for example in the case of rape during conflict.
ANNA BIONDI BIRD, of International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, said the ICFTU strongly urged the Subcommission to take a stand on the persistent inequality that women faced in the workplace in all regions of the world. A study by the AFL-CIO claimed that if, in the United States, women's pay were equal to that of men's, poverty levels would be cut in half. The situation in Europe was similar; women there earned 25 per cent less than their male colleagues for doing the same work.
Seven areas of action had been identified to achieve equality for women in the workplace. They were inclusion of gender issues in collective bargaining; equal wages for work of equal value; access for women to promotion and high-level positions; gender awarenes- raising for male workers and employers; vocational training for women; combatting violence against women in the workplace; and continuous formal and informal training for women.
ILMAS FUTEHALLY, of Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation, said there were vast areas in which women suffered human-rights abuses which included education, health and nutrition, employment and participation. In spite of awareness and assertions by human-rights groups and organizations, gender discrimination continued to persist, particularly in developing countries. The human-rights bodies were pressuring Governments to remove gender discrimination from their policies and legislation, yet this discrimination continued. Women suffered human-rights abuses at the familial, social, cultural and political levels. A concerted effort needed to be made to fight these abuses and to allow the women an honourable existence based on equitable terms with their male counterparts.
The plight of women and the violation of their rights in Afghanistan had posed a new challenge for Muslim women. According to a report of the Secretary-General on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, during 20 years of conflict, women had been killed indiscriminately in fighting between opposing sides, and thousands of women and children had been displaced or forced to flee the country as a result of systematic human-rights abuses. In addition, women had been abducted and raped by members of the various warring factions, often being treated as spoils of war. And all this was happening in the name of religion. According to this report, the Taliban, which controlled most parts of Afghanistan, had been denying women access to health care, all levels and types of education, employment outside the home, and, in repeated instances, humanitarian aid. It also was restricting women’s freedom of movement.
LEE CHANG HUENG, of Asian Women's Human Rights Council, said that in Japan there had been about 200 cases of human-rights violations against minorities over the last decade, and this should be considered a serious pattern internationally. The Japanese Government had not yet remedied the wrongs it had committed against Koreans during the Second World War.
Minorities still experienced discrimination in Japanese society in various ways. Protecting their rights and their ethnic dignity was a most important part of international human-rights protection, and a Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights should conduct an immediate investigation into this matter.
BERHANE RAS-WORK, of International Movement for Fraternal Union Among Races and Peoples, speaking on behalf of the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children, said women and girls continued to suffer from harmful traditional practices, while, too often, Governments showed little conviction about ending these abuses. Change was possible if Governments and UN agencies were committed to it. Gradually, issues concerning harmful traditional practices had generated discussion and debate. A report of the UN Secretary-General (A/53/354) spelled out the problems.
A number of States in Africa had adopted legislation to stop these practices, and those efforts were to be applauded. A more specific regional instrument to protect children from female genital mutilation, early marriage and other harmful traditional practices was being prepared by the IAC in coordination with the Organization for African Unity. Educational campaigns and publications also were part of the IAC's continuing efforts.
MARGARET BOWDEN, of Liberation, said too often women's rights were regarded as secondary to those of men. Since its creation in 1957, the European Community had upheld the principle of equal status for men and women in society. This principle was guaranteed not only by the Treaty of Rome itself, but also by several specific directives, a large number of recommendations, four action programmes and an extensive body of case law established by the Court of Justice. Liberation believed the European Union had a vital contribution to make to the debate on women's rights at the global level.
Following the Beijing Conference, scrupulous monitoring had been urged for those countries which had signed the Beijing Declaration but had not implemented it. The Declaration maintained that education had a vital role to play in fostering respect for human rights, understanding of different cultures and the establishment of a fair and just society. A fair and just society did not exist in Pakistan, where violations of women's rights were widespread and inherent. Child prostitution occurred in India, Philippines, Bangladesh, Nepal as well as Pakistan, to mention but a few countries. In these cases, organized gangs blackmailed or intimidated young girls,especially from schools, and forced them into prostitution. Such practices and their facilities, brothels, could be found in all major cities of these countries.
