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FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
1948-1998
all human rights for all
The Right to Development: More Than Just Freedom
A woman learns that her brother was last seen being bundled by armed men into a car. A newly-elected gov-
ernment, promising a better life for its citizens, promptly learns it cannot afford to build roads or power
lines. A worker is afraid to complain to his employers after his family becomes sick from the effects of pol-
lution created from the factory where he works. Women and children are hacked to death because they
belong to a different ethnic group from their killers.
Each situation, frequently reported but always shocking, illustrates the importance of human rights
and development. The examples differ in their horror but share a theme: all relate to the importance of
moral, social, political, and economic development.
The observance of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1998
gives more importance than ever to the right of every human being to a decent life. The anniversary comes
at a time of debate: how best can human rights and the right to development advance throughout the
world? With the accelerating pace of economic change around the world since the end of the Cold War, the
debate acquires growing significance.
What is the right to development? In 1986, the United Nations General Assembly defined it as the
right "to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development".
The origins of the definition go back much earlier, however, to the Second World War and the impulses that
led to the creation of the United Nations.
The origins of the тодеки human rights movement: what arose from the ashes of 1945
The signing of the Charter of the United Nations came after a war in which about 50 million people had
perished. The ideals of the Charter appeared amid devastation and confusion around the world. The indus-
trialized nations - all but the United States, which emerged physically unscathed from the war - lacked
the means to rebuild their economies amid the deprivations of rationing and the hardening attitudes of the
Cold War. In Asia, uncertainty and bloodshed marred the elation of spreading nationalism. Africa
remained largely subjected to the European colonial empires, while in much of Latin America, citizens'
rights and aspirations were being stifled.
Against this backdrop, Article 55 of the Charter laid out some of the critical precepts that guide the
organization. In particular, it provides that the United Nations shall promote higher standards of living,
full employment, and conditions of economic and social progress and development; solutions of interna-
tional economic, social, health, and related problems as well as international cultural and educational
cooperation; and universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all
without distinction as to race. sex, language, or religion.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, unanimously approved by the General Assembly in
1948, set forth the interdependent nature of human rights and the right to development. It did so by
affirming the existence of common values, which would be upheld only by cooperation and the creation of
UNITED NATIONS
the necessary conditions. Besides asserting rights such as freedom from torture, asylum from persecution,
and rest and leisure, Article 28 of the Declaration states that "everyone is entitled to a social and international
order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized".
The right to development: coming into focus
In succeeding years, UN meetings articulated the relationship between human rights and development. In 1966,
the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, a legally-binding treaty, declared the
recognition by States parties of "the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his fam-
ily and to the continuous improvement of living conditions".
At the same time, questions arose which the world continues to confront: how can human rights gain the
same attention as economic development, and how should the often bitter human cost of economic development
be dealt with? Complicating the matter is that many poor countries are just on the way to development, and that
they remain far from achieving even a measure of prosperity. The reason is often attributed to the foreign debt
burden in the developing world that has grown increasingly severe in recent decades. At the same time, primary
commodity prices, to which the survival of many developing economies have been tied, have sunk to their lowest
point since the 1930s. The political and social consequences are easy to detect: Governments of nations suffering
from under-development and bearing a crippling debt burden lack the means to provide their citizens with the
material resources to pursue a better life. Amid economic want, goes one argument, citizens are less likely to
appreciate and heed the principals of human rights.
The difficult relationship between human rights and development is not tied merely to countries in absolute
poverty versus those with powerful economies. A developing nation in the throes of unfettered development also pre-
sents a harsh picture. However important the quest for economic prosperity, the specter of rivers choked with indus-
trial waste and slums filled with illiterate, hungry, and disenfranchised families - often living metres from enclaves
of great wealth - reveal the kind of situation which stifles both human rights and the right to development.
By 1986, the international community articulated the need for a comprehensive view of human rights and
development. The Declaration on the Right to Development represented a new approach to the pursuit of the
ideals of the United Nations by proclaiming: "Since human rights and fundamental freedoms are indivisible, the
full realization of civil and political rights without the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights is
impossible".
The Declaration includes the provisions that the human being is the central subject of development and
should be the participant and beneficiary of the right to development; that all human beings have a responsibil-
ity for development; and States have the primary responsibility for creating national and international conditions
favorable to the realization of that right. Put another way, any denial of human rights constitutes an obstacle
to development, while development without consideration for all human rights is in itself incomplete. The
Declaration also stresses international cooperation, declaring in Article 3 that "States have the duty to co-oper-
ate with each other in ensuring development". It urges in Article 7 that States, particularly developing countries,
direct the savings from disarmament measures to comprehensive development, and it notes in Article 8 that States
should encourage popular participation in all spheres.
From the Declaration on the Right to Development, both debate and agreement followed. Some industrial
countries argued that the civil and political rights of the individual had to be met before development could fol-
low. Some developing countries, in contrast, responded that development must occur before civil and political
rights could emerge. Although the 1986 Declaration asserted the interdependence of all categories - econom-
ic, social, cultural, and political - the debate continued through the UN World Conference on Human Rights in
Vienna in 1993.
Z
From Vienna to the eve of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Vienna Conference of 1993 brought together 7,000 participants from Governments, academia, national
institutions, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Their task was to assess progress in human rights
since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and to identify obstacles and ways to overcome them. After
difficult negotiations, the ensuing Vienna Declaration established consensus on these main points:
Human rights are universal, indivisible, and interdependent.
The human rights of females of all ages are an integral part of universal human rights.
The promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms are a priority of the United
Nations, in accordance with its principles, particularly in international cooperation.
Democracy, development, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms are interdependent
and mutually reinforcing.
The signatories of the Vienna Declaration, mindful that the five-year review that follows each UN global
conference would come at the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, asked the
United Nations Secretary-General to gather a progress report. They requested that the Secretary-General
invite all States, relevant United Nations agencies, human rights groups, and NGOs to report to him on the
progress made in the implementation of the Declaration's recommendations.
Given the importance of the right to development, the UN Commission on Human Rights in 1993 established
a Working Group on the Right to Development, composed of experts, to formulate measures to eliminate obsta-
cles to the implementation of the 1986 Declaration. The Group's recommendations, issued in 1995, noted that:
the right to development required a long-term strategy.
States should create the domestic conditions conducive to the realization of the right to development.
States should establish policies and programmes that ensure an equilibrium between economic growth
and improvements in social conditions.
popular participation in the right to development should extend to people of all ages and ethnic, lin-
guistic, and religious backgrounds.
an educational campaign by Governments is necessary to improve people's awareness of their rights and
responsibilities.
unprecedented levels of armed conflict in recent years and the consequent increase of demands on
humanitarian efforts require vigorous international measures to create the necessary conditions for peace
and security.
given the growing number of least developed countries - defined as those in which the standard of liv-
ing of most of the population is insufficient to meet their minimum need - the possibility of a system of
international taxation should be considered by international organizations.
Fustitutional reaffirmation
Evidence of progress towards the Working Group's recommendations appeared in 1996, when the Commission on
Human Rights noted at its 53rd Session that the right to development had become more closely integrated in pro-
grammes by the UN Centre for Human Settlement (Habitat), the UN Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World
Food Programme (WFP), and the World Health Organization (WHO). That year, the General Assembly also
adopted a medium-term plan for 1998-2001, in which the UN human rights programme would develop a strate-
gy for implementing the Vienna Declaration by UN agencies, human rights treaty bodies, international develop-
ment and financial institutions, and NGOs.
3
The next month, furthermore, the Commission passed a resolution which included having the High
Commissioner for Human Rights ensure the promotion of the Declaration on the Right to Development by
means of workshops and seminars, in cooperation with States, intergovernmental organizations, academia and
NGOs. The resolution also noted that the High Commissioner had began discussions with the World Bank, with
the aim of contributing to activities promoting the right to development.
In June 1997, the adoption of the Agenda for Development by the UN General Assembly reaffirmed the
interwoven nature of development and human rights: "Respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms,
democratic and effective institutions, combating corruption, transparent representative and accountable gover-
nance, popular participation, an independent judiciary, the rule of law and civil peace are among the indispens-
able foundations for development. At the same time, we reaffirm that the right to development is a universal and
inalienable right and an integral part of human rights".
Whose development? The debate continues
Despite determined efforts to increase international appreciation of the right to development, the Declaration on
the Right to Development has yet to be implemented. Debate continues, exemplified in March 1997 by the
exchange of views among delegates of the Human Rights Commission in Geneva:
Werner Corrales Leal of Venezuela stated that in the 10 years since the adoption of the Declaration, the
international community had become more convinced of the inexorable growth of poverty and social exclu-
sion in the face of purely economic strategies. Economic growth was not automatically followed by devel-
opment.
Tae-Yul Cho of the Republic of Korea noted that Koreans had learned that economic and social devel-
opment was a crucial element, if not a precondition, for the promotion and protection of human rights and
democracy.
Hernan Plorutti, in contrast, declared, after noting that Argentina was pushing ahead for economic inte-
gration with its neighbors, that economic growth could only materialize with the improvement of the qual-
ity of life and the strengthening of human rights.
Delegations at the March meeting also noted obstacles that continue to stand in the way of progress. Peter
Wille, representative of Norway, pointed out that nearly one third of all States were still not parties to either of
the International Covenants that govern human rights, and only one half of all States had ratified the Convention
against Torture. Despite the establishment of committees to monitor the implementation of human rights instru-
ments, the very proliferation of reporting obligations in recent decades had imposed a considerable burden on
States.
Recommendations to improve monitoring came from an independent expert, Philip Alston. To achieve the
universal ratification of the core human rights treaties, he called for concrete measures. He also recommended
the consolidation or reduction of the number of treaty bodies; identification of measures to address problems in
the reporting system; and the elimination of comprehensive reports in their present form, to be replaced by
reporting guidelines tailored to each State's individual situation.
Human rights and the right to development: their legacy
The success of United Nations laborious and often difficult efforts to promote the rights of every human being
is evident in the central importance that human rights and development occupy in international debate. At the
same time, the manifold forms of misery which the Universal Declaration of Human Rights sought to banish fifty
years ago remain obvious throughout the world. Through its work, the United Nations calls the world's atten-
tion to what is wrong, and presents avenues for answers.
DPI/1937/F-December 1997
Clinton Presidential Records
Digital Records Marker
This is not a presidential record. This is used as an administrative
marker by the William J. Clinton Presidential Library Staff.
This marker identifies the place of a publication.
Publications have not been scanned in their entirety for the purpose
of digitization. To see the full publication please search online or
visit the Clinton Presidential Library's Research Room.
THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
A CELEBRATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
ADDRESS ON THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR OF THE
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEHRAN
Tehran, 10 December, 1997
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Students and Friends,
It is a special pleasure for me to address you today,
at this distinguished university, in the heart of your great
and ancient land. I have long looked forward to visiting
Iran, and I am grateful for the generous welcome I have
received. Iran is living through a time of great promise
and change. The eyes of the world are upon you. With
vision, pride and compassion, you are renewing your
nation. I congratulate you on your success.
I speak to you on a world-wide day of celebration.
December 10th marks the beginning of the 50th
anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. It gives me a special pleasure therefore to speak
to you and through you to the rest of the world today.
You, the students and leaders of tomorrow -- here in
97-35709
FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
1948-1998
all human rights for all
The Message of the United Nations Secretary-General on the Beginning
of the 50th Anniversary Year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
10 December 1997
Today we mark the beginning of the 50th anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. In every part of the world, men, women and children of every colour and creed will gather to
embrace our common human rights.
Human rights are the foundation of human existence and co-existence. Human rights are univer-
sal, indivisible and interdependent. Human rights are what make us human. They are the principles by
which we create the sacred home for human dignity.
When we speak of the right to life, or development, or to dissent and diversity, we are speaking of
tolerance. Tolerance promoted, protected and enshrined will ensure all freedoms. Without it, we can be
certain of none.
Human rights are the expression of those traditions of tolerance in all religions and cultures that
are the basis of peace and progress. Human rights are foreign to no culture and native to all nations.
Tolerance and mercy have always and in all cultures been ideals of government rule and human behav-
iour. Today, we call these ideals human rights.
It is the universality of human rights that gives them their strength. It endows them with the
power to cross any border, climb any wall, defy any force.
The struggle for universal human rights has always and everywhere been the struggle against all
forms of tyranny and injustice: against slavery, against colonialism, against apartheid. It is nothing less
and nothing different today.
Young friends all over the world,
You are the ones who must realize these rights, now and for all time. Their fate and future is in
your hands. Human rights are your rights. Seize them. Defend them. Promote them. Understand
them and insist on them. Nourish and enrich them.
They are the best in us. Give them life.
UNITED NATIONS
Published by the United Nations Department of Public Information
FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
1948-1998
all human rights for all
High Commissioner for Human Rights Encouraged
by African Efforts to Address Human Rights Challenges
The following is a message from Mrs. Mary Robinson, United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights, on Human Rights Day, 10 December 1997. The theme of Human Rights Year is "All Human
Rights for All".
I am sending this message from Africa where I am visiting Uganda, Rwanda and South Africa -
three countries in a region which has suffered greatly and where the full enjoyment of human rights
remains a constant struggle.
What is encouraging is that there are now efforts throughout the region, with support from the
international community, to address past wrongs, tackle current challenges and prepare the ground for
a better future.
The problems described to me in the past days were also found in other regions of the world: mur-
derous violence and rape, ethnic tensions, discrimination, inequality of economic opportunity, the lega-
cies of abusive regimes, pervasive poverty and denial of basic rights to women. The currency of these
violations is a sobering reminder that we have no basis for self- satisfaction or complacency.
With this in mind, I urge that Human Rights Day be an occasion to re-affirm our commitment to
work for change and to demonstrate that the principles of the UN Charter and the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights are not theoretical or abstract. This must be given practical effect with
the results measured by the improved well being of individuals around the world.
