EFFORTS TO CURB WOMEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS MUST BE VEHEMENTLY OPPOSED, SAYS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ON WOMEN’S DAY

8 March 2005

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour issued the following statement today on the occasion of International Women’s Day, 8 March:

Thirty years after the First World Conference on Women, and as the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women reviews implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action over the past decade, I pay tribute to the global women’s movement.

The women’s human rights movement has achieved extraordinary feats and has pushed us all to understand human rights in a more inclusive manner. The movement is an excellent example of the combined power of diverse voices joining together against discrimination and has reinforced basic human rights principles such as the universality and indivisibility of all human rights. The dedication of the women’s movement has been a driving force in the establishment of standards at the national and international levels to better protect human rights.

Despite the great strides in standard setting to protect women’s human rights, women’s human rights continue to be violated on a regular basis in every country of the world. Women are not equally involved in political or economic decision-making. Violence against women is widely tolerated in the home and community and rape is increasingly used as a weapon of war. Around the world, women are frequently denied their equal right to own or inherit property, which affects their ability to claim other rights, such as the rights to adequate housing, health and work. Discrimination and poverty render women susceptible to becoming victims of trafficking. In many societies, women’s sexual and reproductive rights are not adequately guaranteed, jeopardizing women’s health and privacy. The complex inter-relationships between violations of women’s human rights combine to make women increasingly vulnerable to HIV. These violations are rooted in the discrimination that women experience simply because they are women. The reality of these widespread violations demonstrates that States have failed to meaningfully implement the obligations they have accepted to protect women’s human rights.

Making human rights a reality for individual women requires political will at all levels. International law also requires States to ensure that women are aware of their human rights. It is essential that society, as a whole, recognize its role in fostering respect for women’s human rights. States must take all appropriate measures to modify cultural and social patterns that discriminate against women. Custom, tradition or religious considerations should not be invoked to avoid the obligation to eliminate discrimination.

States are also obliged to exercise due diligence in investigating, prosecuting and punishing violations of women’s rights even when perpetrated by private actors. Women must have access to justice and receive equal treatment before the law. Law enforcement officials and the judiciary play a central role in facilitating women’s ability to claim their rights.

The international community must renew its efforts to ensure that women’s human rights are fully implemented. Universal ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional Protocol, without reservations, would be an important step in that direction. Efforts to restrict or dilute women’s human rights must be vehemently opposed. It is my firm conviction that equality is an attainable goal – but it will take political will, and the continued activism of the women’s movement, to reach it.