Women’s Convention in Practice

A Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women is a fundamental document guaranteeing equal rights of men and women in all the spheres of the society. The Convention was adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 18, 1979.

At present about 200 countries of the world have ratified it, Belarus including. The Convention obliges the government to ensure equal rights for men and women in all the spheres of political, economic and social life, secure equal opportunities in the sphere of education, on the market and in the family. By signing the Convention, the government commits itself to eliminate gender discrimination, overhaul the legislation and carry out activities in the educational and cultural spheres aimed to eliminate gender stereotypes.

Once in four years a government is to report to a special UN Committee on the Liquidation of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) about its efforts and results in this sphere. In January 2004 at the 30^th session Belarus reported to the CEDAW Committee in New York. Under the CEDAW Committee request, Belarus prepared a report comprising of the 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th periodical reports covering 1994-2001 period and responded to the requested issues.

The official delegation was represented by Irina A.Chutkova, Head of the Department of social aid and services, Ministry of Labour and Social Protection; Anzhela K.Karnyaluk, councilor, Department of humanitarian, ecological and scientific-technical cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Oleg Ivanov – Deputy permanent representative of Belarus to the United Nations – headed the delegation and made opening address on the combined report. Along with the official report, two Belarussian NGOs – a Public Association “Women’s Independent Democratic Movement” and a Public Association “Association of Young Christian Women” prepared and presented to the CEDAW Committee an Alternative report.

The leaders of both organizations - Lyudmila Petina and Svetlana Burova – were invited to participate in the 30^th session of the CEDAW Committee and were given a chance to present the Alternative report and provide critical information on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. In the Alternative report the following women’s problems were mentioned:

• Poverty and discrimination on labour market;

• Serious obstacles on women’s participation in the NGOs activity;

• Low presentation of women in the decision-making sphere;

• Maintenance of traditional gender stereotypes in the society;

• Violence against women and trafficking.

The primary goal of L. Petina’s presentation was to attract attention of the Committee members to the problem of NGOs’ persecution and repressions, women NGOs including. Persecution of human rights organizations and women’s NGOs, limitation of their right to render help to the population create serious obstacles in advocating for women’s rights against discrimination in the employment field and domestic violence. It was also emphasized that Belarussian courts are ineffective in advocating for women’s rights due to the low legal literacy and expensive advocacy. Moreover, law-enforcement personnel are gender insensitive.

In her presentation, S.Burova concentrated on the problem of women’s violence that is wide-spread and has hard negative consequences. However, the problem is not addressed well enough at the governmental level.

In their presentations, L.Petina and S.Burova stated absence of the proper governmental policy that would adequately refer to the problems of a women’s social group. All the state programs aimed at women’s status enhancement are not stated in the national budget, have no proper resources and mechanisms for its realization.

The information provided in the Alternative report and NGOs presentations at the informal 30^th session of the CEDAW Committee gave an opportunity to the members of the Committee to put specific questions to the official delegation and form corresponding concluding comments and recommendations for Belarus to implement the CEDAW Convention.

The detailed information about the session and its results one can find on: www.un.org/news/press/docs/2004/wom1430.doc.htm or on www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/sessions.

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