This Human Rights Day begins the year-long review of the Vienna Declaration and Programme
of Action, a time when the United Nations system and all Governments seriously assess their successes
and shortcomings in living up to the solemn obligations made at the World Conference on Human
Rights in 1993. I look forward to this year of review leading up to the 50th Anniversary of the adop-
tion of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It should be a year of discussion and debate on
the continuing relevance of international human rights standards in the international system, in
national administration and the work of civil society.
Human rights commitments are dynamic-developing with new understanding and awareness. I
would especially encourage purposeful debate on economic, social and cultural rights and the right to
development in ways which open up better understanding on how these human rights can be imple-
mented in international and national programmes.
As High Commissioner for Human Rights, I draw strength from being part of a broad human
rights community encompassing organizations and individuals, representing all cultures, traditions and
backgrounds. The Universal Declaration is the well-spring, the inspiration for our efforts and the stan-
dard by which we measure our achievement.
My Office is dedicated to working in support of all whose work is guided by the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and its opening lines:
"recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all mem-
UNITED NATIONS
bers of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world".
DEC-08-1997 21:01
P.001/005
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press secretary
(New York, New York)
For Immediate Release
December 5, 1997
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
IN HONOR or HUMAN RIGHTS DAY
The Museum of Jawish Heritage
New York, New york
8155 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Gay, for your
introduction and for your suparlative work. Thank you,
Ambassador Richardson, for your distinguished representation of
our country and for the campaign speech you gave for Gay --
(laughter) -- proving that diplomacy and politics can never be
fully separated and shouldn't be.
Thank you, Mr. Morgenthau, for all you have done for
the people of New York and for the contributions that you and
your family have made, which are memorialized in this wonderful
place. And I thank you and David Althehular for the tour I had
before wa started tonight.
I'd like to thank the othern who are here in our
administration who have worked on areas of human rights: OAS
Ambassador Victor Marraro, BCOSOC Ambessador Betty King,
Anbassador Nancy Rubin, our representative to the U.N. Human
Rights Commission. And I'd like to say a special word of thanks
to John shattuck, the Assistant sacratary of state for Democracy,
Human Rights and Labor, who has really worked hard for a vary
long time under! anormously adverse circumstances -- sometimes
when his President couldn't do everything he wanted him to do.
Thank you and God bless you. (Applause.)
I thank Congresswoman Nita Lowey for being here and
for her slert leadership on RO meny lenues, and we thank the
President of the General Assembly and all the nembers of the
Diplomatic Corps who are hare an WR launch the 50th anniversary
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
As human rights advocates, defenders, and educators,
more then anyone alss, the people in thia room end those whom you
represent give life to the words of the Universal Declaration:
you shine the light of freedom on oppression, speek on behalf of
the voiceless, spark the conscience of the world. Again I want
to thank Gay for her tireless commiteent to justice and equality.
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But I thank all of you for the work you do every day to make
humen rights a human reality.
The idea of a global declaration of rights emerged
from the trauma of global war -- in which human rights were the
first casualty. Hare at the Nuseum of Jewish Heritage, we
remember the evil of the Holocaust. But thanks to the nervelous
conception of this unique place, we can also celebrate the
strength of the human spirit, the will to andure and to preserve
human dignity.
under the wise, compassionete leadership of Eleanor
Roosevelt, half a century ago 18 delegates from China to Lebanon,
Chile to Ukraine forged the first international agreement on the
rights of humankind. On December 10, 1948, the United Nationa
General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration without R
single dissenting votes. I am very proud that the First Lady,
who has traveled the world to advance human rights, especially
for women and young girls, will take part in tomorrow's United
Nations. commemoration.
over the past half-century, the Decleration's 30
articles have forned # constallation of principles to which all
people can aspire. They have entered the conscioueness or people
all around the world. They're now invoked routinely in
constitutions and courts. They set a yardstick of humanity's
"best practices" against which wa must all now measure ourselves.
But an Aleanor Roosavelt said, words on paper bring
no guarantees, and I quote: unless the people know them, unless
the people understand them, unless the people denand that they be
lived, Promoting respect for human rights ia a fulfilling -- but
never fulfilled -- obligation. Fifty years since the charter was
forged, communism has been discredited, but threats to freedom
and human rights still persiet. Human rights are atill at risk
from Burna to Nigaria, from Belarux to china. Although more than
half the world's people now live under governments of their own
choosing, democracy's roots are still fragile in some countries,
others are besieged by forden ranging from drug certels to
organized crims. And even in democracies, human rights, which 60
often mean minority rights, are not guaranteed.
And while we celebrate the end of communism and the
fact that it has enabled RO many people to affirm their special
differences -- religious, ethnic, and oulturel -- we have also
seen from Bosnia to Rwands that old hatrads can become the newsst
human rights abuses. And let us remember in this museum that
having a people who are well-aducated and prosperous, even having
a government that is popularly elected are not in themselves
sufficient to quarantee humen rights. But let us also ramember
that being educated by Western standards and prosperous are not
necessary conditions for human rights or for people who want
them.
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DEL-05-1997 21:02
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Man and women from Cambodia to Romania, Argentine,
south Africa, and Ruasie hava shown that, regerdless of the
economic condition of a nation, freedom is not, contrary to what
the critics of the Declaration say, an American or a Western or a
wealthy nation right; it 18 a human right and a universel
aspiration.
Advancing human rights must always be 8 central
piller of America's foreign policy, Looking back over the last
five years, we nee notable achievements, we alno ... missed
opportunities. And looking ahead, we ... an enormous amount of
work still to be done.
I am proud that we stood down a brutal dictatorship
and restored Haiti's destiny to ita own people, but there is more
to be done there if democracy and economic prosperity and banic
human rights are to be safeguarded.
I as proud of the role of the United states in
stopping the unspeakable eleughter in Bonnie, the bloodiest
confliot in Europe sinoo world war II, a veritable oane of human
rights abuses, But now wa have to persevere in strengthening
Boanie's democratic inscitutions, promoting its reconstruction,
enabling refugees to return to their homes, helping those who
can't, building inatitutions of democracy that have real
integrity and durability. This year, the United States resettled
22,000 Boaniana. Next year, there will be mora.
we also have to keep striving to bring to justice to
those who caused the bloodshed -- not only because it's right,
but because it is necessary for full raconciliation. our nation
is now the mejor contributor to the international war crimes
tribunals. we'll increase our support next year. we must bring
Bosnia's WGT criminals to Justice. And I believe strongly that
before this decade and this century and, wa should establish a
parmanent international court to prosecute crimes against
humenity. This week delegates from many nations are meeting to
undertake that tank. The United States strongly supports thom.
He have led in strengthening international
institutions, including the oreation of the U.N. Migh
Commissioner for Hurian Rights. Now, He have to ensure that Mary
Robinson has the resources to do her Job -- and I an committed to
increasing substantially America's aupport for that effort.
(Applause.)
We've put the promotion of women's rights in the
mainstream of American foreign policy, and I am very proud of
that. (Applause.) This was highlighted, of course, by the First
Lady's speech in Beijing, but I want to emphasize its major
elements. We want to lead the world's efforts in combatting
trafficking in women. We want to steer more of our assistance to
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women and young girls. we want to racognize women's roles "
democracy builders by encouraging full political participation.
Now, on I urged a year ago, I call on the senate to
ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Disorimination Against Women. (Applause.) surely, this ia not
an issue of party but. of principle. It is time to show the world
that America Joins those 161 countries which have gone an record
to oppose disorimination and violance against woman around the
world,
we continue speaking out for human rights without
errogance or apology, through our annual human rights reports, in
meetings with foreign officials, and intensified advocady for
religious freedom around the world. An long as America 18
determined to stand for human rights, than free people all around
the world will choose to ntand with America.
But. for all our afforts to prevent abuses, promote
accountability, and push for raform, enduring progress must cosa
from chenges within the nations themselves, Damocracy, the rule
of law, oivil socisty -- those things are the beat guarantees of
human rights over the long run. We have helped democracise on
avery continent solidify their reforms. we are working with
China to promote the rula of law and institutions which will
regularize It. we're helping post-conflict sociaties like El
salvador, Boania, Awanda, Mosambique, to build a durable
foundation for paace. we support NOOn working to support human
rights and political liberalization. And we want to axpand these
efforts.
Supporting the apread of democracy, with respect for
human rights, advances the valuen that make life worth living,
It also helps nations in the Information Age to achieve their
true wealth, for it lies now in people's ability to create, to
communicate, to innovete. Fully devaloping those kinds of human
resources. requires people who are free to apeak, free to
aesociate, free to worship, and feel free to do those things.
It requires, therafore, accountable, open, consistant governments
that earn people's trust.
The key to progress on all these issues is for
government and oivic groups to work together. The NGO community
is a vital source of knowledge and inspiration and action. we
will keep faith with those working around the world, often at
tremendous personal risk, for change within their societies. And
in this 50th anniversary year, Amneaty International has asked
world leaders to effirm that we will do all we can to uphold the
principles of the Universal Declaration. I make that pledge to
you today. (Applause.)
Finally, I commend the Franklin and Blaanor
Roosevalt Foundation for their efforts to teach a new generation
of Americans that the future of human rights 16 "in their hands."
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PHOTOCOPY
PRESERVATION
celebrate & demand
women's
human
rights
1998 global campaign
Center for Women's Global Leadership
Demand Human Rights in the Home and in the World
Derechos Humanos en el Mundo y en la Casa
Exigeons les Droits Humains à la Maison et dans le Monde
Human Rights Depend on Women's Rights
Una Cultura de Derechos Humanos Depende de los Derechos de las Mujeres
Une Culture des Droits Humains Dépend des Droits des Femmes
There Are No Human Rights Without Women's Rights
Sin los Derechos de las Mujeres No Hay Derechos Humanos
Pas de Droits. Humains Sans Droits des Femmes
Imagine a World Where All Women Enjoy Their Human Rights
Imaginemos un Mundo en el que Todas las Mujeres
Gocen Plenamente de sus Derechos Humanos
Imaginons un Monde où toutes les Femmes
Jouissent Pleinement de Leurs Droits Humains
Women's Rights are Human Rights
Center for Women's Global Leadership
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
61 Clifton Avenue
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8535 USA
PHOTOCOPY
fax: 1. 732. 932. 1180 e-mail: [email protected]
PRESERVATION
celebrate &
demand
women's
human
rights
1998 global campaign
Mr. Secretary General,
In this year of the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, we call upon you to make a bold public commitment to protect and
promote the human rights of all women. Five years ago in Vienna, the
World Conference on Human Rights made an historic step forward by
recognizing that the "human rights of women and of the girl-child are an
inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights" and by
stressing "the importance of work towards the elimination of violence
against women in public and private life." The Beijing Platform for Action
from the Fourth World Conference on Women amplified this international
commitment by spelling out the steps necessary to realizing the human
rights of women in our time. Yet, little has been done by governments or
Kofi Annan
the UN to effectively implement this human rights platform.
Secretary General
Bold actions are needed now to remind the world that there can
United Nations Secretariat
be no security for the human rights of any without respect for the
New York, NY 10017 USA
PRESERVATION
PHOTOCOPY
human rights of all. On this auspicious occasion, the UN must take
leadership and move toward gender parity in its operations and resources.
We recommend two concrete actions to help ensure that the 21st century
is one in which the human rights of all are respected:
1. Designate 50% of new donations, such as the recent one
billion dollars from Ted Turner, to addressing women's rights
and needs within all UN bodies and activities.
2. Take immediate steps to implement the Beijing recommendation of
signature
"full integration and mainstreaming of the human rights of women
throughout the UN system."
We urge you to mark this 50th anniversary by taking firm action
country
to implement the Beijing Platform that can lead the way toward respect
for women's human rights and inspire action by governments and
citizens alike.
designed by: parlour produced by: Center for Women's Global Leadership.
Rutgers University. fax: 1. 732. 932. 1180 e-mail: [email protected]
Imagine a world where all women enjoy their human rights
Use this postcard to create your visions or messages for a world
where all women enjoy their human rights.
Send the postcard to the Center for Women's Global Leadership
and we will collect, display and deliver your creative visions to
the United Nations on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 10 December 1998.
celebrate & demand
women's
Center for Women's Global Leadership
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
human
61 Clifton Avenue
PRESERVATION
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8535
PHOTOCOPY
rights
USA
1998 global campaign
sender
name
address
phone/fax
designed by: parlour produced by: Center for Women's Global Leadership,
e-mail
Rutgers University. fax: 732. 932. 1180 e-mail: [email protected]
celebrate & demand
women's
human
rights
1998 global campaign
Center for Women's Global Leadership
THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
RUTGERS
Center for Women's Global Leadership
Douglass College
27 Clifton Avenue
New Brunswick
New Jersey 08903
USA
Phone: 1-908-932-8782
Fax: 1-908-932-1180
E-mail: [email protected]
Dear friends:
Enclosed please find a preview of our Take Action Kit for the Celebrate and Demand Women's
Human Rights 1998 Global Campaign. The full kit will be available by the beginning of January.
During 1998, a series of events will take place that provides a unique opportunity to refocus world
attention on women's human rights. It is a chance for women's and human rights organizations to
celebrate and demand women's human rights by insisting that there are no human rights without
women's rights. December 10, 1998 will mark the 50th anniversary of the adoption by the United
Nations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is also the fifth anniversary of the World
Conference on Human Rights and its historic recognition of women's rights as human rights and a
time when the UN Commission on Human Rights will review implementation of the Vienna
Declaration and Programme of Action. In addition, the 1998 session of the UN Commission on the
Status of Women will review four key human rights sections of the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action: Human Rights of Women; Violence Against Women; Women and Armed
Conflict; and, the Girl child.
