民间社会利益攸关方向消除对妇女歧视委员会简报关于黎巴嫩、阿拉伯联合酋长国和马拉维的情况（部分翻译）

2015年11月2日

消除对妇女歧视委员会今天下午与非政府组织代表举行会议，听取黎巴嫩、阿拉伯联合酋长国和马拉维这三个报告将在届会第二周接受审议的国家在妇女状况方面的信息。发言的还有马拉维人权委员会的代表。

黎巴嫩非政府组织的代表提出的问题包括在黎巴嫩禁止世俗婚姻、儿童无法继承母亲的国籍、婚内强奸以及妇女在决策中代表严重不足的问题。还提到了虐待移徙家庭佣工和释放强奸犯的问题。

阿拉伯联合酋长国的民间社会代表强调了虐待和任意拘留包括妇女在内的政敌的问题，他们通常被禁止旅行并被剥夺教育权。还提到了虐待家庭佣工的问题。当局经常误解和滥用“伊斯兰法”。

来自马拉维民间社会和人权委员会的发言人指出了《国籍法》的歧视性条款，获得正规司法的问题、保健不足、习惯法对农村妇女不利的条款以及婚龄的问题。

黎巴嫩的非政府组织包括跟进妇女问题委员会、KAFA暴力和剥削组织、Avenir Liban组织以及人权观察。司法和人权国家中心、人权观察和平等组织（Musawah）谈到了阿拉伯联合酋长国的妇女状况，妇女法律资源中心、性别协调网络以及天主教正义和平委员会在马拉维状况中发言。发言的还有马拉维人权委员会的代表。

委员会将在11月3日（周二）上午10点继续公开会议，开始审议黎巴嫩的第四和第五次合并定期报告（CEDAW/C/LBN/4-5）。

Statements by Non-governmental Organizations

Lebanon

A representative of the Committee for the Follow-Up on Women’s Issues said that marriage, divorce, custody and inheritance in Lebanon were still subject to the laws of the 18 different confessions and sects, constituting flagrant discrimination between men and women. Nonetheless, a slight change had taken place in 2013, when the first civil marriage had been registered in Lebanon. Regrettably, the decision on registering civil marriages had been revoked, for which the Government should be held. Lebanese women were still not capable of passing their citizenship to their children and spouses. Women made up only 3.13 per cent of Members of Parliament.

KAFA Violence & Exploitation stated that the law to protect women from family violence had been enacted in 2014, but lacked a gender perspective. Instead of criminalizing marital rape, the law only criminalized the use of violence or threat to get what religious groups called “marital rights”. Economic violence was also not defined, and a husband who confiscated his wife’s money or property was exempted from punishment. Parliament was currently discussing a draft law to regulate the marriage of minors through obtaining a prior authorization of a judge at a juvenile court. The law, nonetheless, did not prevent early marriages, where some sects allowed the marriage of girls at the age of nine. Traffickers were not held accountable for their crimes.

A speaker for Avenir Liban stressed the necessity of establishing a Ministry of Women’s Affairs in Lebanon, which would ensure that women’s rights would be dealt with in a more comprehensive and systematic manner. It would establish a stronger protection mechanism. Lebanon had to abolish article 522 of the Penal Code that allowed rapists to be acquitted from their perpetrated act by marrying their victim. Legal aid access had to increase, and a special fund was needed to help women in need to have access to legal aid.

Human Rights Watch said that there were an estimated 250,000 domestic workers in Lebanon, many of whom were women. The visa sponsorship system tied migrant workers to their employers, thus increasing the risk of the workers’ abuse. If they decided to leave, they could lose their legal status and be deported. A number of domestic workers died every year. The judicial system was largely inaccessible and unresponsive; the police and the judicial authorities frequently ignored complaints submitted by domestic workers.

United Arab Emirates

International Centre for Justice and Human Rights said that the United Arab Emirates applied double standards when it came to the rights of women, as it did with all human rights in general. Women tried within the “UAE 84” group had been subjected to travel and job bans despite their acquittal. A number of girls were banned from continuing their education because of the political affiliation of their fathers. An example was given of three sisters – Asma, Mariam and Alyaziah Khalifa Al-Suwaidi – who had disappeared for three months; they had been kept in a secret prison and denied their rights to consult a lawyer. All prisoners of conscience and political prisoners tried unfairly should be released.

