Page 397 - 100 Reflections that Crafted Geneva International_V-Petrovsky_private special edition

Bringing the Concept to Life

women's rights are continually increasing. The UN Charter and the Universal
Declaration paved the way for the two International Covenants dealing with
economic, social, cultural, political and civil rights. Then, in 1979, the prime
practical tool in this regard was born, the “Convention on the Elimination of all
Forms of Discrimination Against Women” (CEDAW). This set both the
legally binding obligations for States parties and the international standard for
what is meant by equality between women and men. It demanded not only
equal rights for women, but also that they should be able to enjoy these rights
on an equal footing with men thus requiring that other than legal obstacles be
recognized and eliminated. Equality of result is often much more difficult to
obtain and societal reality often lags far behind the law.

The “Women's Convention” and the 1995 “Beijing Platform for Action”,
often referred to as the definitive “agenda for women's empowerment”,
demanded that prejudicial cultural traditions or practices which deprive
women from the attainment of their full exercise of citizenship, freedom and
rights, be changed. Equally as important, it required countries to bring their
domestic legislation into line with UN human rights standards.

So then, how do we rate our progress 52 years after the adoption of the
Universal Declaration, 22 years after the adoption of CEDAW and 5 years
since the adoption of the Beijing Platform For action? In a word,
unacceptable. In spite of commitments made to the contrary, many countries
continue to have law s which explicitly discriminate against women as part and
parcel of their legal frameworks. ln this new millennium, no country in the
world can claim having legislated and implemented the full equality of women
and men To the contrary, we can easily think of examples where legislation
protecting male supremacy endures. Although the UN’s special review to gauge
the progress made since Beijing, the “Beijing plus 5", will be conducted by the
General Assembly this June, Governments should be reminded that the
advancement of women’s equality requires a minimum level of political
commitment and will. Actions and not just words are needed if the Beijing
Platform is to be implemented in reality. Lastly, it is clear that discriminatory
laws which condone violence against women must be repealed or amended as
part of any efforts to eliminate such violence.

The UN is firmly attempting to implement its own “equality of result'
within the Organization and continues to strive towards a greater awareness of
gender within the Secretariat. The Secretary-General recently reaffirmed his
commitment to redress the existing gender imbalance and reiterated the goal of

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