It is critical to link these events in order to bring world attention to the human rights of women and
state unequivocally that human rights depend on women's rights. The 1998 Global Campaign
seeks to provide public education, advocacy and mobilization tools that can be used by local,
national, regional and international organizations. The overall theme of the campaign is celebrate
and demand women's human rights, emphasizing the need to affirm the progress that has been
made, while maintaining a vigilant eye continuing violations of the human rights of women. The
campaign will provide common themes for diverse activities and focus attention on global
commitments necessary to realize women's human rights. These themes include:
* Imagine a world where all women enjoy their human rights And then take action to
make it happen. Utilizing a variety of events, materials, cultural activities, essays and other
contests, including a poster and postcard developed by the Center for Women's Global Leadership,
the 1998 Global Campaign will emphasize the importance of developing affirmative visions and
concrete images of women's human rights in daily life.
* Human rights depend on women's rights. Through letter-writing campaigns, public
events and speak-outs, mobilization and a postcard to Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the
United Nations, activities will emphasize the centrality of women's human rights to constructing a
world in which human rights are truly respected.
* There are no human rights without women's rights. In mobilization activities, advocacy
campaigns, cooperative actions with traditional human rights organizations, and a series of
substantive demands developed by the Global Center and its collaborating partners, this theme will
underscore that all organizations--governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental-- must
take the indivisibility and universality of human rights seriously and therefore incorporate a
recognition that women's rights are a core principle of human rights.
In order to engage the public in dialogue and awareness of women's human rights and to focus on
the accountability of governments and the UN, a wide range of activities will take place at the local
level. These will include exhibits and performances in which local artists give tangible expression
to a vision of women's human rights, human rights educational efforts such as photo and essay
contests, and actions demanding that governments act upon their commitments to protect and
promote women's human rights. These actions also seek to ensure that the message that creating a
culture of human rights requires women's participation reaches global policy making arenas.
1998 Campaign Materials and Resources
The Global Center has developed the enclosed materials in consultation with an international
advisory committee in order to encourage the widest participation of women in the 1998 debates
and activities. The dissemination of these materials through a wide range of contacts will facilitate
collaboration between women's and human rights groups in different regions and assist in
mobilization, public education and advocacy by linking local, national, regional and international
events. The specific materials and resources are:
A poster (available in January) and corresponding postcards around the theme "Imagine a
world where all women enjoy their human rights";
A Take Action Kit with general information about the campaign, an evolving set of "50+
Demands and Questions for the 50th," and a growing list of suggested activities for 1998
(full kit available in January);
Periodic Calendar of Events and information and action alerts on events, meetings and other
activities;
Center for Women's Global Leadership 1998 Campaign website which includes all of the
above in electronic form (http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/-cwgl/humanright),
Translated materials (available in the spring of 1998) produced by the Global Center,
including publication in Spanish and French of the book From Vienna to Beijing: A Human
Rights Journey of the World's Women.
The Take Action Kit will include general information about the campaign, suggestions for
activities, and an evolving list of "50+ Demands and Questions about Women's Human Rights on
the 50th." This will link efforts locally and globally through common questions that women
everywhere ask their governments and the UN about their commitment to promoting and protecting
the human rights of women. The questions will be released in clusters over time as they will be
addressed to specific events. Three major clusters of demands and questions will be addressed to:
2
the Commission on the Status of Women (NY: March), the Commission on Human Rights (Geneva:
March/April), and the General Assembly's 50th anniversary commemoration activities in New York
in the fall of 1998. The Global Center has requested questions from many women's human rights
advocates throughout the world, and will be refining their responses into the various clusters that
will comprise the "50+ demands/questions" that are generated around the Campaign's substantive
concerns.
An interactive 1998 Campaign Website has been developed by the Global Center in order to
expand the outreach of the campaign. The contents of the website will include: basic information
about the 1998 Campaign; background materials on women's human rights; the contents of the
action kit, including an interactive version of the poster and postcards; an updated calendar of
events; information about upcoming UN sessions with hyperlinks to other websites (the joint
UNIFEM/DAW/INSTRAW website Women Watch, the Office of the High Commissioner for
Human Rights, etc.); alerts and tips; and other campaign resources.
The campaign was kicked off with the 1997 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, the
theme of which is "Demand Human Rights in the Home and in the World. Derechos Humanos en el
Mundo y en la Casa Exigeons les Droits Humains à la maison et dans le monde." A postcard to
the Secretary General of the United Nations is now being circulated, calling upon him to take bold
steps in 1998 toward the implementation of the Beijing Platform and emphasizing that human rights
depend on women's rights.
The campaign poster is designed with images of a world in which all women enjoy their human
rights. The poster will serve as a tool to educate women about the 50th anniversary and women's
human rights as well as to encourage the creation by women of their own representations of their
rights. These can become part of other human rights educational activities such as essay or poster
contests in schools, displays of local or regional work on women's human rights in public places,
etc. Further, we encourage local use of women's own images and/or those from the poster to create
more postcards to send to appropriate national or regional bodies that groups would like to address
during 1998. They may also lead to letter writing campaigns or other activities around the
particular concerns chosen by the local group.
Finally, there is one blank postcard to be sent back to the Center for Women's Global Leadership
with messages and/or images that women would like to have displayed and delivered to the UN
together as part of the final campaign event on December 10, 1998.
Monitoring the work of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the
United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is integral to this campaign. The
confluence of the reviews to be done by these two important UN meetings during the 50th
anniversary year provides an opportunity for global education and action around women's human
rights. A series of demands and questions will be distributed internationally conveying some
common messages from women's human rights advocates, making clear that there are no human
rights without women's rights. The Global Center will continue to work with a wide range of
3
organizations to ensure that coordinated efforts help make these reviews focus the attention of the
United Nations and the public on the concrete meaning of universality and indivisibility of human
rights, and the centrality of women's human rights within that context.
The 1998 General Assembly session will include a one-day plenary on December 10th, to
commemorate the adoption of the UDHR. The Celebrate and Demand Women's Human Rights
1998 Global Campaign will include a large-scale public event as the culmination of the Campaign
focused around this day. The details of the event will be developed over the next few months, but it
will include a large display of the postcards with the images and messages sent to us on the blank
postcards in the Take Action Kit. The event will be coordinated with local actions by women
around the world on this date; a number of organizations are collaborating with the Global Center in
planning this last phase of the Campaign and a final decision about December 10, 1998 will be taken
at the time of the CSW in NYC in March.
The 1998 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence (Nov. 25-Dec. 10) will close the
campaign by highlighting the role of grassroots women's anti-violence workers as human rights
defenders. The campaign will seek to underscore that work to end violence against women is
human rights advocacy. Further, it is hoped that women's and human rights organizations will take
up this theme throughout the year. For instance, groups planning activities for May 1, "International
Labour Day," might emphasize women's labor rights activists as human rights defenders. Or, on
May 28, International Day of Action for Women's Health, organizations might focus upon local
women's health advocates as human rights defenders. Not only will this provide a common focus
for a broad range of activities, but it also increases the opportunity for a diverse range of women's
organizations to frame their work within the context of human rights as part of commemorating the
UDHR. This both increases the visibility of grassroots women activists within the world of human
rights and builds the capacity of local women's organizations to link to national, regional and
international human rights initiatives.
A number of organizations have agreed to serve as collaborating partners and focal points for the
campaign. A list of these organizations is included in the Take Action Kit. The focal points will
help distribute materials, collect information, review demands/questions, collaborate in organizing
international events, and coordinate local and/or regional activities.
We hope you will contact us with your plans, ideas for action, demands and events. An ongoing
calendar of events will be produced both on paper and/or the website that lists selected local,
national, regional and international activities taking place around the world. We look forward to
working together in 1998 and beyond.
Sincerely,
Clitte Burd
Charlotte Bunch
Susana T. Fried
Executive Director
Program Director
4
16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM AGAINST GENDER VIOLENCE
NOVEMBER 25 - DECEMBER 10, 1997
Demand Human Rights
in the Home and in the World
+
International Calendar of Campaign Activities
OCTOBER
El Salvador, San Salvador . announcement of activities planned
Mexico, D.F. - Doble Jornada, a woman's supplement of the
for the 16 Days Campaign entitled "Claiming Our Right to Have
newspaper La Jornada, will print articles on the following topics:
Quick and Easy Access to the Appropriate Institutions: Stop
an assessment of the Sexual Crimes Agency's work from 1989
Violence Against Women" and presentation of related research
when they started their operations in Mexico; violations of
results at forum (Las Dignas)
reproductive rights in the mountains of Veracruz; and a summary
of more than 100 cases of violence against women throughout
the country that haven't had a response from local authorities
OCT. 25
(La Doble Jornada)
Austria, Innsbruck- women's protest march against violence
(Austrian Women's Shelter Network)
OCT. 24
Austria, Innsbruck- exhibition to commemorate the 15th
OCT. 25 - Nov. 25
anniversary of the opening of the Tirolean Women's Shelter
El Salvador, San Salvador press, radio, T.V., flyer and poster
(Austrian Women's Shelter Network)
campaigns (Las Dignas)
Demand Human Rights in the Home and in the World
Nov. 1 13
Nov. 13
Colombia, Medellin women's rights workshops in thirteen areas
El Salvador, San Salvador breakfast with journalists to discuss
of the city embracing the 1998 Campaign theme: "There are No
how to approach violence against women in the media (Las
Human Rights Without Women's Rights" (Pastoral Social)
Dignas)
Nov. 4 11
Nov. 16
Ireland, Dublin - art exhibition by women who participated in
Colombia, Medellin women's human rights training for women
Women's Aid NOW Programme (Women's Aid)
leaders (Pastoral Social)
Nov. 5
Nov. 19
United States, New Orleans - annual "Take Back the Night" vigil
Ecuador, Quito First national workshop on "Radio and Human
and speakout against violence against women; announcement of
Rights" attended by both male and female radio producers
16 Days Campaign and related activities (Tulane and Loyola
(Asociación Mundial de Radios Comunitarias, AMARC)
Universities)
Nov. 20 24
Nov. 10
Mexico, D.F. meeting of the National Network of Journalists to
Mexico, D.F. - launching of information campaign throughout the
discuss the importance of the 1998 Campaign. This national
country focusing on the violation of women's rights and impunity;
network, initiated in September 1995, is comprised of 250 women
highlighting 42 pending cases of rape, women murdered in
journalists who work to bring visibility to women's life stories and
Chihuahua and sexual harassment in the workplace; campaign
political debates. It will bring the Campaign to the radio, T.V.,
materials available through e-mail: <[email protected]>
written press, and other forums (CIMAC)
(Comunicación e Información de la Mujer, A.C., CIMAC)
Nov. 12
Nov. 20
El Salvador, San Salvador workshop on strategies for the
United States, Los Angeles speaker and author Rosemary
voluntary interruption of pregnancy (Las Dignas)
Radford Reuther, "Gender and Redemption- A Conversation with
Derechos Humanos enel Mundoyenl la Casa
Rosemary Radford Reuther, Ph. D." (M.A. Program in Feminist
Fiji, Suva the television premiere of a domestic violence movie
Spirituality, Immaculate Heart College Center)
(Fiji Women's Crisis Centre)
Nov. 21
Nov. 24 26
Fiji, Suva a television interview on an afternoon talk show
Bolivia, Cochabamba a national workshop addressed to medical
focusing on domestic violence and child abuse (Fiji Women's Crisis
doctors and social psychologists to provide them with a
Centre, FWCC)
framework on how to approach violence; get them acquainted
with international conventions which address violence against
Peru, Lima "Indigenous Women and Violence" panel aiming to
women and the National Law Against Domestic Violence (adopted
sensitize society to issues of violence against women and its
on December 15, 1995); as well as with tools to provide services
eradication; participants will include representatives from
to survivors of violence and document violence within the national
COTMA, Rural Education Services, Defensoría del Pueblo,
public health system (Red Contra la Violencia a las Mujeres de
FEDECMA, Inter-institutional Association for Rural Development
Cochabamba)
in Ayacucho and the Workshop of Indigenous Women from the
Andean-Amazonic region (Chirapaq, Centro de Culturas Indias)
Nov. 24 DEC. 10
Argentina, Buenos Aires theater performances on the theme of
Nov. 22
sexual violence; three pieces will be shown: "Abuso de Poder", with
Fiji, Suva a newspaper supplement in the national daily
Gabriela Naidich and Daniel Niborski; "Ultraje a la Inocencia", with
newspaper focusing on domestic violence and child abuse (FWCC)
Yessica Vani and Alejo Becfar; and, "Retazos" with Valeria Alonso
and Mariela Asensio (Centro de Encuentros, Cultura Y Mujer)
Ireland, Dublin peaceful walk (Bray Women's Refuge and Women's
Aid)
Nov. 25
Argentina, Buenos Aires commemoration of the Int'l. Day
Nov. 23
Against Violence Against Women with the launching of a poster,
Colombia, Medellin women's human rights training for women
brochure, three radio spots, and press articles in local and
leaders (Pastoral Social)
national media to bring visibility to the different forms of violence
women experience (Centro de Encuentros, Cultura Y Mujer)
Exigeons les Droits Humains a la Maison et Dans le Monde
Bangladesh, Dhaka - forum focusing on acid violence with
which women's rights are violated (Pastoral Social)
testimonies from Jyotsna Dey who lost her daughter 2 years ago,
Nurunnahar who survived an acid attack and Bina who is an acid
El Salvador, San Salvador demonstration before the National
survivor and activist; testimonies will be interspersed with poems,
Assembly and presentation of proposal dealing with violence
songs and speeches; the programme will end with songs, lighting of
against women (Las Dignas)
torches and a march (Naripokkho)
Ireland, Dublin - public protest against all forms of violence
Bolivia, Cochabamba - party to celebrate the second anniversary of
against women. Speakers include Mary Van Lieshout, Policy
Red Contra la Violencia a las Mujeres de Cochabamba
Manager at Oxfam; Roisin McDermott, Director of Women's Aid;
Betty Doyle, Wexford Women's Action and will include
Bolivia, Tarija radio message will be broadcast and a local video
performances by City Artsquad, Women's Aid Street Theatre and
spot shown on the University T.V. channel to promote awareness of
Yemanja. This will be followed by a meeting with Liz O'Donnell,
gender-based violence (Centro Integral De La Mujer, CIM)
Minister of State in Foreign Affairs with responsibility for Human
Rights (Women's Aid)
Brazil, Pernambuco debate on violence against women as a human
rights violation and the creation of public mechanisms to prevent
Mexico, D.F. campaign to promote legal change regarding sexual
violence and protect the victims, witnesses and professionals
violence within marriage (Red por la Salud de las Mujeres del D.F.)
working around this issue (Women's Forum of Pernambuco)
Mexico, D.F. press conference to launch campaign activities of
Cayman Islands, Grand Cayman opening of the Women's Resource
the Red por la Salud de las Mujeres del D.F. which will release
Centre and launch of "Befrienders in Confidence Programme," a
information on 13 documented cases that are still expecting a
support service for victims of domestic abuse (Cayman Islands
response from local authorities dealing with violations of
Business & Professional Women's Club)
reproductive rights, battered pregnant women, low quality of
public health institution services, and lack of access to justice
Chile, Santiago event with theme "I Have the Rights to a Life
(CIMAC and Red por la Salud de las Mujeres del D.F.)
