Equality of rights for women is a basic
principle of the United Nations. The Preamble
to the Charter of the United Nations sets
as one of the Organization's central goals
the reaffirmation of "faith in fundamental
human rights, in the dignity and worth of
the human person, in the equal rights of
men and women". Article 1 proclaims
that one of the purposes of the United Nations
is to achieve international cooperation
in promoting and encouraging respect for
human rights and for fundamental freedoms
for all without distinction as to, inter
alia, sex. By the terms of the Charter,
the first international instrument to refer
specifically to human rights and to the
equal rights of men and women, all members
of the United Nations are legally bound
to strive towards the full realization of
all human rights and fundamental freedoms.
The status of human rights, including the
goal of equality between women and men,
is thereby elevated: a matter of ethics
becomes a contractual obligation of all
Governments and of the UN.
The
International Bill of Human Rights strengthens
and extends this emphasis on the human rights
of women. The Universal Declaration of Human
Rights proclaims the entitlement of everyone
to equality before the law and to the enjoyment
of human rights and fundamental freedoms
without distinction of any kind and proceeds
to include sex among the grounds of such
impermissible distinction. The International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights and the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights, both of 1966,
which translate the principles of the Declaration
into legally binding form, clearly state
that the rights set forth are applicable
to all persons without distinction of any
kind and, again, put forth sex as such a
ground of impermissible distinction. In
addition, each Covenant specifically binds
acceding or ratifying States to undertake
to ensure that women and men have equal
right to the enjoyment of all the rights
they establish.
The
International Bill of Human Rights, combined
with related human rights treaties, thus
lays down a comprehensive set of rights
to which all persons, including women, are
entitled. However, the fact of women's humanity
proved insufficient to guarantee them the
enjoyment of their internationally agreed
rights. Since its establishment, the Commission
on the Status of Women (CSW) has sought
to define and elaborate the general guarantees
of non-discrimination in these instruments
from a gender perspective. The work of CSW
has resulted in a number of important declarations
and conventions that protect and promote
the human rights of women.
Originally
established in 1946 as a subcommission of
the Commission on Human Rights, but quickly
granted the status of full commission as
a result of the pressure exerted by women's
activists, the mandate of the CSW included
the preparation of recommendations relating
to urgent problems requiring immediate attention
in the field of women's rights with the
object of implementing the principle that
men and women should have equal rights,
and the development of proposals to give
effect to such recommendations. Between
1949 and 1959, the Commission elaborated
the Convention on the Political Rights of
Women, adopted by the General Assembly on
20 December 1952, the Convention on the
Nationality of Married Women, adopted by
the Assembly on 29 January 1957, the Convention
on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for
Marriage and Registration of Marriages adopted
on 7 November 1962, and the Recommendation
on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for
Marriage and Registration of Marriages adopted
on 1 November 1965. Each of these treaties
protected and promoted the rights of women
in areas in which the Commission considered
such rights to be particularly vulnerable.
But it was believed that, except in those
areas, women's rights were best protected
and promoted by the general human rights
treaties.
Although
these instruments reflected the growing
sophistication of the UN system with regard
to the protection and promotion of women's
human rights, the approach they reflected
was fragmentary, as they failed to deal
with discrimination against women in a comprehensive
way. In addition, there was concern that
the general human rights regime was not,
in fact, working as well as it might to
protect and promote the rights of women.
Thus, the General Assembly, on 5 December
1963, adopted its resolution 1921 (XVIII),
in which it requested the Economic and Social
Council to invite the CSW to prepare a draft
declaration that would combine in a single
instrument international standards articulating
the equal rights of men and women. This
process was supported throughout by women
activists within and outside the UN system.
Drafting of the declaration, by a committee
selected from within the CSW, began in 1965,
with the Declaration on the Elimination
of Discrimination against Women ultimately
being adopted by the GA on 7 November 1967.
Although the Declaration amounted only to
a statement of moral and political intent,
without the contractual force of a treaty,
its drafting was none the less a difficult
process. Article 6, concerning equality
in marriage and the family, and article
10, relating to employment, proved to be
particularly controversial, as did the question
of whether the Declaration should call for
the abolition of the customs and laws perpetuating
discrimination or for their modification
or change.
The
1960s saw the emergence, in many parts of
the world, of a new consciousness of the
patterns of discrimination against women
and a rise in the number of organizations
committed to combating the effect of such
discrimination. The adverse impact of some
development policies on women also became
apparent. In 1972, five years after the
adoption of the Declaration and four years
after the introduction of a voluntary reporting
system on the implementation of the Declaration
by the Economic and Social Commission, the
CSW considered the possibility of preparing
a binding treaty that would give normative
force to the provisions of the Declaration
and decided to request the Secretary-General
to call upon UN Member States to transmit
their views on such a proposal. The following
year, a working group was appointed to consider
the elaboration of such a convention. In
1974, at its twenty-fifth session and in
the light of the report of this working
group, the Commission decided, in principle,
to prepare a single, comprehensive and internationally
binding instrument to eliminate discrimination
against women. This instrument was to be
prepared without prejudice to any future
recommendations that might be made by the
United Nations or its specialized agencies
with respect to the preparation of legal
instruments to eliminate discrimination
in specific fields.
The
text of the Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
was prepared by working groups within the
Commission during 1976 and extensive deliberations
by a working group of the Third Committee
of the General Assembly from 1977 to 1979.
Drafting work within the Commission was
encouraged by the World Plan of Action for
the Implementation of the Objectives of
the International Women's Year, adopted
by the World Conference of the International
Women's Year held in Mexico City in 1975,
which called for a convention on the elimination
of discrimination against women, with effective
procedures for its implementation. Work
was also encouraged by the General Assembly
which had urged the Commission on the Status
of Women to finish its work by 1976, so
that the Convention would be completed in
time for the 1980 Copenhagen mid-decade
review conference (World Conference on the
United Nations Decade for Women: Equality,
Development and Peace). Although suggestions
were made to delay completion of the text
for another year, the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women was adopted by the General
Assembly in 1979 by votes of 130 to none,
with 10 abstentions. In resolution 34/180,
in which the General Assembly adopted the
Convention, the Assembly expressed the hope
that the Convention would come into force
at an early date and requested the Secretary-General
to present the text of the Convention to
the mid-decade World Conference of the United
Nations Decade for Women.
At
the special ceremony that took place at
the Copenhagen Conference on 17 July 1980,
64 States signed the Convention and two
States submitted their instruments of ratification.
On 3 September 1981, 30 days after the twentieth
member State had ratified it, the Convention
entered into force - faster than any previous
human rights convention had done - thus
bringing to a climax United Nations efforts
to codify comprehensively international
legal standards for women.
* extracted
from Progress achieved in the implementation
of the Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Discrimination against Women:
Report by the Committee on the Elimination
of Discrimination against Women (A/CONF.177/7).
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