Search Tips
sorted by
30 shown of 84 entities
7 columns hidden
Title | Date added | Template | Original document | Paragraph text | Body | Document type | Thematics | Topic(s) | Person(s) affected | Year |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Compendium of good practices in the elimination of discrimination against women 2017, para. 20 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Significant progress in legal and policy frameworks for women’s rights has been made in the past decades. Nevertheless, while many countries have undertaken to repeal discriminatory laws, such laws persist in many parts of the world. Severely discriminatory laws and practices remain in particular areas of women’s human rights that continue to be contested, such as sexual and reproductive rights and equal rights in the family. Discriminatory laws also exist where the law is used punitively against women to maintain patriarchal values or to criminalize women’s struggles for their rights. In all contexts, there are ongoing challenges to the inclusion of an intersectoral approach to women’s full equality. Even in areas where the legal framework has advanced, or in societies with extensive and robust gender equality laws and policies, the test lies in the ability to implement progressive laws in practice. Innumerable barriers remain on many levels, not least of which is the male-controlled and discriminatory environment within which laws are operationalized. A good law requires a fully ameliorating environment in which it can be meaningfully implemented. No matter how strongly the law is drafted, it is filtered through the biases and limitations of the individuals and institutions, public and private, responsible for grounding it in reality, compounded by a social environment that disadvantages women through the perpetuation of historical discrimination, the patriarchal construction of gender and the perpetuation of stereotypes and prejudices. These factors must be considered closely when identifying which laws have become good practices. | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2017 | ||
Compendium of good practices in the elimination of discrimination against women 2017, para. 51 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Cultural rights are central to the realization of women’s human rights. Culture is neither homogenous nor immutable but is often presented as being so, and hence as creating an irrevocable barrier to equality rights for women. States have obligations to recognize and actively combat the deep entrenchment of patriarchal culture based on gender stereotypes in legal, political, religious, social and cultural institutions. While this obligation applies to all aspects of life, patriarchal gender stereotypes are often firmly entrenched in laws and social norms governing family, and often reinforced by religious authorities. | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2017 | ||
Compendium of good practices in the elimination of discrimination against women 2017, para. 52 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Good practices in cultural and family life require a guarantee of women’s right to equality in autonomy and self-determination and the legal and social recognition of women as agents of cultural change. Legal and cultural norms that subjugate women to male control must be actively challenged and eradicated. States must endeavour to repeal all discriminatory provisions in the law, particularly those governing marriage and divorce, child-rearing, inheritance, freedom of movement, access to capital, credit and income-generating activities. In addition to the elimination of direct discrimination, good practices in this area require that States take active measures to support substantive equality through the law and long-term awareness-raising initiatives directed towards the eradication of patriarchal stereotypes and attitudes. | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2017 | ||
Compendium of good practices in the elimination of discrimination against women 2017, para. 77 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | The following case study, originating in a country of the Middle East and North Africa Region, highlights the central role of women’s autonomous organizing in promoting political and legal changes to eradicate discrimination against women and to promote substantive equality. The country had a long history of Government-led reform promoting gender equality in the law. This included broad legal reforms granting women autonomy and self-determination in public and family life, with progressive provisions in terms of sexual and reproductive rights. Women’s organizations had previously existed, but the political climate did not support autonomy. Growing authoritarianism in the regime and the prevalence of discriminatory attitudes had diminished the transformation of women’s traditional roles and the attainment of substantive equality. In 2011, a political revolution led by social movements brought about the downfall of the Government and led to the democratization of the State. | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2017 | ||
Compendium of good practices in the elimination of discrimination against women 2017, para. 104 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Changing the law to meet the State obligation to respect and protect women’s human rights are key steps, but investigations show that fulfilling rights remains the most challenging facet of this triad. The fulfilment of women’s human rights requires substantive shifts in deeply entrenched social and cultural norms that reinforce gender stereotypes and perpetuate women’s subordination. As the Working Group has emphasized, the State must act as an agent of change as regards to women’s place in cultural and family life. The fulfilment of progressive legal frameworks requires strong political will, supported by appropriate resources, and attendant measures focused on attitudinal and behavioural change that cultivate an environment in which good practices can thrive. Change must be transferred from the normative level into all sectors of society so that duty and rights holders alike are able to internalize the shifts required to support human rights implementation. | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2017 | ||
Compendium of good practices in the elimination of discrimination against women 2017, para. 21 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | The question of how to identify good practices in ending discrimination against women is particularly poignant at this historical juncture, where a profound backlash against hard-won progress is occurring in all spheres. The continuing rise of fundamentalisms of all kinds and openly misogynistic, racist, xenophobic and populist voices, including Governments, is of grave concern to the Working Group. Efforts to re-entrench patriarchal understandings of sex, gender and family into the law point to important questions about sustaining progress and ensuring that good practices continue to be possible in fraught contexts. Ongoing attacks on autonomous women’s movements, civil society organizations, independent academia, public interest lawyers and women’s human rights defenders by State and non-State actors alike underscore the importance of not only protecting and supporting the crucial role of women human rights defenders, but also identifying those good practices which uphold human rights gains. | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2017 | ||