Without Violence" which will be open to the public and focus on
building awareness of violence against women with specific focus on
Mexico, Mexicali press conference to launch the 16 Days
the case of Isabel Gonzalez Zapata, who was burnt 'alive' with
campaign; screening of video, "Breaking the Silence You are not
kerosene by her husband (Red Chilena Contra la Violencia
Alone" (Alaide Foppa, A. C.)
Domestica y Sexual)
Mexico, Oaxaca march to commemorate the International Day
Colombia, Medellin artistic and cultural event highlighting the
Against Violence Against Women (La Casa de la Mujer Rosario
need to promote and defend human rights and denouncing ways in
Castellanos)
Demand Human Rights in the Home and in the World
United Kingdom, London international forum to raise awareness
Nov. 25 - 29
and funds to launch the new anti-violence campaign principally for
Bolivia, Tarija - anonymous testimonies of women victims of
the benefit of township women in South Africa. Speakers include
violence to be featured on radio broadcasts; workshops with
Rose Coxe, survivor of violence; Karrisha Pillay, anti-violence project
senior students entitled "Demand Human Rights in the Home
leader from South Africa; Charlotte Bunch, Executive Director of
and in the World" (CIM)
the Center for Women's Global Leadership; Kate Young, Executive
Director of WOMANKIND; and, Kate Adie, Chief News
Correspondent at the BBC (WOMANKIND)
Nov. 25 - 30
United States, New Jersey "The Streets are a War Zone" film
Pakistan, Lahore meetings organized in Rawalpindi,
screening and presentation by Maggie Hadleigh-West (Feminist
Sheikhupura Faisalabad, Sialkot and Lahore with women workers,
Collective, William Paterson University)
peasant and informal sector workers, and their families to
discuss issues such as gender discrimination, violence against
United States, New Jersey second annual collective reading of
women and the human rights situation in Pakistan (Working
the stories of survivors of sexual violence (Women's Center, William
Women Organization, WWO)
Paterson University)
United States, New York seminar on "Women's Reproductive
Rights" with Anika Rahman, Director of the International Program
Nov. 25 - DEC. 10
of the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy (International Club
Bolivia, Cochabamba press articles to underscore key dates -
and International Studies Program, Marymount Manhattan
November 25; December 6; and, December 15, the 2nd
College)
anniversary of the enactment of the Law Against Domestic
Violence and assessment of its implementation (Red Contra la
United States, New York a night of tribute to the Mirabal Sisters
Violencia a las Mujeres de Cochabamba)
through art exhibits and performances by the members of the
Workers of Wonder program (Center for Population and Family
Bolivia, La Paz - a series of activities aiming to build pressure to
Health/ Columbia School of Public Health, Camino y Accion, Union
get the new legislation against Family Violence approved (Centro
de Jovenes Dominicanos, Workers of Wonder Program, Center for
de Promocion de la Mujer Gregoria Apaza)
Women's Global Leadership and The Ivy League)
Bulgaria, Sofia participation in various TV and radio broadcasts
to increase sensitivity of the public to violence against women
and children (Nadja)
Derechos Humanos enel Mundo y Casa
Congo, Kinshasa - television programs, film screenings and debates,
Jamaica - training for staff and male clients of clinic to promote
conferences, theater performances, posters, flyers, and T-shirts
awareness of violence against women as a violation of women's
will be organized to sensitize public awareness to violence against
human rights (FAMPLAN and IPPF/WHR)
women as a human rights violation (Eveil de la Femme - Réseau,
Action, Femme)
Nigeria, Lagos - distribution of posters and stickers saying "NO
to Violence Against Women" to schools, markets, car parks and
Croatia, Zagreb - event to announce the 16 Days Campaign and
individuals; broadcast of jingles in three languages on the effects
1998 as the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of
of violence against women in the family; talks on the radio and to
Human Rights followed by a concert featuring both singers and
men's clubs on the adverse effect of violence against women on
performers; production and distribution of posters, leaflets and a
social development (Women, Law and Development Centre)
TV segment against violence against women; open letters to the
government, local authorities, local churches and to the Ministry of
United States, New Orleans - special book exhibit at the
Education requesting devotion of school time to address the issue
Newcomb Center for Research on Women; showing of videotapes
of violence against women (Stop Violence Against Women Project
on domestic violence to Masters' Social Work students (Tulane
[Autonomous Women's House, B.a.B.e., Center for Women War
University)
Victims, Electra and Women's Counselling Center], Zenska Grupa
Poref, Zenska Grupa Mali Lopinj, Zenska Akcija Rijeka)
United States, New Orleans - information and book exhibit to
commemorate the 16 Days; screening of a video on violence
Ecuador, Quito - launch of a regional radio campaign that will run
against women (University of New Orleans Women's Center)
until December 1998 and includes the production and
dissemination of a jingle and 12 radio spots using the slogan "There
Venezuela - gender-based violence training that integrates
are No Human Rights Without Women's Rights" to promote a broad
clinical and educational components; networking with women's
understanding of women's human rights and the 1998 Global
groups to raise public awareness around violence against women
Campaign for Women's Human Rights (AMARC and UNIFEM-
(PLAFAM and IPPF/WHR)
Regional Office)
Venezuela, Caracas - campaigning to pass the bill on Violence
El Salvador - integration of gender violence in medical and
against Women and the Family; activities will include massive
information services and its strategic plan (ADS and International
faxing to the president of the Chamber of Deputies, to the
Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region,
Senate, as well as campaigning in Caracas' subway stations,
IPPF/WHR)
distribution of flyers, buttons and press releases (Asociacion
Venezolana para una Educacion Sexual Alternativa [AVESA],
FUNDAMUJER and CISFEM)
Exigeons les Droits Humains a la Maison et Dans le Monde
Zimbabwe, Harare official launch of the 16 Days Campaign and the
Nov. 26
1998 Global Campaign for Women's Human Rights (Women in Law
Mexico, Mexicali radio program with theme "Violence Against
and Development Africa, WiLDAF)
Women," hosted by Colila Eguia from the Baja California Network
(Alaide Foppa, A. C.)
Nov. 25 Nov. 26
Bulgaria, Sofia interactive workshops for high school students on
Nov. 26 - 27
the issue of violence against women (Nadja)
Mexico, Mexicali workshop, "An Alternative to Family Violence:
Respect for Human Rights," facilitated by Dr. Laura Gomez
Flores of the National Commission on Human Rights (Alaide
Foppa, A. C.)
Nov. 25 DEC. 20
Chile, Santiago call for action to organize activities around issues
Mexico, Cuernavaca workshop on domestic violence and
of violence against women and health. Some suggestions are: to
reproductive health (Comité de Maternidad sin Riesgos en
disseminate information through community-based work on what
Morelos)
women's rights are; to develop suggestions on how to use existing
national legislation; to organize workshops with health care
providers to sensitize them around the issue of violence against
women and girls; to address government authorities and
Nov. 26 29
legislators requesting the enactment of effective legislation to
Cayman Islands, Grand Cayman district workshops with Jane
address gender violence and to monitor the compliance with
Zeller, co-director of the Silent Witness National Initiative
existing laws; and to build alliances with men's groups against
(Cayman Islands Business and Professional Women's Club)
gender violence. Description of campaign is available through e-
mail: <[email protected]> (Red de Salud de las Mujeres
Latinoamericanas y del Caribe, Latin America and Caribbean
Women's Health Network)
Nov. 27
El Salvador, San Salvador Film forum (Las Dignas)
Ireland, Dublin art exhibition, "Once is too Much" (Women's Aid)
Nov. 25 DEC. 25
Fiji, Suva daily screening of television advertisements addressing
Nepal, Kathmandu a series of marches pressing for 33%
child abuse and violence against women (FWCC)
representation of women in parliament and decision making
Demand Human Rights in the Home and in the World
positions and to emphasize denial of girls rights; presentation of
Nov. 28 - DEC. 1
pledge to support the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence
Mexico, Mexicali - "Clothesline" exhibition where posters,
with a focus on domestic violence (UNICEF, Regional Office for
paintings, testimonies, cases and triptychs of violence against
South Asia)
women and children will be on display (Alaide Foppa, A. C.)
Nov. 27 28
Nov. 28. DEC. 6
Ireland, Dublin - conference on community development and violence
Canada, Toronto - men demonstrate their commitment to end
against women (St. Michael's Family Resource Centre and Women's
men's violence against women by wearing white ribbons, signing
Aid)
posters, and making donations to support women's shelters,
rape crisis centers, and other front-line programs for women;
schools run programs based on White Ribbon's Education and
Action Kit; more information on campaign available through e-
Nov. 27 DEC. 5
mail: <[email protected]> (White Ribbon Campaign)
Zimbabwe, Harare - open days for Musasa Project, Child-line
Zimbabwe, Child Law Project, Women and AIDS Support Network,
Women's Action Group and the Zimbabwe Women's Resource Center
Network (WiLDAF)
Nov. 29
Bolivia, Tarija - a coordinated activity with grassroots women's
organizations on "Imagine a World Where All Women Enjoy Their
Human Rights" (CIM)
Nov. 28
Bangladesh, Dhaka - all-day workshop with survivors of domestic
Fiji, Suva - an insert in the national daily newspaper of the Fiji
violence (Naripokkho)
Women's Crisis Centre 1998 calendar; an open day at the Crisis
Centre (FWCC)
Cayman Islands, Grand Cayman - teen event focusing on the
prevention of relationship violence among the high school population
Ireland, Dublin - Women's Aid Street Theatre and Information
(Cayman Islands Business and Professional Women's Club)
Stand; Dundalk Women's Aid Ribbon Day radio programme in
town centre to highlight violence against women (Women's Aid)
Derechos Humanos enel Mundo y en la Casa
DEC. 1
Mexico, Mexicali speaker Maricarmen Rioseco, "Justice
Bolivia, Tarija T.V. program which includes the participation of a
Administration and Violence Against Women" (Alaide Foppa, AC)
woman doctor who will address Health, Reproductive Rights and
AIDS with an open telephone line for questions from the public
Pakistan, Lahore rallies in different cities to raise the issues of
(CIM)
women's rights, domestic violence and gender discrimination
organized together with trade unions, women's groups and
Fiji, Suva workshop on child abuse which will include Air Pacific
human rights activists (WWO)
Staff (FWCC)
United States, New York workshop on "Gender and Sexuality" with
Joo-Hyun Kang, Executive Director of the Audrey Lorde Project, a
DEC. 2 6
Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Two-spirit
Bolivia, Tarija panels and workshops about advantages and
People of Color Communities (International Club and International
drawbacks of the law on domestic violence, promulgated on
Studies Program, Marymount Manhattan College and PRIDE CLUB)
December 15, 1995 (CIM)
DEC. 2
DEC. 2-7
Chile, Santiago "Tribunal de Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres
Cayman Islands, Grand Cayman workshops with Dr. Stephen
Chilenas" focusing on: sexual and domestic violence as punishment
Stosny on the dynamics of anger and anger reduction; special
and victimization; adolescent pregnancy as an obstacle to acces to
workshops for the Royal Cayman Islands Police, H.M. Prison
education; and, lack of access to a pro-choice public health system
Officers, the Chief Justice, Court staff and the Cayman Islands
as discrimination (Instituto de la Mujer, Latin American and
Counselling Centre (Cayman Islands Business and Professional
Caribbean Women's Health Network, Red Chilena contra la Violencia
Women's Club)
Domestica y Sexual, Comision de Derechos Humanos, CORSAPS,
Foro Abierto de Salud y Derechos Reproductivos, Fundacion Ideas,
Universidad Academia Humanismo Cristiano and Universidad Dieto
Portales)
DEC. 3
Mexico, Mexicali radio program with theme "Seventh Global
Croatia, Zagreb public screening of film, "Sex Trade" (Zenska
Campaign Against Violence Against Women," hosted by Graciela
Infoteka)
Garza from the Baja California Network; speaker Concepción
Guzmán, "Women, Health and Violence" (Alaide Foppa, A. C.)
Exigeons les Droits Humains a la Maison et Dans le Monde
Pakistan, Lahore - press conferences in several cities to discuss
from both TV and Radio stations to discuss issues of violence
issues around women and violations of their fundamental human
against women and women's rights (Nadja)
rights (WWO)
Ireland, Dublin - information stand (Women's Aid)
Mexico, Mexicali - TV interview on Different Opinions Meet, Foro 3
DEC. 3-10
with topic "Violence Against Women" hosted by Cosme Collingnon
Cayman Islands, Grand Cayman - airing of six video segments on
(Alaide Foppa, A. C.)
