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by Diana Sands, LGTB Program Associate at the Unitarian Universalist UN Office.
Last week, Human Rights Watch released a much-anticipated report on a truly horrifying campaign of human rights violations in Iraq called “They Want Us Exterminated”: Murder, Torture, Sexual Orientation and Gender in Iraq. This 67-page report documents a wide-reaching campaign of extrajudicial executions, kidnappings, and torture of gay men that began in early 2009.
If you have heard about this issue in Iraq you may be thinking, “What does this have to do with women if the report documents a systematic campaign of torture and murder against men?” The answer is simple: These attacks constitute gender-based violence because they are perpetrated against men who are believed by the attackers to engage in homosexual conduct and also against men whose behavior or gender expression is judged to be “effeminate.” Fear or hatred of feminized men boils down to hatred of women or misogyny. These human rights violations should concern everyone, but it is critical that those of us who have dedicated our work to fighting gender-based violence – especially when it is committed in the name of faith – recognize it as such and do what we can to help stop this campaign of torture and murder. It is also worthwhile to remind (as is noted in the report) that Article 5 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) calls on states “To modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary and all 
other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women.”
Iraq ratified CEDAW in 1986, but the Iraqi authorities have done nothing to try to stop this murderous campaign or to hold any of its perpetrators accountable. I hope that you all will take the time to read this insightful report and take action on the recommendations.
Read and download the full report here.
Cross-posted from Human Rights Watch.
by Marianne Mollman, Advocacy Director for the Women’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch
On October 10, 2003, after years of abuse at the hands of her former partner, a 35-year-old woman in Hungary decided to seek intervention in a way American women can currently only wish for. The woman, identified as A.T., filed a petition with a United Nations body on women’s rights. The body promptly asked her government to prevent further harm while they considered her case. Subsequently, it directed Hungary both to take measures to guarantee her physical and mental health and to ensure protection and justice for all the nation’s victims of domestic violence.
The petition, was filed with the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, known as CEDAW. It diligently analyzed Hungarian law and court proceedings, and concluded that available remedies both in A.T.’s case and in general were too weak, too slow, and too begrudgingly implemented.
Women living in the United States cannot appeal to CEDAW, though, when their rights are inadequately protected by US law. Why? Because the United States still, almost 30 years after it came into force, has not agreed to be bound by the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which created the committee. Read the rest of this entry »
The 41st session of the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) will be taking place at the United Nations in New York City, commencing on the 30th of June. CEDAW, an international human rights treaty for women, was first adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1979. Since then, 185 nation states have become party to it, including Afghanistan, Chile, China, Iraq, and the Congo. Although the United States of America has not yet ratified the treaty, this has not prevented it from becoming one of the most highly ratified international human rights conventions.
During the upcoming 41st session, the CEDAW committee will review the reports submitted by Iceland, Finland, Lithuania, Nigeria, Slovakia, Tanzania, the United Kingdom, and Yemen. The Committee, upon considering the reports, will also present recommendations for each government and, under the statutes of the Optional Protocol to CEDAW, may further investigate into any countries whose reports they find inadequate due to contradictory or additional information.
The full text of the convention can be found at the International Women’s Rights Action Watch website, which also has good information about how NGOs can participate. Want a historical perspective? Consider ordering and reading “The Circle of Empowerment“, edited by Hanna Beate Schopp-Schilling.
To date, governments which have yet to ratify include Iran, Somalia, Sudan, and the United States of America.
