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Women's rights and gender
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International agreements on women's rights
The international community has formally recognised the principle of gender equality since the United Nations was founded back in 1945. It is enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations. The UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 also contains the principle that no distinction shall be made "on account of sex". The two human rights covenants that were adopted in 1966, which incorporated a ban on discrimination, made gender equality a legally binding principle for signatory states.
The UN Commission on the Status of Women
A Commission on Women was created within the United Nations in 1947. Its specific aim is to promote women’s legal empowerment in political, economic and social life. In contrast to the Human Rights Commission, the Commission on Women does not, however, have the competence to hold to account any states that discriminate against women.
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
In 1979, the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The Programme of Action associated with the Convention obligates those states that have ratified the Convention to implement measures that are aimed not only at creating de jure (legal) but also de facto (actual) equality between men and women.
In 1999, it adopted the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which entered into force in December 2000. The Protocol enables individual women or groups to file individual applications through the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women if a particular country violates the Convention.
United Nations Development Fund for Women / UN Women
The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) was recognised as an independent UN organisation in 1985. UNIFEM sees itself as an advocate for women’s rights and equality in developing countries. In organisational terms UNIFEM is part of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). This means that UNIFEM can make use of available structures and introduce women’s concerns into both the political dialogue at the international level and the planning of UNDP development projects and development projects drawn up by other UN organisations. UNIFEM also carries out its own projects. It is funded from voluntary contributions from Member States and donations. Germany provided a total of 2.54 million US dollars in funding for UNIFEM in 2008.
In January 2011, UNIFEM will be merged into the new UN organisation UN Women (the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women). UN Women’s responsibilities will include mainstreaming gender throughout the entire UN system, providing policy advice for inter-governmental bodies and Member States, and development policy programme work.
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women
At the second UN World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna in 1993 the topic of violence against women was discussed. The Final Declaration from the Vienna Conference expressly condemns violence against women. It also states that "the human rights of women and of the girl-child are an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights".
Following the World Conference on Human Rights, the United Nations adopted a Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women in December 1993. The following forms of violence against women in the public and private domain were defined as human rights violations:
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physical, sexual and psychological violence that occurs in the family, including battering; sexual abuse of female children in the household;
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dowry-related violence;
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marital rape;
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female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women;
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non-spousal violence and violence related to exploitation;
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physical, sexual and psychological violence that occurs within the general community, including rape; sexual abuse; sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in educational institutions and elsewhere;
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trafficking in women; and forced prostitution;
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physical, sexual and psychological violence perpetrated or condoned by the State, wherever it occurs.
In 1994 the UN Human Rights Commission established the office of a permanent Special Rapporteur whose area of work covers the forms of violence listed in the Declaration.
Programme of Action of the World Conference on Population and Development in Cairo
At the World Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo in 1994, the 179 participating states adopted a wide-ranging programme of action for the next 20 years. It brings together policies on population, development and women’s rights. The programme obligates governments around the world to invest in sex education and in reproductive health measures and to give all people access to sex education, contraception and the relevant healthcare, including for women during pregnancy and childbirth, and protection against sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS.
Beijing Platform for Action
The motto of the fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995 was "Action for Equality, Development and Peace". Participants signed a wide-ranging catalogue of demands, called the Beijing Platform for Action, in which 189 states set out strategic targets for gender equality:
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Women’s rights are human rights
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Women have the right to sexual self-determination
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Same rights of inheritance for daughters and sons, equal access to economic resources and education
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All violence against women and girls must be punished as a violation of human rights
The Platform for Action is an agenda for women’s empowerment, setting out principles that can be invoked by individuals and women’s organisations. However, there are no means of imposing sanctions when states do not deliver on these commitments.
Resolution 1325 of the UN Security Council on Women, Peace and Security
There are diverse ways in which women become involved in conflicts: they may be victims of war, nurses and doctors, as well as combatants. They should be involved in peace processes. That is why UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which was adopted in 2000, requires their "equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security". Several German federal ministries are tasked with implementing this resolution. These are, in addition to the German Development Ministry and the Federal Foreign Office, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. An inter-ministerial working group is to be established at the initiative of the BMZ so that women can be more effectively involved as active participants than has been the case in the past.
