Padaviya

Tue, 13 Dec 2011

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has decided to conduct an inquiry into the murders and disappearances of Aboriginal women and girls across Canada. The Committee, composed of 23 independent experts from around the world, is the UN’s main authority on women’s human rights. The Committee’s decision was announced today by Jeannette Corbiere Lavell, President of the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), and Sharon McIvor of the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA).

The inquiry procedure is used to investigate what the Committee believes to be very serious violations of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. In January and in September 2011, faced with the continuing failures of Canadian governments to take effective action in connection with the murders and disappearances, FAFIA and NWAC requested the Committee to launch an inquiry. Canada has signed on to the treaty, known as the Optional Protocol to the Convention, which authorizes the Committee to investigate allegations of “grave or systematic” violations of the Convention by means of an inquiry. Now that the Committee has formally initiated the inquiry, Canada will be expected to cooperate with the Committee’s investigation.

“FAFIA and NWAC requested this Inquiry because violence against Aboriginal women and girls is a national tragedy that demands immediate and concerted action,” said Jeannette Corbiere Lavell. “Aboriginal women in Canada experience rates of violence 3.5 times higher than non- Aboriginal women, and young Aboriginal women are five times more likely to die of violence. NWAC has documented the disappearances and murders of over 600 Aboriginal women and girls in Canada over about twenty years, and we believe that there may be many more. The response of law enforcement and other government officials has been slow, often dismissive of reports made by family members of missing women, uncoordinated and generally inadequate.”

“These murders and disappearances have their roots in systemic discrimination and in the denial of basic economic and social rights” said Sharon McIvor of FAFIA. “We believe that the CEDAW Committee can play a vital role not only in securing justice for the women and girls who have died or disappeared, but also in preventing future violations, by identifying the action that Canadian governments must take to address the root causes. Canada has not lived up to its obligations under international human rights law to prevent, investigate and remedy violence against Aboriginal women and girls.”

“The Committee carried out an inquiry into similar violations in Mexico five years ago and we expect the process will follow the same lines here in Canada,” said McIvor. “Mexico invited the Committee’s representatives to make an on-site visit and during the visit the representatives interviewed victim’s families, government officials at all levels, and NGOs. The Committee’s report on the inquiry spelled out the steps that Mexico should take regarding the individual cases and the systemic discrimination underlying the violations. Mexican women’s groups say that the Committee’s intervention helped to spur Government action and we hope to see the same result here in Canada, said McIvor.”

For further information, please contact:
Jeannette Corbiere Lavell, President Native Women’s Association of Canada, Tel.: 613-899-2343
Sharon McIvor Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action, Tel.: 250-378-7479
For assistance, please contact:
Claudette Dumont-Smith, Executive Director Native Women’s Association of Canada, Tel.: 613-656-3004
Shelagh Day, Chair, Human Rights Committee Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action, Tel.: 604-872-0750

NEW YORK — On the eve of high-level meetings for the United Nations’ general assembly, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attended an event on Monday afternoon designed to highlight the importance of women’s participation in public life.

By Joshua Hersch

Together with a selection of major female world leaders, including Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s top diplomat, and Michelle Bachelet, the former president of Chile and the head of U.N. Women, Clinton put her name to a document calling for developing countries — especially in the changing Middle East — to clear the way for women to hold leadership roles.

The joint statement read:

We call upon all States to ratify and fulfill their obligations under the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and to implement fully Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women and Peace and Security and other relevant UN resolutions.

There was only one problem: the United States is the only industrialized nation — and one of only seven in the world — that has not yet signed onto the CEDAW treaty.

Although Clinton did not mention America’s conspicuous absence from the list of full CEDAW adherents, both she and President Obama have repeatedly stated they would like to see the treaty ratified in the Senate. But while CEDAW has been in the hands of the Senate for more than 30 years — ever since President Jimmy Carter signed it in 1980 — it has never so much as gotten a vote in the full chamber.

In an interview with The Huffington Post, Melanne Verveer, the State Department’s ambassador at large for global women’s issues, described CEDAW as just one of many issues affecting women that has Clinton’s personal attention, and said that the administration has “made its position very clear on this.”

“I’ve testified that around the world, the number one question I’m asked is why hasn’t the U.S. ratified CEDAW,” Verveer said. “We would be much stronger if we could be in the right place, but it’s up to the Senate.”

Erin Matson, the action vice president at the National Organization for Women, calls it “an embarrassment that the U.S. has dragged its heels for so long on this issue.”

“We are in horrible company,” she added. “Most of the nations around the world have ratified CEDAW, and to think that it’s gone 30 years since President Carter signed it, and asked for its ratification in the Senate, it’s heartbreaking.”

While she praised Clinton for her leadership on global women’s rights issues, Matson said the administration’s effort on the treaty has been lacking.