MITHAL SABRI JESSEN, of General Arab Women's Federation, said there was concern for the promotion and protection of womens' rights in the Arab world. Work was being done in Arab countries to resist discrimination, which women faced with regard to the acquirement and possession of land, property and residence, knowing that the Islamic Sharia had confirmed the rights of women without discrimination to own property independently of their husbands. Women were suffering all across the Islamic world, notably in Palestine and Iraq.
The Subcommission and the international community should exert greater effort to alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people, since only that would end the suffering of Iraqi women.
JUANITA OLIVIER, of European Union of Public Relations, said societies worldwide maintained gender inequality that affected women at every stage of their lives. Women and girls were caught up in a vicious cycle which had to be broken. The education of women and girls was the basic precondition for their active participation in development activities.
Women were even further disadvantaged when States sanctioned discrimination. One example was Afghanistan, where women were restricted to their homes and denied the right to education and the right to work. Close monitoring of that country was required by the Subcommission. In other countries where discrimination was less overt, poverty increased women's unequal states. IMF structural-adjustment policies had aggravated the lower nutrional status of women and girls. However, economic development levels did not alone determine the role of women in decision-making. UN conventions of concern to women should be signed and ratified by States to ensure the full participation of women in society and to eradicate all forms of discrimination on the grounds of sex.
SANG YONG PARK, Subcommission Expert, said that in today's world, aspirations to eradicate discrimination on the basis of sex were not contained by national boundaries and traditional borders. Just as the movement to abolish slavery was the cornerstone of human advancement in the last century, securing women's human rights would remain one of the enduring historic achievements of our time.
The proliferation of human-rights standards at the international level over the last 50 years had been a characteristic feature of recent human advancement. Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights specifically ensured that no differences in the enjoyment of human rights could or would be made on the criteria of sex. The Declaration, accompanied by the two International Covenants on Human Rights, was the foundation of all human rights, independent of gender consideration. These were the foundations. The task since then had been to operationalize these ideals and move them beyond legal practice to customary practice.
In this light, it was notable that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights had said the Universal Declaration was now customary international law. In the same speech, she also had stated that the Declaration was surprisingly apt for addressing complexities of discrimination on the grounds of gender or on the basis of sexual orientation. The goal was clear: it was the integration, full participation of, and provision of equal opportunities for women at all levels in all societies. Now the structural foundations were in place to make this a reality. What remained was the concerted political will to implement the tools and mechanisms that were available, and the courage to make them a reality.
HR/SC/99/14
13 August 1999
The Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights continued its examination this afternoon of the implementation of human rights with regard to women, hearing remarks from a number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) calling, among other things, for greater efforts to end abuses of women’s rights by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan; for further progress in ending female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to the health of women and girls; and for greater protection of women in times of armed conflict.
A representative of the Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation said Afghani women had been abducted and raped by members of various warring factions in the country and under the Taliban regime had been denied access to health care, education, employment and humanitarian aid, as well as freedom of movement.
A representative of the International Movement for Fraternal Union Among Races and Peoples, speaking on behalf of the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children, said women and girls continued to suffer from harmful traditional practices, including genital mutilation, while, too often, Governments showed little conviction about ending such abuses. Change was possible if Governments and United Nations agencies were committed to it, this speaker said.
And a spokesperson for France Libertes - Fondation Danielle Mitterrand said rape had been used as a means of ethnic cleansing during recent conflicts in the Balkans, and women there who had been subjected to rape were in positions of extreme distress, often ostracized by their communities sometimes even expected to commit suicide.
Subcommission Experts and Alternates addressing the meeting were El-Hadji Guisse, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, Gay J. McDougall, and Sang Yong Park.
The following NGOs also delivered statements: Association for World Education; Transnational Radical Party; World Organization against Torture; American Association of Jurists; France-Libertes - Fondation Danielle Mitterand; International Association of Democratic Lawyers; International Confederation of Free Trade Unions; Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation; Asian Women's Human Rights Council; International Movement for Fraternal Union Among Races and Peoples (on behalf of the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children); Liberation; General Arab Women Federation; and European Union of Public Relations.
The Subcommission will reconvene at 10 a.m. Monday, 16 August, to continue its discussion of human rights with regard to women.
