Mary Shanthi Dairiam

Summary of Experience

For the last twenty-seven years I have focused my professional and community work on the promotion of women’s rights in a variety of contexts. I have undertaken collaborative projects with women’s NGOs, governments and international institutions that aim to contribute to the effective implementation of international human rights standards for the advancement of women. My work has included creating and developing conceptual clarity and tools in regard to: the practical application of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (the CEDAW Convention), methodologies for research oriented advocacy, and training. My advocacy and expertise has centred around the following:

a) Women’s rights as human rights and the use of the law

• Fourteen years experience at the Asian national and regional level as well as at the international level organising programmes on women’s rights that establish the relationship between mainstream human rights discourse and women’s rights, the use of the law as a tool for women’s development.
• Thirteen years experience at the national, regional and international level, promoting the CEDAW Convention as a framework for women’s development and rights. Facilitated the development of scholarship, skills and strategies on the application of the principles of the CEDAW Convention to promote women’s rights, developed methodologies for preparing reports to the CEDAW Committee.

b) Gender and development

• Ten years experience in the field of gender and development. Specific areas of experience include; facilitating the development of a national policy on women in Malaysia; operationalisation of the National Policy for Women in Malaysia and six months of work at the Commonwealth Secretariat, London, geared towards mainstreaming women’s interests and needs into national development.

c) Violence against women

• Sixteen years experience coordinating advocacy oriented research, organising legal campaigns and providing support services for the empowerment and protection of women victimised by spousal abuse and sexual assault.

d) Women’s health and reproductive choice

• Fifteen years experience as staff and volunteer with the Federation of Family Planning Associations of Malaysia, involving policy formulation, programme development and implementation of quality contraceptive service delivery, and projects pertaining to reproductive choice as women’s rights, health and the status of women, the user perspective and women's leadership within family planning programmes.
• In the recent past, I have presented papers and facilitated training on the application of the rights based approach to promote women’s health and reproductive choice.

Nationality | Date of Birth

Malaysian | 17 September, 1939

Education

1991 University of Sussex, United Kingdom, MA Gender and Development
1962 University of Madras, India, MA English Literature

Professional Affiliation

1993–present International Women Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific, Director

• Founder of IWRAW Asia Pacific. IWRAW Asia Pacific is regional, independent, non-profit NGO that collaborates with national women’s groups, governments, inter-governmental bodies and academic institutions, to monitor and facilitate the implementation of the UN CEDAW Convention. The programme works in fourteen countries of Asia and coordinates international advocacy through networking with women through out the world.
• Trained governments of Cambodia, Iraq, Laos, Maldives, Mongolia, Thailand and the Pacific on state obligation under the CEDAW Convention.
• Facilitated and coordinated national, regional and international training on the UN human rights system and advocacy for the realisation of women’s rights. Continues to facilitate training on CEDAW on the on-going basis.
• Observed the CEDAW Committee’s review of states parties for the past 13 years and has consistently provided input to processes such as the development of general recommendations and negotiations leading to the Optional Protocol to CEDAW.
• Participated in the UN World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, the International Conference on Population and Development, the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing and the UN World Conference Against Racial Discrimination, Racism, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.

Recent Consultancies and Appointments

United Nations and International Organisations

• Consultant UNIFEM South East Asia May-June 2004
  Currently assisting UNIFEM South East Asia’s CEDAW Project. Assisted in the development of a framework for inception missions focusing on seven countries on South East Asia. Responsible for leading and editing reports for four inception missions (East Timor, Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines).
• Commission of the South Pacific May 2003
  Acted as resource person in a regional training of governments from the Pacific
  Islands on Obligations under CEDAW and the process of writing state party reports
• Consultant to UNIFEM March 2003
  Facilitated a two day consultation in Alamaty Khazakistan, for government and NGO representatives from CIS countries to identify needs for a regional CEDAW related programme.
• Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe August 2002
  Conducted a review of the compliance of the laws of Tajikistan with the requirements of the CEDAW Convention.
• Visiting Lecturer, Law Faculty, University of Hong Kong April 2002
  Conducted lectures for LL.M students
• Personal Consultant to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for
  East Timor October 2000-January 2001
• Consultant to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights August 1999
  Conducted training on the CEDAW Convention for government staff and NGOs.

Governments

• Adviser to HAWA, (Women’s Affairs Department) Prime Minister’s Office on the preparation of the Initial Report to CEDAW. 1997-2001
• Member of the Malaysian Government Delegation at the Inter-Ministerial Meeting of the Asia and Pacific Region in preparation for the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Jakarta, 1993, and at the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995, including all the preparatory meetings held in New York in 1994 and 1995 and the UN General Assembly Special Session (Beijing plus 5) 5-9 June 2000.
• Consultant to the Government of Bangladesh October 1995-96
  Conducted a review of the capability of the Government of Bangladesh to incorporate women’s interests into national development policies and plans.
• Consultant to the Government of Malaysia April 1993-August 94
  Operationalised and developed a Plan of Action for the Malaysian National Women’s Policy and conducted workshops to familiarise the bureaucracy with the Action Plan.

Publications (Highlights)

• Building Capacity for Change: Training Manual on the Application of the Principles of the Convention to Promote Women’s rights. Editor. IWRAW Asia Pacific. (forthcoming, 2004)
• “The Status of CEDAW Implementation in the ASEAN region and Selected Muslim Countries.” Paper presented in the roundtable discussion on Rights Obligations under CEDAW organised by the Malaysian Human Rights Commission, 13 March 2003.
• “Discussion Paper On Effective Legal Strategies”. Prepared for the seminar on “Promoting Gender Equality to Combat Trafficking in Women and Children”, Bangkok, Thailand. 7-9 October 2002.
• “The Application of the CEDAW Convention to Trafficking in Women.” ESCAP 2002
• “Discrimination Against Women and Its Implication for Women’s Capacity for Self-Determination in the Areas Of Reproductive and Sexual Health”. Paper presented at the Meeting on Application of Human Rights to Reproductive and Sexual Health (Glen Cove+5). Organised by UNFPA and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Geneva. 25-27 June 2001
• “International Law for the Protection of Women’s Rights”. 2000. In Domestic Violence and the Law: Report of Colloquium on Justice for Women-Empowerment through Law. Lawyers Collective Women’s Rights Initiative. Butterworths, India.
• “Recognizing and Realizing Women’s Human Rights”. Co-author. 1999. In Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Fifty Years and Beyond. Editors Yael Danieli et al. Baywood Publishing Company Inc. on behalf of the United Nations.
• Manual on Trade Union Policies and Action for Women. Prepared for ILO. 1992.

Personal Memberships

• 1984-present Women’s Aid Organisation, Malaysia
  Vice President (1999-2001), Current Executive Committee member
• 1986-present National Council of Women’s Organisations, Malaysia
  Current Executive Committee Member
• 2000-2002 Federation of Family Planning Associations, Malaysia
  Co-opted member of the Task Force on the Status of Women
  

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This page was last updated on June 27, 2004

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