From:TheBahamasWeekly.com
OAS Roundtable Discusses the Implementation of Women's Rights
By OAS
Mar 1, 2013 - 7:36:14 PM
OAS Policy Roundtable “The Rights of Women: from Law to Practice”
From left to right:
Tracy Robinson, Commissioner and Rapporteur on the Rights of Women, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)
Luz Patricia Mejia, Coordinator, Follow-Up Mechanism to the Belém do Pará Convention, OAS
José Miguel Insulza, OAS Secretary General
Teresa Inchaustegui, Legal Research Institute, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)
Maureen Clarke Clarke, President, Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM)
Katherine Romero, Senior Attorney, Women’s Link
Carmen Moreno, Executive Secretary, Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM)
Date: March 1, 2013
Place: Washington, DC
Credit: Juan Manuel Herrera/OAS
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The
Organization of American States (OAS) today hosted the 49th OAS Policy
Roundtable on "The Rights of Women: From Law to Practice," which
discussed the progress made in legal frameworks and the challenges that
persist in the implementation of the human rights of women in the
region.
The Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza, recalled
that the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) of the OAS is
celebrating 85 years since its founding, and that it is the "only
hemispheric policy forum for the rights of women and gender equality."
The OAS leader highlighted the importance of the topic of discussion of
the Roundtable, and warned that "the gap between the formal recognition
of rights in legal systems and the direct and indirect discrimination
against women is still a major concern."
Among the challenges in the field, the leader of the hemispheric
organization mentioned the political representation of women. On this
issue, he noted his belief that "the only way to achieve real equality
is through affirmative action laws" that are accompanied by effective
implementation in reality. "It is no longer enough to simply proclaim
these laws, because there is always some excuse or another for not
having enough female candidates in various elections and the numbers are
not good," he added.
The Secretary General added that "there is no democratic society
when all citizens do not exercise the same rights; that is the opposite
of democracy." "A society which, in practice, denies rights to certain
individuals because of their status, their gender or their race,
certainly is not a sufficiently democratic society. Therefore, our
obligation is to ensure that these rights exist not only in law but also
in practice," he said.
The CIM President and Minister for the Status of Women in Costa
Rica, Maureen Clarke, opened the session by saying that "in general
terms, formal discrimination against women by social institutions in the
Americas is low. With some exceptions women have civil rights,
hereditary rights to own land and other property, the right to open bank
accounts, to leave our homes without being accompanied by a man, to go
to school and to enter the labor market." However, she said that "we
cannot ignore the informal discrimination in our societies, which still
limits the full citizenship of women." "For the majority of women in the
region, existing international and national legislation and
constitutional guarantees of equality have not yet been translated into
reality," she said.
The Costa Rican Minister said that the Roundtable held today at
OAS headquarters in Washington, DC, "is one of several that the CIM will
hold in the course of this year in order to share information, best
practices, and other reflections on opportunities and challenges in the
implementation of national and international legal frameworks on women's
rights, and to identify concrete public policies to advance in the
exercise of these rights for all the women in the hemisphere."
The CIM Vice President and Minister for the Status of Women and
Women's Rights in Haiti, Maire Yanick Mézile, focused her address on the
development of these policies in her country, and said that her
Ministry "is responsible for preparing and organizing the implementation
of policies promoting equality and women's rights." In particular, she
emphasized that the Ministry has "given systematic attention to the
problem of violence against women and girls, which is one of the main
obstacles to the enjoyment and exercise by women of their fundamental
rights."
Among the major developments in her country, Minister Mézile
stressed that "the amended Constitution has enshrined the principle of a
participation quota of at least 30 percent of women in all spheres of
national life, especially in public institutions," which has resulted in
an actual representation, currently, of 44 percent of the staff of the
executive branch. In her conclusion, she said that despite the
challenges, "Haiti is on the right track in regard to the realization of
women's rights and equality between women and men."
The discussion panel consisted of Tracy Robinson, Commissioner
and Rapporteur on the Rights of Women of the Inter-American Commission
on Human Rights (IACHR); Teresa Incháustegui, of the Legal Research
Institute of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM); and
Katherine Romero, Senior Attorney for the human rights organization
Women's Link; and was moderated by Luz Patricia Mejía, OAS Coordinator
of the Follow-Up Mechanism to the Convention of Belém do Pará.
In her presentation, Commissioner Robinson emphasized that,
although the panel was focused on moving beyond the legal framework for
the practice of the rights of women, “law reform is key, and is not a
finished agenda; it remains an unfinished agenda in relation to women’s
equality." As for the practice of the rights of women, she identified
two important areas: the capacity and willingness of institutions to
transform the status and situation of women, a space in which Robinson
sees great progress; and the attitude and ideologies of people, where
the persistence of stereotypes is still a problem.
For her part, Teresa Incháustegui said that "the law is a
limiting parameter, but norms are social facts," she said, adding that
efforts should focus on closing the gap between laws and reality. The
Mexican politician and academic pointed to the need for "a new step in
the issue of public policy," making it easier to denounce of violence
and sexual assault as well as making it easier to protect women.
"Reducing impunity is fundamental," she continued, "because that is the
sign that the law is truly a limit."
The Senior Attorney for Women's Link, Katherine Romero, said she
represented part of "a new generation of women who continue to believe
that women are still struggling for the right to have rights." She
talked about the experience of her organization in legal cases involving
women rights in the region and identified three existing challenges:
countries that criminalize abortion, the criminalization of women using
reproductive health services, and the persecution of defenders of the
sexual and reproductive rights of women in some countries in the region.
After a session of questions and answers, the closing words of
the Roundtable were made by the Executive Secretary of the CIM, Carmen
Moreno, who said that the debate "shows the pending agenda" of the
organization. She said that in the CIM "we will continue to expand the
spectrum, the stage, the knowledge, and make visible the issue" of
women's rights.
"Little by little, women’s concerns are becoming law," said the
Executive Secretary, who gave as an example of the latest developments
the reauthorization in the United States this week of the Violence
Against Women Act, which provides funds for the investigation and
prosecution of violent crimes against women, imposes automatic and
mandatory restitution on those convicted, and allows civil redress in
cases prosecutors chose to leave unprosecuted. Ambassador Moreno closed
her speech by thanking the panelists for their input and discussion,
which "enrich the dialogue on the Inter-American agenda."
For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org. |
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