Special Session on CEDAW (OHCHR)

Transcription

1 INTRODUCTION Hello everyone! I am very excited to serve as your Head Chair for OHCHR this year at IGMUN. In addition to be the head chair, I am also the Under-Secretary General of Registration, so I ve been involved in your participation from the start and am very excited to see how this conference, specifically our committee, plays out. As your Head Chair, I will be mainly facilitating the actions and discussions occurring in committee. However, I really want to see what direction delegates will let the committee flow to, as our topic can be broad but have very interesting aspects to discuss. Expect us to talk about a range of issues, including CEDAW s flaws, strengths, nation s reservations from it and why, specific nations CEDAW is failing to be executed in, and more. All delegates will have different issues desired to discuss, and I am looking forward to hearing many of them. Other than that, I am entering my third year at UC Berkeley as a Political Science major and Conflict Resolution/Public Policy double minor. I have always loved MUN- a program I have been in for about seven years now including high school and Berkeley Model United Nations right now. This program has opened me to new experiences and so much knowledge and awareness of the world around me I was ignorant of before, especially the issues of women s rights. I hope you enjoy this experience as much as I do, and once again, I will see you all soon! Regards, Amanda Lee Head Chair of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights core committee Inter-Generational Model United Nations V Hello everyone, My name is Mahdis Nicokar and I will be serving as your vice chair for this year s IGMUN. I am a second year student at UC Davis and I am studying International Relations. This is my second time vice chairing for UN Women and I have been a part of MUN for 2 years. I am a very passionate person about human rights and I believe everyone must have a voice. Unfortunately women are usually mistreated and not given the same rights as men. I am very excited to watch each and everyone one of you stand for what you believe in and become the voice of those who can not be heard. Remember this should be a fun experience so be the best delegate you can be, and if this is your first time I hope you learn to love this experience as much as I do. Sincerely, Mahdis Nicokar Vice Chair of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights core committee Inter-Generational Model United Nations V

2 COMMITTEE DESCRIPTION Our committee, representing the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR), is charged with the promotion and protections of human rights for everyone, internationally. We are a committee that currently leads global efforts to speak out on human rights violations, including through forums discussing key issues and challenges to human rights today. OHCHR provide aid towards governments to carry out their responsibility of protecting human rights for their people. We provide training, advice, reforms, and other assistance needed to take steps closer to global protection of human rights. OHCHR was created as part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, and this committee specifically was established by the General Assembly on December 20, Our committee will specifically focus on women s rights at IGMUN this year, specifically CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. CEDAW is an international convention and treaty that, although has a lot of support, still maintains weak enforcement and issues that must be addressed. Nations fail to fully enforce CEDAW in their laws, and other nations disagree with specific aspects. Overall, our goal for IGMUN is to find solutions to improve CEDAW and help its implementation globally, accelerating its execution. As individual nations working together in this committee, we must understand the importance of the rights of women, who are currently suffering to some extent in many different nations. Through improving CEDAW and its direct effects to women, we will get a step closer to protecting global human rights for good. TOPIC DESCRIPTION The Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women, known as the bill of rights for women, was adopted as an international treaty in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly. On September 3, 1981, the treaty was ratified by 188 countries; however, countries such as the United States signed but did not ratify the treaty. CEDAW provides the definition of discrimination against women as Any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex *1+, attempting to end gender-based discriminations and the superiority of one sex compared to another. The Commission on the Status of Women aimed to draft a declaration reflecting women s rights and anti-discrimination through women s perspectives, hence beginning this declaration in A special ceremony at the middecade World Conference of the United Nations Decade for Women on July 7, 1980 took place and it became one of the fastest human rights conventions implemented. No matter the goal and aim of CEDAW, many important aspects are not properly addressed. For example, special maternity protection, forced prostitution, and trafficking in women are not properly regarded as gender discrimination. In addition, different countries have reservations to CEDAW, such as

3 Article 28, paragraph 2 which basically states the right of other States to challenge those with actions not in accordance with the treaty. Some states oppose, or highly reserved, in following the treaty s article 16 claiming that traditional, religious, or cultural practice are not justifiable reasons to not follow the Convention s regulations.*2+ There is a lack of initiatives and strong foundations to properly address issues with CEDAW, causing the convention to be consistently reserved by nations and have controversial clauses not solved properly. Lack of proper communication and implementation of CEDAW regulations prevents this international treaty from being followed by many states. CEDAW was a large step to improving women s rights, yet now as it is adopted and ratified, the question of effective implementation and acceleration are major, key issues in the international community. HISTORY OF UN INVOLVEMENT The need for equality between women s and men s statuses has been shown and enforced through different UN conventions and laws. For example, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) helps to establish equality and empowerment for women s statuses. As the ICCPR states in Article 3, states must ensure the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all civil and political rights (ICCPR, Article 3).*3+ To strengthen the UN human rights goals, a committee specifically for women s rights was created the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (UNCEDAW), which created task forces to manage this aspect of the process *4+, regarding equal rights policies created. Due to the increasing support for women s rights, when certain traditions, especially cultural traditions, harm their well-being, controversy comes into play with these human rights issues. With such controversy and more, UN member states that have yet to completely comply with the treaty such as Iran, Palau, Somali, South Sudan, Tonga, and the United States who have not ratified the treaty.[5] Evidently against human rights violation as a whole, the United Nations GA has created the Commission on the Status of Women under ECOSOC resolution 11(II) of 21 June 1946 in order to advocate, monitor, and publish reports on the treatment of women in political, economic, and social areas.[6] The CSW has since created country-specific solutions, such as on Israel s treatment of Palestinian women in committee sessions, and passed three resolutions, stating for Israel to, Facilitate the return of all refugees and displaced Palestinian women and children to their homes and properties. *7+ However, the UN failed to monitor Israel s complete compliance with the CEDAW. The UN, along with numerous non-governmental organizations (NGOs), failed in this action because the focus was on political aspects, as with many Middle-Eastern nations. In the meanwhile, the female victims of violence lack the necessary amount of attention needed to help them out of their harmful situations immediately. However, throughout the years, the UN has been cooperating with joint NGOs