Compendium of good practices in the elimination of discrimination against women 2017, para. 89 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | Women and civil society organizations responded to the Constitutional Court’s request to participate in the design and implementation of the decisions. This resulted in the collective development of indicators to monitor the 2004 order and the establishment of a working group to monitor compliance with the orders, which was essential in assessing the implementation of the decisions and in providing technical assistance for the implementation of government programmes. Civil society organizations also operated numerous programmes that provided humanitarian, legal and psychosocial support to displaced women and their families. Those organizations also used international human rights mechanisms to keep a spotlight on displaced women, and carried the topic into recent peace negotiation processes. The 2016 peace agreement addressed many of the demands in the three decisions, contributing to their sustainability. | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2017 | ||
Compendium of good practices in the elimination of discrimination against women 2017, para. 54 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | In 2013, Parliament passed a law on the equal rights and equal opportunities of women and men. The law reiterated the constitutional guarantee of gender equality, defined gender discrimination and contained provisions against direct and indirect discrimination. However, the law generated a great deal of social controversy and backlash because of the perception that it represented an attack on “family values”. Women’s civil society organizations became targets of harassment and protests erupted, with demonstrators calling the law “national treason”. | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2017 | ||
Compendium of good practices in the elimination of discrimination against women 2017, para. 85 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | For many years, internally displaced people and civil society organizations had demanded protection measures from the Government without receiving an appropriate response. This had prompted hundreds of displaced persons to invoke the protection of the judiciary through the judicial remedy known as a tutela: a constitutionally established judicial action that citizens can bring before any judge to ensure the effective exercise of their human rights. By 2004, tribunals had received tutelas submitted by 1,150 displaced families, accumulated in a dossier by the Constitutional Court that led to a judgment declaring that the humanitarian emergency caused by forced displacement had created an unconstitutional state of affairs characterized by massive human rights violations associated with systemic failures in State assistance to displaced persons. Accordingly, the Court ordered the Government to adopt structural measures, a measure that has spawned a lengthy implementation process. | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2017 | ||
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 82 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | In addition, restrictions on access to information on termination of pregnancy and services can deter women from seeking professional medical attention, with detrimental consequences for their health and safety. Examples of restrictions include criminalization of medical practitioners who provide these services; prohibiting access to information on legal termination of pregnancy; requiring third-party authorization from one or more medical professionals, a hospital committee, a parent, guardian or spouse; conscientious objection by health practitioners without provision of an alternative; requiring compulsory waiting periods; and excluding coverage for termination of pregnancy services under health insurance. None of these requirements is justified on health grounds. | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2016 | ||
Eliminating discrimination against women in the area of health and safety, with a focus on the instrumentalization of women's bodies 2016, para. 52 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | The pattern of physical, sexual and psychological abuse of migrant domestic workers is widespread. These women are often exposed to health and safety risks without being provided with proper information or adequate protection. Furthermore, the working and living conditions of many undocumented domestic workers, which are tantamount to slavery, and the separation from family members cause serious health, particularly mental health, problems. | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2016 | ||
Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 73a (iii) | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | [The Working Group recommends that States:] Establish a national legal framework recognizing gender equality in cultural and family life, in accordance with regional and international standards: (iii) Develop national strategies to eradicate cultural practices that discriminate against women and girls, as well as gender stereotypes, through awareness-raising campaigns, educational and informational programmes and stakeholder mobilization. Engage men, as appropriate, in prevention and protection efforts in respect of gender-based discrimination and violence; | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 73d (i) | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | [According to general recommendation No. 29 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the family is a social and legal construct and, in various countries, a religious construct. It also is an economic construct. The Working Group recommends that States:] Take measures to ensure that families allow girls to access education on an equal basis with boys, by raising awareness in the community and providing families with financial incentives to allow girls to finish their studies; | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 73d (iii) | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | [According to general recommendation No. 29 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the family is a social and legal construct and, in various countries, a religious construct. It also is an economic construct. The Working Group recommends that States:] Ensure that women, on an equal footing with men, and girls, on an equal footing with boys, have the right to at least half the family property and inheritance in the event of divorce or widowhood. Facilitate the invalidation of any waiver of these rights obtained from a woman as a result of pressure from her family or community; | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 9 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | In order to prepare this report, the Working Group used responses to a questionnaire received from 32 Member States, as well as studies and research by United Nations programmes and bodies, international human rights mechanisms and other stakeholders that were transmitted to it directly or have been carried out recently on the subject. The Working Group also identified good practices in respect of equality in the family and in cultural life, as required by Human Rights Council resolution 15/23. | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 25 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | It is the opinion of the Working Group that the understanding and legal definition of the family in national legislation should be extended to recognize different forms of family. The recognition of same-sex couples, for both women and men, and other forms of family is an example of good practice that a number of States have already implemented. In this regard, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has confirmed that mothers who are lesbians should not be deprived of custodial rights over their children. | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 74c | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | [The Working Group recommends that international and regional human rights mechanisms:] Explore the establishment of an essential framework of minimum legal protection for all types of