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Women's Human Rights Working Group

2004


For women’s human rights, the last decade created several milestones. The 1993 Vienna Programme of Action put forth women’s rights on the human rights agenda in a manner that had never happened before. The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo and the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing went a long way in asserting women’s rights, These conferences were instrumental in the recognition of reproductive and sexual rights and holding states accountable for the fulfillment of these rights. Yet, in reality, women’s human rights are far from being universally recognised and realised.

Economic globalisation, premised on the primacy of the market over peoples’ lives, has eroded human rights overall. Privatisation of basic services, trade liberalization and deregulation has led to loss of livelihoods, food and income insecurity, underemployment, environmental degredation, class/caste/race and gender violence among others. Increasing economic insecurity among majority who are disadvantaged by economic globalisation process has sparked extreme fundamentalist formations. These fundamentalist groups, backed by States in many instances, have been responsible for human rights violations, particularly against women.

States have increased their stronghold over their constituents as political and economic policies are being more determined unilaterally by US, the World Trade Organisation (WTO), international financial institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). There is a rise in authoritarian governments riding on fundamentalist and populist agendas. It has fanned nationalist sentiments in order to maintain its popularity among its citizens and at the same time stave off interventions from the UN as the multinational governance body for the enforcement of human rights. State militarisation has implicated governments as perpetrators of human rights violations.

In the light of these developments, there is diminishing enforceability of women’s human rights. Women are further marginalized in decision-making at all levels. State militarisation has led to more violence against women. State inaction to redress human rights violations perpetuated by State agents and non-State actors has brought about impunity for these crimes. Alarmingly, there is also increasing repression of human rights groups and movements.

To address these concerns, the Women’s Human Rights Programme remains central to APWLD’s programme areas. Recently, the Women Rights Human Rights Task Force (WRHR TF) has been evolved in to the Women Human Rights Working Group (WHR-WG). The working group is composed of women human rights experts in Asia Pacific and they are tasked to ensure that a women human rights framework cuts across every programme of APWLD. Specifically, they will implement the following objectives of the WHR Programme for 2003 – 2005:

• To promote the integration of a women human rights framework in APWLD, particularly in APWLD's five programmes;
• To identify critical and emerging issues on women human rights and recommend or undertake action on these issues.

Activity:	Consultation on Women Human Rights Defenders
Date:	4 - 6 April 2003
Venue:	Bangkok, Thailand
Key strategies:	Networking & Advocacy
Key Actions:	Round Table discussion on women human rights defenders
Partners:	Amnesty International UK (AI) International Women’s Rights Action Watch – Asia Pacific (IWRAW-AP)
Funders:	Amnesty International UK, Novib, Rights & Democracy Hivos, Sida

The consultation was held with the following objectives: to initiate the development of a framework for the full exercise of Article 2 of the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognised Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms by women human rights defenders (WHRDs); to identify different forms of violation committed against WHRDs particularly those committed directly or indirectly by States; and to provide recommendations that provide enabling conditions to ensure the realisation of women’s rights to defend human rights, including measures to address violations of their rights.
One of the significant achievements of the consultation is the in-depth perspective it has developed on the work of women human rights defenders, highlighting the risks and vulnerabilities they face as women and because of their work on women-specific issues. The consultation also spurred the formation of a network of human rights defenders in Thailand following Hina Jilani’s official visit to the country on 16 – 26 May 2003. Efforts are also underway to link with similar processes in Africa and other regions led by AI, Frontline and other organisations. These regional consultations are planned to culminate in an international event on women human rights defenders in 2005.

It was attended by 30 participants from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Switzerland, Thailand, the United States and the United Kingdom. The UN Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders also participated in the consultation. Through presentations and workshops, the participants collectively developed a framework for the promotion and protection of women human rights defenders. Specific causes of violations against women human rights defenders were also presented for possible inclusion in the annual reports of the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations to the General Assembly and to the UN Commission on Human Rights.

The FLTP training is one of APWLD’s core training activities, having been conceptualised and implemented for over 10 years now. For the second time, a sub-regional training was held in the Pacific but participants have suggested initially that it be titled “Women’s Rights Legal Theory and Practice” rather than FLTP due to the negative and too radical connotation of the term ‘feminism’ in the sub-region. The objectives of the training were: to serve as a forum for participants to share experiences, issues and dilemmas encountered by women’s rights legal advocates and activists in their use of legal strategies to address women’s concerns; to enhance the skills of participants to effectively challenge discriminatory laws and practices in their countries by applying international covenants that have contributed to the advancement of women’s rights; to foster a network of human rights advocates and legal practitioners in the Pacific; and to pilot the draft training manual to be used as a training tool on FLTP.

Based on the participants evaluation, the training was received well and the feedback was very positive. At the end of the training, the participants had a better understanding of feminism and deeper appreciation of the feminist critique of the law. They felt better equipped to advocate on women’s human rights and question the biases in the legal system. They expressed keenness to share and disseminate what they had learnt with relevant groups in their respective countries and some participants planned to lobby their governments to ratify CEDAW. The issues related to advocating for women’s equality in a cultural context where religion has sanctioned women’s inferior status was brought up several times as a major challenge.

