Demand Women's Human
Rights!
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| Workers
of Wonder (WOW), Columbia University, New York City, perform
at the 1998 Global Campaign for Women's Human Rights Launch,
December 8, 1997. © Joan Roth, United States. |
On
the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
advocates throughout the world are calling attention to continuing
violations of the human rights of women, and the urgent need for
governments and intergovernmental bodies to strengthen their efforts
to ensure respect for the human rights of all.
The
following demands and actions seek to link efforts locally and globally
through a common set of substantive concerns regarding women's human
rights. These demands focus on the clear steps the Beijing Declaration
and Platform for Action directs governments and intergovernmental
organizations to take to promote and protect women's human rights.
Building on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 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"
(paragraph 210). It reaffirms that "all human rights -- civil,
cultural, economic, political and social, including the right to
development -- are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated,
as expressed in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action...The
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" (paragraph
214).
Therefore,
women's human rights advocates throughout the world call upon governments
and intergovernmental bodies to do the following:
Demand
#1:
The
Beijing Declaration and 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.
•
Dedicate new and expanded resources or reallocate existing resources
to addressing women's human rights.
•
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.
•
Work toward ratification of the Declaration on the Rights of
Human Rights Defenders (officially called 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).
Demand
#2:
Outlaw
all forms of discrimination against women.
•
Ensure ratification and implementation of the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (the
Women's Convention) immediately.
•
Remove any reservations to the Women's Convention.
•
Bring national laws and policies into compliance with the Women's
Convention.
•
Work toward adopting a strong optional protocol to the Women's
Convention establishing a right of petition.
Demand
#3:
Ensure
women's right to live free from violence.
•
Take concerted and systematic action to end violence against women
in the home and family through all necessary means.
•
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.
•
Eliminate gender-based persecution in situations of war and armed
conflict and provide justice and reparations to victims of such
persecution.
•
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.
Demand
#4:
Take
steps to realize women's health, including their reproductive
and sexual rights.
•
Ensure the realization of women's right to the highest attainable
standard of physicaland mental health.
•
Secure women's access to reproductive and sexual health and rights.
Demand
#5:
Secure
women's economic, social and cultural rights.
•
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.
•
Secure literacy for every woman and girl by ensuring equal access
to education,including human rights education and legal literacy.
•
Enforce women workers' rights on the basis of equality, non-discrimination
and protection and to a living wage.
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