Cayman Islands Television Network entitled, "Domestic Abuse:
Causes, Concerns and Strategies for Change" (Cayman Islands
United States, New York - Marymount Manhattan College
Business and Professional Women's Club)
Gender Violence Awareness Day. Speakers include: Susana T.
Fried, Program Director at the Center for Women's Global
Leadership and Professors Joan Brookshire, Majorie Madigan
and A.M. Keyes from Marymount Manhattan College; to be
DEC. 4
followed by a performance, "Collage of Works" by Students of
Canada, Ottawa - special evening of solidarity in honor of the many
Theatre at Marymount/STAM and a reception (International Club
women from among the immigrant and visible minority women
and International Studies Program, Marymount Manhattan
community who led the way in raising the issue of gender violence
College)
and developing services for the target group (Immigrant and Visible
Minority Women Against Abuse, IVMWAA)
Mexico, Mexicali - speaker Lourdes Sánchez, "The Right to Health"
DEC. 5 - 7
and "Violence Against Women" (Alaide Foppa, A. C.)
United States, Los Angeles - course, "Images of the Madonna
Through the Ages" taught by Gloria Orenstein, Ph. D. (M.A.
Program in Feminist Spirituality, Immaculate Heart College
Center)
DEC.4-5
Pakistan, Lahore - street dramas on issues of violence, injustice
and the unequal status of women in society presented together
with various theater groups (WWO)
DEC. 6
Canada, Toronto - men support and participate in events to
DEC. 5
remember the 14 women murdered at the University of Montreal
Bulgaria, Sofia - "Tea-time with the Mass Media with journalists
massacre in 1989 (White Ribbon Campaign)
Demand Human Rights in the Home and in the World
Canada, Toronto - "clothesline display" (Women's International
violence issues for students of law, psychology and social work at
League for Peace and Freedom, WILPF)
the Moscow Institute of Youth; an exhibition of books and printed
matter about violence (Center for Women, Family and Gender
Fiji, Suva - children's day with activities including mural, egg and
Studies, Moscow Youth Institute)
face painting; video and self-defense sessions; a children's forum;
theater games and plays; poems and songs; and, karioke singing
United States, New York - launching of the 1998 Global
(FWCC)
Campaign for Women's Human Rights with performances by
Columbia University's "Workers of Wonder" program, Blanche
Ireland, Dublin - "flag days" for Tralee Rape Crisis Centre and
Cook, and Virginia Sanchez Navarro. Speakers include: Alda
Women's Aid Street Theatre (Tralee Women's Resource Centre and
Facio, Peggy Antrobus, Ana Maria Brasileiro, Sheila Dauer,
Women's Aid)
Kensington Welfare Rights Union and Maura Bairley. Information
on campaign is available through e-mail at <[email protected]>
Zimbabwe, Harare - men's march against gender violence (WiLDAF)
(Center for Women's Global Leadership and UNIFEM)
United States, New York - seminar on Women's Economic Rights.
Speakers include: Catherine Albisa, Staff Attorney and Lecturer
DEC. 6 7
at International Women's Human Rights Law Clinic at CUNY Law
Pakistan, Lahore - meetings with trade union activists to discuss
School; elmira Nazombe, Director of the Office of International
issues of women's rights in the workplace, women's participation in
Justice and Human Rights for Church World Service; Anita Nayar,
trade unions as well as in the decision making bodies, and to
Associate Director of Women's Environment and Development
collectively find a plan of action against the exploitation and
Organization/WEDO; and, Radhika Balakrishnan, Coordinator of
manipulation of women (WWO)
International Studies at Marymount Manhattan College
(International Club and International Studies Program,
Marymount Manhattan College)
DEC. 7
Zimbabwe, Harare - public meeting on violence against women in
Zimbabwe, Harare - national sermons on violence against women
the workplace (WiLDAF)
and girls organized by the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (WiLDAF)
DEC. 8 - 10
DEC. 8
Bolivia, Tarija - daily radio messages from the Human Rights
Russia, Moscow - an "open class" and video demonstration on
office emphasizing "Women's Rights as Human Rights" (CIM)
Derechos Humanos enel Mundo y la Casa
DEC. 9
International Studies Program, Marymount Manhattan College
Ireland, Dublin - launch of report from the Irish Council for Civil
and Pax Christi International)
Liberties Conference "Women's Rights are Human Rights" and the
women's human rights campaign in Ireland (Women's Aid)
Mexico, Mexicali - conference at the University of Baja entitled "IV
DEC. 10
World Conference on Women, Proposals & Achievements Against
Bolivia, Tarija - closing of the Campaign in the Public Square
Violence Against Women" (Alaide Foppa, A.C.)
which will include panels,slogans, music and free participation of
the public (CIM)
Nigeria, Lagos - workshop on violence against women and the media
followed by an exhibition (BAOBAB)
Cayman Islands, Grand Cayman - women's rally in court house
park around the theme, "Love is Not Abuse - Abuse is Not Love";
Pakistan, Lahore - seminar for WWO's members from different
presentation of report to the Minister of Women's Affairs
cities, activists, lawyers, and intellectuals to address the issue of
entitled "Legislation on Domestic Abuse: What works, what needs
human rights and the current situation of women workers (WWO)
to be changed, and why" (Cayman Islands Business and
Professional Women's Club)
United States, Boston - a state-wide meeting to brief the
community on the outcome and follow-up activities to the
El Salvador, San Salvador - debate on different approaches to
International Working Session to End Family and Partner Violence
cases of violence against women (Las Dignas)
held in August, and to announce the start of its Human Rights
Education and Advocacy Program; the briefing will include video
Ireland, Dublin - street protest (National Traveller Women's
clips of the local and overseas participants, a photo display of the
Forum)
week's work, distribution of a special edition of Women's Rights
Network News on the Session and an open discussion to continue
Mexico, Mexicali - conference at the University of Baja California
the development of international, cross-cultural dialogue and
on "Family Violence and the Special Desk on the Council of Justice
partnerships; WRN will also introduce its new Human Rights
and Public Security"; panelists include: Dip. Lucy Ocaña, Sub Proc.
Education and Advocacy Program and urge local battered women's
Perla Ibarra, Lic. Arnoldo Castilla, and Lic. Federico Garcia
advocates to join the campaign to implement the goals of the
(Alaide Foppa, A. C.)
Platform for Action (Women's Rights Network)
Pakistan, Lahore - processions organized to celebrate Human
United States, New York - table devoted to International Campaign
Rights Day, to put pressure on the government to repeal all
to Ban Land Mines with a sign-on petition (International Club and
discriminatory laws and to address domestic violence and sexual
harassment (WWO)
Exigeons les Droits Humains a la Maison et Dans le Monde
United States, Massachusetts - candlelight vigil in remembrance of
distribution of flyers promoting the 1998 Global Campaign for
victims and survivors of domestic violence; information available
Women's Human Rights (Women's Forum of Pernambuco)
through e-mail at <www.shore.net/~RESPOND (RESPOND, Inc.)
Bulgaria, Sofia - special issue of "Nadja" newsletter dedicated to
the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence (Nadja)
GENERAL ACTIVITIES
Croatia, Zagreb - initiation of "Women and Media" project, "Phone
Argentina, Buenos Aires - lobby action asking parliament and the
Tree", a chain of letter reactions to sexist and antiwomen
government to reform the "Family Violence Law" to make it more
presentations in the media; posting of stickers with slogans such
protective for victims; this will include sending a kit with
as "this is sexism" and "this offends women" on sexist or
information to representatives, senators, Health Ministry and
derogatory commercials and billboards; posting of stickers
Women's Council Authorities and press; media campaign to ask
saying "rape" and "violence against women" on the STOP traffic
women and the community to phone and send letters to the
signs (Be active, Be emancipated, B.a.B.e).
government asking for an increase in budget and a massive
campaign of violence against women prevention; campaign is
Croatia, Zagreb - action campaign to establish a women's library
entitled For the Right to Live Without Violence" (Instituto Social y
in the city of Rijeka (Zenska Akcija Rijeka)
Politico de la Mujer and the Latin American and Caribbean Women's
Health Network)
Croatia, Zagreb - dissemination of poster which was created
from newspaper headlines about women victims of violence
Austria, Innsbrook - presentation of petition signed by over 3,000
(Zenska Infoteka)
people demanding better measures to prevent violence against
women to the head of the Austrian government (Austrian Women's
Ecuador, Quito - radio contest around the theme, "Imagine a
Shelter Network)
World Without Discrimination Against Women" (AMARC)
Bangladesh, Dhaka - lobbying, demonstration, press conference,
Fiji, Suva - radio advertisements and talks in the various local
seminar, workshop, leaflets and posters addressing the
dialects; production of educational materials on domestic
empowerment of women (Bangladesh Mahila Parishad)
violence and child abuse including posters addressing domestic
violence, human rights and children's safety; display of street
Brazil, Pernambuco - feminist theater group, Loucas de Pedra Lilás
banners in the capital city promoting the 16 Days Campaign; and,
will perform a piece which addresses violence against women in the
exhibitions on women's human rights issues at various venues
streets; debate on violence against women as experienced by sex
(Fiji Women's Crisis Centre)
workers with participation from the police department; discussion
of issues of violence against women with women living in barrios;
Demand Human Rights in the Home and in the World
Mauritius, Curepipe - short play on domestic violence, written by
Mexico, Oaxaca dissemination of poster with the theme, "There
France Favori, which will be played in several towns and villages of
are No Human Rights Without Women's Rights"; production of
the island; exhibition on violence against women which includes:
brief informational blurbs for the radio; panels addressing
facts and figures about domestic violence, "herstories" of battered
"Violence and the Law," "Violence and Health," and "Violence and
women, posters and badges of women's struggles internationally,
Education"; film screening followed by discussions; and, talks to
collections of poems and songs written by S.O.S. Femmes on
the students of the Instituto Tecnologico de Oaxaca and
domestic violence, distribution of the main conventions/
CONALEP (La Casa de la Mujer Rosario Castellanos)
declarations relating to violence against women, display of
booklets, leaflets, etc., different responses towards domestic
Mexico, Oaxaca conference addressed to members of local
violence from the perspective of the women's movement, the State,
Congress and judges (La Casa de la Mujer Rosario Castellanos
the UN and the WHO. All letters of support received from groups
and Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network)
participating in the 16 Days Campaign or which support an end to
gender-based violence can be sent to fax: (230)433-3391, and will
Mexico, Oaxaca - workshop on sexual and reproductive rights for
be on display at the exhibition (S.O.S. Femmes)
midwives in the community of Tlacolula (Group TICIME, Latin
American and Caribbean Women's Health Network, La Casa de la
Mexico - an international campaign to address recent supreme
Mujer Rosario Castellanos)
court decision calling spousal rape an "undue exercise of a right".
To join the writing campaign, you can find more information at
Norway, Oslo "Take Back the Night" march; postcard action
<http://members.aol.com/ncmdr/index.html> or by e-mail to
campaign in Norway against pornography and prostitution
<[email protected]> (Diversa in Mexico and the National
(Women's Front of Norway)
Clearinghouse for Marital and Date Rape in California, US)
Pakistan, Lahore articles featured in newspapers and
Mexico, D.F. Doble Jornada's November issue will print a call to join
magazines, distribution of pamphlets and creation of charts to
the 1998 Global Campaign along with proposed activities from
raise awareness on issues of women's human rights; networking
groups and an article on the legal approach to Family Violence (La
with local NGOs, trade unions and human rights activists to
Doble Jornada)
raise issue of violence against women as a violation of human
rights (WWO)
Mexico, Cuernavaca panel to discuss the Family Violence bill
legislation project; the Beijing follow-up Commission for the State
Philippines and New York call to action to individuals and
of Morelos will broadcast three one-hour radio programs on
organizations to become involved in actions to promote
Domestic Violence which will invite women to share their
awareness to the issue of trafficking in women; more information
testimonies to document the problem (Comité de Maternidad sin
on campaign and specific actions to take, available through e-
Riesgos en Morelos)
mail: [email protected]> (Gabriela Network)
Derechos Humanos en el Mundo la Casa
Philippines, Quezon City - organization of regional migrant's training
in Hong Kong in cooperation with the Asian Migrant Center to
promote, defend and uphold the rights and dignity of migrant
workers in general and migrant women in particular; developing a
migrant human rights defenders manual, to assist women's rights
defenders in systematic documentation, monitoring and
classification of violations committed to migrants (Asian Centre
for Women's Human Rights, ASCENT)
Uganda, Kampala - two-day workshop on the United Nations
international human rights instruments and system and the
relevance to the work of lobby/advocacy groups (Human Rights
Network)
Ukraine, Kharkov - special issue of newsletter addressing
"trafficking in women as a new form of slavery in Ukraine";
dissemination of materials on the 16 Days Campaign and
trafficking in women in the Ukraine; lecture for students at Kharkov
State University on "Trafficking in Women as Gender Violence";
dissemination of leaflets to young women in the region on
trafficking in women (Feminist Association Humanitarian Initiative)
United States, New York - interactive workshops for high school
students on the issues of violence against women and women's
human rights (Global Kids)
United States, Washington - "clothesline" project; "These Hands will
Not be Raised in Violence Project" where people can stick their
hands in paint and put their hand prints on paper in the main
courtyard (Pacific Lutheran University)
Exigeons les Droits Humains a la Maison et Dans le Monde
Area de Mujeres de Alai has a website to spread information in
For more information on UN activities for the 50th Anniversary of
Latin America and the Caribbean on the 16 Days of Activism
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 10 December 1998,
Against Gender Violence! You can access the site using the
visit the UN website at
following address:
<http://www.unhchr.ch/html/5Oth/5Oanniv.htm> or the UN
Internet Gateway on the Advancement and Empowerment of
<http://www.ecuanex.apc.org/alai/16dias>
Women (Women Watch) website at
<http://www.un.org/womenwatch>.