“Secretary of State Clinton is a champion for women’s human rights around the world and has spoken forcefully in favor of prioritizing CEDAW ratification many times,” Matson said.

“In terms of the president, we would love to see more of a commitment to this coming from the White House, from the president himself. The White House does support CEDAW. The question is, is the White House pushing on CEDAW right now? No.”

Janet Benshoof, the president of the Global Justice Center and an advocate for women’s rights worldwide, said one reason the treaty has struggled to get approval is that some legal analysts fear it may institute protections for controversial reproductive programs, particularly abortion.

As a result, previous versions of the treaty that have reached the Senate floor — including one as recently as 2002 — have included special riders that exempted abortion laws, and a handful of other provisions, from the treaty.

Passing a U.N. treaty that includes special exemptions would be an insult to the international community, not to mention it would sap the measure of its fundamental strength, Benshoof said.

“If we have a CEDAW that is like the last one, we don’t need it,” Benshoof said. “It does not send a signal to women of the world that America signs a treaty without intention of ever implementing it. It would be like signing a treaty against torture and putting in a clause excluding waterboarding.”

In a recent Newsweek list of the best countries in the world for women, the United States ranked eighth overall, but it joined countries near the bottom of the list — Iran (125th), Sudan (156th) — in not being a signatory to CEDAW.

Asked if she thought the treaty might see passage soon, Verveer laughed.

“We’ve got to continue to be hopeful,” she said. “I can’t live without hope.”

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story implied the treaty had not yet been signed. The treaty was signed by President Carter, but it has not yet been ratified by the U.S. Congress.

WINNIPEG - Two aboriginal groups and will sign a pact with a national women’s group to call for a Canadian task force to probe the cases of missing and murdered aboriginal women across the country.

The National Council of Women of Canada will have a representative in Winnipeg Saturday to draw attention to the issue, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said in a statement Friday afternoon.

The group will sign a declaration to back up the call with Native Women’s Association of Canada’s Jeannette Corbiere Lavell and AMC First Nations Women’s Committee representative Chief Francine Meeches (Swan Lake First Nation) in Winnipeg Saturday afternoon at the Viscount Gort Hotel.

An estimated 500 aboriginal women have been murdered or gone missing in Canada. In Manitoba a joint task force of the Winnipeg Police Service and the RCMP have been dedicated to 84 cases here since 2009.

In November 2008, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women required Canada to report back on steps taken to address the failure of law enforcement agencies to deal with the disappearance and murders of aboriginal women and girls.

For the first time in eight long years, the U.S. Senate held a hearing on U.S. ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW, or the Women’s Treaty). During the hearing, Steven Groves from the Heritage Foundation testified about all the evils that would be bestowed upon us if the U.S. took the radical approach of joining 186 other nations in supporting CEDAW. Apparently ratifying a treaty to protect and promote women’s rights simultaneously undermines and threatens those same rights. Wait, what?

Today, for the first time in eight years, the U.S. Senate held a hearing on the importance of ratifying the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). I was invited to speak before them; below is what I said. Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Conner, in a letter released today, also expressed support for CEDAW. You can join us in urging the Senate to support ratification of this vital treaty by sending your Senators an e-mail now.

(click through for speech)

Globally it is estimated there are at least 5,000 honour killings annually. The number is probably much higher: these crimes are often misreported as suicides, or accidents, or simply ignored. A number of UN initiatives address violence against women. The International Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) — which Canada has ratified — requires regular reporting on measures taken to eliminate violence and discrimination toward women. CEDAW recognizes honour killings as a distinct form of violence against women, and identifies the countries and cultures where these killings most often occur.

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Name+honour+killings+stop+violence/3510923/story.html#ixzz0zSt96Gxp

The CEDAW Task Force of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (co-sponsored by Citizens for Global Solutions, the National Women’s Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the YWCA) has declared this week a Week of Action on CEDAW to push for U.S. ratification. In honor of this week, the National Council for Research on Women is hosting a blog forum where leaders and experts comment on why it is critical that the United States ratify CEDAW and what ordinary citizens can do to facilitate the treaty’s ratification.

So far, three pieces have been posted.

Margot Baruch of the Center for Global Women’s Leadership at Rutgers University discusses the successful case study of San Francisco. She concludes, “CEDAW is not the final remedy to achieve equality, but it is a solid entry point. Over the last 30 years, CEDAW has impacted women worldwide and will continue to grow stronger as more countries implement the promises they have made to advance women’s rights. We need to end US exceptionalism and ratify CEDAW now!”

