Communications-SR Violence Against Women-2007-Eng
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
UNITED NATIONS A Distr. General Assembly GENERAL A/HRC/4/34/Add.1 19 March 2007 ENGLISH / FRENCH / SPANISH HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Fourth session Agenda item 2 IMPLEMENTATION OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION 60/251 OF 15 MARCH 2006 ENTITLED “HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL” Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Yakin Ertürk Addendum ∗ Communications to and from Governments ** ∗ The report is being circulated in the languages of submission only as it greatly exceeds the page limitations currently imposed by the relevant General Assembly resolutions. ** The present document is submitted late to reflect the most up-to-date information possible. GE.07-11948 A/HRC/4/34/Add.1 Page 2 Contents Paragraphs Page A. Introduction 1-3 4 B. Overview of Communications 4-11 4 C. Trends and Observations 12-26 6 D. Communications sent and Government replies received 27 8 Argentina 28-55 8 Bahrain 56-86 13 Bangladesh 87-117 18 Bulgaria 118-124 23 People’s Republic of China 125-175 24 Colombia 176-199 34 Cyprus 200-208 38 Democratic People's Republic of Korea 209-226 39 Ecuador 227-236 43 France 237-247 44 Germany 248-254 46 Greece 255-266 47 Guatemala 267-271 49 India 272-297 50 Iran 298-331 54 Iraq 332-337 60 Israel 338-341 61 Kyrgyzstan 342-368 61 Liberia 369-375 65 Libya 376-391 67 Maldives 392-397 69 Mauritania 398-406 70 Mexico 407-433 72 Morocco 434-442 75 Myanmar 443-447 77 A/HRC/4/34/Add.1 Page 3 Contents (Cont’d) Paragraphs Page Nepal 448-489 77 Pakistan 490-505 85 Philippines 506-539 88 Qatar 540-556 93 République Démocratique du Congo 557-577 96 Russian Federation 578-582 99 Saudi Arabia 583-593 101 Sierra Leone 594-600 102 Singapore 601-630 103 South Africa 631-634 107 Sri Lanka 635-646 108 Sudan 647-654 110 Thailand 655-667 111 Tunisia 668-674 113 Turkey 675-683 114 United Arab Emirates 684-687 115 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 688-705 116 United States of America 706-710 120 Uzbekistan 711-733 121 Zimbabwe 734-756 124 A/HRC/4/34/Add.1 Page 4 A. Introduction 1. At its fourth session, the Human Rights Council, in its resolution 2005/41 entitled “Elimination of violence against women” encouraged the Special Rapporteur to respond effectively to reliable information that comes before her and requested all Governments to cooperate with and assist the Special Rapporteur in the performance of her mandate tasks and duties, to supply all information requested, including with regard to implementation of her recommendations, and to respond to the Special Rapporteur’s visits and communications. 2. The present addendum to the Special Rapporteur’s annual report contains, on a country by country basis, summaries of individual allegations, as well as urgent appeals sent to Governments on individual cases and general situations of concern to her mandate. This report includes summaries of the communications sent from 1 January and 31 December 2006.1 The report also contains summaries of government replies received until 13 February 2007. 3. The Special Rapporteur recalls that in issuing urgent appeals and in transmitting allegations, she does not make any judgment concerning the merits of the respective cases, nor does she necessarily support the opinions and activities of the persons on behalf of whom she intervenes. In the original communications, the full names of victims and perpetrators have been provided to the Government concerned. In this report, the names of individual victims and alleged perpetrators have been replaced by initials in order to protect their privacy and to prevent further victimization as well as to avoid pre-judgement of the alleged perpetuators. B. Overview of Communications 1. Communications sent 4. In 2006, Special Procedures mandate-holders sent a total of 1,165 communications to 143 countries and entities, 48 per cent of which were joint communications sent by two or more mandate-holders. More than half of all communications (57 per cent) were urgent appeals related to allegations of ongoing or imminent human rights violations warranting immediate action. Government replied to 32 per cent of all communications sent. Communications sent by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, constituted 7 per cent of all communications sent by special procedures mandate-holders.2 5. During the period under review (1 January to 31 December 2006), the Special Rapporteur transmitted 83 communications to 44 Member States: Argentina, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, China, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cyprus, Ecuador, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, India, Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Libya, Maldives, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Russian 1 In addition, two allegation letters sent in 2005, which were not reflected in the previous report on Communications Received and Sent (E/CN.4/2006/61/Add.1), have been included. One allegation letter sent on 18 December 2006 was not included. At the time this report was finalized, the Government concerned had not yet had the chance to respond to the issues within the deadline of 60 days indicated in the allegation letter. 2 It is also worth noting that only 17 per cent of all communications sent by special procedures mandate-holders concerned female victims. A/HRC/4/34/Add.1 Page 5 Federation, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, the Sudan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Uzbekistan, and Zimbabwe. 6. 48 communications concerned allegations of human rights violations that had already occurred or reflected longstanding concerns (allegations letters). In 35 cases, the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal because a human rights violation was ongoing or imminent and there was a need to inform the government authorities about the allegations received without any delay. 7. 80 out of 83 communications (96 per cent) were sent jointly with other mandate holders of the Human Rights Council. 8. It is interesting to note that the largest number of joint communications (26) was sent together with the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture, indicating a convergence between diverse forms of human rights violations experienced by women with that of more conventional forms of violations. This also signals an erosion of the public / private sphere dichotomy used for so long to exclude violence against women from public concern and scrutiny. Other communications were sent jointly with: - The Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights defenders (22), - The Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children (18), - The Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (17), - The Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers (13), - The Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression (8), - The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (8), - The Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants (5), - The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people (4) - The Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance (3), - The Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief (1), - Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, (1), - The Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (1). 2. Governments Cooperation and Replies to the Special Rapporteur 9. In each of the communications, the Special Rapporteur has asked Governments to respond to a detailed set of questions in order to clarify the allegations submitted. As of 15 February 2007, the Special Rapporteur had received responses to 43 cases from Governments concerned and would like to express her particular appreciation for timely replies. The Special Rapporteur remains concerned that only half of the communications sent in 2006 (52 per cent) have so been responded to. Many Governments failed to respond and some only responded partially to the issues raised. The Special Rapporteur expresses her appreciation to have received, during the course of 2006, 19 additional responses to communications sent in 2004 and 2005. A/HRC/4/34/Add.1 Page 6 10. The following Member States did not respond to any of the communication that the Special Rapporteur sent in 2006: Bulgaria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Guatemala, India, Iraq, Israel, Liberia, Morocco, Myanmar, Sierra Leone, the Sudan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, and United States of America. 11. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur would like to recall Human Rights Commission resolution 2005/41 in which the Commission requested all Governments to cooperate with and assist the Special Rapporteur in the performance of her mandated tasks and duties, to supply all information requested, including with regard to implementation of her recommendations, and to respond to the Special Rapporteur’s visits and communications. C. Trends and Observations 12. The communications sent concerned a wide array of issues related to violence against women, its causes and consequences as defined in the 1993 United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women. These included: violence committed by State agents, including arbitrary detention; intimate-partner and intra-family violence, including crimes committed in the name of honour, forced and early marriage; rape, sexual abuse and sexual exploitation; violence against women in the context of labour exploitation; refoulement to another country despite a well-founded fear of violence; as well as other forms of violence grounded in gender-based discrimination. 13. An analysis of the communications sent indicates several areas of particular concern: 1) Violence against women committed by State agents 14.