For more information about the 16 Days of Activism Against
Gender Violence or the Center for Women's Global Leadership,
please visit our website:
<http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/-cwgl/humanrights/
[list in formation]
November 25 - December 10
The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is part of the Global Campaign for Women's Human Rights. The initial 16 Days campaign in 1991 was coordinated
by the Center for Women's Global Leadership with participants of our first Women's Global Leadership Institute (June 1991). November 25 is International Day
Against Violence Against Women, declared by the first Feminist Encuentro for Latin America and the Caribbean in 1981 (Bogota, Colombia). The day commemorates
the Mirabal sisters, who were brutally murdered by the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic in 1960. December 10 celebrates the anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, proclaimed in 1948. The period also includes World AIDS Day (December 1) and the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre (1989), when
a man gunned down 14 women engineering students for being "feminists" (December 6).
For further information, please contact Linda Posluszny at the Center for Women's Global Leadership; Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; 61 Clifton
Avenue; New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8535; ph: (1-732)932-8782; fax: (1-732)932-1180; e-mail: <[email protected]>
Demand Human Rights in the Home and in the World
1998 Global Campaign for Women's Human Rights
International Advisory Committee*
Florence Butegwa, Action for Change (Uganda)
Roxanna Carrillo, UNIFEM/Women's Human Rights Programme (Peru/United States)
Amparo Claro, Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network (Chile)
Alda Facio, Concertación Interamericano de Mujeres Activistas/CIMA (Costa Rica)
Lesley Ann Foster, Masimanyane Women's Support Centre (South Africa)
Sofia Gruskin, FXB Center for Health and Human Rights (United States)
Vesna Kesic, Be active, Be emancipated/B.a.B.e. (Croatia)
Rachel Kyte, Health, Empowerment, Rights and Accountability/HERA (United Kingdom/Belgium)
Alice Miller, International Human Rights Law Group/Women's Rights Advocacy Project (United States)
Indai Lourdes Sajor, Asian Centre for Women's Human Rights/ASCENT (Philippines)
Niamh Reilly, Research for Change (Ireland)
Farida Shaheed, Shirkat Gah and Women Living Under Muslim Laws (Pakistan)
Donna Sullivan, Visiting Scholar, FXB Center for Health and Human Rights (United States)
*Organizational affiliation is listed for identification purposes only.
Participating Organizations**
Agencia Latinoamericana de Información/ALAI (Ecuador)
Ahmedabad Women's Action Group/AWAG (India)
Alaide Foppa, A.C. (Mexico)
Amnesty International (International)
Asian Centre for Women's Human Rights/ASCENT (Philippines)
Association pour le Progrès et la Défense des Droits des Femmes Maliennes/APDF (Mali)
Astraea, National Lesbian Action Foundation (United States)
Bangladesh Mahila Parishad (Bangladesh)
Be Active, Be Emancipated/B.a.B.e. (Croatia)
Black Sash (South Africa)
Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action/CAFRA (Caribbean)
Cameroon Comité for Women's Human Rights (Cameroon)
Casa de la Mujer (Colombia)
La Casa de la Mujer "Rosario Castellanos" (Mexico)
Center for Anti-Violence Education (United States)
Center for Reproductive Law and Policy (United States)
Center of Concern (United States)
Centro de Estudios e Investigaciones de la Mujer Ecuatoriana/CEIME (Ecuador)
Centro Integral de la Mujer/CIM (Bolivia)
Centro de Investigación para la Acción Femenina/CIPAF (Dominican Republic)
Centrum Praw Kobiet (Poland)
Civil Resource Development and Documentation Centre/CIRDDOC (Nigeria)
Comisión Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos (Mexico)
Comité Latinoamericano para la Defensa de los Derechos de la Mujer/CLADEM (Latin America)
Coalition on Violence Against Women (Kenya)
Concertación Interamericana de Mujeres Activistas para los Derechos Humanos/CIMA (Latin America)
Commonwealth Medical Association/CMA (United Kingdom)
Comunicación e Información de la Mujer/CIMAC (Mexico)
Corporoción de Desarrollo de la Mujer, La Morada (Chile)
Equality Now (United States)
Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer/FEIM (Argentina)
Family Violence Prevention Fund (United States)
Centro de Mujer Peruana: Flora Tristán (Peru)
Fundación para la Integración Social y Educativa/FISOE (Dominican Republic)
Health, Empowerment, Rights and Accountability/HERA (International)
Humanistisch Overleg Mensenrechten/HOM (The Netherlands)
ILANUD Mujer Genero y Justicia (Costa Rica)
INFORM (Sri Lanka)
Instituto Social y Político de la Mujer/ISPM (Argentina)
International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development/ICHRDD (Canada)
International Federation of Women Lawyers/FIDA (Kenya)
International Federation of Women Lawyers/FIDA (Nigeria)
International Fellowship of Reconciliation/IFOR (The Netherlands)
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission/IGLHRC (International)
International Human Rights Law Group/Women's Rights Advocacy Project (United States)
International Women's Health Coalition/IWHC (United States)
International Women's Tribune Centre/IWTC (United States)
ISIS Internacional (Latin America)
ISIS WICCE (Uganda)
The Israel Women's Network/IWN (Israel)
Juntas por Venezuela/JUVE (Venezuela)
Kensington Welfare Rights Union (United States)
Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network/LACWHN (Chile)
Manuela Ramos (Peru)
Marymount Manhattan College (United States)
Masimanyane Women's Support Centre (South Africa)
Metlhaetsile Women's Information Centre (Botswana)
Mujer/Fempress (Latin America)
Muvman Liberasyon Fam (Mauritius)
National Association of Women's Organizations (India)
National Foundation for India (INDIA)
Netherlands Organization for International Development Cooperation/NOVIB (The Netherlands)
Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (Nigeria)
NYC Gay & Lesbian Anti-Violence Project (United States)
PROFAMILIA (Colombia)
PSF Women's Centre (Poland)
Red Feminista Latinoamericana y del Caribe contra la Violencia Doméstica y Sexual
SAKSHI (India)
Shirkat Gah (Pakistan)
United Nations Development Fund for Women/UNIFEM (International)
W.E. A.R.E. for Human Rights (United States)
WOMANKIND (United Kingdom)
Women in Development Europe/WIDE (Western Europe)
Women's Environment and Development Organization/WEDO (United States)
Women in Law and Development Africa/WiLDAF (Africa)
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom-Toronto/WiLPF (Canada)
Women, Law and Development International (US)
Women Living Under Muslim Laws/WLUML (International)
Women's Rights Project: Human Rights Watch (United States)
Workers of Wonder (United States)
ZARD (Zambia)
Zimbabwe Women's Resource Centre and Network/ZWRCN (Zimbabwe)
[list in formation]
**Organizations listed above are participating in various aspects of the 1998 Global Campaign; not every organization has endorsed every aspect of this campaign.
Funders for the 1998 Global Campaign for Women's Human Rights
Canadian International Development Agency/CIDA
The Ford Foundation
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Ruben and Elisabeth Rausing Trust
Shaler Adams Foundation
[list in formation]
Women's Human Rights: An Introduction
by Charlotte Bunch and Samantha Frost
(The following article was written for an Encyclopedia of
Women's Studies which has not yet been published.)
Introduction
The term "women's human rights" and the set of practices
that accompanies its use are the continuously evolving
product of an international movement to improve the
status of women. In the 1980's and 1990's, women's
movements around the world formed networks and coalitions
to give greater visibility both to the problems that
women face every day and to the centrality of women's
experiences in economic, social, political and
environmental issues. In the evolution of what is
becoming a global women's movement, the term "women's
human rights" has served as a locus for praxis, that is,
for the development of political strategies shaped by the
interaction between analytical insights and concrete
political practices. Further, the critical tools, the
concerted activism, and the broad-based international
networks that have grown up around movements for women's
human rights have become a vehicle for women to develop
the political skills necessary for the twenty-first
century.
The concept of women's human rights owes its success and
the proliferation of its use to the fact that it is
simultaneously prosaic and revolutionary. On the one
hand, the idea of women's human rights makes common
sense. It declares, quite simply, that as human beings
women have human rights. Anyone would find her or
himself hard-pressed to publicly make and defend the
contrary argument that women are not human. So in many
ways, the claim that women have human rights seems quite
ordinary. On the other hand, "women's human rights" is
a revolutionary notion. This radical reclamation of
humanity and the corollary insistence that women's rights
are human rights have profound transformative potential.
The incorporation of women's perspectives and lives into
human rights standards and practice forces recognition of
the dismal failure of countries worldwide to accord women
the human dignity and respect that they deserve--simply
as human beings. A women's human rights framework equips
women with a way to define, analyze, and articulate their
experiences of violence, degradation, and marginality.
Finally, and very importantly, the idea of women's human
rights provides a common framework for developing a vast
array of visions and concrete strategies for change.
1
A Short History of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the
United Nations General Assembly in 1948 outlines what is
considered in this century to be the fundamental
consensus on the human rights of all people in relation
to such matters as security of person, slavery, torture,
protection of the law, freedom of movement and speech,
religion, and assembly, and rights to social security,
work, health, education, culture, and citizenship. It
clearly stipulates that these human rights apply to all
equally "without distinction of any kind such as race,
colour, sex, language or other status" (Art.2)
Obviously, then, the human rights delineated by the
Universal Declaration are to be understood as applying to
women. However, tradition, prejudice, social, economic
and political interests have combined to exclude women
from prevailing definitions of "general" human rights and
to relegate women to secondary and/or "special interest"
status within human rights considerations. This
marginalisation of women in the world of human rights has
been a reflection of gender inequity in the world at
large and has also had a formidable impact on women's
lives. It has contributed to the perpetuation, and
indeed the condoning, of women's subordinate status. It
has limited the scope of what was seen as governmental
responsibility, and thus has made the process of seeking
redress for human rights violations disproportionately
difficult for women and in many cases outright
impossible.
The difficulties posed by women's peripheral status
within international human rights mechanisms and
organizations have been compounded by the division
between the so-called "public" and "private" spheres
prevalent in so many societies. The pervasive division
of life into "public" and "private" spheres has its roots
in the desire to limit the jurisdiction of the
government. In many countries, this has meant that what
individuals do in the "public" sphere is subject to
regulation, while activities taking place in the
"private" sphere are thought to be exempt from
governmental scrutiny. Since this "public" sphere is
seen as the focus of interaction between state actors and
citizens, abuses of that relationship have been the focus
of international human rights advocacy. Of course, the
status of citizen has often been exclusionary, formally
or informally entailing gender, racial and socio-economic
bias and privileges. Thus, for those citizens--primarily
men--who predominate in public and governmental realms,
and who enjoy gender, racial and economic privilege, the
2
issues of primary concern have tended to be those abuses
to which they are most vulnerable--abuses of civil and
political aspects of human rights such as the violation
of the right to speech, arbitrary detention, torture
during imprisonment, and summary execution.
While women have been able to invoke international human
rights machinery when they have found themselves in such
situations, some of their specifically gendered
experiences of such human rights abuse--for example, rape
in detention--have not been visible within the prevailing
definitions of abuse. This is because women have
traditionally been relegated to the "private" sphere of
the home and family; the typical citizen has been
portrayed as male, and thus the dominant notions of human
rights abuse have implicitly had a man as their
archetype. A major effect of the gendered nature of the
public/private split is that human rights violations of
women that occur between "private" individuals have been
made invisible and deemed to be beyond the purview of the
state. It is particularly important to note that gender
is a significant factor in the decisions of governments
to intervene in the so-called private sphere to prosecute
human rights violations. For example, many activities
that take place in the private sphere, such as murder
between siblings or the systematic enslavement African
peoples in the Americas, are subject to government
censure internationally. However, much of what happens
to women at the hands of men and male family members, for
example domestic violence or confinement, is overlooked
by governments even when there are laws against such
abuse. Thus, abuses done to women in the name of family,
religion, and culture have been hidden by the sanctity of
the so-called private sphere, and perpetrators of such
human rights violations have enjoyed immunity from
accountability for their actions.
The historical emphasis on human rights abuses in the
public sphere and the concomitant neglect of the human
rights of women were exacerbated by the politics of the
Cold War. The United Nations' human rights treaties and
mechanisms developed after the horrors of World War II
and consolidated during the Cold War. The purpose of
many human rights organizations that developed along with
them was to monitor the treatment of citizens by their
governments and to ensure respect for citizens' human
rights as they worked for democratic governance. As
positions polarized during the Cold War, western
governments attributed priority to civil and political
rights, which they believed were integral to a prosperous
free market economy. Meanwhile, the socio-economic
rights to work, shelter, and health, for example, became
3
identified with the socialist bloc and were thus suspect
to many in the West. Thus, human rights bodies, dominated
by western conceptions of human rights priorities,
focused on violations within the civil and political
realm--the "public" sphere. So, in addition to the
obstacles for women posed by the split between so-called
public and private spheres, the predominance of civil and
political rights within human rights organizations
eclipsed the ways in which women often do not enjoy the
social and economic conditions that make possible the
exercise of civil and political rights and participation
in public life.
The Concept of Women's Human Rights
During the United Nations Decade for Women (1976-1985),
women from many geographical, racial, religious,
cultural, and class backgrounds took up organizing to
improve the status of women. The United Nations-
sponsored women's conferences, which took place in
Mexico City in 1975, Copenhagen in 1980, and Nairobi in
1985, were convened to evaluate the status of women and
to formulate strategies for women's advancement. These
conferences were critical venues at which women came
together, debated their differences and discovered their
commonalities, and gradually began learning to bridge
differences to create a global movement. In the late
eighties and early nineties, women in diverse countries
took up the human rights framework and began developing
the analytic and political tools that together constitute
the ideas and practices of women's human rights.
