Background to the Demands Including Recommendations, Questions and Actions

The demands included in this Take Action kit focus on the commitments governments made in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (IV World Conference on Women, 1995) to take action toward the realization of women's human rights. This background information contains specific recommendations from the Platform for Action of concrete steps governments should take regarding each demand. In addition, we provide more information about the topic, relating it to the Universal Declaration for Human Rights and the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (World Conference on Human Rights, 1993). Finally, we include a series of questions for advocates to pose to their governments as a way to generate a broader conversation about the governments' plans for acting upon their commitments, as well as some suggested actions for non-governmental organizations (NGO) who are concerned with these issues.

Building on the UDHR and the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action declares: "Human rights and fundamental freedoms are the birthright of all human beings; their protection and promotion is the first responsibility of Governments." (Para.210). It reaffirms that "all human rights -- civil, cultural, economic, political and social, including the right to development -- are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated." (Para. 214). It emphasizes that "[t]he full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by women and girls is a priority for Governments and the United Nations and is essential for the advancement of women" (para. 214).

In this background information, the five demands and questions are arranged in the following format:

A. Demand

B. Recommended steps governments should take to meet that demand, with relevant language from the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action;

C. Background information about the demands from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action;

D. Questions to ask your government and generate discussion about the demands;

E. Five actions you can take to advance these demands.

A short list which contains the demands and recommended steps only is included in the Take Action kit also.

Demands, Recommendations and Questions

A. Demand #1

The Beijing Platform for Action provides a detailed articulation of what implementation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights means for women. Therefore, we call for increased action toward and resources for its full implementation. In order to fully achieve these goals, governments must also respect and protect defenders of the human rights of women.

B. Recommendations

* Dedicate new and expanded resources or reallocate existing resources to addressing women's human rights.

Paragraph 232 (a) of the Platform for Action calls for governments to "give priority to promoting and protecting the full and equal enjoyment by women and men of all human rights and fundamental freedoms without distinction of any kind as to race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinions, national or social origin, property, birth or other status." Realizing this commitment requires that governments dedicate adequate resources to gender integration and gender analysis in all their activities.

* Take immediate steps to implement the Beijing Platform for Action's recommendation to fully integrate the human rights of women throughout all policies and programmes.

As emphasized in paragraph 221 of the Platform for Action, "[t]he human rights of women and the girl-child must form an integral part of United Nations human rights activities. Intensified efforts are needed to integrate the equal status and the human rights of all women and girls into the mainstream of United Nations system-wide activities and to address these issues regularly and systematically throughout relevant bodies and mechanisms."

* Work toward ratification of the Declaration on the Rights of Human Rights Defenders (officially referred to as the Draft Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms).

Paragraph 228 states that "[w]omen engaged in the defense of human rights must be protected...Non-governmental organizations, women's organizations and feminist groups have played a catalytic role in the promotion of the human rights of women through grass-roots activities, networking and advocacy and need encouragement, support and access to information from Governments in order to carry out these activities."

C. Background

The Platform for Action notes that "[u]nless the human rights of women, as defined by international human rights instruments, are fully recognized and effectively protected, applied,implemented and enforced in national law as well as national practice in family, civil, penal, labor and commercial codes and administrative rules and regulations, they will exist in name only" (Paragraph 218). The steps needed to implement this commitment can only be effectively implemented if adequate resources are devoted to them.

The steps recommended here are fundamental to fulfilling Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which proclaims "[a]ll human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights," and Article 2 which emphasizes that "[e]veryone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status."

These commitments by governmental and intergovernmental agencies are reiterated in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action which clearly states "[t]he human rights of women and of the girl-child are an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights. The full and equal participation of women in political, civil, economic, social and cultural life, at the national, regional and international levels, and the eradication of all forms of discrimination on ground of sex are priority objectives of the international community" (Paragraph 18).

Thus, while the UDHR sets out the broad foundations of human rights, the Vienna Declaration and the Beijing Platform for Action translate these into more concrete steps that governments must take. More detailed articulations of human rights are also spelled out in various human rights conventions and declarations. These broad goals require that governments actively work toward the ratification and implementation of international and regional human rights treaties. Moreover, they will only become translated into national law and policy with a commitment to implementation and the resources necessary to ensuring such implementation. The Platform for Action urges governments to do so by developing national action plans which identify steps to improve the promotion and protection of the human rights of women (paragraph 230 [d]).

D. Questions to ask your governments

1. What efforts is your government taking to promote gender equality and gender parity as measured by the percentage of the budget allocated to women's needs and rights in education, health care, social services, etc?
2. Has your government undertaken efforts which have increased the number of women in elected and appointed office? If not, why not?
3. What specific measures are being taken to implement the commitments made in the Platform for Action through national law as well as national practice, including family, civil, penal, labor and commercial codes and administrative rules and regulations?
4. Has your government filed a National Action Plan with the UN Division for the Advancement
of Women, regarding implementation of the Platform for Action? If not, why not?

