[women-rights] CSW 47th Session: Breaking silence, strengthening legislation on domestic violence and trafficking in women

UNITED NATIONS
Press Release

Commission on Status of Women
Forty-seventh Session
4 March 2003
3rd Meeting (AM)

Breaking the silence and strengthening legislation on domestic
violence and trafficking in women were among the key issues raised
this morning, as the Commission on the Status of Women held a panel
discussion focused on women's human rights and eliminating violence
against women and girls.

The morning panel was the second held by the Commission addressing
the current session's major themes - women and the media, and
violence against women. Today's panel was made up of: Zhang Lixi,
Vice-President of China's Women's University; Vera Duarte Lobo de
Pina, Coordinator of the National Committee of Human Rights of Cape
Verde; Barbara Limanowska, Special Adviser on Trafficking for various
international organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina; and Ayse
Feride Acar, Chairperson of the Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women.

In an opening statement, Ms. Zhang presented her paper on "Creating a
world free of violence against women", and stressed that domestic
violence must be considered a social issue. Cultural and social
beliefs remained obstacles to the safety of women in society and in
the home, she said. Domestic violence resulted from the unequal
distribution of power between men and women in society and the
subordination of women.

Legislation must be strengthened and made accessible to victims, as
many women were unaware of legislation protecting their rights, she
continued. Other recommendations included greater international
concern and cooperation, government responsibility, the full
integration of gender perspectives and the responsibility of the mass
media in developing a violence-free society.

Ms. de Pina told delegates that several forms of discrimination and
violence against women continued worldwide, despite the ratification
by many nations of the Women's Anti-Discrimination Convention.
A new protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women aimed to
combat social practices and laws that were antagonistic to women, she
added. The document considered specific discrimination against women,
including polygamy and the rights of widows. It also addressed the
mainstreaming of a gender perspective into laws with implications for
development.

Concerning trafficking, Ms. Limanowska presented the results of an
expert group meeting on the issue and said it was a serious problem
for countries of origin, transit and destination. She noted that
during the last 10 years, trafficking in women had become more
visible and had been placed on the international agenda.

However, she continued, the number of trafficking victims had not
decreased; the number of women assisted had not decreased; and the
number of conviction of traffickers had not increased. The expert
group's findings included recommendations to increase the
effectiveness of law enforcement agencies; improve government
responsibility; better identify victims; train committed staff; and
increase resources.

Ms. Acar said the international community was still far from a shared
notion of women's rights, as outlined in the Anti-Discrimination
Convention. The Convention had not been universally ratified by 2000,
as targeted. Also, it still had the largest number of reservations of
any human rights treaty, suggesting that many States were still
unprepared to fully abide by women's rights.

National implementation of the Convention remained the bottleneck for
women's human rights, she said. Some States' constitutions still made
no reference to gender equality, or lacked a clear definition of
discrimination. Governments often overlooked violations of women's
rights in such areas as family law and reproductive choice due to
culture, customs or religion, inhibiting firm responses from the
international community.

In a subsequent question and answer session, many delegates raised
the trafficking issue, pointing out that it was a lucrative business
for organized crime and stressing that more focus was needed on its
root cause - extreme poverty -- as well as on the reasons for
women's vulnerability in society. In that connection, some speakers
suggested women's vulnerability was due to obstacles to their
political participation. Others pointed to male roles and expressions
of masculinity as key factors in violence against women.

Responding, panellists said that if root causes were not addressed,
both with regard to trafficking and domestic violence, violence
against women would not be eliminated. Concerning legislation and
prosecution, Ms. Limanowska stressed the importance of the provisions
within the Palermo Protocol of the Convention against Transnational
Organized Crime, aimed at suppressing trafficking in persons.

Sharing national initiatives with regard to domestic violence,
delegates stressed its social, legal, and economic causes and
consequences. Silent consent to domestic violence was unacceptable,
they said. How could women be encouraged to report domestic abuse?
Speakers also asked how the international community could address
impunity and the obligations of States to provide equal access to
effective judicial protection for women victims of violence.

Ms. Lixi agreed with speakers about the importance of men's
participation in combating domestic violence and Ms. de Pina said
that violence against women had begun to become more visible from an
international viewpoint. However, she stressed that more work was
needed on legislation and its implementation. Ms. Acar referred to
the Optional Protocol of the Anti-Discrimination Convention and said
it would make the Convention more effective and real for women on the
ground, if national implementation followed.

Speaking during the question and answer session were representatives
of Poland, Croatia, United States, Norway, United Republic of
Tanzania, Philippines, Cuba, Greece (on behalf of the European Union), 
Senegal, Pakistan, Israel, Botswana, Mexico, Russian Federation, Guatemala, 
Benin, and
the Netherlands.

The following non-governmental organizations also addressed the

Commission: Asia Pacific Women's Rights; and the Organization
Empowering Women in Development.

The Commission will reconvene this afternoon at 3 p.m., to hold a
high-level round table on national experiences in institutional
capacity-building.

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