Thirty lawyers, paralegals, public prosecutors and community activists from Fiji, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu attended the training. Facilitators included Imrana Jalal, Gina Houng Lee and Filipo Masaurua from RRRT and Sanaiyya Ansari, APWLD member from Bangladesh. In addition, Virisila from Fiji Women’s Rights Movement (FWRM) and also a member of APWLD conducted a session on the experience of Fiji in preparing an NGO report for the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination (CEDAW) Committee. The training was conducted in a participatory manner, comprising of presentations, group work, discussions and video sessions. A lot of case studies and examples from the Pacific were used. The training also helped field-test the FLTP manual and suggestions for changes have been noted and forwarded to the trainers for the revision of the manual.

The FLTP manual is the culmination of APWLD’s collective reflections and experiences of conducting this training for over 10 years. Based on the consolidated inputs during the training of trainers in 2002, the FLTP trainers have agreed on the principles, structure and contents of the manual. The manual is now being finalised and further refined to make the sessions more practical and reflect more examples from both Asia and Pacific countries. It has been field tested at the FLTP training in the Pacific and also at the planned FLTP training in South Asia early 2004. The manual is intended as a valuable resource for conducting the FLTP trainings and will be completed by mid-2004.

This is a collation of case summaries on women’s rights claims from Asia Pacific. It documents the significant judicial challenges lodged in national courts to claim for women’s rights citing CEDAW and other human rights instruments or provisions on women’s rights enshrined in national constitutions. This is an important resource for legal practitioners, judges and women’s human rights advocates as it presents the landmark decisions on women human rights in simple language, without losing the legal issues, defences and rationale for the decisions. Each case summary also contains a brief comment drawing attention to feminist legal issues arising from the case. There has been a continuous demand for the publication and more copies are planned to be printed in 2004.

From a Task Force, a Working Group has been constituted to run the WHR Programme. This change was intended to make the group more dynamic and flexible to carry out the important functions of ensuring the integration of women’s human rights in APWLD’s programmes and identifying critical and emerging issues on women’s human rights in Asia Pacific. The WHR WG is also expected to continue the implementation of the FLTP training, one of APWLD’s core training activities. The WHR WG will first convene in January 2004 and will review the Programme indicators drafted by the Secretariat and members of the Working Group during the Monitoring and Evaluation workshop held last 17 – 18 July 2003.

The WHR-WG is in the process of drafting a women’s human rights framework document, which will be discussed in various Task Forces with the end goal of developing a common women’s human rights framework for APWLD’s programmes. Based on the core women’s human rights principles developed in the FLTP training, the framework will be presented at the special General Assembly meeting in 2004. Relatedly, the WHR WG will also continue to implement the FLTP training. Over the six-month period, the Secretariat received three requests for FLTP trainings. One of these requests is for a training in South Asia, which will be conducted in early 2004. An FLTP training among APWLD members is also planned for next year. Members of Task Forces and Regional Council members are expected to participate in the training. The FLTP training manual will be completed in 2004 following the field-testing in Pacific and South Asia.

The WHR programme is also gearing towards addressing impunity for human rights violations. Its involvement in the protection and promotion of women human rights defenders is intended to counter the increasing State repression of human rights movements, particularly in Asia Pacific. An international event on women human rights defenders is planned for 2005. Issues of rising fundamentalisms and growing repression due to anti-terrorism measures, which has led to increasing violence against women, have also been identified as persistent concerns that should be addressed in Asia Pacific.

This workshop, which was organised upon SIDA’s request, was part of SIDA’s Regional Planning Meeting on Democracy and Human Rights. Analysis of the responses to the Needs Assessment Questionnaire revealed that participants had expertise in the area of human rights. There were differing levels of understanding of gender and feminism. Based on the needs assessment, the programme and session plans for the two-days were developed. Feedback from the participants revealed that all participants found the workshop useful. Responses varied from “very useful” to “useful”, “more as a reminder than an eye-opener”, “refreshing”, “provocative” and comments that “these issues must be discussed again and again”. The participants found the second day more useful particularly, the session on the FLTP checklist. All participants said that they will be able to utilise the knowledge gained from the workshop into their respective work. Some participants “still had problems with the word ‘Feminism’” and would prefer it to be called Legal Theory and Practice for Advancement of Women’s Rights”.

There were approximately 35 participants for the workshop, most of them were staff of Sida from different regional offices and others were staff of partner organisations of Sida, including Diakonia, Forum Asia and Asia Human Rights Committee. APWLD was represented by Eleanor Conda, WHR WG member and facilitator for the workshop. Vani Dulaki and Yamini, Programme Officers, assisted in conducting the workshop.

Programme officer: Yamini

1. To formulate a conceptual framework on women’s human rights incorporating the definition of women’s human rights and the linking of WHR to the basic human rights principles;
2. to review law reforms using WHR framework and/or strategies; (process and content)
3. to access international, regional, national HR bodies that are not necessarily women specific;
4. to strengthen links with regional HR groups towards integrating women’s perspectives in HR;
5. to share information;
6. to provide the scope for future pressing issues;
7. to develop and facilitate HR documentation in the region.