Taking up the human rights framework has involved a
double shift in thinking about human rights and talking
about women's lives. Put quite simply, it has entailed
examining the human rights framework through a gendered
lens, and describing women's lives through a human rights
framework. In looking at the human rights framework from
women's perspectives, women have shown how current human
rights definitions and practices fail to account for the
ways in which already recognized human rights abuses
often affect women differently because of their gender.
This approach acknowledges the importance of the existing
concepts and activities, but also points out that there
are dimensions within these received definitions that are
gender-specific and that need to be addressed if the
mechanisms, programmes, and the human rights framework
itself are to include and reflect the experiences of the
female half of the world's population.
When people utilise the human rights framework to
articulate the vast array of human rights abuses that
4
women face, they bring clarifying analyses and powerful
tools to bear on women's experiences. This strategy has
been pivotal in efforts to draw attention to human rights
that are specific to women which heretofore have been
seen as women's rights but not recognized as "human"
rights. Take, for example, the issue of violence against
women. The Universal Declaration states: "No one shall
be subject to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment." This formulation provides a
vocabulary for women to define and articulate experiences
of violence such as rape, sexual terrorism and domestic
violence as violations of the human right not to be
subject to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment. The recognition of such issues
as human rights abuses raises the level of expectation
about what can and should be done about them. This
definition of violence against women in terms of human
rights establishes unequivocally that states are
responsible for such abuse. It also raises questions
about how to hold governments accountable for their
indifference in such situations and what sorts of
mechanisms are needed to expedite the process of redress.
Applying The Human Rights Framework To Women
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights defines human
rights as universal, inalienable, and indivisible. In
unison, these defining characteristics are tremendously
important for women's human rights. The universality of
human rights means that human rights apply to every
single person by virtue of their humanity; this also
means that human rights apply to everyone equally, for
everyone is equal in simply being human. In many ways,
this universality theme may seem patently obvious, but
its egalitarian premise has a radical edge. By invoking
the universality of human rights, women have demanded
that their very humanity be acknowledged. That
acknowledgement--and the concomitant recognition of women
as bearers of human rights--mandates the incorporation of
women and gendered perspectives into all of the ideas
and institutions that are already committed to the
promotion and protection of human rights. The idea that
human rights are universal also challenges the contention
that the human rights of women can be limited by
culturally specific definitions of what count as human
rights and of women's role in society.
The idea of human rights as inalienable means that it is
impossible for anyone to abdicate her human rights, even
if she wanted to, since every person is accorded those
5
rights by virtue of being human. It also means that no
person or group of persons can deprive another individual
of her or his human rights. Thus, for example, debts
incurred by migrant workers or by women caught up in sex-
trafficking can never justify indentured servitude
(slavery), or the deprivation of food, of freedom of
movement, or of compensation. The idea of inalienable
rights means that human rights cannot be sold, ransomed,
or forfeited for any reason. The idea of inalienability
has also been important in negotiations over the priority
given to social, religious and cultural practices in
relation to human rights. For decades, work to transform
practices which are physically or psychologically
damaging to women and that have often been "protected"
under the rubric of religion, tradition or culture has
been particularly difficult given both the integrity of
culture guaranteed by the Universal Declaration and the
history of Northern domination in much of the world.
Thus, it was important that both the Vienna Declaration
and Programme of Action from the World Conference on
Human Rights held in Vienna in 1993, and the United
Nations Declaration Against Violence Against Women passed
by the General Assembly the same year, affirmed that in
cases of conflict between women's human rights and
cultural or religious practices, the human rights of
women must prevail.
The indivisibility of human rights means that none of the
rights that are considered to be fundamental human rights
is more important than any of the others and, more
specifically, that they are inter-related. Human rights
encompass civil, political, social, economic and cultural
facets of human existence; the indivisibility premise
highlights that the ability of people to live their lives
in dignity and to exercise their human rights fully
depends upon the recognition that these aspects are all
interdependent. The fact that human rights are
indivisible is important for women, since their civil and
political rights historically have been compromised by
their economic status, by social and cultural limitations
placed on their activities, and by the ever-present
threat of violence that often constitutes an
insurmountable obstacle to women's participation in
public and political life. The idea of indivisibility
has provided women with a common framework through which
to emphasize the complexity of the challenges they face,
and to highlight the necessity of including women and
gender conscious perspectives in the development and
implementation of policy. By calling upon the
indivisibility of women's human rights, women have
rejected a human rights hierarchy which places either
6
political and civil rights or socio-economic rights as
primary. Instead, women have charged that political
stability cannot be realized unless women's social and
economic rights are also addressed; that sustainable
development is impossible without the simultaneous
respect for, and incorporation into the policy process of
women's cultural and social roles in the daily
reproduction of life; and that social equity cannot be
generated without economic justice and women's
participation in all levels of political decision-making.
The Movement for Women's Human Rights
The term "women's human rights" does not refer simply to
the theoretical approaches that women have used to
transform human rights concepts, programmes and agendas.
In addition to being instrumental in the formulation of
the conceptual challenges and demands levied by women,
the idea of women's human rights has had immense impact
as a tool for political activism. The concept of women's
human rights has opened the way for women around the
world to ask hard questions about the official
inattention and general indifference to the widespread
discrimination and violence that women experience
everyday. Whether used in political lobbying, in legal
cases, in grassroots mobilization, or in broad-based
educational efforts, the idea of women's human rights has
been a rallying point for women across many boundaries
and has facilitated the creation of collaborative
strategies for promoting and protecting the human rights
of women.
While women have raised questions for a long time about
why their rights are seen as ancillary to human rights,
a coordinated effort to change this attitude using a
human rights framework gained particular momentum in the
early part of the 1990s. The opening of space for new
debates afforded by the end of the Cold War facilitated
the exchange of ideas and experiences among women around
the world that led to strategizing about how to make
women's human rights perspectives more visible. As
women's activities developed globally during and
following the United Nations' Decade for Women, more and
more women raised the question of why "women's rights"
and women's lives have been deemed secondary to the
"human rights" and lives of men. Over the past decade,
a movement around women's human rights has emerged to
challenge limited notions of human rights, and it has
focused particularly on violence against women as a prime
example of the bias against women in human rights
practice and theory.
7
The United Nations World Conference on Human Rights held
in Vienna in 1993 was the first such meeting since 1968,
and it became a natural vehicle to highlight the new
visions of human rights thinking and practice being
developed by women. Its initial call did not mention
women nor did it recognize any gender-specific aspects of
human rights in its proposed agenda. Since the
conference represented an historic reassessment of the
status of human rights, it became the unifying public
focus of a worldwide Global Campaign for Women's Human
Rights--a broad and loose international collaborative
effort to advance women's human rights. The campaign
launched a petition calling upon the World Conference "to
comprehensively address women's human rights at every
level of its proceedings" and to recognize "gender
violence, a universal phenomenon which takes many forms
across culture, race, and class
as
a
violation
of
human rights requiring immediate action." The petition
was eventually translated into 23 languages, and was
used by over 1000 sponsoring groups who gathered a half
million signatures from 124 countries. The petition and
its demands instigated discussions about why women's
rights, and gender-based violence in particular, were
left out of human rights considerations, and served to
mobilize women around the World Conference. Women acted
to inject issues of women's human rights into the entire
pre-conference preparatory process: Women from all
regions demanded that women's human rights be discussed
at the preparatory meetings held in Tunis, San Jose, and
Bangkok, as well as at other non-governmental and
national preparatory events. The idea of women's human
rights was a framework for women to articulate and
collaborate around broad and similar concerns about the
status of women; it also provided women with a way to
elaborate on the most pressing human rights issues
specific to particular political, geographic, economic,
and cultural contexts.
By the time the World Conference convened, the idea that
"women's rights are human rights" had become the rallying
call of thousands of people all over the world and one of
the most discussed "new" human rights debates. The
Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, which is the
product of the conference and is meant to signal the
agreement of the international community on the status of
human rights, states unequivocally that:
The human rights of women and of the girl-child are
an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of
universal human rights.
Vienna Declaration (1,18,1993).
8
Women continued to lobby for and gain wider recognition
of women's human rights at subsequent United Nations
Conferences. So, for example, at the International
Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in
1994, women's reproductive rights were explicitly
recognized as human rights. A particularly significant
development was the way in which the Platform for Action
at the IV World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995
became virtually an agenda about the human rights of
women. This signaled the successful mainstreaming of
women's rights as human rights.
The agreements that are produced by such conferences are
not legally binding; however, they do have ethical and
political weight and can be used to pursue regional,
national, or local objectives. Conference documents can
also be used to reinforce and interpret international
treaties such as the Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, or the Covenant of Social, Economic and Cultural
Rights. These covenants, when signed by a country, do
have the status of international law and have been used
in courts by lawyers seeking redress for human rights
violations. The most important international treaty
specifically addressing women's human rights is the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) which was initiated
during the UN Decade for Women and has been ratified by
over 130 countries. Further, local women's groups have
integrated the women's human rights framework into their
legal literacy programs and legal strategies.
Although the framework of women's human rights has been
tremendously useful in efforts to lobby for legislative
and policy changes at local, national and international
levels, it has been an equally as important tool for
grassroots organizing. Women's human rights not only
teaches women about the range of rights that their
governments must honor; it also functions as a kind of
gestalt by which to organize analyses of their
experiences and plan action for change. The human rights
framework creates a space in which the possibility for a
different account of women's lives can be developed.
What is so useful about this framework is that it
provides women with principles by which to develop
alternative visions of their lives without suggesting the
substance of those visions. The fundamental principles
of human rights that accord to each and every person the
entitlement to human dignity give women a vocabulary for
describing both violations and impediments to the
exercise of their human rights. The large body of
international covenants, agreements and commitments about
9
human rights gives women political leverage and a tenable
point of reference. And finally, the idea of women's
human rights enables women to define and articulate the
specificity of the experiences in their lives at the same
time that it provides a vocabulary for women to share the
experiences of other women around the world and work
collaboratively for change.
References and suggestions for further reading
Bunch, Charlotte, and Roxanna Carrillo. (1991) Gender
Violence: A Development and Human Rights Issue,
New Brunswick, NJ, USA: Center for Women's Global
Leadership. Contact: Center for Women's Global
Leadership, 27 Clifton Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ
08903 USA.
Bunch, Charlotte, and Niamh Reilly (1994) Demanding
Accountability: The Global Campaign and Vienna
Tribunal for Women's Human Rights, New York, NY:
United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).
Contact: Women, Ink., 777 UN Plaza, 3rd Floor, New
York, NY 10017 USA.
Butegwa, Florence, Stella N. Mukasa and Susan Mogere
(1995) Human Rights of Women in Conflict
Situations, Harare, Zimbabwe: Women in Law and
Development in Africa (WiLDAF). Contact: WiLDAF,
P.O. Box 4622, Harare, Zimbabwe.
Cook, Rebecca J. ed. (1994) Human Rights of Women:
National and International Perspectives,
Philadelphia, PA, USA: University of Pennsylvania
Press. Contact: Women Ink, see above.
Human Rights Watch Women's Rights Project (1995) The
Human Rights Watch Global Report on Women's Human
Rights, New York, NY, USA: Human Rights Watch.
Contact: Human Rights Watch, 485 Fifth Avenue, New
York, NY 10017-6104.
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
(1995) Unspoken Rules: Sexual Orientation and
Women's Human Rights, San Francisco, California,
USA: International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights
Commission. Contact: 1360 Mission Street, Suite
200, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA.
International Women's Tribune Centre (IWTC) (1995)
Rights of Women: An Action Guide to the UN
Conventions of Special Relevance to Women, New
York, NY: International Women's Tribune Centre.
Contact: Women's Ink, see above.
10
ISIS Internacional (1991) La mujer ausente: Derechos
humanos en el mundo, Santiago, Chile: ISIS
Internacional. Contact: Isis Internacional,
Casilla 2067, Correo Central, Santiago, Chile.
Kerr, Joanna, ed. (1993) Ours by Right, Ottawa,
Canada: The North South Institute and Zed Books
Ltd. Contact: The North-South Institute, Institut
Nord-Sud, 200-55 Murray, Ottawa, Canada K1N 5M3;
Zed Books Ltd., 57 Caledonian Road, London N1 9BU,
UK, or 165 First Avenue, Atlantic Highlands, NJ
07716 USA.
Mahoney, Kathleen E. and Paul Mahoney (1993) Human
Rights in the Twenty-First Century: A Global
Challenge, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. Kluwer
Academic Publishers Group, P.O. Box 322, 3000 AH
Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
Maramba, Petronella, Bisi Olateru-Olagbegi and Rosalie
Tiani Webanenou (1995) Structural Adjustment
Programs and the Human Rights of African Women,
Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF).
Contact: see above.
MATCH-KARMIKA (November 25-30 1992) Gender, Development
and Human Rights: International Workshop, New
Delhi, Ottawa, Canada: MATCH International Centre.
Contact: MATCH International Centre, 200-1102
Elgin Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2P 1L5.
Schuler, Margaret, ed. (1995) From Basic Needs to
Basic Rights: Women's Claim to Human Rights,
Washington DC: Women, Law and Development
International. Contact: Institute for Women, Law
and Development, 1736 Columbia Road, N.W., #311,
Washington DC 20009, USA.
Tomasevski, Katarina (1993) Women and Human Rights,
London, UK: Zed Books Ltd. Contact: Zed Books
Ltd., see above.
United Nations (23 February 1994) Declaration on the
Elimination of Violence Against Women.
A/RES/48/104. Contact: New York Office, Centre
for Human Rights, United Nations, New York, NY
10017 USA, or Centre for Human Rights, United
Nations Office at Geneva, 1211 Geneva 10,
Switzerland.
United Nations (25 June 1993) World Conference on
Human Rights: The Vienna Declaration and Programme
of Action. A/CONF.157/23.25. Contact: see above.
United Nations (18 December 1979) Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women. RES34/180. Contact: see above.
11
Watts, Charlotte, Susanna Osam and Everjoice Win, eds.
