UN Committee for Women's Rights says No Country has reached Full Equality by UN News / Associated Press 11:09am 15th Oct, 2004   13 October 2004. (UN News)    Some 25 years after the adoption of a landmark global treaty on the rights of women, no country in the world has achieved total equality between the sexes both in law and in practice, the Committee overseeing the United Nations convention said today.    In a statement to mark the anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Committee said discriminatory laws remain in many of the 178 States that are parties to the pact. In other countries, the laws might promote equality but informal discrimination remains.    The Committee cited laws about marriage, divorce, property inheritance, ownership of land and access to loans and credits as examples of where women still lag behind men in their formal rights.    "Criminal law, especially in relation to sexual violence and crimes, continues to be discriminatory, inadequate or poorly enforced," the statement added.    Women are forced into early marriage or polygamous situations, widows are maltreated, girls are denied the same educational opportunities as boys and access to reproductive health care is often limited.    Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette told a roundtable held at UN Headquarters to celebrate the 25th anniversary that "the Convention remains the most solid global tool in the work for true gender equality in the home, the community and society; and for freedom from discrimination, whether perpetrated by the State or by any person, organization or enterprise."    Ms. Fréchette said there has been great progress since 1979, noting the introduction of constitutional provisions enshrining gender equality and laws explicitly banning gender discrimination, and the establishment of equality commissions.    Committee reports show that many countries have recently taken steps to correct years of historical inequality or discrimination between the sexes. In Bangladesh, for example, the constitution has been amended to enlarge the number of national parliamentary seats reserved for women. In Latvia, discrimination against women in the workplace is now prohibited, and in Angola, which is recovering from decades of civil war, a national ministry has been created for the promotion and development of women.    But, Ms. Fréchette added that women continue to suffer from violence in their daily lives, remain "significantly under-represented in public life" and endure widespread sexual harassment in the workplace.    New Zealand Governor-General Dame Silvia Rose Cartwright, a former member of the Committee monitoring the Convention, told the roundtable that inequality is counter-productive because women who suffer from discrimination will have less economic value than they could otherwise enjoy.    She also voiced concern that so many nations continue to hold reservations to key articles of the Convention, thus weakening its impact in those States. Some countries, however, have withdrawn either all or part of their reservations since the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing was held in 1995, including France, Ireland, Lesotho and Mauritius.    Oct. 13, 2004    "Eighty-five nations back population agenda", by Edith M. Lederer. (Associated Press)    Eighty-five heads of state and government have signed a statement endorsing a U.N. plan adopted 10 years ago to ensure every woman's right to education, health care, and to make choices about childbearing. President Bush's administration refused to sign because the statement mentions "sexual rights."    A decade after the landmark International Conference on Population and Development, the statement signed by more than 250 global leaders in all fields was handed Wednesday to Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette by media mogul Ted Turner, who founded and funds the United Nations Foundations. Frechette called it "a brilliant idea" that will renew the commitment of governments and leaders to achieve the goals that 179 nations agreed to in Cairo.    The United States was a strong supporter of the Cairo plan of action. Former Colorado senator Tim Wirth, who was a key player in drafting the 20-year Cairo blueprint as a top official on the U.S. delegation, helped spearhead the global statement in his current job as president of the U.N. Foundation.    The statement notes that in 1994 "the world's governments and civil society committed to an action plan to ensure universal access to reproductive health information and services, uphold fundamental human rights including sexual and reproductive rights, alleviate poverty, secure gender equality, and protect the environment."    While progress has been made, the statement says the world is facing an exponential increase in HIV/AIDS, a growing gap between rich and poor, persistently high death rates related to pregnancy and childbirth, and inadequate access to family planning services. It calls on the international community to fund and implement the goals of the conference, known as the ICPD.    Wirth noted that 134 million couples who want family planning services don't have access to them and there is an average of just three condoms per year available to men in sub-Saharan Africa - "a very, very significant shortfall."    The statement was signed by leaders of 85 nations including the entire European Union, China, Japan, Indonesia, Pakistan and more than a dozen African countries as well as 22 former world leaders, notably U.S. Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.    The Bush administration responded only on Tuesday to organizers who had asked for the president's support. In a letter to organizers of the statement, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kelly Ryan reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to "the goals and objectives" of the Cairo conference and "to the empowerment of women and the need to promote women's fullest enjoyment of universal human rights."    "The United States is unable, however, to endorse the `world leaders' statement on supporting the ICPD," Ryan said. "The statement includes the concept of `sexual rights,' a term that has no agreed definition in the international community, goes beyond what was agreed to at Cairo.    Sexual rights were specifically mentioned a year later, however, in the platform of action adopted by over 180 countries including the United States at the 1995 U.N. women's conference in Beijing.    That platform, which the United States also took a leading role in drafting, states: "The human rights of women include their right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence."    Bush has blocked $34 million in congressionally approved annual assistance to the United Nations Population Fund, alleging that the U.N. agency helped China manage programs that involved forced abortions, a charge it calls baseless.
	Next (more recent) news item
	Next (older) news item