International Human Rights Law & Importance of Domestication at the Country Level – CEDAW Example
Author: Womens UN Report Network
Date: July 29, 2015
WUNRN
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/InternationalLaw.aspx
International Human Rights Law
The
international human rights movement was strengthened when the United Nations
General Assembly adopted of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on
10 December 1948. Drafted as ‘a common standard of achievement for all peoples
and nations’, the Declaration for the first time in human history spell out
basic civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights that all human
beings should enjoy. It has over time been widely accepted as the fundamental
norms of human rights that everyone should respect and protect. The UDHR,
together with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its
two Optional Protocols, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, form the so – called International Bill of Human Rights.
A
series of international human rights treaties and other instruments adopted
since 1945 have conferred legal form on inherent human rights and developed the
body of international human rights. Other instruments have been adopted at the
regional level reflecting the particular human rights concerns of the region
and providing for specific mechanisms of protection. Most States have also
adopted constitutions and other laws which formally protect basic human rights.
While international treaties and customary law form the backbone of
international human rights law other instruments, such as declarations,
guidelines and principles adopted at the international level contribute to its
understanding, implementation and development. Respect for human rights
requires the establishment of the rule of law at the national and international
levels.
International
human rights law lays down obligations which States are bound to respect. By
becoming parties to international treaties, States assume obligations and
duties under international law to respect, to protect and to fulfil human
rights. The obligation to respect means that States must refrain from
interfering with or curtailing the enjoyment of human rights. The obligation to
protect requires States to protect individuals and groups against human rights
abuses. The obligation to fulfil means that States must take positive action to
facilitate the enjoyment of basic human rights.
Through ratification of international human rights treaties,
Governments undertake to put into place domestic measures and legislation
compatible with their treaty obligations and duties. Where domestic legal
proceedings fail to address human rights abuses, mechanisms and procedures for
individual complaints or communications are available at the regional and
international levels to help ensure that international human rights standards
are indeed respected, implemented, and enforced at the local level.
DOMESTICATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW AT THE COUNTRY LEVEL IS NOT A
SIMPLE PROCESS & YET CAN BE EXCEEDINGLY
IMPORTANT TO WOMEN – SEE DETAILS THAT FOLLOW ON THE PROCESS OF
TRYING TO DOMESTICATE CEDAW IN NIGERIA
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/12/experts-task-govt-full-domestication-cedaw-2015/
December 14, 2014
– Experts Task Nigeria Government on Full Domestication of CEDAW by 2015
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http://ng.boell.org/2013/10/14/womens-convention-nigeria
14 October 2013 – The
United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW) is an International Instrument for the Protection of
Women’s Rights, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1979,
but entered into force in 1981. According to Article 18 of this convention
State Parties are obliged to submit periodic reports to the CEDAW Committee
every four years. Nigeria has been a state party since 1985 and in compliance
to her obligation under the above article submitted the 6th country periodic
report in 2006, which was deliberated upon on July 3, 2008.
Nigeria NGOs participated in the process for the first
time in 1998 during the combined 2nd and 3rd periodic reporting and has since
then been consistent in their participation in 2004 and 2008 respectively.
WACOL coordinated the writing of the 2004 report which was used as a basis for
CEDAW Committee’s engagement with the Nigerian delegation at the UN. To build
on what was achieved in 2004, WACOL with support from Heinrich Boll Foundation
once again facilitated a coalition of over 148 local partners and gender-focused
organizations from the 6 geopolitical zones of the country to prepare a Shadow
Report “CEDAW And Accountability to Gender Equality in Nigeria – A Shadow
Report“which was presented to the CEDAW Committee during their meeting with
NGOs.
23 years after the ratification of CEDAW by Nigeria, its provisions still
remains only paper and cannot be enforced in any court in Nigeria, as a process
of domestication must be undergone according to article 12 of the Nigeria
Constitution, before it can become part of the nation’s local law.
Nigeria owes an obligation to CEDAW Committee to make
domestic laws to conform to the provisions of CEDAW apart from periodic
progress report. It is worthy to note that though Nigeria NGOs participation in
this process only started about a decade ago through Alternative or Shadow
reporting to complement government’s submissions in 1998, 2004 and recently
2008 , yet through effective lobbying, they have been able to influence the
Committee’s decisions in all their concluding observations.
