PHM-Exch> Women as full human beings.

[Claudio Schuftan]

On the 3rd of December women and men around the world celebrated the
30thanniversary of CEDAW, the United Nations Convention on the
Elimination of
All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.  Within the existing patriarchal
order CEDAW is an extraordinary revolutionary document, unique in its
perception of women as full human beings.

Professor Upendra Baxi wrote:

“No single phrase in recent human history has been more privileged to bear
the mission and burden of human destiny than [the phrase] “human rights”… --
the greatest gift of classical and contemporary human thought is the notion
of human rights. Indeed, more than any other moral language available to us
at this time in history, the language of human rights is able to expose the
immorality and barbarism of the modern face of power”. (From “Inhuman Wrongs
and Human Rights”)

Thirty years ago, this single powerful phrase ‘Human Rights’, was finally
recognized as including and belonging to women too. CEDAW calls for equality
and the elimination of discrimination, it also calls for the transformation
of systems of oppression such as patriarchy and racism. Women’s human rights
are about human rights for all, they speak to a life of shared and respected
humanity.  The elimination of discrimination against women is an imperative
if we strive in earnest towards the fulfillment of human rights.

CEDAW  was  a major radical step forward, an act of transcendence, embarked
on  in a world dominated by a Patriarchal order (in which women willingly
and unwillingly participate as well…) CEDAW recognizes and articulates the
political, civil, economic, social and cultural human rights of women. It
represents a practical yet ground-breaking call that stands to make all
religions, all cultures and economic and social organizations across the
globe richer by accepting women as equal human beings. CEDAW gives women an
important role as agents of change at the center of the State, of
communities and families.

It is important to stress again that CEDAW’s places an absolute prohibition
on all forms of discrimination against women. Discrimination is defined as
“any distinction, exclusion, or restriction, made on the basis of sex, with
the purpose or effect of obstructing the enjoyment of human rights by women
and girls". Furthermore, in addition to demanding that women be accorded
equal rights with men, the Convention prescribes the measures to be taken to
ensure that women everywhere are able to enjoy their full human rights as
full human beings. The Convention covers all areas of life and frames them
from a human rights perspective. Women’s right to political participation,
education, health, equality in the family, a life free from violence and of
an adequate standard of living are some of the human rights covered in the
Convention. CEDAW talks about results, all actions taken by the government
to improve the life of citizens should lead to equal results and benefits
for women and men. The understanding is that life with human rights for all
is a win/win situation.

Currently, *186* countries - over ninety percent of the members of the
United Nations are party to CEDAW. These nations are bound to put the
provisions of the Convention into practice and to translate human rights
into an experience lived by all. The act of ratification of this human
rights convention by a specific country is what gives “ teeth” to this
call of equality and non discrimination for women. States that are party to
CEDAW undertake the obligation to scrutinize their national laws accordingly
and inform the population about it. Unfortunately, too many States are slow
in doing so. More upsetting and totally incomprehensible is the fact that
the United States is not one of the 186 countries who are committed to
upholding CEDAW. This fact speaks for itself and calls for change.

As part of the celebrations in commemoration of the adoption of the CEDAW,
this article is a call for all readers to support and join actions to have
the Convention ratified by the US Congress. After all, the Convention sets
out internationally accepted principles that would be legally bounding in
the United States after ratification. Just think about the ways CEDAW would
enrich the current debates about healthcare reform.


*Background information on the Convention*

CEDAW was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1979 to
reinforce the provisions of existing international instruments and thus
making human rights indivisible, interconnected and interrelated designed to
combating  the continuing discrimination against women. CEDAW identifies
many specific areas where there has been notorious discrimination against
women, for example in regard to political human rights, marriage and the
family, and employment. In these and other areas the Convention spells out
specific goals and measures that are to be taken to facilitate the creation
of a global society in which women enjoy full equality with men and thus
full realization of their guaranteed humanity as full Human beings. When you
read the summary below you will find several important areas of our lives
that call for change in the USA as well.
Women must participate in the decision that determine their lives; this is
best done guided by the holistic human rights framework.

*USEFUL RESOURCES:  *http://pdhre.org/conventionsum/cedaw.html
 CEDAW in the US Campaign:
*http://actnow-phr.org/campaign/cedaw#petition*<http://actnow-phr.org/campaign/cedaw#petition>

 *
http://www.amnestyusa.org/violence-against-women/ratify-the-treaty-for-the-rights-of-women-cedaw/join-the-umbrella-petition/page.do?id=1108268
*<http://www.amnestyusa.org/violence-against-women/ratify-the-treaty-for-the-rights-of-women-cedaw/join-the-umbrella-petition/page.do?id=1108268>



The text of the Convention:
*http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cedaw.htm*<http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cedaw.htm>


Discrimination Against Women: The Convention and the Committee, Fact Sheet
#22, UN Centre for Human Rights  (*
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/FactSheet22en.pdf*<http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/FactSheet22en.pdf>
)
 Website in commemoration of the 30th Anniversary of the Convention: *
http://www.unifem.org/cedaw30/* <http://www.unifem.org/cedaw30/>


Shulamit Koenig

PDHRE: http://pdhre.org/
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