“Accountability, rather than impunity, should become the norm for all acts of violence against women,” said the independent expert charged by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate violence against women, its causes and consequences. “The responsibility to prevent violence, protect against violence, provide remedies for victims, and to punish perpetrators for all acts of violence against women, is primarily an obligation of the State.”

Ms. Manjoo noted that Papua New Guinea is a culturally rich and diverse country, in which the respect for tradition plays an important role in the daily lives of its population. However, she stressed, “violence against women is a pervasive phenomenon in Papua New Guinea, with a wide range of manifestations occurring in the home, the community and institutional settings.”

In her preliminary observations, the Special Rapporteur noted that violence against women in the country begins at home, with women and girl children being subjected to physical and sexual violence, mostly by male family members. “Domestic violence is socially perceived as a normal aspect of a woman’s life and a family matter that should not be discussed publicly,” she said.

Polygamy was also identified as a common cause of violence in the family by the UN independent expert: “The abuse usually starts with neglect and lack of resource provision for the first wife and her children, but can escalate to physical and sexual violence, and in some cases murder.”

“Complaints of violence and sexual abuse of women by the police while in detention and outside was a systemic issue, including against sex workers,” Ms. Manjoo said. “Regardless of the specific manifestations of violence suffered, most interviewed victims felt that the policing sector had not provided them with an adequate response to their cases.”

The expert welcomed a number of positive measures adopted by the Government, like the Family and Sexual Violence Units set up by the police; the Women and Children’s desks set up through the Community Policing; and the Family and Sexual Offence Unit of the Office of the Public Prosecutor, together with the appointment of a Victim Liaison Officer responsible for assisting women victims of violence who use the criminal justice system.

“Currently these units have very little resources and, as awareness and usage of these specialized units’ increases, there is a growing need for additional staff and resources to be allocated to them,” she warned highlighting the lack of adequate human and financial resources for such initiatives.

“It is my hope that relevant and much needed laws are passed soon, existing laws are adequately enforced; that existing specialized units are strengthened and replicated at the provincial and district levels; that women are encouraged and supported by the state sector in bringing their cases to the District and National Courts,” the rights expert said.

“The empowerment of women must be coupled with social transformation, to fully address the systemic and structural causes of inequality and discrimination, which most often lead to violence against women,” she stressed.

During her fact-finding mission from 18 to 26 March, Ms. Manjoo met with Government officials, National and Provincial authorities, and members of the Autonomous Bougainville Government. She also held meetings with representatives of civil society organisations, UN agencies and the donor community.

“Most importantly,” the UN Special Rapporteur added, “I want to thank the individual women who courageously shared their personal experiences of violence and survival with me.”

Ms. Rashida Manjoo (South Africa) was appointed Special Rapporteur on Violence against women, its causes and consequences in June 2009 by the UN Human Rights Council, for an initial period of three year. As Special Rapporteur, she is independent from any government or organization and serves in her individual capacity. Ms. Manjoo is also a Professor at the Department of Public Law at the University of Cape Town. Learn more, log on to:http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/women/rapporteur/index.htm

(*) Check the full end-of-mission statement

UN Human Rights Country Page – Papua New Guinea:

For more information and press inquiries, please contact:In Port Moresby: Christina Saunders (+675 321 28 77 / +675 715 59 980) or Gabriela Guzmán Garza (+41 79 444 43 32/ or write to gguzman@ohchr.org)In Geneva: Thierry del Prado (+ 41 22 917 92 32 / tdelprado@ohchr.org)

Activities and advocacy carried out by APWLD delegation during the CSW 56 include:

• Hosted the side event “Re-thinking Development Frameworks”, focusing on rural women’s vision of development.
• Delivered an oral statement as one of only 12 NGOs during the General Discussion of the CSW. Member Panha Sok from Cambodia read the statement on behalf of APWLD.
• Delegation members spoke at various NGO events sharing issues, achievements and challenges to the enjoyment of rural and indigenous women’s human rights
• Met with the Malaysian government delegation, the Australian and with the Timorese Permanent Mission to influence the negotiation processes of the agreed conclusions with stronger human rights language particularly on women’s access to resources such as land, peace and eradication of violence against women and militarization, democratic ownership and meaningful representation and participation of rural and indigenous women in development

Reflection and impact assessment are taking place based on which future strategies towards CSW and other key political decision making processes at national, regional and international levels will be developed.

Attending CSW was a pivotal experience for the women delegates as they “truly felt their voices were heard” and “took ownership of the process”.

“I feel I now have more power.  I have APWLD and Asia Pacific women’s movement.  Thank you very much for supporting my participation to CSW and my work for human rights, peace and democracy in Burma.  I too will always be there to support you in solidarity and in sisterhood.”                    Participant from Burma

Unfortunately the CSW ended with a political stalemate, and the governments failed to adopt Agreed Conclusions of the CSW 56.  Government’s failed to reach a consensus on the basis of safeguarding ‘traditional values’ at the expense of human rights and fundamental freedoms of women, particularly around gender equality and women’s sexual and reproductive rights. APWLD together with other leading women’s rights groups issued a statement strongly demanding 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. The statement is open for signatures so please click here to endorse it.