Linda Tarr-Whelan, former Ambassador to the UN Commission on the Status of Women, former Deputy Assistant for Women’s Concerns to President Carter and a Demos Distinguished Senior Fellow recalls her time working with President Jimmy Carter at the time CEDAW was first adopted, and its failure to become ratified. “Under CEDAW no one mandates solutions. It is, however, an effective tool for an assessment of progress to put the spotlight on unsolved issues,” says Tarr-Whelan. She also offers many action steps people can take.

Don Kraus, CEO of Citizens for Global Solutions and the co-chair of the CEDAW Task Force of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, calls to us to further CEDAW, indicating that while support on both sides of the aisle is apparent, it is our voices that must push our Senators into action. As Don writes “Don’t just call your Senators office…Send them $10,000 checks with ‘VOID UNTIL CEDAW PASSES’ written over the front. It’s time to misbehave, get loud, and make history.”

Please weigh in by leaving a comment and spread the news about the Week of Action!

For further information, please visit the NCRW

Please forward widely

Now open for applications:

2010 Women’s Human Rights Education Institutes (WHRI):

WOMEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS:

BUILDING A PEACEFUL WORLD IN AN ERA OF GLOBALIZATION
SIX WEEK INSTITUTE
July 19-August 26, 2010
Directed by: Alda Facio, LLP
with

Shanthi Dairiam, MA, Mary Eberts LLB, LSM, LLM, Angela Lytle MEd, and Angela Miles, PhD

Centre for Women’s Studies in Education, University of Toronto

Offered in Association with Fundación Justicia y Género, Costa Rica

and

WOMEN’S RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS!
CEDAW for Change
ONE WEEK INSTITUTE
August 16-20, 2010

Directed by Alda Facio, LLP and Shanthi Dairiam MA

Centre for Women’s Studies in Education, University of Toronto

Offered in Association with IWRAW-AP

Synopsis follows—-for full information, see our website at:  www.learnwhr.org 

         For inquiries, contact WHRI Program Director Angela Lytle at info@learnwhr.org 

____________________

Women’s Human Rights: Building a Peaceful World in an Era of Globalization 6 Week Institute

Facilitators: Alda Facio, Shanthi Dairiam, Angela Miles, Angela Lytle, Mary Eberts

Offered in Partnership with Fundación Justicia y Género, Costa Rica

July 19-August 26, 2010

Limited to twenty Canadian and international participants, so apply early to ensure consideration.

Final Application deadline May 15th, 2010.

Late applications may be considered if there is space.

This unique educational institute brings feminist perspectives and an activist orientation to the inextricably related issues of peace, human rights and life-sustaining development. Participants will develop a practical understanding of the UN Human Rights system and how to apply a women’s human rights framework to a multiplicity of issues.

The six-week WHRI brings together a balance of academic/theoretical inquiry and engaged, activist praxis.   Human rights, peace, and emerging alternatives to globalization are examined both as interconnected elements of a socially just and sustainable world and as alternative ways of knowing, acting, being, and interacting. Women’s human rights are both the subject and the guiding framework of the institute.  This is reflected in the teaching principles and methodology. The WHRI aims to create a safe, supportive, and celebratory space that allows for collective sharing and knowledge-building alongside skills training . Classes are participatory, incorporate a broad variety of readings, videos, and activities, and in an effort to promote integration and well-being, participants are offered gentle yoga classes twice a week.

All instructors have extensive activist experience at local, national and international levels and are known for their theoretical, academic and policy contributions in these areas. To maximize each individual’s learning opportunity, participants are limited to TWENTY and come from all regions of the world, many with a great deal of experience in the field of women’s human rights.

CEDAW For Change -1 Week Intensive Institute

Facilitators:  Alda Facio and Shanthi Dairiam, with Angela Lytle and Martha Morgan

 Offered in Partnership with International Women’s Human Rights Action Watch-Asia Pacific (IWRAW-AP)

August 16-20, 2010 

Final Application deadline:  July 16th, 2010

 The CEDAW for Change module within the six-week WHRI is open for additional enrollment as a one-week intensive for those who cannot attend the full course.  One-week participants will join the six-week programme participants in this one-week module designed to cultivate a better understanding of the principles of non discrimination and equality as enshrined in CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women) and each State’s obligation to respect, protect and fulfill women’s human rights. Participants will be helped to frame whatever issues they are working on within a human right’s framework from a gender perspective.

 This session stresses the multiplicity of forms of discrimination women from diverse situations experience. During the week we will learn through activities focused around identity and interconnectedness, the complex nature of discrimination, the impact of culture and religion on women’s rights, and activism against discrimination.  We will examine case studies that have come before the CEDAW committee and will explore ways in which CEDAW can be used to support local and national level activism through the submission of Shadow Reports by NGOs and through the CEDAW Optional Protocol.

For full details, see our website at:  www.learnwhr.org

For inquiries, contact WHRI Program Director Angela Lytle at:  info@learnwhr.org