Latest news with #CEDAW


Asia News Network
3 days ago
- Politics
- Asia News Network
No to polygamy: The Kathmandu Post
August 6, 2025 KATHMANDU – News on two proposed laws about marriage in Nepal are currently doing the rounds on social media. At the centre of these online discussions are women. The government has initiated a process to revise existing laws to lower the minimum marriage age from 20 years to 18 years, which is something also recommended by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Plus, the Cabinet is drafting a bill to legalise polygamy by compelling a married man to marry for a second time if he is found to have had an extramarital affair resulting in the birth of an illegitimate child. Women have started protesting against both the proposed laws—and rightly so— from the floor of the House of Representatives (HoR), to the streets of the capital to opinion pages of newspapers. Women lawmakers, from the ruling coalition as well as the opposition, voiced their objection to the polygamy-enabling draft during a meeting of the HoR on Monday. Activist Binu Yadav, who has been advocating against domestic violence targeted at women, has started a fresh fast-until-death demanding that the government repeal the provision enabling polygamy in the draft of the bill to amend the Criminal Code. The proposed provision to legalise polygamy would legally recognise children born out of extramarital affairs. But it seems that such a provision is not targeted at reducing extramarital affairs, but enabling them by legalising those affairs. If the illegitimate status of children born out of such relationships were a concern, the government could have, as an alternative, legally recognised such children or forced men to divorce their partner if they were found indulging in an extramarital affair. Instead, men now have more freedom to frolic around and face no legal reprimand for not honouring the institution of marriage. The proposed laws, then, seem to align with the patriarchal narrative of 'men will be men', whereby men are not held to account for their behaviour. There is no silver lining to these recently proposed laws. Both of them are regressive for women, especially the one legalising polygamy. It is unjust on married women to suddenly have to share her husband with another woman as the husband was not satisfied with the marriage. The opinion of women, the social group most impacted by the proposed laws, has been discarded. If the views of the women lawmakers of the ruling coalition were not considered before the laws were drafted, the voice of the common women of the country was surely neither prioritised nor accommodated in the controversial provisions in the proposed bills. This smells of toxic patriarchy. This brings us to the main question: What is the purpose behind these marriage-related proposals? The government must take the perspective of women into account if it wants to revise the marriage laws. Legalising polygamy is not the way forward. There are alternatives to address the issues of the legal illegitimacy of children born out of extramarital affairs. Married women are already subjected to multiple unfair practices stemming from marriage, from the compulsion to quit their careers to take care of the family, to domestic abuse. The government should not heap more misery on them by pushing the proposed revisions to marriage laws.

The National
5 days ago
- Politics
- The National
'Deliberate starvation' of women and girls in Gaza is 'war crime'
Nahla Haidar El Addal, chair of the committee on the elimination of discrimination against women (CEDAW) said that the 'act of seeking food has become a death sentence'. After the October 7 2023 attack by Hamas in Israel, defence minister Yoav Gallant declared a 'complete siege' of Gaza, with Israel cutting off the supply of food, water, fuel and electricity to [[Gaza]]. By December that year, Gazans accounted for 80% of the people in the world experiencing catastrophic hunger. Now, there is widespread starvation and malnutrition, primarily impacting women and girls. More than 20,000 children are reported to have been hospitalised for acute malnutrition between April and mid-July, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), an initiative that provides data on hunger and famine to aid groups and the UN. READ MORE: Keith Brown: UK can't ignore independence demand with SNP majority And now, El Addal has criticised the 'man-made famine' imposed by Israel, particularly on women and girls in Gaza. 'It is a catastrophe that negates our shared humanity,' she said in a statement. 'We reiterate our demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. 'Their suffering and that of their families must end now. 'Over one million women and girls in Gaza are being deliberately starved. 'The entire population faces catastrophic hunger, when the simple act of seeking food has become a death sentence.' She added that there had been a 'total collapse' in basic conditions required to sustain human life, with women paying the 'heaviest price'. 'It is an assault on women's right to health, as mothers watch their infants starve. 'It destroys women's economic lives, erasing their ability to provide for their families. 'And it is a form of gendered coercion, forcing women to risk death in militarized aid lines just to find bread.' El Addal said Israel's 'systematic deprivation of food' amounts to a 'war crime of starvation', and a breach of legally binding orders from the International Court of Justice (ICJ). READ MORE: Kate Forbes to stand down from Holyrood next year 'This disregard for international law must not prevail,' she said. 'There must be an immediate and permanent ceasefire to end this devastating war. 'The siege on Gaza must be lifted to allow a massive, unhindered flow of aid through the relevant UN entities.' El Addal then urged countries to stop supplying arms to Israel that are fueling the crisis, and called on the UN Security Council to 'enforce the law'. 'The UN Security Council must, at last, enforce the law,' she added. 'The women and girls of Gaza are not collateral damage; they are the targets of this famine. "Accountability must be pursued. 'We will not be silent witnesses to the ultimate form of discrimination: the deliberate destruction of the right to exist.' It comes as a UN expert who previously warned Israel was orchestrating a campaign of deliberate mass starvation said that governments cannot claim to be surprised at what is now unfolding. Michael Fakhri, UN special rapporteur on the right to food, told The Guardian: 'Israel has built the most efficient starvation machine you can imagine. 'So while it's always shocking to see people being starved, no one should act surprised. All the information has been out in the open since early 2024.'


