Archives: Resources

UN Working Group on discrimination against women in law and in practice

In this report, the Working Group examines discrimination against women and girls in cultural and family life. The cultural construction of gender determines the role of women and girls within the family, including in marriage.

After recalling the obligation of States to combat discrimination against women in cultural and family life, the Working Group makes several recommendations, drawing on good practices, for the establishment of true equality between the sexes in cultural and family life.

UN Women

Authors/editor(s): Sandra Fredman and Beth Goldblatt

The achievement of substantive equality is understood as having four dimensions: redressing disadvantage; countering stigma, prejudice, humiliation and violence; transforming social and institutional structures; and facilitating political participation and social inclusion. The paper shows that, although not articulated in this way, these dimensions are clearly visible in the application by the various interpretive bodies of the principles of equality to the enjoyment of treaty rights.

At the same time, it shows that there are important ways in which these bodies could go further, both in articulating the goals of substantive equality and in applying them when assessing compliance by States with international obligations of equality. The substantive equality approach, in its four-dimensional form, provides an evaluative tool with which to assess policy in relation to the right to gender equality.

The paper elaborates on the four-dimensional approach to equality and how it can be used to evaluate the impact of social and economic policies on women to determine how to make the economy ‘work for women’ and advance gender equality. The paper suggests that there is a growing consensus at the international level on an understanding of substantive equality that reflects the four dimensional framework. This paper was produced for UN Women’s flagship report Progress of the World’s Women 2015-2016 and is released as part of the UN Women discussion paper series.

UN Women

Authors/editor(s): Aisling Swaine and Catherine O’Rourke

The CEDAW Committee’s General recommendation no. 30 on women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations is a landmark document giving authoritative guidance to countries that have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on concrete measures to ensure women’s human rights are protected before, during and after conflict. The general recommendation makes clear that the Convention applies in all forms of conflict and post-conflict settings and addresses crucial issues facing women in these settings, including violence and challenges in access to justice and education, employment and health. It gives guidance on States parties’ obligation of due diligence in respect of crimes against women by non-State actors. The general recommendation affirms CEDAW’s linkages with the Security Council’s women, peace and security agenda.

The purpose of this Guidebook is to increase knowledge about general recommendation no. 30 and the Security Council resolutions on women, peace and security, and how these frameworks can be used to strengthen and reinforce each other. The Guidebook provides information on the content of the general recommendation and the Security Council resolutions and on the reporting and monitoring mechanisms. It includes a checklist for States parties reporting to the CEDAW Committee and also provides some examples of where the general recommendation and Security Council resolutions have been referred to in the CEDAW Committee’s concluding observations and lists of issues to States parties. The Guidebook also contributed to the global study on implementation of Security Council resolution 1325.

UN Women and OHCHR

Women’s access to, use of and control over land and other productive resources are essential to ensuring their right to equality and to an adequate standard of living. Throughout the world, gender inequality when it comes to land and other productive resources is related to women’s poverty and exclusion.  Barriers which prevent women’s access to, use of and control over land and other productive resources often include inadequate legal standards and/or ineffective implementation at national and local levels, as well as discriminatory cultural attitudes and practices at the institutional and community level.

The purpose of this publication is to provide detailed guidance to support the adoption and effective implementation of laws, policies and programmes to respect, protect and fulfil women’s rights to land and other productive resources.  It presents an overview of international and regional legal and policy instruments recognizing women’s rights to land and other productive resources, and discusses ways of advancing a human rights-based approach to women’s rights to land and other productive resources.  It sets out recommendations in a range of areas accompanied by explanatory commentaries and good practice examples and case studies from countries. The publication is based on the results of an expert group meeting held in June 2012.  It is hoped that the publication will be a useful tool for policy makers, civil society organizations and other stakeholders  in their efforts to realize women’s rights to land other productive resources.

UN Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice

Letter to the UN Human Rights Council President with regard to Human Rights Council resolution 26/11, adopted on 23 June 2014, on the “protection of the family.”

During the 29th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council, four UN Special Procedures — the Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, and the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography — sent a letter to the President of the Human Rights Council expressing concerns regarding the debates on the Protection of the Family resolution.

UNDP

This paper uncovers barriers to equality in legal systems that restrict human rights along gender lines – patent and latent; and proposes possible ways to redress legal discrimination for accelerating human development.

It explores three strategic avenues for simultaneous action. One, fixing institutions – laws, legal practices and modes of access; two, changing attitudes of those who create, uphold, and use laws; and three, establishing ongoing assessments to reveal inequalities and monitor progress. The focus of evidence is from countries of Asia-Pacific. However, given widespread gender-linked gaps in justice systems, and similarities of legal challenges posed, the paper is expected to be relevant also for other similarly placed countries.

UNFPA, The Danish Institute for Human Rights, The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights 

The purpose of this Handbook is to provide National Human Rights Institutions with tools and guidance on how to integrate reproductive rights into their work.

Each National Human Rights Institution is as unique as the country in which it has been established, but that does not mean that many of their challenges, including within the field of reproductive rights, are not the same or similar. This Handbook is intended to give an introduction to reproductive rights, both what they mean in practice and their normative background, and how National Human Rights Institutions can work within this field.

A number of experiences from NHRIs have been gathered and are included in this Handbook.

UNFPA

Fact Sheet on HIV/AIDS