family, including self-created or self-defined families, that would guarantee women's fundamental rights in the family, in accordance with international law. | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 69 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | The State has an obligation to punish and to put an end to impunity and excuses or justification that perpetuate gender-based discrimination in cultural and family life. The State also has an obligation to afford redress for the harm suffered by women, including by providing for compensation, restitution, guarantees of non-repetition and even preventive measures. | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 72 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | The State must act as an agent of change as regards women's place in cultural and family life, by fostering and creating a culture free of all forms of discrimination against women. A transformative approach to women and girls' status in the family is crucial. There needs to be awareness that, in the past, a patriarchal concept of family pervaded all secular, religious, customary and indigenous laws and institutions and that some States and groups are now trying, in a retrograde manner, to subject women to the most oppressive forms of patriarchy, particularly in the context of religious fanaticism. It should also be understood that the transition towards equality between women and men, and girls and boys, in the culture and in the family is a prerequisite for a decent society. | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 73c (x) | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | [The Working Group recommends that States:] Guarantee women's de jure and de facto right to equality in family diversity: Set up gender-awareness training for all State civil servants involved in education, health, social services, law enforcement and judicial decision-making. Include women, on an equal basis, in all bodies that interpret and apply family law; | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 73d (ii) | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | [According to general recommendation No. 29 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the family is a social and legal construct and, in various countries, a religious construct. It also is an economic construct. The Working Group recommends that States:] Ensure that women are free to participate in economic activities outside the house or village, without the supervision of male relatives; | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 73d (v) | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | [According to general recommendation No. 29 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the family is a social and legal construct and, in various countries, a religious construct. It also is an economic construct. The Working Group recommends that States:] Recognize women as heads of family on an equal basis with men so that they may enjoy the same financial or social benefits; | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 8 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | The legal rights of women and girls to equality and non-discrimination in cultural and family life, established in 1948 by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and by international human rights law, are often restricted in national laws and in practice, including in cultural practice. The Working Group emphasizes that, in accordance with international human rights law, States have an obligation to adopt appropriate measures with a view to eliminating all forms of discrimination against women and girls in laws, cultural practices and the family, whether perpetrated by State agents or private actors. | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 73a (i) | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | [The Working Group recommends that States:] Establish a national legal framework recognizing gender equality in cultural and family life, in accordance with regional and international standards: (i) Recognize and enshrine, in their constitutions and laws, the right to equality, which should apply in all areas of life and have primacy over all religious, customary and indigenous laws, norms, codes and rules, with no possibility of exemption, waiver or circumvention; | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 73d (iv) | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | [According to general recommendation No. 29 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the family is a social and legal construct and, in various countries, a religious construct. It also is an economic construct. The Working Group recommends that States:] Recognize the right of women living in polygamous marriages to end their marriage when their husband takes another wife and grant them a share of the family property, including the value of the house or land; | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 36 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | In some countries, legislative provisions strengthen patriarchal family structures, as well as the concomitant discrimination and violence against women. This is particularly true of provisions allowing rapists to marry their victims in order to escape legal proceedings and laws that exclude marital rape from the prohibition of rape under criminal law. In some contexts, only men are able to transmit their nationality to their foreign spouses and their children. This de jure inequality has considerable effects on women and their children because the State protection granted by citizenship is refused them de facto. | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 28 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | All legal definitions of the family should include the right to equality, de jure and de facto, of women and girls within the family. Full equality between women and men, and girls and boys, is a requirement of international human rights law and constitutes a right of women that is vital for the well-being of the family and for society as a whole. | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 73c (vii) | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | [The Working Group recommends that States:] Guarantee women's de jure and de facto right to equality in family diversity: Respect, protect, fulfil and promote the right to gender equality in the family in the various types of legal system - secular family law systems, State-enforced religious family law systems and plural legal systems. The adoption of a family code or personal status laws free of any reference to culture or religion is encouraged; | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 73c (ix) | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | [The Working Group recommends that States:] Guarantee women's de jure and de facto right to equality in family diversity: Make the formal State legal system accessible to all women, regardless of their social status, and address the shortcomings of the formal system. Formal justice should be preferred to informal justice for the settlement of all family matters, including those relating to sexual violence and domestic violence; | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 | ||
Eliminating discrimination against women in cultural and family life, with a focus on the family as a cultural space 2015, para. 65 | Aug 19, 2019 | Paragraph | The obligation of the State to protect women and girls' right to equality in the family compels the authorities to prevent discrimination by private actors. Due diligence as a principle of State action should result in a global model of prevention, protection, prosecution, punishment and redress for acts of discrimination and violence against women in cultural and family life. | Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice | Special Procedures' report |
|
| 2015 |