The Meeting which took place at the UN Headquarters in
New York from June 30 to July 18, 2008, witnessed the review of reports of 8
countries: Yemen, Nigeria, Lithuania, Iceland, Finland, United Kingdom,
Tanzania and Slovakia. The Foundation supported the participation of two
partners and the Program Manager of the Women’s Rights and Human Rights
Programme to the meeting. Prior to this, the International Women’s Rights
Action Watch (IWRAW) in their usual practice organized 3-day training for NGOs
representatives from countries whose reports were coming up for review. The
programme entitled “From Global to Local” was designed to contribute towards
filling the gap between human rights monitoring by the CEDAW Committee at the
international level and grassroots activism demanding government accountability
at the national level. The programme provides technical guidance and support on
the CEDAW reporting process to women’s NGOs, and facilitates the presence of
women from reporting countries at the CEDAW sessions to monitor and observe the
review of their government’s report and to interact with the CEDAW Committee
members. Since 1997, women’s organisations in more than 100 countries have
participated in the programme. 8 Representatives from Nigeria NGOs who were
part of the drafting of two Shadow reports attended the training: Ms. Favour
Irabor (Civil Liberties Organisation) and Ms. Elizabeth Orji. (International
Federation of Female Lawyers-FIDA, Enugu State chapter), Uju Obiora (Heinrich
Böll Foundation), Chibogu Obinwa (BAOBAB), Sr. Rosemary Ukata (Centre for
Women’s Rights and Intervention-CWSI), Dorothy Oleka, Halima Ukagha and Laura
Routley (all from Women’s Aid Collective-WACOL). The training provided an
insight into the UN lobbying system, the committee members and their areas of
interest /specialization and techniques for constructive engagements.
Recognising the usefulness of NGOs-CEDAW Committee
consultations, the Foundation also supported a Lunch meeting of Nigeria NGOs
with CEDAW Committee members where the Shadow Report was formally launched.
This meeting was a huge success as it drew 20 out of 22 serving CEDAW Committee
members and provided another good opportunity for further engagement with the
committee members on an informal level.
Nigeria’s report was considered on 3rd July, 2008. With a
delegation of 73 persons, the Nigeria team led by the honourable minister for
women affairs, Hajia Saudatu Usman Bungudu was the largest ever in the history
of CEDAW meeting. The Minister in her executive summary of the government
report responded to issues raised in the previous reports as well as other
issues highlighted in the government report. The reading of the executive
summary provoked a lot of questions which were mainly addressed by select members
of the large delegation.
Some of the questions raised were: Why federal government
is not working hard towards the domestication of CEDAW, Is it possible to have
a yearly assessment of CEDAW with her very large delegation, are local laws
abiding by the principles of CEDAW, do the national, state and local poverty
reduction strategies recognize the principles of CEDAW, issues around FGM,
widowhood rites, early marriage, state shelter for battered women, access to
land, nationality / citizenship and indignity were also discussed. A Committee
member Ms. Glenda Simms from Jamaica was particularly displeased with the
Nudity Bill which a parliamentarian present at the meeting was sponsoring.
The concluding observation on Nigeria revealed that NGOs
engagement with CEDAW Committee was useful and quite rewarding, as it captures
recommendations made in the Shadow Report such as domestication of CEDAW and
amendment of all discriminatory provisions in federal and state legislations,
elimination of cultural/traditional practices, increasing women’s political
participation, reducing maternal mortality etc.
The discourse on the CEDAW Bill and controversy
surrounding its passage has been ongoing for the past two years. Even though
Nigeria has shown a sustained compliance with the provisions of Article 18 of
the CEDAW Convention in submitting the statutory periodic reports, its failure
to domesticate the Convention has remained a source of concern on the extent of
its commitment to women’s rights protection.
As a leading African State Party to the Convention,
domestication is not only long overdue but its absence is no longer tenable
given the costly implications it has to the image and opportunities of support
for Nigeria at the UN and other international fora. The first chance of
domesticating the bill was aborted in 2007 when legislators argued that its
provision on reproductive rights was contrary to our culture. Mrs. Oby
Nwankwo, an HBF grantee, is one of the major vanguards in the advocacy for the
domestication of CEDAW, and has written books and articles published in
Nigerian dailies. Mrs Nwankwo has been criticized publicly by Nigerians who do
not believe in the equality of men and women. A major antagonist to CEDAW is
the Nigerian Senate president, Mr. David Mark, who responding to Nwankwo’s
published article condemned her and all the funding organizations that
support reproductive health and rights issues. In his article in The Guardian,
he maintains that “CEDAW is a lying snake which must be killed before it crawls
into the house” calling on Nigerians to reject the use of African soil as a
dumping ground for all sorts of evil by neo-imperialists.
A Post-CEDAW debriefing workshop was held to facilitate
information and feedback on the concluding observations and establish a
strategic committee on CEDAW implementation by the NGO CEDAW coalition. An
action plan on strategies for implementation/follow up on the CEDAW committee’s
observations and implementation of CEDAW in Nigeria was a major outcome of that
meeting. Activities were planned towards the branding and domestication of
CEDAW. Working groups were assigned with duties which include review of the
CEDAW bill and why it was thrown out, comparative analysis of international
best practices, awareness creating, modification of the old CEDAW bill,
creating a domain name /website on CEDAW, training of stakeholders etc.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
From Mexico – July 6, 2015
In
2011 the Mexican Congress included the Human Rights Treaties at Constitutional
level. Therefore, we have been managing and the judicial power has accepted it
– The General Recommendations and the Country ones as International
Jurispudence.
Mta. Teresa C. Ulloa Ziáurriz
Directora Regional – CATWLAC
www.catwlac.org
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