E. Five actions you can take

1. Resources: Adapt the enclosed postcard to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and send a similar request to appropriate local and national policymakers.
2. Implementation: Begin a campaign to get your village, town or city to adopt policies of gender equity and parity, so that budget allocations are examined with a gender analysis. (The Women's Institute for Leadership Development, based in San Francisco, California, USA defines gender analysis as a critical analysis of how the work of all agencies and programs affect women and girls, and recognizes that both women and men can take action that has an adverse impact on women and girls.
3. Implementation: Work with other women's, human rights and social justice organizations to bring national laws into compliance with international human rights instruments.
4. Human Rights Defenders: Build coalitions with other women's, human rights and civil rights organizations to ensure that human rights defenders are adequately protected.
5. Human Rights Defenders: Use commemorative dates (such as March 8-International Women's Day, May 1-International Labour Day, May 28-International Women's Health Day, November 25-International Day Against Violence Against Women, December 1-World AIDS Day, etc.) to highlight and honor the work of grassroots women activists as human rights defenders.

A. Demand #2

Outlaw all forms of discrimination against women.

B. Recommendations

* Ensure ratification and implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (the Women's Convention) immediately.

In paragraph 230 (b), the Platform for Action recommends governments to take action to "ratify and accede to and ensure implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (Women's Convention) so that universal ratification of the Convention can be achieved by the year 2000."

* Remove any reservations to the Women's Convention.

Paragraph 230 (c) of the Platform for Action recommends that governments "limit the extent of any reservations to the Convention; formulate any such reservations as precisely and as narrowly as possible; ensure that no reservations are incompatible with the object and purpose of the Convention or otherwise incompatible with international treaty law and regularly review them with a view to withdrawing them; and withdraw reservations that are contrary to the object and purpose of the Convention...or which are otherwise incompatible with international treaty law."

*Bring national laws and policies into compliance with the Women's Convention.

As noted in paragraph 230 (g), governments should "implement the Convention by reviewing all national laws, policies, practices and procedures to ensure that they meet the obligations set out in the Convention. Further, they should "embody the principle of the equality of men and women in their legislation and ensure, through law and other appropriate means, the practical realization of this principle" (paragraph 232 [c]).

* Work toward adopting a strong optional protocol to the Women's Convention establishing a right of petition.

Paragraph 230 (k) of the Platform for Action calls for governments to "support the process initiated by the Commission on the Status of Women with a view to elaborating a draft optional protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women that could enter into force as soon as possible on a rights of petition procedure..."

C. Background

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights calls for the protection of human rights "without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status," (Article 2) and proclaims that "[a]ll are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law" (Article 6). The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action elaborates this in paragraph 15 by noting that "[r]espect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms without distinction of any kind is a fundamental rule of international human rights law. The speedy and comprehensive elimination of all forms of racism and racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance is a priority task for the international community." Thus, while the UDHR prohibits sex as a basis for discrimination it does not have a gender perspective, nor does it specifically discuss women's human rights. Elaborating upon this, the Vienna Declaration emphasizes the importance of the elimination of discrimination, as called for by the UDHR.

In addition to emphasizing the importance of eliminating discrimination against women on the basis of sex, the Platform recognizes that many women may experience discrimination based on other factors. It notes that "[m]any women face additional barriers to the enjoyment of their human rights because of such factors as their race, language, ethnicity, culture, religion, disability or socio-economic class or because they are indigenous people, migrants, including women migrant workers, displaced women or refugees. They may also be marginalized by a general lack of knowledge and recognition of their human rights as well as by the obstacles they meet in gaining access to information and recourse mechanisms in cases of violations of rights" (Paragraph 225).

The primary document elaborating the steps required to eliminate discrimination against women is the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (the Women's Convention), adopted by the United Nations in 1979. It defines discrimination against women and outlines steps which ratifying countries must take in both the public and private sphere to end discrimination against women. To date, over 160 countries have ratified the Women's Convention. Some countries, like the United States, have signed but not ratified the treaty. Others have ratified the Convention, but with reservations which are intended to limit the scope of governments' duties under the Convention. In addition to the detailed obligations in areas such as education, employment, health care, family and marital relations, CEDAW (the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, which monitors governments' compliance with their obligations) has established through its General Recommendation 19, interpreting the Convention, that violence against women is prohibited. The Platform for Action includes explicit goals of universal ratification of the Convention by the year 2000.