Statements
DAVID LITTMAN, of Association for World Education, citing a lecture at Tel Aviv University Law School, said the Universal Declaration of Human Rights had become the standard by which others were judged and by which people judged themselves. While the world community was well aware of the violation of women's human rights based on religious law in Muslim and Catholic countries, Jewish women were also victims of human-rights violations in matters of religious marriage and divorce.
Another topic what was still called traditional practices affecting the health of women and the girl child, which was a shameful euphemism for female genital mutilation. The Association congratulated the Special Rapporteur for her latest report on the issue and trusted that her efforts would aid in the eradication of a plague that should be labelled a crime against women and which should not leave anyone -- male or female -- indifferent.
OLGA CECHUROVA, of Transnational and Transdivisional Radical Party, said the situation of human rights for all persons in Afghanistan, especially women, was constantly degenerating. Referring to the report of the Secretary- General on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, the speaker said Taliban officials insisted that Shariah law must take supremacy over any international covenant or treaty which ran contrary to Shariah law.
Physical violence had likely passed unnoticed and unreported in Afghanistan due to the absence of United Nations agencies. It was the duty of the international community to ensure that those who received its assistance must also have their human rights guaranteed. The United Nations must ensure the protection of women's rights in Afghanistan. With the exception of humanitarian aid, all other assistance and co-operation with the Government in Afghanistan should be suspended until the Government showed respect for the human rights of both men and women.
CARIN BERINGER, of World Organization against Torture, said in some societies violence against women began before birth. After birth, there was continuing violence, with neglect of girls in terms of nutrition, basic health care and education. Girls were more likely to be raped or sexually abused by family members, those in a position of trust or power, or by strangers. Women were not protected from these crimes in Argentina, Bolivia, Pakistan, or Uganda, among other countries.
While there were some encouraging signs of progress in the development and implementation of new legislation and procedures with respect to violence against women, States were overwhelmingly failing in their international as well as national obligations to prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish violence against women. State responsibility for private acts was based upon the State's duty to exercise due diligence in preventing, investigating, prosecuting and punishing violations of human rights wherever they occurred. The different forms of violence against women could be prohibited by an array of international norms, but there was no human-rights treaty that explicitly dealt with gender-specific forms of violence, and this should be remedied.
ADA BERAUN, of American Association of Jurists, said there were unfavorable conditions for women in the labor market. There were issues of inequality regarding wages paid and benefits. Attention should be paid to the excessive workload that women bore. Studies showed that women worked more hours than men. This became difficult for single-parent families.
There was an article that stated that the growing limitations imposed on women had led to deteriorating health conditions. When women could not take on any more work, more assistance was needed from their children. More often than not it was the girls who were brought out of school to help their mothers, ensuring another generation of women who were not educated. As for child labour, children were often sold by parents who could not afford them.
MELANIE LE VERGER, of France Libertes - Fondation Danielle Mitterrand, said the suffering of the women of the Balkans, especially following rape, was a concern. Rape had been used as a means of ethnic cleansing in this region, and women who had been subjected to rape were in positions of extreme distress . In this region, they were often ostracized in their communities; sometimes they were expected to commit suicide. Rape was a crime against humanity according to the list formulated by the Tribunal at the Hague. Men guilty of rape in ex-Yugoslavia should be brought to justice.
Women in Afghanistan were also subject to aggression. They were barred from obtaining educations, and some had not been able to receive medical assistance. Their basic human rights should be upheld.
KIM CHANG HWAN, of International Association of Democratic Lawyers, said women could be a major driving force for social and historical development. However, repression and violation of the dignity and rights of women remained of great concern. Historically, the most shameful violations of human rights were those committed against women. The Subcommission should present practical ways and means for eliminating these abuses completely.
Manifestations of violence against women could be found in the sexual-slavery crimes perpetrated by Japan against Korean and other Asian women during the Second World War. The Subcommission and the international community should urge the Japanese Government to accept legal responsibility for its actions and make due compensation to the victims and their families. Japan should also immediately stop discriminatory policies and human-rights violations affecting Korean residents in Japan.
EL-HADJI GUISSE, Subcommission Expert, said the paper prepared by M. Warzazi was a clear, excellent piece of work that touched on every important point. These practices unfortunately had not disappeared. Time was necessary, as was information, to eradicate such practices. Citizens must be informed about dangers to their own health, both physical and mental. In Africa, there had been legislation, but for some reason, that complicated things. Tradition must not be eradicated through legislation, especially when it criminalized something that used to be part of group behaviour. All criminalization would do was create new criminals, and punish people who did not really intend to commit a crime. A campaign of education was what was necessary. These phenomena should be ended, but not through fear and criminalization.
