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Felice Gaer U.S. Delegate Remarks to the UN Commission on Human Rights 55th Session, Geneva, Switzerland, April 13, 1999

Integration of the Human Rights of Women
and the Gender Perspective -- Item 13

Madam Chair, just over 50 years ago, under the skilled leadership of its first chair, Eleanor Roosevelt, this Commission on Human Rights adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and changed the way governments are expected to treat their citizens. In the half century since then, only three other women have had the privilege to chair this body. So it is with particular pleasure that I rise to address the Commission today, with you as chair, for the Commission's first substantive debate on the new agenda item on the integration of the human rights of women and the gender perspective.

As we begin the next 50 years, we have the urgent task of integrating the human rights of women into all that we do here.

It took five decades to move women's human rights from the UN Charter to the Beijing World Conference on Women. Next year we will convene a Beijing-plus-five conference. Our task as nations is very clear: We must make our global human rights machinery expand and adapt; we must shift from neglecting women's rights to mainstreaming them. We must mobilize the will to stop the abuses facing women throughout the world and establish instruments of accountability and effective domestic remedies.

This agenda item offers us a choice, Madam Chair: We can examine women's human rights, express concern, and then move on to other issues, or we can use our time to look seriously and thoroughly at the way the UN system addresses the human rights of women, raising those concerns elsewhere on our agenda, whenever appropriate.

Many of the special rapporteurs have approached their tasks with new perspective and new vigor. The human rights of women are beginning to pervade our Commission's agenda.

For example, this year the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions drew attention to "honor killings" where male relatives kill women for alleged adultery or because they seek divorce. The Special Rapporteur correctly states that such killings cannot be explained in the context of tradition or culture. "Honor killings" are murder. Abuses against women have been often justified as private matters and ascribed to culture or religion, but as the Rapporteur has vividly shown, these are criminal acts, outside the rule of law, due process, and individual protections. As such, they are the legitimate concern of the human rights community.

We deplore the reports of the recent death threat against Mrs. Asma Jahangir, the Special Rapporteur. We urge all governments to condemn such threats and ensure her safety.

The Special Rapporteur on Education also brought a gender-perspective into her study this year. Similarly, we welcome the comments by the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression regarding the rights of women to seek, receive and impart information, and the link between freedom of opinion and expression and the elimination of discrimination and violence against women. These are but a few examples of what gender integration really means: breaking the silence, ensuring the visibility of abuses against women, and pressing for accountability.

The Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance has proposed undertaking "a series of studies on discrimination" regarding women. And several country specific Special Rapporteurs have demonstrated concern about the treatment of women in countries like Iran, Nigeria, the former Yugoslavia and elsewhere.

This year, the Special Representative on Iran concluded that despite well-meaning declarations, the government has so far achieved little improvement in the condition of Iranian women. The Special Rapporteur on Nigeria criticized the slow pace in eradicating harmful traditional practices, such as female genital mutilation or early marriages. The Special Rapporteur on the Former Yugoslavia addressed gender concerns in his discussion of Croatia, but not in the other countries in his mandate.

Consider Afghanistan, Madam Chair. Publicly beating women for failing to wear a burqa or for not being accompanied by a close male relative, or severely restricting women's access to medical services is not a manifestation of local culture, but criminal abuse. To hinder women from working or girls from going to school deprives thousands of families of their daily bread and robs half the nation of its future. The Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance concluded that the Taliban has introduced "what is in point of fact a system of apartheid" with respect to women. The Commission has been monitoring the Taliban's cruel mistreatment of women for some time. Its resolution last year emphasized the need to end widespread violations against women and the urgency of ensuring the participation of women in numerous spheres, including the economy. It also called on the Afghan parties to recognize the right of women to work, to receive an education, to security, and to "the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health."

By contrast, many other countries are making progress in advancing women's rights that are well worth noting. Cote d'Ivoire and Togo passed statutes banning the practice of female genital mutilation. The Turkish Parliament passed a law in 1998 making spousal abuse illegal. Uganda and Malawi have granted women property and inheritance rights, and the women of Nigeria have won a long, hard legal battle that gives widows the right to inherit property. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia set a precedent for prosecuting the aiding and abetting of rape as a war crime.

Despite these advances, numerous challenges remain. In 1998, domestic violence and sexual harassment remained endemic. Women in Saudi Arabia continue to face institutionalized discrimination affecting their freedom of movement and association and their right to equality in employment and education. In Algeria, militants continued to target women for rape, kidnapping and forced prostitution. In China, coercion in family planning practices including instances of forced abortion and sterilization continued. Throughout South Asia, dowry related violence, including the practice of dousing women with gasoline and setting them aflame, remains a serious problem.

For its own part, the United States is committed to advancing women's rights, working at the local, national, regional and international level.

Madam Chair, the United States is proud of its contributions to global initiatives promoting women's rights. Throughout the world, progress depends not only on protecting women's fundamental human rights, but also on ensuring that women everywhere have the opportunity to participate fully in every sphere of national life. For it is clear that no country will succeed in the next century if half its citizens are excluded.

