Last
month the UN Commission on the Status of Women failed to adopt agreed
conclusions at its 56th session on the basis of safeguarding "traditional
values" at the expense of human rights and fundamental freedoms of women.
Together with our partner women’s rights organisations through the UN NGO
system, Soroptimist International says NO to any re-opening of negotiations on
the already established international agreements on women’s human rights and
call on all governments to demonstrate their commitments to promote, protect
and fulfill human rights and fundamental freedoms of women.
We have supported the below statement which outlines our collective concerns.
This will be submitted to UN Member States, CSW and other relevant UN human
rights and development entities.
STATEMENT OF FEMINIST AND
WOMEN’S ORGANISATIONS ON THE VERY LIMITED AND
CONCERNING RESULTS OF THE 56TH SESSION OF
THE UN COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN
We,
the undersigned organisations and individuals across the globe, are alarmed and
disappointed that the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)
failed to adopt agreed conclusions at its 56th session. This failure has
diminished the considerable work, energy, time and costs that women all over
the world invested on the 56th session of the CSW. The advancement of women’s
human rights should not be put on hold because of political battles between
states. We say NO to any re-opening of negotiations on the already established
international agreements on women’s human rights and call on all governments to
demonstrate their commitments to promote, protect and fulfill human rights and
fundamental freedoms of women.
We
are particularly concerned to learn that our governments failed to reach a
consensus on the basis of safeguarding “traditional values” at the expense of
human rights and fundamental freedoms of women. We remind governments that all
Member States of the United Nations (UN) have accepted that “the human rights
of women and of the girl-child are an inalienable, integral and indivisible
part of universal human rights” as adopted by the 1993 World Conference on
Human Rights in Vienna. Governments must not condone any tradition, cultural or
religious arguments which deny human rights and fundamental freedoms of any
person. After more than 60 years since the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (UDHR) was embraced and adopted by the UN, the relationship between
traditional values and human rights remains highly contested. We affirm the
UDHR as not only ‘a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all
nations’ but a common standard of assessment for all traditional values. The
UDHR is an embodiment of positive traditional values that are universally held
by this community of nations and are consistent with the inherent dignity of
all human beings. We remind governments that under the Charter of the United
Nations, gender equality has been proclaimed as a fundamental human right.
States cannot contravene the UN Charter by enacting or enforcing discriminatory
laws directly or through religious courts nor can allow any other private
actors or groups imposing their religious fundamentalist agenda in violation of
the UN Charter.
“No
one may invoke cultural diversity to infringe upon human rights guaranteed by
international law, nor limit their scope. Not all cultural practices accord
with international human rights law and, although it is not always easy to identify
exactly which cultural practices may be contrary to human rights, the endeavour
always must be to modify and/or discard all practices pursued in the name of
culture that impede the enjoyment of human rights by any individual.”
(Statement by Ms. Farida Shaheed, the Independent Expert in the field of
cultural rights, to the Human Rights Council at its 14th session 31 May
2010)
Amongst
other things, it is alarming that some governments have evoked so-called
“moral” values to deny women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Sexual and reproductive rights are a crucial
and fundamental part of women’s full enjoyment of all rights as well as
integral to gender equality, development and social justice. Social and
religious morals and patriarchal values have been employed to justify
violations against women. Violence against women, coercion and deprivation of
legal and other protections of women, marital rape, honour crimes, son
preference, female genital mutilation, ‘dowry’ or ‘bride price’, forced and
early marriages and ‘corrective rapes’ of lesbians, bisexuals, transgender and
inter-sexed persons have all been justified by reference to ‘traditional
values’.
We
remind governments that the CSW is the principal global policy-making body
dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women with the sole
aim of promoting women’s rights in political, economic, civil, social and
educational fields. Its mandate is to ensure the full implementation of
existing international agreements on women’s human rights and gender equality
as enshrined in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action,
the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, the Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action and the International Conference on
Population and Development Programme of Action as well as other international
humanitarian and human rights law.
We
strongly demand all governments and the international community to reject any
attempt to invoke traditional values or morals to infringe upon human rights
guaranteed by international law, nor to limit their scope. Customs, tradition
or religious considerations must not be tolerated to justify discrimination and
violence against women and girls whether committed by State authorities or by
non-state actors. In particular, we urge governments to ensure that the health
and human rights of girls and women are secured and reaffirmed at the coming
Commission on Population and Development and the International Conference on
Sustainable Development (Rio+20). Any future international negotiations must
move forward implementation of policies and programmes that secure the human
rights of girls and women.
We call upon the member
states of the UN and the various UN human rights and development entities to
recognise and support the important role of women’s groups and organisations
working at the forefront of challenging traditional values and practices that
are intolerant to fundamental human rights norms, standards and principles.
April 5th, 2012