An "optional protocol" to the Women's Convention is currently being drafted. An optional protocol is an additional treaty attached to a convention and it must be separately signed and ratified. This optional protocol is intended to enable individuals, and potentially groups and organizations, to bring complaints to the committee which reviews countries' compliance with the treaty- CEDAW. A strong optional protocol must first authorize the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) to receive complaints from individuals, groups and organizations alleging violations. Second, it must institute an inquiry procedure which will enable CEDAW to initiate investigations of serious or systematic violations of the Women's Convention. Currently the only monitoring process for the Women's Convention is through the periodic reports which countries make to CEDAW.

D. Questions to ask your governments

1. If your government has not yet ratified the Women's Convention, why not?
2. If your government has ratified, but with reservations to the Women's Convention, what will it take to remove or narrow these reservations?
3. Has your government reported to CEDAW (the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, which monitors governments' compliance with the Women's Convention) on their efforts to implement the Convention? Have they made this report(s) available to non-governmental organizations?
4. How will or does your government involve non-governmental organizations and civil society in developing their country report to CEDAW?
5. What process does your government use to disseminate CEDAW's conclusions about national progress toward implementing the Women's Convention?
6. How has the government incorporated the Women's Convention and its General Recommendations into national law? What will it take to bring all national laws at least up to the standard of the Women's Convention?
7. Does your government actively support a strong optional protocol to the Women's Convention? If not, why not? Do they need additional information or resources?

E. Five actions you can take

1. Women's Convention: Campaign for ratification by those countries that have not yet ratified the Women's Convention, and to remove reservations in those countries that have ratified with reservations.
2. Women's Convention: Work with women's, human rights and legal action organizations to use the Women's Convention, along with other international human rights instruments, in national courts.
3. National laws: Build coalitions with other women's and human rights organizations to pressure your government to bring national laws into compliance with all human rights instruments
4. National compliance: Develop "shadow" reports on your government's compliance with the Women's Convention. (A "shadow report" is a report researched and written by NGOs to reflect their analysis of the steps your government has taken to comply with the Convention.)
5. Optional protocol: Lobby your governments to work actively for a strong optional protocal.

A. Demand #3

Ensure women's right to live free from violence.

B. Recommendations

*Take concerted and systematic action to end violence against women in the home and family through all necessary means.

The Platform for Action notes that "[a]cts or threats of violence, whether occurring within the home or in the community, or perpetrated or condoned by the State, instill fear and insecurity in women's lives and are obstacles to the achievement of equality and for development and peace...High social, health and economic costs to the individual and society are associated with violence against women" (paragraph 117).

The Platform also sets out specific steps that governments must take to end violence against women, including violence against women in the home, whether these are perpetrated by the State or by private persons. Such measures include: condemning violence against women and refraining from invoking any custom, tradition or religious consideration to avoid their obligations as delineated in the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, refraining from engaging in violence against women and taking active steps to prevent, investigate and punish it, enacting legislation to punish and redress such violence, adopting, implementing and reviewing legislation to ensure its effectiveness, ratifying international human rights norms and instruments, actively mainstreaming a gender perspective in all policies and programmes, providing women who are subjected to violence with access to the mechanisms of justice, enacting and enforcing legislation against the perpetrators of violence against women, formulating plans of action to eliminate violence against women, as well as raising awareness, creating a safe and accessible environment for reporting, training appropriate judicial, legal, medical, social, educational, police and immigration personnel, allocating adequate resources, reporting on measures taken, and cooperating with UN human rights monitoring bodies.

*Recognize that gender-based violence and discrimination, and the reprisals women experience when they resist such oppression can constitute persecution and should therefore be considered as grounds for showing a well-founded fear of persecution in refugee and asylum claims.

Paragraph 147 (h) of the Platform for Action calls upon governments to "[a]pply international norms to ensure equal access and equal treatment of women and men in refugee determination procedures and the granting of asylum, including full respect and strict observance of the principle of non-refoulement through, inter alia, bringing national immigration regulations into conformity with relevant international instruments, and consider recognizing as refugees those women whose claim to refugee status is based upon the well-founded fear of persecution for reasons enumerated in the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, including persecution through sexual violence or other gender-related persecution, and provide access to specially trained officers, including female officers to interview women regarding sensitive or painful experiences, such as sexual assault...."

*Eliminate gender-based persecution in situations of war and armed conflict and provide justice and reparations to victims of such persecution.

Regarding rape and sexual violence in humanitarian and international law, the Platform for Action calls upon governments and international and regional organizations to "reaffirm that rape in the conduct of armed conflict constitutes a war crime and under certain circumstances it constitutes a crime against humanity and an act of genocide as defined in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide; take all measures required for the protection of women and children from such acts and strengthen mechanisms to investigate and punish all those responsible and bring the perpetrators to justice" (Paragraph 145 [d]).