(1995) The Private is Public: A Study of Violence
Against Women in Southern Africa, Harare, Zimbabwe:
Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF).
Contact: see above.
Wolper, Andrea, and Julie S. Peters (1995) Women's
Rights, Human Rights: International Feminist
Perspectives, New York, NY, USA: Routledge.
Contact: Women Ink, 777 UN Plaza, New York, NY
10017 USA.
Video
The Vienna Tribunal: Women's Rights are Human Rights,
1994, Augusta Productions, with the Canadian National
Film Board, in association with the Center for Women's
Global Leadership
Director: Gerry Rogers
Relevance: entire/segment
Length: 48:13 minutes
Description: The Vienna Tribunal highlights the
testimonies given by women around the world at the Global
Tribunal on Violations of Women's Human Rights at the UN
World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993.
Keywords: Activism, History, Human Rights Abuse,
Tribunal, United Nations, Violence Against Women, Women's
Human Rights,
Charlotte Bunch
Executive Director
Center for Women's Global Leadership,
Douglass College,' Rutgers University, USA
Samantha Frost
Doctoral Candidate
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, USA
12
1998 Key Dates for Actions
November 25 - December 10, 1997
June 25
7th annual 16 Days campaign begins 1998
5th Anniversary of the UN World Conference on
campaign launch
Human Rights in Vienna, 1993
March 2 - 13
July
42ⁿᵈ session of the UN Commission on the Status
UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
of Women - N.Y.C., United States
substantive session on UN implementation of
the Vienna Declaration and Programme of
March 8
Action, N.Y.C., United States
International Women's Day
September - December
March 16 - - April 24
53ʳᵈ regular session of the General Assembly
54th session of the UN Commission on Human
Rights - Geneva, Switzerland
September 8
3rd Anniversary of UN IV World Conference on
May 1
Women in Beijing; Women's Citizenship Day
International Labour Day
October 11
May 24
Eleanor Roosevelt's Birthday
International Women's Day for Peace and
Disarmament
October 24
UN Day
May 28
International Day of Action for Women's Health
November 25 - December 10
8th annual 16 Days Campaign Begins
June
86th International Labour Conference, Geneva,
December
Switzerland
UN General Assembly special session on 50th
Anniversary
June
International Criminal Court: Diplomatic
December 10
Conference, Rome, Italy
50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and end of Campaign
Demand Women's Human Rights!
On the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, advocates
throughout the world are calling attention to continuing violations of the human rights of
women, and the urgent need for governments and intergovernmental bodies to
strengthen their efforts to promote and protect the human rights of all.
The following demands and actions* seek to link efforts locally and globally through a
common set of substantive concerns regarding women's human rights. Such demands
and questions addressed to specific events will be released in clusters over time. This
set of demands and questions is directed toward the 42nd session of the Commission
on the Status of Women (March 2-13, 1998), and their review of key human rights
sections of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action: the human rights of women,
violence against women, women and armed conflict, and the girl child.
These demands focus on the Platform for Action, and the clear steps and actions it
recommends to governments and intergovernmental organizations. Building on the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Vienna Declaration and Programme of
Action, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action declares: "Human rights and
fundamental freedoms are the birthright of all human beings; their protection and
promotion is the first responsibility of Governments" (paragraph 210). It reaffirms that
"all human rights -- civil, cultural, economic, political and social, including the right to
development -- are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated, as expressed
in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action The full and equal enjoyment of
all human rights and fundamental freedoms by women and girls is a priority for
Governments and the United Nations and is essential for the advancement of women"
(paragraph 214).
Therefore, women's human rights advocates throughout the world call upon
governments and intergovernmental bodies to do the following:
Demand #1: The Platform for Action is the most detailed articulation of what
implementation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights means
for women. Therefore, we call for increased action toward and
resources for its full implementation and for greater protection of
defenders of the human rights of women.
Demand #2: Outlaw all forms of discrimination against women.
Action: Ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women (the Women's Convention) immediately in order to achieve
universal ratification by the year 2000.
Action: Remove reservations to the Women's Convention.
Action: Bring national laws into compliance with the Women's Convention.
Action: Adopt a strong and meaningful optional protocol to the Women's
Convention which will authorize the Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) to receive complaints from individuals,
groups and organizations alleging violations of the Convention and institute an
inquiry procedure which will enable CEDAW to initiate investigations of serious
or systematic violations of the Convention.
Demand #3: Ensure women's right to live free from violence
Action: Raise awareness about domestic violence as a human rights violation,
and take concerted and systematic action to eliminate such violence through all
appropriate means.
Action: Eliminate all forms of violence against women in war and armed conflict
and provide justice and reparations to women victims and survivors of all such
violations, including rape, mass rape, sexual assault, mutilation, forced eviction,
forced impregnation, forced sterilization, genocide, forced prostitution and
trafficking, and military sexual slavery.
Action: Establish an effective and independent International Criminal Court that
includes women's concerns and a gender perspective throughout its statute,
such as the inclusion of sexual violence, military sexual slavery and rape in the
definitions of crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Demand #4: Take steps to realize women's economic and social rights
Action: Ensure literacy for every woman and girl, including knowledge of her
rights as well as the ability to read and write.
Action: Secure women's right to reach the highest attainable standard of physical
and mental health.
Action: Guarantee women's right to development, in particular by providing
women with equal access to economic resources, as well as ensuring their rights
to land tenure, to own property and to equal inheritance, training and credit,
through law, policy and practice.
Action: Enforce women workers' rights on the basis of equality,
non-discrimination and due process, including the right to organize, to collectively
bargain, to health and safety protection, and to a living wage.
*
A longer list of questions and background information from the Beijing Declaration and Platform for
Action related to these demands and actions will be available from the Center for Women's Global
Leadership by January 9, 1998. For more information, please fax us at +1-732-932-1180, or e-mail us at
[email protected].
We are pleased to announce the
1998 Global Campaign for Women's Human Rights website:
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~cwgl/humanrights/
celebrate &
demand
women's
human
rights
1998 global campaign
The website is interactive and gives the user the opportunity to participate in the
campaign in a variety of ways. They can participate in the postcard campaign,
post their own campaign activities, fill out a Women's Global Leadership Institute
application, view the campaign calendar and link to other
women's human rights sites.
Please visit the site and share the address with others.
We welcome your suggestions and comments.
Center for Women's Global Leadership
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
61 Clifton Avenue
New Brunswick
New Jersey 08901-8535
USA
Phone: 1-732-932-8782
Fax: 1-732-932-1180
e-mail: [email protected]
website: http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~cwgl/humanrights/
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Without Reservation: The Global Tribunal on Accountabiltiy for Women's
$15.00
Human Rights. Edited by Niamh Reilly. 1996.
The Indivisibility of Women's Human Rights: A Continuing Dialogue. Edited
10.00
by Susana T. Fried. 1995.
From Vienna to Beijing: The Copenhagen Hearing on Economic Justice and
10.00
Women's Human Rights. 1995.
From Vienna to Beijing: The Cairo Hearing on Reproductive Health and
6.00
Human Rights. 1994.
With Liberty and Justice for All: Women's Human Rights in the United
5.00
States. Mallika Dutt. 1994.
Demanding Accountability: the Global Campaign and Vienna Tribunal for
15.00
Women's Human Rights. Charlotte Bunch and Niamh Reilly. 1994.
Testimonies of the Global Tribunal on Violations of Women's Human Rights.
15.00
1994.
Gender Violence and Women's Human Rights in Africa: A Symposium.
7.00
1994.
The International Campaign for Women's Human Rights 1992-1993 Report.
8.00
1993.
Women, Violence and Human Rights: 1991 Leadership Institute Report.
8.00
1992.
Informe del Instituto de Liderazgo de la Mujer: Mujer, Violencia y Derechos
8.00
Humanos. 1992.
Gender Violence: A Human Rights and Development Issue. Charlotte Bunch
5.00
and Roxanna Carrillo. 1991.
Violencia de Genero: Un Problema de Desarrollo y Derechos Humanos.
5.00
Charlotte Bunch and Roxanna Carrillo. 1991.
La Violence Faite Aux Femmes: Une Question de Développement et de
5.00
Droits Humains. Charlotte Bunch and Roxanna Carrillo. 1991.
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GLOBAL CENTER ELECTRONIC RESOURCES
The following documents are available via e-mail by request. Please send a message to <[email protected]>.
Type "document request" in the Subject box. Indicate the name of the document in your message.
Optional Protocol Background Paper
International Calendar of Activities 16 Days of Activism Campaign '96
Beijing '96: A Global Referendum on the Human Rights of Women
Report of the Women's Human Rights Caucus at the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 1995
Through Women's Eyes: Global Forces Facing Women in the 21st Century
RESOURCE CENTER
The Center for Women's Global Leadership Resource Center contains numerous books, reports, periodicals, working
papers, and articles addressing issues of women's rights and human rights from an international array of authors,
organizations and publishers. All holdings are catalogued in an in-house database. Due to current time and staff
constraints, we cannot do research on demand. Research can only occur onsite and during set appointment hours.
We welcome all to visit us and use our resources. Please call or email the Global Center for information.
For general information about the
Center for Women's Global Leadership ([email protected])
and updated information on the
1998 Global Campaign for Women's Human Rights
visit our gopher site at:
gopher://gopher.igc.apc.org:70/11/orgs/cwg
VIDEO INFORMATION
PUBLICATIONS UPDATE
The Vienna Tribunal: Women's Rights are Human
Migrant Women's Human Rights in G-7
Rights!
Countries: Organizing Strategies, Family
The Vienna Tribunal highlights the moving personal
Violence Prevention Fund and Center for
accounts from women around the world who testified
Women's Global Leadership (1997). Based on
before a panel of eminent judges at the Global
a panel at the NGO Forum in Beijing, this
Tribunal on Violations of Women's Human Rights at
publication reflects on how migrant women in
the NGO Forum of the Fourth World Conference on
countries like the U.S., U.K., Italy and Japan
Human Rights, Vienna 1993. (48 minutes)
have placed issues such as domestic violence,
worker's rights and xenophobia in the public
To order in the United States, contact:
domain. Available Fall 1997.
Women Make Movies
462 Broadway 5th Floor, New York, NY 10013 USA
ph: (1-212)925-0606; fax: (1-212)925-2052
Local Action, Global Change: Learning
About the Human Rights of Women and Girls,
To order outside the United States, contact:
Julie Mertus, with Mallika Dutt and Nancy
Augusta Productions
Flowers, Center for Women's Global
54 Mullock St. St. John's NFLD, Canada A1C2RB
Leadership and UNIFEM (1997). Revision of
ph: (1-709)753-1861; fax: (1-709)579-8090
Our Human Rights: A Manual for Women's
Human Rights a draft distributed for
To order the video in Spanish, contact:
comments at the IV UN World Conference on
SERPAJ-Mexico
Women, Beijing, China, 1995. This publication
Ignacio Mariscal 132, Colonia Tabacalera
is the first comprehensive training manual that
Mexico D.F. 06030
includes the whole spectrum of women's
ph: (52-5)566-4963; fax: (52-5)705-0771
human rights in an "interactive" format.
Available Fall 1997.
Clinton Presidential Records
Digital Records Marker
This is not a presidential record. This is used as an administrative
marker by the William J. Clinton Presidential Library Staff.
This marker identifies the place of a publication.
Publications have not been scanned in their entirety for the purpose
of digitization. To see the full publication please search online or
visit the Clinton Presidential Library's Research Room.
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HUMAN RIGHTS DEPEND ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS
CENTER FOR WOMEN'S
news
GLOBAL LEADERSHIP
NO. 4
SUMMER 1997
1998: Celebrate and
the Beijing Platform for Action: Human Rights of Women,
Violence Against Women, Women and Armed Conflict, and
Demand Women's
THE
the Girl-child.
1998 GLOBAL
CAMPAIGN FOR
Human Rights
The 1998 Global Campaign for Women's Human Rights
will work to make these three important and interrelated
WOMEN'S
events mutually reinforcing in bringing world attention to
HUMAN
By Charlotte Bunch
the rights of women. This campaign will go beyond our
previous statement that women's rights are human rights
RIGHTS
O
n the road to the 21st century, 1998 will bring a
to emphasize that there are no human rights without
series of events that provide a unique opportu-
women's rights. That is to say that building a culture of
nity to focus world attention on women's human
respect for universal human rights requires that the
rights. This can be a year in which we both celebrate the
human rights of women be recognized and protected.
progress made toward achieving women's human rights
For when the violation of women's rights is tolerated and
and demand greater accountability for the many violations
often condoned in the home, on the streets, in the media
that still occur. December 10, 1998 marks the 50th
and in war, then children learn early that the human
anniversary of the adoption by the United Nations of the
rights of any group can be violated with impunity. If the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). This
human rights of women - half of humanity - are belittled,
year is also the fifth anniversary of the World Conference
then all human rights are undermined.
on Human Rights with its historic recognition of women's
As the UN and human rights organizations around the
rights as human rights; the world community, and
world prepare to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the
particularly the UN Commission on Human Rights, will
UDHR, symbolizing world commitment to securing
use this occasion to review implementation of the Vienna
universal human rights for all people, we must ensure
Declaration and Programme of Action. In addition, the
that women and issues of gender and human rights are
1998 session of the UN Commission on the Status of
included in ALL these events. Women everywhere should
Women will review implementation of four key sections of
find out now what plans are being made for the 50th
anniversary at the local and national level
and seek to make women's human rights a
central part of them. The Global Center is
working with others to ensure this
consciousness is present in plans made by
the UN which will hold panels on human
rights throughout 1998 as well as a special
session of the General Assembly around
December 10th.
The Global Campaign for 1998 will be
launched during the next 16 Days of
Activism Against Gender Violence (Nov. 25
- Dec. 10, 1997) with the theme: Demand
Human Rights in the Home and in the
World Derechos Humanos en el Mundo
See 1998 on page 7