Girls in some countries did not enjoy the human rights enjoyed by children in other countries. Some were sold. Proper information and not judicial brutality was needed in dealing with these difficulties.
PAULO SERGIO PINHEIRO, Subcommission Expert, praised the work of NGOs and others who were taking an imaginative approach to ending harmful traditional practices against women. In terms of eradicating these practices, there was a delicate balance to be struck between culture and human rights. The cultural implications of the issue should be considered, and the input of NGOs and other groups was useful.
GAY J. MCDOUGALL, Subcommission Alternate Expert, said she would like to focus the attention of the Subcommission on gender. The prevention of all forms of discrimination was required, and special attention should be paid to the human rights of women throughout the international human-rights system. A study should be undertaken. The gender dimension was important in defining the substantive nature of human rights. If the realization of human rights for all was to be achieved, then the systematic and systemic nature of discrimination against women should be taken into account. Consistent and full efforts should be made to identify problems linked to gender. It was important to examine the intersection of aspects of individuality in order to understand how they impaired the full enjoyment of human rights.
There were situations in which racial discrimination would escape detection if there was no examination of the different ways in which genders were discriminated against. It was through acknowledging the gender dimensions of discrimination that programmes for combatting this discrimination could prove effective. Certain issues might not be revealed in an aggregate study. Useful work had been done by the UN in conducting gender analyses, including in the field of racial discrimination. Certain forms of discrimination, such as sexual violence, were directed towards women particularly. Frequently, their situation made them more vulnerable to racial discrimination, too.
In societies with disadvantaged communities, women suffered more than men, for example in terms of wage differences. Gender and race intersected in many ways, and affected women in gender-specific ways, for example in the case of rape during conflict.
ANNA BIONDI BIRD, of International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, said the ICFTU strongly urged the Subcommission to take a stand on the persistent inequality that women faced in the workplace in all regions of the world. A study by the AFL-CIO claimed that if, in the United States, women's pay were equal to that of men's, poverty levels would be cut in half. The situation in Europe was similar; women there earned 25 per cent less than their male colleagues for doing the same work.
Seven areas of action had been identified to achieve equality for women in the workplace. They were inclusion of gender issues in collective bargaining; equal wages for work of equal value; access for women to promotion and high-level positions; gender awarenes- raising for male workers and employers; vocational training for women; combatting violence against women in the workplace; and continuous formal and informal training for women.
ILMAS FUTEHALLY, of Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation, said there were vast areas in which women suffered human-rights abuses which included education, health and nutrition, employment and participation. In spite of awareness and assertions by human-rights groups and organizations, gender discrimination continued to persist, particularly in developing countries. The human-rights bodies were pressuring Governments to remove gender discrimination from their policies and legislation, yet this discrimination continued. Women suffered human-rights abuses at the familial, social, cultural and political levels. A concerted effort needed to be made to fight these abuses and to allow the women an honourable existence based on equitable terms with their male counterparts.
The plight of women and the violation of their rights in Afghanistan had posed a new challenge for Muslim women. According to a report of the Secretary-General on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, during 20 years of conflict, women had been killed indiscriminately in fighting between opposing sides, and thousands of women and children had been displaced or forced to flee the country as a result of systematic human-rights abuses. In addition, women had been abducted and raped by members of the various warring factions, often being treated as spoils of war. And all this was happening in the name of religion. According to this report, the Taliban, which controlled most parts of Afghanistan, had been denying women access to health care, all levels and types of education, employment outside the home, and, in repeated instances, humanitarian aid. It also was restricting women’s freedom of movement.
LEE CHANG HUENG, of Asian Women's Human Rights Council, said that in Japan there had been about 200 cases of human-rights violations against minorities over the last decade, and this should be considered a serious pattern internationally. The Japanese Government had not yet remedied the wrongs it had committed against Koreans during the Second World War.
Minorities still experienced discrimination in Japanese society in various ways. Protecting their rights and their ethnic dignity was a most important part of international human-rights protection, and a Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights should conduct an immediate investigation into this matter.
