maY 2007 CEDAW and the Human Rights Based Approach to Programming A UNIFEM GUIDE <#> IFC UNIFEM is the women’s fund at the United Nations. It provides financial and technical assistance to innovative programmes and strategies to foster women’s empowerment and gender equality. Placing the advancement of women’s human rights at the centre of all of its efforts, CEDAW UNIFEM focuses its activities on four strategic areas: • Reducing feminized poverty; • Ending violence against women; and the • Reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS among women and girls; • Achieving gender equality in democratic governance in times of peace as well as war. Human Rights Based Approach to Written by Lee Waldorf, with research by Christine Arab and Menaka Guruswamy Copy Editor: Angela Stephens Designer: Kathi Rota Photo Editor: Sue Ackerman Printer: Kay Printing Programming Photo Credits: Front cover, clockwise from upper left corner: Indigo-dyed cloth from Nigeria; cotton blanket from Guatemala; silk-embroidered mirror cloth from Morocco; silk brocade woven cloth from Indonesia; tambour-work cloth from Uzbekistan; Chanhan quilt from Pakistan. Back cover: tapa cloth from Fiji. All photos by James Austin except Indonesian fabric by Barry Dawson. From “World Textiles: A Visual Guide to Traditional Techniques” by John Gillow and Bryan Sentance, except Nigerian fabric from “African Textiles” by John Gillow, both titles published by Thames & Hudson Ltd, London and New York. Index 1 I ntrOductiON 2 SECTION 1 Gender Equality as a Human Right 16 SECTION 2 UNIFEM and the HRBA 26 SECTION 3 Applying the HRBA Principles 38 SECTION 4 The HRBA and Results-Based Management 50 SECTION 5 Women’s Human Rights In-Depth 78 SECTION 6 Programming Resource Materials v Introduction Promotng unversal respect for human rghts has consderatons nto programme support. The been one of the fundamental goals of the Unted prncple that development cooperaton should Natons snce ts creaton, and the development of further the realzaton of human rghts has now a comprehensve nternatonal human rghts ganed wde acceptance. normatve and standard-settng system wthn the At the current stage of the HRBA’s evoluton, the Unted Natons was one of the great achevements UN s tacklng the challenge of fully translatng ths of the 20th century. A more recent development, commtment nto concrete, operatonal program- and one wth great potental for further enhancng mng terms. What does the HRBA really mean for the mpact of these human rghts standards on the programmng prortes, desgn, mplementaton, ground, s the adopton of the human rghts-based montorng and evaluaton? And—to be even more approach (HRBA) to programmng by Unted concrete—what does the HRBA tell us about the Natons agences, funds and programmes. expectatons that people themselves should Especally over the past decade, the UN system’s rghtly have of the UN’s programmng support? commtment to the HRBA ntensfied. Followng The Unted Natons Development Fund for Women the lead of nnovators such as UNICEF, many other has worked for gender equalty and women’s agences, funds and programmes, such as WHO, empowerment for over 30 years, and snce the UNFPA, UNDP, and UNIFEM have pad ncreasng 990s the organzaton has placed a partcular attenton to human rghts. Of partcular note s the emphass on supportng mplementaton of the adopton n 2003 of the UN Inter-Agency Common Conventon on the Elmnaton of All Forms of Understandng on the human rghts-based ap- Dscrmnaton aganst Women (CEDAW). Ths proach to programmng, and the roll-out of Acton gude consoldates nsghts and experences II of the Secretary-General’s reform programme. ganed by UNIFEM to date, to assst staff n further These two ntatves are makng a substantal deepenng the HRBA wthn programmng. It’s a contrbuton to clarfyng and focusng a UN sys- contrbuton we share wth partners n our com- tem-wde approach to ntegratng human rghts mon effort to advance women’s human rghts. v S E C T I O N 1 Gender Equality as a Human Right 22 33 “Women have a right to gender equality.” It’s a simple • Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman and true statement, but its implications for how devel- or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) 1984 opment assistance should be conducted are many and • Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) 1989 far-reaching. Before we begin addressing the nuts and bolts of the HRBA (Section 2), it is worth taking some • Convention on the Protection of the Rights of time to explore just what it means, and why it matters, All Migrant Workers and Members of Their to approach gender equality as a human right. Families (CMW) 1990 Two new conventions—on the rights of persons What are Internatonal Human Rghts? affected by disabilities, and on protection from enforced The international human rights system is a creation of disappearance—were adopted by the General the 20th century. The impetus to institute a global order Assembly in 