*Work toward establishing an effective and independent International Criminal Court that includes a gender perspective throughout its statute, such as the inclusion of sexual violence and rape in the definitions of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The Platform enjoins governments along with international and regional organizations to "uphold and reinforce standards set out in international humanitarian law and international human rights instruments to prevent all acts of violence against women in situations of armed and other conflicts; undertake a full investigation of all acts of violence against women committed during war, including rape, in particular systematic rape, forced prostitution and other forms of indecent assault and sexual slavery; prosecute all criminals responsible for war crimes against women and provide full redress to women victims" (Paragraph 145[e]).

C. Background

The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, by proclaiming that "gender-based violence and all forms of sexual harassment and exploitation, including those resulting from cultural prejudice and international trafficking, are incompatible with the dignity and worth of the human person, and must be eliminated" (para. 18) set an important precedent for demanding that governments take firm and immediate action to ensure women's right to live free from violence, and called for the international community to adopt a Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women. For example, it stresses the "importance of working toward the elimination of violence against women in public and private life, the elimination of all forms of sexual harassment, exploitation and trafficking in women, the elimination of gender bias in the administration of justice and the eradication of any conflict which may arise between the rights of women and the harmful effects of certain traditional or customary practices, cultural prejudices and religious extremism" (paragraph 38). Building on this, and reiterating the definition in the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the Platform for Action defines violence against women as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private (para. 113). It details such acts and notes that "other acts of violence against women include violation of the human rights of women in situations of armed conflict, in particular murder, systematic rape, sexual slavery and forced pregnancy."

One critical advance in addressing violence against women has been the recognition by the international community, and therefore by governments, that violence against women by private actors in the home is a human rights violation. Actions to end domestic violence, including incest and elder abuse, are needed at many levels. Laws and policies that hold the perpetrators of violence against women in their homes accountable should be strengthened and victims should be effectively protected, for instance, by ensuring that marital rape is considered to be a crime; programs and policies that can help change attitudes and practices to eliminate violence against women must be created; community responsibility to end these human rights violations must be increased. Particular attention should be paid to the increased violence some women face because of regional disparities and differences in race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, culture, social status and income.

In order to ensure justice for victims of violence, and to work toward the elimination of violence against women, governments should:

1. Increase resources and financial support to programs and projects that seek to hold perpetrators of violence accountable;
2. Develop educational and community programs to provide protection to victims, including the provision of shelter, job protection and social services, while also working toward reducing and eliminating such violence;
3. Integrate effective actions to end violence against women into all areas of public and private life;
4. Develop and implement effective measures to prevent and redress violence by changing legislation, especially family law; ensuring that marital rape is considered to be a crime; developing clear and comprehensive guidelines for the criminal justice system; and providing training to police, prosecutors and judges about their human rights obligations;
5. Monitor and implement national legislation, as well as international agreements to achieve accountability and enforcement of these laws and policies, with the participation of women's organizations.

Situations of war and armed conflict may be particularly devastating to women, and increase the human rights violations they experience. The Platform for Action notes that "Violations of human rights in situations of armed conflict and military occupation are violations of the fundamental principles of international human rights and humanitarian law...Gross human rights violations and policies of ethnic cleansing in war-torn and occupied areas continue to be carried out. These practices have created, inter alia, a mass flow of refugees and other displaced persons in need of international protection...the majority of whom are women, adolescent girls and children" (paragraph 133). Further, as paragraph 135 of the Platform details "[w]hile entire communities suffer the consequences of armed conflict and terrorism, women and girls are particularly affected because of their status in society and their sex. Parties to conflict often rape women with impunity, sometimes using systematic rape as a tactic of war and terrorism. The impact of violence against women and violation of the human rights of women in such situations is experienced by women of all ages, who suffer displacement, loss of home and property, loss or involuntary disappearance of close relatives, poverty and family separation and disintegration, and who are victims of acts of murder, terrorism, torture, involuntary disappearance, sexual slavery, rape, sexual abuse and forced pregnancy..." as well as sexual harassment, forced eviction, forced prostitution and trafficking, and military sexual slavery.

The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action underscores the urgency for governments to address the human rights violations against women which occur in situations of armed conflict. It urges States to combat violence against women, and notes that "[v]iolations of the human rights of women in situations of armed conflict are violations of the fundamental principles of international human rights and humanitarian law. All violations of this kind, including in particular murder, systematic rape, sexual slavery, and forced pregnancy, require a particularly effective response" (paragraph 38).

