OMCT intervenes at the Sub-Commission on violence against women

Sub-Commission on Human Rights 55th Session – 28 July – 15 August 2003 Item 6: Women and Human Rights Oral Statement by OMCT’s Violence Against Women Programme Madame Chairperson, The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) is today the largest network of NGOs fighting against torture, summary executions, forced disappearances and all other forms of cruel or inhuman treatment. Following up on the recommendations of the Vienna World Conference and the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing regarding integrating a gender perspective and the human rights of women, OMCT’s programme on Violence against Women has, as one of its aims, the integration of a gender perspective into the work of human rights mechanisms at the international level and, in particular, into the five "mainstream" human rights treaty bodies. To this end, OMCT regularly presents alternative country reports to these treaty bodies. These reports focus on the responsibility of States to exercise due diligence in the prevention, investigation, prosecution and punishment of violence against women, whether this violence occurs in the family, in the community or at the hands of State agents. OMCT has noticed that in the last years, the treaty bodies and the Charter-based mechanisms have made encouraging progress in integrating the human rights of women into their mandates. Nevertheless, it considers that much work remains to be done to ensure that gender is effectively integrated into the United Nations human rights system. OMCT calls upon the Sub-Commission to implement resolution 2003/44 of the Commission on Human Rights requesting all mechanisms of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights regularly and systematically to integrate a gender perspective into the implementation of their mandates and to include in their reports information on and qualitative analysis of the human rights of women and girls. Madame Chairperson, Violence and other serious human rights violations related to trafficking in women and girls have, in recent years, become a subject of concern for governments, inter-governmental institutions and non-governmental organisations. However, trafficking in women and girls continues to be a growing problem across the world and while the traffickers often go unpunished, trafficked women are frequently treated as criminals or even subjected to torture or other forms of violence by State officials such as the police and border guards. Across the world, discriminatory stereotypes, the feminization of poverty and violence against women are major “push” factors that make women vulnerable to becoming trafficking victims. Information received by OMCT indicates that women who are trafficked from Poland are often unemployed, poor and have histories of abusive family situations. Similarly, women in Estonia are pushed into trafficking as a result of discrimination, which affords them jobs at lower wages and with lesser prestige than men. OMCT notes that it is increasingly difficult to migrate legally and that this is another factor which makes women vulnerable to trafficking. Many countries still do not have comprehensive legislation to address trafficking, leading to impunity for the traffickers. Additionally, where prosecutions against traffickers are pursued, the sentences are often inadequate as demonstrated by one recent case in Greece. In that case, the traffickers were sentenced to two years in prison, but the sentences were converted into fines (1600 Euros per year in prison) with the court claiming that such fines were sufficient to deter the criminals from repeating the crime. (OMCT appeal Case GRE 020703.VAW) OMCT urges the Sub-commission to promote and apply the Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking (UN Doc. E/2002/68/Add.1) adopted by the Economic and Social Council and OMCT further urges the Sub-commission to examine the relationship between increasingly restrictive avenues to legal immigration in many countries and the increase in trafficking in persons, particularly women. Madame Chairperson, As an organization fighting against torture, summary executions, forced disappearances, and all other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, OMCT is extremely concerned about the issue of “honour” crimes. The Special Rapporteur on violence against women, the Special Rapporteur on the independence of the judiciary and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions have all identified honour crimes as falling within their respective mandates. Also, the Sub Commission’s Special Rapporteur on traditional practices affecting the health of women and girls has provided information on honour crimes in some of her reports. Nevertheless, women and girls continue to be subjected to these crimes which are either approved or supported by States. Husbands, fathers, boyfriends or brothers have gone unpunished after murdering wives, daughters, girlfriends or sisters in order to defend the “honour” of the family or their own “honour.” The killing or mutilation occurs when a woman allegedly steps outside of her socially prescribed role, especially but not only, with regard to her sexuality and to her interaction with men outside her family. OMCT is concerned about the high prevalence of “honour” crimes in Turkey, particularly in, but not limited to, the Eastern and South-eastern regions of Turkey. The killing is usually committed by a male member of the family, frequently a minor, and the punishment is typically minimal, if any, because Turkish law enforcement authorities generally condone this practice. Accurate statistics on the number of “honour” crimes committed in Turkey do not exist, in part because such crimes are not systematically prosecuted by the authorities and often go unreported. Also, police records in Turkey do not break down homicides into specific types. Nevertheless, women’s rights groups estimate that at least 200 girls and women are murdered each year by their families, although they recognize that the real numbers may be much higher. OMCT remains gravely concerned over the increase in the number of reports regarding acid attacks against women in Bangladesh. According to a reliable source, in 2002, 362 people were burnt through acid violence. However, only 172 cases were filed due to shame and fear on the part of the victims and a lack of willingness on the part of the police to take these crimes seriously when they are reported. The victims of acid throwing are usually young women between the ages of 10 and 18 and the perpetrators are usually jealous boyfriends, spurned suitors, neighbourhood stalkers, and sometimes, angry husbands in search of more dowry or permission to enter into a polygamous marriage. Most victims of acid throwing are seriously burned on their faces and even after extensive treatment, the scars usually remain. OMCT would call upon the Special Rapporteur on traditional practices affecting the health of women and girls, as well as other relevant Special Rapporteurs and the human rights treaty bodies, to actively take up the issue of honour crimes in their work and to intensively promote both legislative measures and educational, social and other awareness raising activities aimed to overcoming the negative influence of certain traditional and customary ideas on controlling women’s sexuality. Efforts should be made to document the incidence of “crimes of honour” as well as to research State responses to these crimes, because these crimes often remain hidden as a private family affair. OMCT would further urge States to protect women by establishing, strengthening or facilitating the development of support services, such as shelters, counselling, legal aid, rehabilitation and reintegration into society. Finally, OMCT would like to highlight the continued existence of an enormous number of reservations to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. These reservations impede the effectiveness of the Convention and demonstrate an unwillingness on the part of States to fully guarantee women’s rights in all spheres of life. OMCT urgently calls upon all States to remove their current reservations to CEDAW, ratify the Optional Protocol to CEDAW, and integrate the Convention and the Optional Protocol into their respective national legislations in order to vigorously promote and protect women’s human rights. Thank you Madame Chairperson. For further information concerning OMCT’s Violence Against Women Programme please contact the women’s desk at: cbb@omct.org or loh@omct.org