UN Security Council Resolution 1820
Resolution 1820, which was adopted in 2008, states that rape and other forms of sexual violence "can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide". The resolution calls on UN Member States to meet their obligations to prosecute those who commit such crimes. It also permits sanctions to be imposed on countries in which sexual violence occurs during armed conflicts.
In 2009, Resolutions 1888 and 1889 were adopted by the UN Security Council on 30 September and 5 October respectively as follow-up resolutions to Resolutions 1820 and 1325.
Women's rights in the Millennium Declaration
In September 2000, high-level representatives from 189 countries, most of them heads of government and heads of state, met in New York for a summit. The Millennium Declaration was adopted as the outcome of that meeting.
According to the Declaration, gender equality is still one of the key challenges for the 21st century. In the third of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) the international community has undertaken to promote gender equality and to empower women (i.e. increase women’s political, economic and social participation). The empowerment of women is therefore a goal; but it is also a prerequisite for the achievement of all the Millennium Development Goals.
Among other things discrimination against girls is to be eliminated at all educational levels by 2015. A further goal that directly targets the living conditions of women is to improve maternal healthcare. The international community has undertaken to reduce the maternal mortality rate by three quarters between 1990 and 2015.
European Union
In the Treaty of Amsterdam of 1999, the EU Member States undertook to work at all levels towards eliminating inequality and promoting gender equality. In addition, the European Consensus on Development Policy of 2005 identifies gender equality as a common value and a goal in its own right.
EU Council Conclusion: Equality and Participation – the Role of Women in Development Cooperation
The EU Council Conclusion on Equality and Participation – the Role of Women in Development Cooperation reaffirms the close link between poverty reduction and development on the one hand and the participation of women, including in the political realm, on the other. Along with combating violence against women and eliminating discrimination, the rights of women need to be implemented particularly in the areas of trade, infrastructure, the environment, governance, agriculture, peace consolidation and reconstruction. The Council and the EU Member States have undertaken to make gender equality a key issue in their development policy.
Priority area Africa: Maputo Protocol
In 2003, 53 Member States of the African Union (AU) took part in a summit meeting in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, and adopted an Additional Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights of 1986: the Protocol for the Rights of Women in Africa (known as the Maputo Protocol).
The Protocol entered into force in 2005. It reaffirms specific legal rights that protect and empower women and girls. These include, for example, guaranteeing and recognising economic rights and the same land rights and rights of ownership. In addition, the Protocol explicitly condemns all forms of female genital mutilation.
In the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa, the AU Member States declared their support for the implementation and observance of this legal framework; by undertaking to submit annual reports they are subjecting themselves to a strict monitoring mechanism.
In August 2008, the heads of state and government of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) signed the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development. The Protocol is a legally binding agreement aimed at boosting efforts to achieve gender equality in the region. The members of SADC still need to ratify the agreement.
World Bank Gender Action Plan
The World Bank Group’s Gender Action Plan (Gender Equality as Smart Economics) was published at the Annual Meeting of the World Bank in Singapore in 2006. The aim of the Action Plan is to increase women’s economic participation and to promote gender equality in key sectors of the economy. The World Bank Group, the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Millennium Project, the United Nations Women’s Fund (UNIFEM) and European donor countries were all involved in developing the Plan. The budget for the Action Plan originally totalled 24.5 million US dollars for a four-year period, but has since been increased to 60.9 million US dollars.
In 2008, a Gender Law Database was set up under the Gender Action Plan. The Database provides information on concrete instances in which domestic laws discriminate against women.
Women’s rights in the Accra Agenda for Action and the Doha Declaration
The Accra Agenda for Action and the Doha Declaration of 2008 emphasise that donor and developing countries must shape and implement their respective development policies so that they meet the agreed international obligations with regard to gender equality and human rights.
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