Human Rights Watch stated that the United Arab Emirates had failed to adequately protect migrant female domestic workers from abuse by their employees and recruitment agents. Most of the interviewed domestic workers reported that their passports had been confiscated, and some had to work up to 21 hours per day. There was no minimum wage for domestic workers in the country, and they often received far less salary than promised. Domestic workers who sought redress had to overcome a host of legal and practical obstacles. The United Arab Emirates had no specific law on domestic violence. Women who had suffered rape faced the risk of being charged with sexual relations outside of marriage if they reported the crime.

A representative of Musawah informed that there were juristic tools and concepts that existed within Muslim legal theory that could be used to reform discriminatory Muslim laws. Much of what was deemed to be “Islamic law” by the State party today was in fact fiqh – jurisprudence, not a divine law, but human-made and fallible. The question was whether the State party had the political will to end discrimination against women and its convenient use of Islam to justify male authority over women.

Malawi

Women’s Legal Resources Centre said that Malawi was a dualist State, yet 28 years after ratifying the Convention, women could still not invoke it in domestic courts because the State had not passed legislation to fully domesticate it. There had been a dramatic decrease of the share in the national budget dedicated to gender, children and social welfare – it stood at only 0.36 per cent in the 2014/2015 budget. Women largely continued to access justice through informal channels rather than formal ones due to a number of factors, including long distances to the courts and lack of resources, among others.

A speaker from the Gender Coordination Network said that women made up only 15 per cent of the Cabinet and only 16.5 per cent of Members of Parliament. The common law rule that a married woman’s domicile was dependent on the husband still applied to date, which was discriminatory, and the Government ought to fast-track the amendment of the Citizenship Act. There was also a minimal commitment by the Government to practically address sexual and gender based violence in schools; more resources had to be allocated in that regard.

Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace explained that Malawi did not have specific acts to address access, ownership and control of customary land for women. The Government should roll out the social cash transfer programme in all districts. There was disharmony of laws regulating the minimum age of marriage, and the Government should be asked to facilitate the harmonization of the laws, which should help strengthen the fight against child marriage.

Questions by Committee Experts

On Lebanon, an Expert asked about the application of the Security Council resolution 1325. What was the current status of the National Commission for Women? Did women in rural areas enjoy the right to land ownership and could land inheritance be passed on to women?

Another Expert raised the question of access to justice in Malawi. Was there an effort by the State party, even in a nascent stage, to eliminate the problem of informal access to justice? Could it be affirmed that Malawi women would no longer have their nationality revoked if they married foreign men? The review of the Public Health Act was brought up by an Expert, who also asked about the status of abortion.

Replies by the Non-governmental Organizations

A civil sector representative from Lebanon said that the National Commission could not bring forward laws on personal and civil status. It did not have an executive authority, which was why a full-fledged Ministry on women’s rights was needed. Resolution 1325 had not been disseminated on a large scale, and no measures had been taken on its implementation. During the armed conflict, the resolution had not been taken into consideration either.

Another speaker said that there were no laws allowing women in rural areas to own land. Muslim women did not enjoy the same inheritance rights as men; sometimes women were forced to give up their inheritance in favour of their brothers.

A non-governmental organization from Malawi responded that the State party failed to trace women who married foreign citizens. A law should be in place to protect those women. Most women accessed the informal justice system, which was often able to respond to their needs. Chiefs often performed the role of local courts.

Statement by a Representative of the Malawi Human Rights Commission

A representative of the Malawi Human Rights Commission said that it was regrettable that Malawi had not yet ratified the Optional Protocol. The Government was, nonetheless, commended for various gender-related laws. There was still a significant gap with respect to the translation of the provisions of law into reality, manifested through gender inequalities existing in all sectors. The Constitution and the Gender Equality Act had not adopted the definition of discrimination as provided in the Convention. The Government was urged to put in more measures and efforts to ensure that the legal and policy frameworks were in tandem with the Convention.

There were still gaps in the numbers of women and men in decision-making positions and in the political arena. There were numerous social, religious, traditional and cultural practices which promoted the notion of inferiority of women and reinforced the superiority of men. While the State party was commended for the enactment of the Trafficking in Persons Act, more awareness ought to be raised. The Government should expedite the process of reviewing the Citizenship Act with the aim of repealing its discriminatory provisions. Availability, accessibility and acceptable health care services remained a major challenge for women in Malawi due to numerous shortages. Customary law reinforced discriminatory practices for rural women when it came to owning and controlling land.

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For use of the information media; not an official record