CEDAW and Women's Human Rights: Achievements and Obstacles

CEDAW and Women's Human Rights: Achievements and Obstacles

It is indeed my great pleasure to participate in the Annual Conference of the Castan Center for Human Rights Law, "Human Rights Two Thousand Four: The Year in Review", focusing especially on the theme of women's rights in recognition of the twentieth anniversary of the Sex Discrimination Act Nineteen Eighty-Four.

As a feminist activist for thirty years and having participated in the process of legislating a similar law in my own country of Korea, 'Gender Discrimination Prevention and Relief Act' (Nineteen Ninety-Nine), as well as three other legislations regarding sexual violence (Nineteen Ninety-Three), domestic violence (Nineteen Ninety-Seven) and more recently on sex trade and trafficking (Two Thousand Four), I know very well that even beautifully crafted laws do not automatically solve problems or guarantee gender equality. Anti-discrimination legislations are only the necessary conditions for the protection of women from discrimination and achievement of gender equality.

It is even more so at the international level. Whether you are a firm believer in the system of international human rights laws or a skeptical person, you would all agree that CEDAW does not automatically guarantee non-discrimination and equality to women at the domestic level upon ratification.

However, you would also agree that CEDAW has gained much more visibility, respect and influence, especially over the recent years, thanks to the efforts of earlier members of the Committee and of the women's movement around the world. As Andrew Byrnes has pointed out, the CEDAW Convention has been cited to courts and by courts of different countries in an increasing number of cases in recent years. Even the election of the members of the CEDAW Committee has been more competitive in recent years." As a person who has been on the CEDAW Committee for four years and will serve another four years until Two Thousand Eight, I would like to give you my assessment of the Convention and of the Committee in the protection and promotion of the human rights of women. This year Two Thousand Four marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Convention. Along with the twentieth anniversary of Sex Discrimination Act in Australia, this is a proper occasion to reflect on how the Women's Convention has contributed in eliminating discrimination against women around the world, how the Committee has been working in fulfilling its mandate, and what the challenges ahead are.

The CEDAW Convention: Its Scope, Elements and Challenges

Since you are quite familiar with the Convention, it would not be necessary for me to explain about the nature or characteristics of the Convention. Instead I will just highlight some of the strengths and also the weaknesses the Convention brings with it.

No doubt, the CEDAW Convention is the most comprehensive international instrument to protect the human rights of women. As defined in article one of the Convention, discrimination means: "any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil, or any other field."

As defined above, the CEDAW Convention is intended to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women. And 'women' in this definition would include all women -- young/old, married/single, able/disabled, indigenous, immigrants, migrants, refugees, etc. When the Committee engages in the 'constructive dialogue' with the government delegation from the State party under consideration, questions from experts more increasingly include minority women. CEDAW also covers both de jure equality, equality of opportunity, and de facto equality, i.e. equality of result, which would cover both direct and indirect discrimination, covering all spheres of life, whether public or private, discrimination by any actors, whether state, enterprises or private individuals including intimate partners. The Convention also prescribes that discriminatory customs or traditions of gender role stereotyping should be eliminated.

Despite its comprehensiveness and potential usefulness, however, the CEDAW Convention has some serious obstacles. The first issue is the reservations, often times to the core articles such as articles two or sixteen, which are considered incompatible with the purpose and objectives of the Convention. The Committee always urges withdrawal of any reservations to the State party under consideration, but the problems of reservations are directly linked to discriminatory culture within the country. My experience on the Committee tells that the government delegation listens more attentively, when experts from a similar culture speak of the issue of reservations, giving examples of other countries with similar culture but without any reservations to the Conventions. Even in Islamic countries, there is a wide range of differences-some Islamic countries ratified CEDAW without any reservation at all. To remove the reservations, more social pressures need to be built from inside of the country.

Another obstacle is non-reporting or long over-due reports. In Two Thousand Three, the CEDAW Committee had a meeting with the States parties whose reports to CEDAW were five years or more overdue, to find out causes of delayed reporting. The meeting was successful not only with good attendance by many States parties but also the Committee actually received many long-awaited reports after the meeting. In addition to this, the Committee decided at its thirty-first session in July Two Thousand Four that it would consider the implementation of the Convention even in the absence of report, although as the last resort. This notice, hopefully, would work for the States parties with long over-due reports or no reporting at all to meet their obligation under the Convention.