Articles 13 and 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights articulate a strong commitment to freedom of movement and the right to asylum. Article 13 proclaims that "[e]veryone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State....Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his [or her] own, and to return to his [or her] country." Building on this, Article 14 pronounces the right to asylum by claiming that "[e]veryone has the right to seek...in other countries asylum from persecution." Such rights are reiterated in Paragraph 23 of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, which also refers to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, its 1967 Protocol and regional instruments. The Platform adds specificity to these concerns by enjoining governments to protect and assist women who are displaced within their country, and to find solutions to the root causes of their displacement, to protect the safety and physical integrity of refugee and displaced women, and apply "international norms to ensure equal access and equal treatment of women and men in refugee determination procedures and the granting of asylum, including full respect and strict observation of the principle of non-refoulement through, inter alia, bringing national immigration regulations into conformity with relevant international instruments, and consider recognizing as refugees those women whose claim to refugee status is based upon...persecution through sexual violence or other gender-related persecution..." (Paragraph 147 [h]).

Some efforts have been made by national governments and the international community to hold perpetrators of violence against women in situations of armed conflict accountable. For instance, as a result of extensive advocacy, public attention and monitoring by women's groups of the existing ad-hoc international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, some progress has been made to recognize sexual violence against women as a serious violation of international law. However, although in rhetoric these ad-hoc tribunals have addressed issues of sexual violence, the application of these principles has been slow and inadequate. Efforts are also underway to construct a permanent, functioning system of international justice in the attempts to create an International Criminal Court (ICC). In contrast to the ad-hoc tribunals, the ICC would be available to try the most serious human rights offenders when national courts are unable to do so, or are ineffective. However, while support is growing throughout the world for such an international mechanism, some governments are opposed to creating a truly independent body.

Efforts to create an International Criminal Court find their basis in Article 28 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which proclaims that "[e]veryone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in [the UDHR] can be fully realized." While efforts around the ICC postdate both the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights and the Fourth World Conference on Women, elements in both the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action and the Beijing Platform for Action, speak to some of the gender-specific requirements and issues in such an international body. For instance, the Platform calls upon governments along with international and regional intergovernmental institutions to "integrate a gender perspective in the resolution of armed or other conflicts and foreign occupation and aim for gender balance when nominating or promoting candidates for judicial and other positions in all relevant international bodies..." (Paragraph 142 [b]). Further, it recommends that governments, international and regional organizations "Ensure that these bodies are able to address gender issues properly by providing appropriate training to prosecutors, judges and other officials in handling cases involving rape, forced pregnancy in situations of armed conflict, indecent assault and other forms of violence against women in armed conflicts, including terrorism, and integrate a gender perspective into their work." (Paragraph 142 [c]).

D. Questions to ask your governments

1. What steps is your government taking in all sectors to prevent and redress violence against women, in recognition of its international obligations? For instance, how does your government address violence against women? Have there been changes in the judiciary, law enforcement procedures, the education system, the health care system or the social welfare system?
2. Is violence against women in the home and family a crime under national law?
3. Has marital rape been criminalized in your country?
4. What educational programs is the government sponsoring in schools to promote non-violence and respect for girls and women?
5. Does your government recognize gender-based persecution as a legitimate ground for requesting asylum?
6. Is your government actively supporting a strong and independent International Criminal Court? If not, why not? Is it supporting the incorporation of a gender perspective throughout the statute?
7. What is your government doing to protect and assist women living in situations of armed conflict, either taking place within your own country or outside? Does your government provide aid or humanitarian assistance that incorporates a gender perspective?
8. What is your government doing to protect and assist women who are displaced or refugees?
9. What has the government done to provide resources for rehabilitation programs and reparations for survivors of gender-based violence, including rape, abduction, forced pregnancy, forced sterilization, and sexual slavery in situations of armed conflict and occupation? What is your government's position with respect to this issue in the International Criminal Court?
10.What actions has the government taken to eliminate trafficking in women, including girls and young women, and to provide services to victims of violence related to forced prostitution and trafficking?

E. Five actions you can take

1. National legislation: Build coalitions with women's, human rights and other anti-violence efforts to change or strengthen national legislation or policies to prevent and redress violence against women, as well as to promote effective public awareness endeavors to prevent violence in all its forms.
2. Training programs: Create effective training programs in the criminal justice, social welfare and health care systems about violence against women as a human rights violation.
3. Asylum: Lobby your governments to include gender-based persecution as a grounds for making an asylum claim.
4. International Criminal Court: Meet with relevant foreign ministry officials to raise their awareness about the importance of integrating a gender perspective into the statute of the International Criminal Court, which will establish and define the jurisdiction and procedures of the ICC.
5. International Criminal Court: Lobby your government to support the appointment of women at all levels of the ICC and for more women delegates to the conference that will create the ICC in June-July of 1998.

A. Demand #4

Take steps to realize women's health, including their reproductive and sexual rights.

B. Recommendations

*Ensure the realization of women's right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.