For several years we have worked in partnership with other governments and NGOs to educate women about their legal rights and develop strategies to participate more fully in their country's social, political, and economic life. We supported development of community-based approaches to eradicate female genital mutilation, raise awareness about violence against women, and strengthen national legislation. Some of our programs are helping women participate more fully in national political life, training future leaders, promoting gender equity laws and establishing regional and international networks. Elsewhere, we have helped women form their own labor unions and develop the capacity to run for elective office.

Still, there are few programs as important to women's development as economic participation. We have worked to further this through our support for microcredit programs, and education. For it is clear that women with at least primary education are healthier, have fewer and healthier children and tend to earn more money for their families than those who have not attended school. Not surprisingly, educated women make better farmers, workers and managers. They are more active in business and politics and generally contribute more to national life.

Yet in many places, girls are still less likely to attend school than boys or attend for as many years.

There are many other issues facing women which are of serious concern to the United States. One the most widespread and pernicious concerns violence against women in the home. It is only recently, of course, that this all-too-common violation of women's rights has been recognized internationally as a form of human rights abuse. But it is truly a worldwide problem, and no country -- including the United States -- is immune from it.

Over the past few years, however, we have made substantial efforts to combat domestic violence at the local, state and federal level. All in all, we have quadrupled our funding to domestic violence shelters over the past few years and established a nationwide 24-hour domestic violence hotline to complement the many such hotlines created locally. Indeed, this year, U.S. is devoting more than $283 million to combat gender-based crime.

The U.S. is also taking steps to combat the trafficking of women and children, a form of modern-day slavery which affects a million women and children every year. Victims are lured into trafficking networks through false promises of good working conditions at high pay as domestic workers, nannies, waitresses, sales clerks or models. Trafficking victims suffer extreme physical and mental abuse, including rape, torture, starvation, imprisonment, death threats and physical brutality. To combat this scourge, the U.S. had developed a three-prong strategy conducted in partnership with other countries based on prevention, protection for victims, and prosecution and enforcement against traffickers.

Madam Chair, the report of the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences raises concerns about the situation of women in some state and federal prisons in the United States. While the U.S. Government has not yet had a chance to evaluate the report fully, it is reviewing it carefully and will respond in the near future.

U.S. laws prohibit sexual abuse and sexual misconduct in prisons and provide for the prosecution of those who engage in such conduct. Under the 1980 Civil Rights for Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA), the United States Department of Justice investigates conditions in jails, prisons, and juvenile detention facilities in the event that individuals are systematically deprived of their constitutional rights. In addition, numerous U.S. court rulings and state laws have mandated that decent standards of treatment be maintained.

Some of the examples cited in the Special Rapporteur's report are drawn directly from cases which the Department of Justice had already investigated and in some cases prosecuted, or in which either U.S. or state officials had already corrected the problems. To this effect, the Civil Rights Division has increased its investigations of sexual misconduct in prisons, and we have taken several steps to prevent it, including disciplinary sanctions, training and technical assistance, and complaints mechanisms. We note that the Special Rapporteur herself cites several model programs for preventing sexual misconduct in prisons, including those in the states of Georgia and Minnesota and the training provided by the National Institute of Corrections.

In keeping with our recognition of the universality of human rights and our openness as a democratic society, the United States has played a prominent role in the establishment of the UN Special Rapporteur system and the support that has maintained it. We particularly urged the creation of the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women. We welcome outside investigations -- whether by United Nations Special Rapporteurs or by non-governmental organizations -- and we urge other countries to do the same. At the same time, we would urge the Special Rapporteurs to focus their attention on countries where the situation is the most dire and the abuses the most severe.

Madam Chair, the United States will continue to champion the human rights of women around the world -- and at home. Our citizens insist on the protection and enhancement of every citizen's rights. U.S. policy emphasizes helping women overcome the many barriers that confront them at home and abroad. While we acknowledge that human rights abuses sometimes occur in the United States, ours is an open system in which problems that occur are readily exposed. Ours is a nation of laws, and our people, our non-governmental organizations, our legal system, and our government are vigilant. When violations occur, we have the mechanisms and protections in place to prosecute.

But more than that, we understand the importance of educating people everywhere to the key role that women play in society's advancement and the necessity of protecting their human rights and fundamental freedoms. The fact that it has taken the international community until this decade to acknowledge that women's rights are human rights is an indication of how much work remains for us to do. But with that recognition comes responsibility and commitment, too.

In country after country, women are making incredible strides, battering down barriers that have stood for centuries and leaving a new record of achievement that cannot be denied. But in far too many places, old prejudices remain and violations of women's human rights are blatantly ignored. We cannot be true to ourselves or the principles that this Commission stands for if this continues. The time to recognize the truth is now.

Women make up more than half the planet, Madam Chair. Women's rights are human rights. That is an integral part of our mandate, our agenda, and must be part of all our human rights programs, both in field operations and in conference rooms like this. If we are to meet the challenges of the next millennium, we must not only engage all the people who live on this planet, we must pay attention to their plight, and we must empower them by guaranteeing, protecting, and defending their rights.

Thank you.

[end of document]

Commission on Human Rights | Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
Policy Remarks | Department of State

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