BERHANE RAS-WORK, of International Movement for Fraternal Union Among Races and Peoples, speaking on behalf of the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children, said women and girls continued to suffer from harmful traditional practices, while, too often, Governments showed little conviction about ending these abuses. Change was possible if Governments and UN agencies were committed to it. Gradually, issues concerning harmful traditional practices had generated discussion and debate. A report of the UN Secretary-General (A/53/354) spelled out the problems.
A number of States in Africa had adopted legislation to stop these practices, and those efforts were to be applauded. A more specific regional instrument to protect children from female genital mutilation, early marriage and other harmful traditional practices was being prepared by the IAC in coordination with the Organization for African Unity. Educational campaigns and publications also were part of the IAC's continuing efforts.
MARGARET BOWDEN, of Liberation, said too often women's rights were regarded as secondary to those of men. Since its creation in 1957, the European Community had upheld the principle of equal status for men and women in society. This principle was guaranteed not only by the Treaty of Rome itself, but also by several specific directives, a large number of recommendations, four action programmes and an extensive body of case law established by the Court of Justice. Liberation believed the European Union had a vital contribution to make to the debate on women's rights at the global level.
Following the Beijing Conference, scrupulous monitoring had been urged for those countries which had signed the Beijing Declaration but had not implemented it. The Declaration maintained that education had a vital role to play in fostering respect for human rights, understanding of different cultures and the establishment of a fair and just society. A fair and just society did not exist in Pakistan, where violations of women's rights were widespread and inherent. Child prostitution occurred in India, Philippines, Bangladesh, Nepal as well as Pakistan, to mention but a few countries. In these cases, organized gangs blackmailed or intimidated young girls,especially from schools, and forced them into prostitution. Such practices and their facilities, brothels, could be found in all major cities of these countries.
MITHAL SABRI JESSEN, of General Arab Women's Federation, said there was concern for the promotion and protection of womens' rights in the Arab world. Work was being done in Arab countries to resist discrimination, which women faced with regard to the acquirement and possession of land, property and residence, knowing that the Islamic Sharia had confirmed the rights of women without discrimination to own property independently of their husbands. Women were suffering all across the Islamic world, notably in Palestine and Iraq.
The Subcommission and the international community should exert greater effort to alleviate the suffering of the Iraqi people, since only that would end the suffering of Iraqi women.
JUANITA OLIVIER, of European Union of Public Relations, said societies worldwide maintained gender inequality that affected women at every stage of their lives. Women and girls were caught up in a vicious cycle which had to be broken. The education of women and girls was the basic precondition for their active participation in development activities.
Women were even further disadvantaged when States sanctioned discrimination. One example was Afghanistan, where women were restricted to their homes and denied the right to education and the right to work. Close monitoring of that country was required by the Subcommission. In other countries where discrimination was less overt, poverty increased women's unequal states. IMF structural-adjustment policies had aggravated the lower nutrional status of women and girls. However, economic development levels did not alone determine the role of women in decision-making. UN conventions of concern to women should be signed and ratified by States to ensure the full participation of women in society and to eradicate all forms of discrimination on the grounds of sex.
SANG YONG PARK, Subcommission Expert, said that in today's world, aspirations to eradicate discrimination on the basis of sex were not contained by national boundaries and traditional borders. Just as the movement to abolish slavery was the cornerstone of human advancement in the last century, securing women's human rights would remain one of the enduring historic achievements of our time.
The proliferation of human-rights standards at the international level over the last 50 years had been a characteristic feature of recent human advancement. Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights specifically ensured that no differences in the enjoyment of human rights could or would be made on the criteria of sex. The Declaration, accompanied by the two International Covenants on Human Rights, was the foundation of all human rights, independent of gender consideration. These were the foundations. The task since then had been to operationalize these ideals and move them beyond legal practice to customary practice.
In this light, it was notable that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights had said the Universal Declaration was now customary international law. In the same speech, she also had stated that the Declaration was surprisingly apt for addressing complexities of discrimination on the grounds of gender or on the basis of sexual orientation. The goal was clear: it was the integration, full participation of, and provision of equal opportunities for women at all levels in all societies. Now the structural foundations were in place to make this a reality. What remained was the concerted political will to implement the tools and mechanisms that were available, and the courage to make them a reality.