The Platform for Action affirms a broad understanding of the right to health and to reproductive and sexual rights. It asserts that "women have the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health. The enjoyment of this right is vital to their life and well-being and their ability to participate in all areas of public and private life. Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity" (paragraph 89). Thus, the Platform directs governments to reaffirm this right; to support and implement commitments made in other international agreements and human rights instruments to women's health throughout their life cycle, including their reproductive and sexual health; to protect and promote its attainment; and to incorporate it into national legislation by, for example "review[ing] existing legislation, including health legislation, as well as policies, where necessary, to reflect a commitment to women's health and to ensure that they meet the changing roles and responsibilities of women wherever they reside" (paragraph 106[b]).

*Secure women's access to reproductive and sexual health and rights.

The Platform for Action affirms that "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" (Paragraph 96). It asserts that women's human rights include women's right to health as well as their reproductive and sexual rights. As noted in paragraph 94 of the Platform for Action, "Reproductive health therefore implies that people are able to have a satisfying and safe sex life and that they have the capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when and how often to do so."

The Platform for Action thus emphasizes the link between the right to reproductive and sexual health and access to information as well as to affordable and quality health care. It therefore calls on governments to increase women's access to appropriate, affordable and quality health care, information and related services, including family planning, while also strengthening preventive programmes (paragraph 106[e]), undertaking gender-sensitive initiatives that address sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, and sexual and reproductive health issues; as well as promoting research, disseminating information and increasing resources and monitoring. For instance, paragraph 232 (f) of the Platform instructs governments to take action to ensure that the human rights of women, including their reproductive rights and their right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, are fully respected and protected. Furthermore, some governments have interpreted the prohibition against discrimination on the basis of "other status" to include sexual orientation.

C. Background

The measures proposed in the Platform for Action build on Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states "[e]veryone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of him [or her]self and of his [or her] family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his [or her] control." The universality of women's human rights and the link between the right to health and all other rights, is underscored in paragraph 5 of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action which proclaims that "[a]ll human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated...While the significance of national and regional particularities and various historical, cultural and religious background must be borne in mind, it is the duty of States, regardless of their political, economic and cultural systems, to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms." The Women's Convention further spells out the duties of government which can be understood to be necessary to realize women's health, including their sexual and reproductive health.

The Platform for Action underscores and reaffirms the commitments governments have made to advance women's health, including their reproductive and sexual health. It affirms a broad understanding of women's health, by noting that women's health "involves their emotional, social and physical well-being and is determined by the social, political and economic context of their lives, as well as by biology" (paragraph 89). In this context, women's sexual and reproductive health care is understood to be "the constellation of methods, techniques and services that contribute to reproductive health and well-being by preventing and solving reproductive health problems. It also includes sexual health, the purpose of which is the enhancement of life and personal relations, and not merely counselling and care related to reproduction and sexually transmitted diseases" (paragraph 94). It further notes that "reproductive rights embrace certain human rights that are already recognized in national laws, international human rights documents and other consensus documents," which includes the "right to attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health. It also includes the right to make decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence, as expressed in human rights documents "(paragraph 95).

The Platform for Action details the steps needed to advance governments' commitments to women's health. Paragraph 106 of the Platform, for example, directs governments to "design and implement, in cooperation with women and community-based organizations, gender-sensitive health programmes, including decentralized health services, that address the need of women throughout their lives and take into account their multiple roles and responsibilities, the demands on their time, the special needs of rural women and women with disabilities and the diversity of women's needs arising from age and socio-economic and cultural differences among others; include women, especially local and indigenous women, in the identification and planning of health-care policies and programmes; remove all barriers to women's health services and provide a broad range of health-care services." Noting that the lack of affordable, appropriate and quality health care may be life-threatening to women, especially pregnant women, and to ensure the protection and promotion of health, reproductive and sexual rights for women and girls, paragraph 106 (i) of the Platform for Action instructs governments to "strengthen and reorient health services, particularly primary health care, in order to ensure universal access to quality health services for women and girls; reduce maternal mortality and morbidity and achieve worldwide the agreed-upon goal of reducing maternal mortality by at least 50 percent of the 1990 levels by the year 2000...."

Linking health to education and literacy, the Platform further calls for governments to "give priority to both formal and informal educational programmes that support and enable women to develop self-esteem, acquire knowledge, make decisions on and take responsibility for their own health, achieve mutual respect in matters concerning sexuality and fertility and educate men regarding the importance of women's health and well-being" (paragraph 107[a]). Further, such efforts should place "special focus on programmes for both men and women that emphasize the elimination of harmful attitudes and practices, including female genital mutilation, son preference (which results in female infanticide and prenatal sex selection), early marriage, including child marriage, violence against women, sexual exploitation, sexual times is conducive to infection with HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, drug abuse, discrimination against girls and women in food allocation and other harmful attitudes and practices related to the life, health and well-being of women, and recognizing that some of these practices can be violations of human rights and ethical medical principles" (Paragraph 107 [a]).

