UN Special Rapporteurs Call for Investment in Women & Girls for Gender Equality & Prevention of Gender Violence

UNITED NATIONS

Press
Release

On the occasion of International
Women’s Day (8 March), the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Human
Rights Council on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences, Yakin
Ertürk, the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, Miloon Kothari, and the
Independent Expert on the effects of economic reform policies and foreign
debt on the full enjoyment of human rights, particularly economic, social and
cultural rights, Bernards A.N. Mudho, issued the following
statement:

On the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on
Human Rights and 15 years after the Vienna Human Rights Conference, the
reality of women around the world is still far from the ideal of rights.
Furthermore, civil and political rights are still perceived to be the
foundation of rights without due consideration of the equal importance of
economic, social and cultural rights. In this respect, the theme of this
year’s International Women’s Day, “Investing in Women and Girls” is
a timely reminder that women’s access to sources of finance, participation in
decision making processes on macro economic and fiscal policies, and
entitlements for sustainable livelihoods are paramount towards bridging the
gap between universal human rights standards and the realities of the
majority of the world’s women.

Economic policy and management continues to be seen as a
neutral and technical process, insulated from the prevailing power dynamics,
including gender relations, on which societies are based. The neo-liberal
economic approach, which has become a strong policy framework applied in the
context of globalization, has favoured the primacy of markets over human
development concerns. Current economic conditions bear upon women’s welfare
directly, by transforming their family and community on the one hand, and
often prodding them to become providers of cheap and flexible labour for the
globalizing markets on the other. In the past two decades the participation
of women in the labour force has experienced considerable growth. In some
cases, this has resulted in greater autonomy for women; however, the process
has also in many cases increased the vulnerability of women and girls to
unchecked exploitation, abuse and violence.

Trade and fiscal policies largely privileging property
rights and investors’ interests over human rights, privatisation, and the
exploitation of natural resources by businesses, without appropriate
regulatory and monitoring mechanisms by Governments, have in many cases
resulted in loss of livelihood, dispossession from homes and lands,
impoverishment and a widening of the gap between the rich and the poor and
women and men. Despite the growing commitment on the part of States and other
actors to combat violence against women, increased poverty and
marginalisation and lack of protective mechanisms fuel violence, make women
and girls easy targets for abuses such as trafficking and erode women’s
enjoyment of their rights.

In this regard, the announcement by the Secretary General
on 25 February 2008 of a United Nations campaign to end violence against
women is a most welcome initiative. While such a campaign promoted by the
highest authority of the United Nations demonstrates the much needed
leadership that will give momentum to the anti-violence efforts of the past
decades, its success will ultimately be determined by the allocation of
sufficient funds for its implementation.

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, we call on
States, bilateral and multilateral donor agencies and business enterprises to
step up efforts to respect, protect and fulfill women’s civil, cultural,
economic, political and social rights, and allocate adequate resources
towards addressing discrimination and violence against women. It must also be
borne in mind that investing in women and girls has a multiplier effect on
productivity, efficiency and sustained economic growth. Women must be
empowered to claim the full range of their human rights, and cannot do so
until they are liberated from charitable dispensations and the vagaries of
the market.