2006. These conventions are waiting to to protect human rights came from the same source as receive the number of ratifications from Member States the impetus to create the United Nations itself. In that will allow them to come into force. response to the devastation and inhumanity inflicted by The work to codify human rights into international law World War II, there was consensus that rules and took many decades, and drew on the collective efforts standards should be established which would, in the of governments, non-governmental organizations, future, uphold human dignity and protect all people from lawyers and academics from around the world, as well such harm. The first step was the UN General as the United Nations bodies. The result is that we now Assembly’s adoption, in 1948, of the Universal have a comprehensive normative and legal framework Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). for human rights, which clearly identifies the content of A treaty system was then introduced, allowing any these rights and the steps that should be taken to Member State of the United Nations to undertake realize them. This framework has achieved global legal obligations to respect, protect and fulfill the most endorsement. The number of UN Member States that important human rights. In 1966, the first two treaties, are parties to the treaties has grown continuously. By the International Covenant on Civil and Political 2007 all States had ratified at least one of the treaties, Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on and 80% had ratified four or more. The two most Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), were broadly endorsed human rights treaties—CEDAW and opened for ratification. The other core human rights the CRC—have each been ratified by more than 90% treaties followed: of the UN membership. • Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) 1965 Gender Equalty wthn the Human Rghts Framework • Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) 1979 The human rights obligation to eliminate sex-based discrimination against women in order to achieve gender equality has been at the centre of international gender equality are set down in detail, and the broad human rights from the beginning. The UDHR, ICCPR, range of actions that must be taken to achieve gender ICESCR, and other core treaties contain clear state- equality are mapped out. It is also in CEDAW that the ments on women’s right to be free from discrimination. international human rights system’s understanding of The centrality of this concern was made abundantly the nature and meaning of sex-based discrimination clear by the adoption of CEDAW. The core international and gender equality is most clearly articulated. human rights standards, taken together, provide a powerful normative framework for advancing gender equality. CEDAW’s Approach to Achevng Gender Equalty In 1993, the Vienna World Conference on Human Rights CEDAW is an “anti-discrimination” treaty, meaning that took the centrality of women’s rights to the international in CEDAW gender inequalities are understood to have human rights regime as one of its primary concerns. As been produced by sex-based discrimination. The State stated in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of obligations imposed by CEDAW are primarily obliga- Action, and reaffirmed many times since, including in tions to eliminate the many different forms of the Beijing Platform: gender-based discrimination women face. CEDAW in • The human rights of women and of the girl-child are that sense embodies both a theory of women’s subor- an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of univer- dination, and a strategy for overcoming this sal human rights. subordination. • The full and equal participation of women in politi- CEDAW is also informed by a particular understanding cal, civil, economic, social and cultural life, at the of what counts as equality, often called “substantive national, regional and international levels, and the equality” or “equality of results.” CEDAW takes a very eradication of all forms of discrimination on grounds concrete and three-dimensional view of equality. Rather of sex are priority objectives of the international than considering equality in formal and legalistic terms, community. and saying that laws and policies ensure equality • The human rights of women should form an integral between women and men simply by being gender- part of the United Nations human rights activities, neutral, CEDAW requires that their actual impact and including the promotion of all human rights instru- effect also be considered. Under CEDAW, the State has ments relating to women. to do more than just make sure there are no existing laws that directly discriminate against women. It must What are Women’s also make sure that all of the necessary arrangements Human Rghts under CEDAW? are put in place that will allow women to actually experience equality in their lives.