D. Questions to ask your governments

1. What steps is your government taking to reformulate their reproductive health policies in line with their commitment to women's health from the Platform for Action as well as the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development?
2. What efforts are being made by your government to provide accessible, affordable and quality health care services, including reproductive and sexual health care?
3. How is your government working to guarantee the right to health, especially where access to services is increasingly dependent upon the ability to pay?
4. Are women's reproductive and sexual rights recognized by law? What steps are being taken to remove barriers which result from national and local laws, customs, policies and practices?
5. What is your government doing to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity in line with its agreed upon commitments?
6. What efforts are being made to ensure the implementation of strategies focused on HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases which are realistically targetted to the needs of girls and women?
7. What actions are being taken to prevent violence, discrimination or other human rights abuses directed at persons because of or in connection to their real or perceived sexual identity or orientation?

E. Five actions you can take

1. Resources: Lobby your government to ensure adequate resources for women's health, including affordable and quality health care services for women in all stages of life, as well as research on women's health concerns.
2. Information and services: Build coalitions with other women's, human rights, medical, social service, and AIDS service organizations to ensure that governments collect and disseminate sex-disaggregated information about women's health as well as to ensure accessible, affordable and quality services, in line with the government's commitment to advance women's health.
3. Training: Urge your government to provide resources for training medical and health care professionals about gender-specific health care issues.
4. Integration: Read Part Four, Section C of the Platform for Action, and bring this information to your governments to remind them of the steps they have agreed to undertake to fully integrate their commitment to women's health, including their reproductive and sexual health and rights into national laws and policies.
5. Sexual orientation: In collaboration with other women's, human rights, and lesbian/gay/transgender rights organizations, campaign to ensure protection against abuses perpetrated on the basis of real or perceived sexual orientation.

A. Demand #5

Secure women's economic, social and cultural rights.

B. Recommendations

*Guarantee women's right to development, by providing women with equal access to economic resources, as well as protecting their rights to own property and to equal inheritance, to land tenure and to credit and training, through law policy and practice.

The Platform for Action proclaims in paragraph 220, that "every person should be entitled to participate in, contribute to and enjoy cultural, economic, political and social development." It notes that "[i]n many cases women and girls suffer discrimination in the allocation of economic and social resources. This directly violates their economic, social and cultural rights" (paragraph 220). Thus, it directs governments to "[u]ndertake legislation and administrative reforms to give women equal rights with men to economic resources, including access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, credit, inheritance, natural resources and appropriate new technology" (paragraph 165 [e]).

*Secure literacy for every woman and girl by ensuring equal access to education, including human rights education and legal literacy.

Paragraph 69 of the Platform for Action proclaims that "education is a human right and an essential tool for achieving the goals of equality, development and peace...Literacy of women is an important key to improving health, nutrition and education in the family and to empowering women to participate in decision-making in society." Further, paragraph 81(a), calls upon governments, among others, to "reduce the female illiteracy rate to at least half its 1990 level, with emphasis on rural women, migrant, refugee and internally displaced women and women with disabilities."

*Enforce women workers' rights on the basis of equality, non-discrimination and due process, including the right to organize, to bargain collectively, to health and safety protection and to a living wage.

The Platform enjoins governments to take immediate action to "safeguard and promote respect for basic workers' rights, including the prohibition of forced labor and child labor, freedom of association and the right to organize and bargain collectively, equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value and non-discrimination in employment, fully implementing the conventions of the International Labor Organization in the case of States parties to those conventions and, taking into account the principles embodied in the case of those countries that are not parties to those conventions in order to achieve truly sustained economic growth and sustainable development"(Paragraph 166 [l]).

C. Background

The Platform for Action affirms the importance of action to realize women's economic, social and cultural rights, noting specifically the importance of education, literacy, development and working conditions. It builds on a recognition of these rights set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 22 of the UDHR underscores that "economic, social and cultural rights [are] indispensable for [everyone's] dignity and the free development of his [sic] personality." The UDHR further proclaims the right to work and to just and favorable working conditions (Article 23), the right to rest and leisure (Article 24), the right to education (Article 26), and the right to freely participate in the cultural life of the community (Article 27), along with the right to an adequate standard of living.

The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action stresses the importance of the right to development set out in the UDHR, as well as in the Declaration on the Right to Development, as "a universal and inalienable right and an integral part of fundamental human rights...[and]...the human person is the central subject of development" (Paragraph 10). It calls upon States to "cooperate with each other in ensuring development and eliminating obstacles to development" and notes that "lasting progress toward the implementation of the right to development requires effective development policies at the national level, as well as equitable economic relations and a favourable economic environment at the international level" (Paragraph 10).