STATEMENT OF FEMINIST AND WOMEN’S ORGANISATIONS ON THE VERY LIMITED AND CONCERNING RESULTS OF THE 56^TH SESSION OF THE UN COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN[1]

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 56^th session. This failure has diminished the considerable work, energy, time and costs that women all over the world invested on the 56^th 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 14^th 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.

ASIA PACIFIC FORUM ON WOMEN, LAW AND DEVELOPMENT (APWLD)

ASSOCIATION FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN DEVELOPMENT (AWID)

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S HEALTH COALITION (IWHC)

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTION WATCH ASIA PACIFIC (IWRAW ASIA PACIFIC)

WOMEN LIVING UNDER MUSLIM LAWS (WLUML) / VIOLENCE IS NOT OUR CULTURE CAMPAIGN

YOUR NAME HERE

This will be submitted to UN Member States, CSW and other relevant UN human rights and development entities. Endorse here. The deadline is 5 April 2012.

Download the statement in:

FRENCH

SPANISH

More information:

Download the statement here: Statement from Women’s Organisations on CSW

Click here to read statements from Norway and the EU supporting women’s human rights

Click here to read UN Women’s Michele Bachelet “Impasse at CSW deeply regrettable”

“This statement is on behalf of the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD), representing rural women, including indigenous women from over 25 countries in the region. As part of the APWLD delegation of nine rural women, first time attending the CSW, I’d like to voice out our concerns and recommendations to the CSW.

This world is an unjust place for the majority of rural and indigenous women living in the global south. With the least economic resources of all populations we face systemic violations of our rights in a world where economic power increasingly equates to political and personal power. We urge the Commission to recognise that the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms is an essential principle for development and poverty eradication, not the other way around. Material wealth and economic growth does not automatically result in the enjoyment of human rights and can infact exacerbate the divide between us and the wealthy.

While there have been repeated international commitments to realise rural women’s rights, our experiences demonstrate that there still are many obstacles restricting the full enjoyment of our rights. We identified right to a dignified livelihood and access to resources, violence against women, women’s access to education, health care, and discriminatory laws and practices as key priority issues.

Access, ownership and inheritance of land is important for rural women’s economic empowerment. However, many of our lands are being sold to private investors, large corporations and developers. These practices are encouraged in the name of economic development and growth but women’s access to land is commonly undermined by the privatization and promotion of large scale agro-business over small scale farming. Furthermore, they reinforce the divide between those who are enriched by corporate profits and those of us whose loss of livelihoods enable that profit. We call on governments to support small scale and subsistence farming and stop promoting large scale, foreign agro-investment that reduces access to land by local, rural women.

Violence against women is a major obstacle to rural women’s rights and empowerment. Our communities are less likely to have state services to provide support to survivors of violence, less likely to have access to justice through courts and police and less likely to be able to leave violent relationships or pay legal expenses with little financial resources. We urge governments to pay special attention to the needs of rural women in the process of preparing the CSW 2013 where the Commission will look into the issue of elimination and prevention of all forms of VAW.

Education and training for women is key to empowering women in rural and remote areas. Yet, communities and villages away from the big cities do not always have facilities or resources for schools. Experience tells us that cut backs in public education expenditure and the privatisation of education translates into the withdrawal of more girls from schools. Subsequently, lack of education and training limit women’s access to decent employment opportunities and participation in political and public life.

The right of women to control all aspects of their health is fundamental to our life and integrity. Rural women face significant barriers to health care, especially when it comes to sexual and reproductive health. Fertility rates and maternal mortality in rural areas are generally higher than those in urban areas as we have less access to sexual education, family planning and health care services. Neoliberal economic policies have resulted in reduced government spending, privatisation of health and increased user fees for essential public services. Since our health is not sufficiently profitable so we become the last priority for healthcare. We call upon government to allocate the financial, technical and human resources necessary for rural women’s access to education and training, information, healthcare and nutrition services and infrastructure.

The under-representation of women from rural areas in political and public life remain high in most societies. Discriminatory attitudes and practices limit the space for women’s political participation within their communities. We call upon the States to ensure equal representation and meaningful participation of rural and indigenous women in the decision-making processes at all levels.”

Re-Thinking Development Frameworks

Rural Women’s Vision of Development

29 February 2012; 15:00 – 16:30

New York City, Conference Room B, North Lawn Temporary Building

Is an economic growth model working for rural women?

Hear what rural and indigenous women from Asia Pacific have to say, as they share testimonies and key messages of their development goals.

iLinkto

The event will include a short video on how “development” projects result in forced eviction for Cambodian women.

To attend, please contact misun@apwld.org by 15 February so we can reserve a special event pass for you to access the UN Building.