Tenth
Annual Meeting of Special Rapporteurs, Representatives, Independent
Experts and Chairperson of Working Groups of the Commission on Human
Rights
Geneva, Switzerland, 23-27 June 2003
Submission by
International Women's Rights Action Watch (Asia Pacific)
24 June 2003
The International
Women's Rights Action Watch (IWRAW Asia Pacific) was set up in Malaysia
in 1993 to work towards the progressive interpretation, universalisation,
implementation and realisation of the human rights of women through
the lens of CEDAW and other international human rights treaties.
The cross-cutting
premise justifying IWRAW Asia Pacific's past, present and future
areas of work is the need for the mobilisation of women's groups
at the local, national, regional and international levels to draw
accountability from their governments on the domestic application
of human rights standards. Our work aims to contribute in raising
standards and promoting jurisprudence to improve law and policy.
Over the past
ten years, IWRAW Asia Pacific has built up a significant presence
in 12 countries of South and Southeast Asia with some work being
carried out in East Asia, the Pacific and Central Asia. Our regional
and international activities are not implemented as separate components
but rather as a means that add value to local activism. The organisation
seeks to address the "disconnect" that traditionally exists
between groups shaping the development of human rights monitoring
at the international level and the grassroots organisations demanding
accountability from their governments, a gap which in many ways,
has trumped women's access to means for claiming and realising their
rights.
We wish to raise
a few discussion points for your consideration:
1. Contributing
to Progressive Interpretation of Human Rights Standards
Our work has
focused on enhancing the realisation of rights by monitoring its
implementation through CEDAW and other human rights treaties as
a starting point to contribute to the development of human rights
law at the national level and influence standard setting processes
at the international level. In many instances, the work of Rapporteurs,
Representatives, Independent Experts and Working Groups of the Commission
on Human Rights have contributed to our efforts.
For this reason,
we have listed some issues regarding the need for consistent approaches
by the Special Procedures concerning the expansive interpretation
of human rights and further development of the core content of rights:
- In the exchange
of information, is there more room to improve the existing procedures?
Furthermore, what role should the Special Procedures play as a
collective in contributing further to standard setting?
For example:
are there ways to compile and streamline the findings to reflect
agreements on issues of priority or common concern, e.g. emerging
impediments to the realisation of rights or on questions of justiciability
of human rights? Is there a conscious development and movement towards
ensuring the principle of indivisibility and interdependence of
rights and its reflection in the interlinked workings of the Special
Procedures?
- On collaboration
and engagement by the Special Procedures with treaty bodies: have
priority areas been discussed collectively?
For example,
being aware that some Special Procedures have already been engaging
in the work of treaty bodies, what are the possibilities of an institutionalised
exchange on this area? Are there processes wherein Special Procedures
can identify areas for priority or gaps in the work of treaty bodies
and suggest a list of questions or issues related to their mandate
that could be considered in state party reviews? How can the Special
Procedures engage more effectively and systematically in the crafting
of general recommendations of treaty bodies? What processes can
be developed where the findings of Rapporteurs and experts that
point to gross and systematic violations at the national level can
be used to trigger the process for interim reports or reports in
between the period of States Parties reporting? Is there a possibility
for Special Procedures to also follow up the recommendations of
the treaty bodies Concluding Comments?
- How do Special
Procedures see their role in the establishment or setting up of
new human rights mechanisms and in the strengthening of the UN
human rights system? For example: are there means for coordinating
joint action and common approaches to the OP-ICESCR? Should the
Special Procedures express their views, individually and collectively,
on this matter?
2. Moving
Towards a Common Agenda and Exploring Joint Interventions
From our point
of view, common agendas, joint statements and interventions by all
bodies and experts that are part of the UN human rights system should
be further considered, especially on issues that undermine the human
rights system as a whole.
Furthermore,
as an NGO working in the South and working on the national and international
level, we are facing new challenges when promoting the domestic
implementation of women's human rights. At one level, we find that
the lack of common approaches by UN bodies on human rights issues
makes it difficult for governments to establish priorities regarding
implementation of human rights standards. Secondly, we are also
confronted with the challenge of obligations imposed by other international
agreements which clash and in many ways, compete, with human rights
obligations. Thirdly, we are now trying to promote comprehensive
approaches to human rights issues in the context of international
cooperation.
In this regard,
common agendas, joint statements and interventions are very useful
as the Special Procedures are in a unique position for developing
"conceptual" clarity on consistent approaches to the protection,
promotion and fulfillment of human rights, especially in the cross-cutting
dimensions of international relations.
In this context,
joint development of standards and joint statements by the Special
procedures on common concerns, such as globalisation mainly in the
context of the State obligation in bilateral and multilateral relations,
will greatly assist in the development and/or crystallisation of
norms. This is of great significance to the other mechanisms in
the UN human rights system, including the OHCHR and treaty bodies
as it provides them a consistent set of principles/guidelines/norms
collectively endorsed by the experts.
Back
to top
This
page was last updated on August 10, 2003
“IWRAW
Asia Pacific is an independent, non-profit, NGO in Special consultative
status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.”
©IWRAW Asia Pacific
Contact Us | Site
Map
|