4 such as the the Women s Center for Legal Aid and Counseling in many ways.*6+ Through this collaboration, they were able to spread awareness on the mistreatment of women such as the misuse of the annual foreign funds which would be used for military forces rather than women and their family's situations. Regardless, the Committee has still discussed high violence against women and has requested transparency of such information from all countries involved, such as at the 1989 session. POLICY AND POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS As previously states, states including Iran, Palau, Somalia, South Sudan, Tonga, and the US have yet to ratify CEDAW; in addition, the Republic of China, or Taiwan, recently ratified the treaty in 2007 but is not completely recognized as a nation by the UN. Palestine acceded from the convention in 2014.[8] Generally, North American nations are consistent with CEDAW in their laws, having CEDAW mostly enforced and regulated. These nations and their governments, including the US despite their absence of ratification, consistently take active initiatives to ensure their women are safe from harm and other forms of discrimination. Latin American nations and Eastern European tend to support CEDAW with their laws, but enforcement in some areas are very inconsistent and less than North American nations. Their governments tend to have the laws supporting CEDAW but it is not the upmost priority or importance for them in enforcing them completely. Western European nations are similar to the North American bloc in supporting CEDAW with their laws and ensuring enforcement is somewhat of a priority to uphold. The Asian bloc includes nations that are mostly supportive of CEDAW, but do not prioritize the issue and hence carry out little enforcement. Exceptions, such as Democratic People s Republic of Korea (DPRK), or North Korea, have an absence of laws supporting CEDAW. Many nations in the African bloc are similar to North Korea as well, with about half either not having laws supporting CEDAW, and another half supporting CEDAW but failing to enforce the laws properly. Overall, priority for women s rights in these nations is low or non-existent.[9] There are many areas to focus on for solutions in accelerating the implementation and improvement of CEDAW. Nevertheless, the issues that nations have against CEDAW must be addressed in order to improve the treaty and have it move a step closer to universal acceptance. There are too many nations that have differing opinions or specific issues with CEDAW, having reservations on certain parts as mentioned previously. Therefore, transparency must increase in order for the treaty to be trusted and accepted completely by nations that have ratified it. The Committee must provide more comprehensive and clear methods to implement CEDAW in specific nations of different circumstances, including those facing particular religious, cultural, or civil situations that can prevent them from enforcing CEDAW. Potential solutions must include a way to improve transparency and the exchange of information between the Committee and nations implementing CEDAW.[10]

5 Certain UN agencies such as UN Development Programme (UNDP) can expand their initiatives to deliver statues on women s rights in specific nations with first-hand reporting rather than unreliable information from possibly biased reports from corrupt officials. CEDAW must come with proper guidance to be enforced, or else nations will continue to fail in doing so. Many nations might want to have women s rights, but do not know how to properly carry out such steps, especially developing nations in Africa facing economic and political turmoil. Another potential solution would be to strengthen the voice of the public, specifically women, in countries facing high gender discrimination.*11+ This has been lacking in many nations and would highly improve CEDAW s many issues and gain first perspectives on the real issues at hand. QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER 1. What are some methods we can improve communication between the Committee and nations regarding their execution of CEDAW? 2. What incentives can we provide nations refusing to even attempt supporting CEDAW? 3. What are some reasons countries might have reservations in fully implementing CEDAW (religious, cultural, traditional issue)? 4. What specific areas of CEDAW seems to be a huge issue that we must address? 5. What are some ways to prevent nations from withdrawing their support from CEDAW in the future? 6. What areas seem to be of most focus around the world that do not seem to support women s rights generally? WORKS CITED [1] "Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women." UN News Center. UN, n.d. Web. [2] "CEDAW 29th Session 30 June to 25 July 2003." UN News Center. UN, n.d. Web. [3] "International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights." International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. N.p., n.d. Web. [4] Egan, Suzanne. "Strengthening the United Nations Human Rights Treaty Body System."Human Rights Law Review. N.p., n.d. Web. [5] "CEDAW Sessions." UN News Center. UN, n.d. Web. [6] "Commission on the Status of Women." HeadQuarters. N.p., n.d. Web. [7] "E/CN.6/2015/L.2 of 13 March 2015." E/CN.6/2015/L.2 of 13 March N.p., n.d. [8] "CEDAW Sessions." UN News Center. UN, n.d. Web. [9] "Declarations, Reservations and Objections to CEDAW." UN News Center. UN, n.d.

6 [10] "Refworld Fact Sheet No. 22, Discrimination against Women: The Convention and the Committee." Refworld. N.p., n.d. Web. [11] "General Recommendations Made by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women." UN News Center. UN, n.d. Web.