The Platform for Action specifies steps which governments must take, such as "enacting and enforcing legislation to guarantee the right of women and men to equal pay for equal work or work of equal value" (paragraph 165 [a]"; "adopt[ing] and implement[ing] laws against discrimination based on sex in the labour market, especially considering older women workers, hiring and promotion, the extension of employment benefits and social security, and working conditions" (paragraph 165[c]); "seek[ing] to ensure that national policies related to international and regional trade agreements do not have an adverse impact on women's new and traditional economic activities" (paragraph 165[k]). Further, in articulating some of the responsibilities of private actors, the Platform calls for governments to "ensure that all corporations, including transnational corporations, comply with national laws and codes, social security regulations, applicable international agreements, instruments and conventions, including those related to the environment, and other relevant laws" (Paragraph 165 [l]).

Literacy and knowledge of one's rights is fundamental to an individual's or group's ability to participate actively in public and private life. In order to address their gender-specific needs at all stages of their life, women and girls must be ensured full participation in decision-making. This requires equal education, literacy, health and economic well-being. Thus, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action says States should "strive to eradicate illiteracy and should direct education toward the full development of the human personality and to strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms" (Paragraph 79). Further, it recommends that States "develop specific programmes and strategies for ensuring the widest human rights education and the dissemination of public information, taking particular account of the human rights needs of women" (Paragraph 81). In elaborating this point, the Platform for Action calls for governments, among others, to "develop leadership training and opportunities for all women to encourage them to take leadership roles both as students and as adults in civil society" (Paragraph 83 [h]).

While some governments have taken steps to protect and promote women's economic, social and cultural rights, these have rarely been considered as priority concerns, and for the most part continue to receive inadequate attention. At the same time, macro-economic policies concerning economic restructuring and structural adjustment often increase women's vulnerability to human rights violations. The Platform for Action highlights the disproportionately negative impact of economic recession and restructuring on women's employment, in a manner that increases women's economic insecurity, compels them to work in dangerous or unprotected conditions, and/or pressures them to migrate in a search of better economic opportunities. It notes that "[e]conomic recession in many developed and developing countries, as well as ongoing restructuring in countries with economies in transition, have had a disproportionately negative impact on women's employment. Women often have no choice but to take employment that lacks long-term job security or involves dangerous working conditions, to work in unprotected home-based production or to be unemployed" (Paragraph 19). Women's work, wherever it takes place, should be protected and respected as a fundamental aspect of law. Laws and policies should protect women's work on the basis of equality, non-discrimination and due process in all spheres of work, regardless of their legal status. For instance, paragraph 165 (r) directs governments to "reform laws or enact national policies that support the establishment of labour laws to ensure the protection of all women workers, including safe work practices, the right to organize and access to justice" (paragraph 165[r]). Acknowledging the links between women's economic insecurity and their vulnerability to violence, paragraph125 (c) calls for governments to "recognize the vulnerability to violence and other forms of abuse of women migrants, including women migrant workers, whose legal status in the host country depends on employers who may exploit their situation...."

D. Questions to ask your governments

1. Is your government taking steps to promote and protect women's economic, social and cultural rights such as eliminating discriminatory laws, adopting legislation that equalizes women's access to resources, including credit, training programs, as well as their access to and control over land and other forms of property?
2. Does your government ensure equal access to education for girls and boys, as well as equal access to training for women and men? Is there universal primary education without gender disparities?
3. How is the government applying all labor rights to women workers, including rights relating to working conditions and benefits to women workers and to non-discrimination of older women workers?
4. Is your government seeking to eliminate wage differentials between women and men in all fields of employment?
5. Are women working in the informal sector, including home-based workers, covered by labor laws, including health and safety standards?
6. Does your government have health and safety regulations which adequately protect women workers in all sectors including agriculture, industry, services, etc? Are these regulations systematically enforced?
7. What is the government doing to ensure women's right and opportunity to organize and collectively bargain?
8. How is the government addressing the effects of macro-economic policies and the practices of transnational corporations which may obstruct women's labor rights and their right to organize?

E. Five actions you can take

1. Resources: Build coalitions with women's, human rights, children's rights and educational organizations to ensure adequate resources to equal education, in particular by transferring funds from the military to educational endeavors.
2. Integration: Work with development agencies to ensure that aid and assistance programs integrate a gender and human rights perspective into their mandates and programmes.
3. Regulations: Lobby your governments for stronger health and safety regulations in all workplaces.
4. Labor rights and standards: Campaign with women, human rights and worker's rights organizations to ensure that labor rights and standards which pay particular attention to the human rights of women are integrated into national laws, policies and practices.
5. Ending discrimination: Seek out effective measures to redress discrimination in credit, property and inheritance laws as well as sexual harassment in the workplace and work to eliminate it by changing national legislation, regulations and policies.