United Nation and

Human Rights of
Women

PINTU KUMAR PATEL

CUSB1613131005
LLM-2016-17

What is the United

Nations?

The UN was formed after the tragedy of the

Second World War to promote international
peace, achieve international cooperation
for international problems and advance
human rights. Australia became a member
of the UN in 1945 and was one of the very
first members. Since then nearly every
nation in the world has joined the UN and
there are now 192 member countries

Why do we need a
United Nations

The UN and its agencies protect vulnerable

groups of human beings including women,
children, refugees, displaced persons,
minorities, indigenous people and people with
disabilities
The UN and its agencies help to share
information, build economies and provide
assistance for development, or to deal with
crises. The aim is to eradicate disease, expand
food production and increase stability around
the world

Womens rights are

human rights
The UN Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW) is the key international
human rights document that seeks to
ensure the enforcement of the human
rights of women on an equal basis with
men

The UN: Protecting the

rights of women
The United Nations (UN) deals with many
aspects of human rights and other
international issues. Several specialized
departments and agencies have been
established within the UN to deal
specifically with concerns relating to women

Gender Discrimination
Throughout
Foeticide
and infanticide A Lifetime
UNICEF notes that Where there is a clear economic
or cultural preference for sons, the misuse of
[pregnancy diagnostic tools] can facilitate female
foeticide.
Adolescence
Among the greatest threats to adolescent
development are abuse, exploitation and violence,
and the lack of vital knowledge about sexual and
reproductive health, including HIV/AIDS.

Constitutional provisions
Article 14 embodies the idea of equality
expressed in preamble
Article 15(3) allows the state to make
special provisions for women and children
Article 39 (a) Urges the state to provide
equal right to adequate means of
livelihood to men and women
Article 51 A (e) says that it is the duty of
the citizens to renounce practices that are
derogatory to the dignity of women

The Commission on the

Status of Women (CSW)
The CSW is an intergovernmental body that
forms part of the Economic and Social
Council of the UN (ECOSOC)
The CSW consists of 45 members elected
by the ECOSOC for a period of four years

The Division for the

Advancement of Women
(DAW)

The DAW is part of the UN Secretariat and

specializes in issues concerning the status
of women
It is the major part of the UN bureaucracy
that advocates for the improvement of the
status of women of the world, and the
achievement of their equality with men

CEDAW
The Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW) was adopted in 1979 by the UN
General Assembly and entered into force
on 3 September 1981
CEDAW has often been described as an
international bill of rights for women

 On the 30th anniversary of CEDAW Inter

Press Service (IPS) listed
a number of benefits the womens right treaty
has provided around the world
,
Morocco gave women greater equality and
protection of their human rights within
marriage and divorce by passing a new
family code in 2004
India has accepted legal obligations to
eliminate discrimination against women and
outlawed sexual harassment in the workplace

 In Cameroon, the Convention is applied in local courts

and groundbreaking decisions on gender equality are
being made by the countrys high courts
Mexico passed a law in 2007 toughening its laws on
violence against women
And the CEDAW committee in Austria decided two
complaints against Austria concerning domestic
violence in 2007
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also noted that
within the UN itself, the number of women in senior
posts has increased by 40 percent

UN Development Fund
for
Women
(UNIFEM)
this specialized agency of the UN works

with national governments to promote

women's empowerment and gender
equality
Since its creation in 1976, UNIFEM has
supported numerous projects and initiatives
throughout the developing world that
promote the political, economic, and social
empowerment of women

Some of the most important

characteristics of human
rights are the following:

They are internationally recognized

They are legally protected
They focus on the dignity of the human being
They protect individuals and groups
They obligate State and State actors
They cannot be waived/taken away
They are equal and interdependent
They are universal

Human rights of women

are:

Universal everyone should enjoy human rights

without discrimination as to sex, age, language,
religion, or race
Inviolable women rights are an essential element
of ones humanity. It cannot be violated unless
determined by law and solely for the purpose of
securing due recognition and respect for the rights
of others and of meeting the just requirements of the
general welfare, morality and public order in a
democratic society
Interdependent- women rights cannot be sacrificed
in favor of other rights because taken together,
these rights make human beings whole.

What are the different groups

of women rights
According to nature:
Civil rights- rights of individuals to be protected from
arbitrary interference by government in their life liberty
and security, freedom to travel, right to due process.
Political rights- rights of individuals to interfere and
participate in the affairs of the governments e.g. right to
vote, stand for election, participate in state and social
management, freedom of speech, press, assembly
Social, economic and cultural rights-progressive
demands of the women to improve their standard of
living. e.g. right to education, work, healthy and working
environment, practice of religion use of ones language
and enjoy ones culture.

Who is responsible to
implement women rights?
The STATE has the primary responsibility to:
Respect required refraining from interfering
with the enjoyment of the right
Protect requires the prevention of violations
of such rights by other persons or third party
Fulfill requires States to take appropriate
legislative, administrative, budgetary, judicial
and other measure towards the full realization
of such rights.

Governance
According to UN General Assembly
resolution 64/289, which established UN
Women, the organization is governed by a multitiered intergovernmental governance
intergovernmental governance structure for the
normative support functions and shall provide
normative policy guidance to the Entity
for the operational activities and shall provide
operational policy guidance to the Entity.

THE CORE INTERNATIONAL

WOMEN RIGHTS INSTRUMENTS
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women (CEDAW-OP)
Declaration on the Protection of Women and
Children in Emergency and Armed Conflict
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence
against Women

UN Strategic Results
Framework on Women,
Peace and Security:
2011-2020
United Nations entities commit to take concrete
actions under the four goal areas listed below
in order to strengthen support to national
implementation, strengthen the basis on which
to assess progress and improve system-wide
coordination on women, peace and security

 Prevention:
Prevention of conflict and all forms of violence
against women and girls in conflict and post
conflict situations
Participation:
Women participate equally with men and gender
equality is promoted in peace and security
decision-making processes at national, local,
regional and international levels
Protection:
Womens and girls rights are protected and
promoted in conflict-affected situations

Statistic
38% of all murdered women are killed by
their partner
Sources:London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medi
cine, 2013
almost half were killed by a partner or
relative compared to less than 6% of men
Sources:- United Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime, 2014

92% of sexual violence and 88 % reported

verbal sexual harashment
Sources:- UN Women, 2013
Around 1 in 10 (120 million) girls worldwide
have experienced sexual violence at some
point in their lives.
Sources:- UNICEF, 2014
34% of women with a health problem or
disability had experienced violence by a
partner
Sources:- European Union Agency for
Fundamental Rights, 2014

conflict
4% ofPeace
signatories and
in 31 major
peace processes
between 1992 and 2011 were women
Sources:- UN Women, 2011
7.4% of countries have had female heads of
states over the last 50 years
Sources:- World Economic Forum, 2013
Out of 585 peace agreements from 1990 to
2010, only 92 contained any reference to
women
Sources:- International and Comparative Law
Quarterly, 2010

Women is the sole of

world, if no women there
is no world