Scoop
31-07-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Pay Equity Law Breaches CEDAW, Women's Rights Party Says
Women were shocked to hear the news that the Government had introduced far-reaching changes to the Equal Pay Act under urgency using their Parliamentary majority to pass the Bill the following day. Even Coalition Government MPs were not told of Cabinet's decision until the last minute. Dame Marilyn Waring, with nine other women, all former MPs, set up a People's Select Committee to consider evidence around the changes because organisations and individuals were denied the opportunity to have a say through the usual Select Committee process. Submissions to the People's Select Committee on Pay Equity close today [Thursday, 31 July]. In its submission to the People's Select Committee, the Women's Rights Party said: 'The unbridled power of the Cabinet has impacted on an estimated 180,000 women workers whose pay equity claims have been extinguished and are now in limbo. Many of these claims will not be able to restart under the new pay equity regime.' The Women's Rights Party said the government was in breach of New Zealand's commitments to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) by denying women the right: ' To participate in the formulation of government policy and the implementation.' [1] Countries that have signed up to CEDAW are also required to take 'appropriate measures, including legislation, to ensure the full development and advancement of women, for the purpose of guaranteeing them the exercise and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms on the basis of equality with men.' In addition, CEDAW reinforces ' the right to equal remuneration, including benefits, and to equal treatment in respect of work of equal value as well as equality of treatment in the evaluation of the quality of work'. [2] Any changes to the law which reduced or removed the protections in relation to pay equity would be in breach of CEDAW, the Women's Rights Party said in its submission. The main determinant of the pay gap between men and women is 'occupational segregation' which relates to the undervaluing of work typically performed by women and influenced by sex-based stereotypes that regard work associated with caring, for example, as 'women's work'. The Women's Rights Party said the destruction of avenues for pay equity claims for women workers will have a life-long effect on women well into their retirement. A major source of the disadvantage women face in retirement is inequity in retirement savings because women earn less than men on average over their working life (this is called the 'pay gap penalty'). NZ Super provides crucial support to those aged over 65, but is especially important for women, who are more likely to work part-time and to have periods of time out of paid work. This, and the unequal division of unpaid work, particularly care work, is called the 'mothering penalty'.[3] Women continue to predominate in the caring professions such as nursing and teaching, that are undervalued by society and consequently underpaid. Men in those same occupational groups often rise to leadership and managerial roles that attract higher pay in greater numbers and more rapidly than women. Women also predominate in precarious and low-paid work such as aged care and disability support where they face a daily struggle in the face of cost of living increases in the basics of life – rent, food, petrol. The cancellation of the existing pay equity claims, and the tightening up of requirements to raise new claims, means that work typically done by women will continue to be undervalued. 'This will contribute to the on-going sex-based pay gap, and to the increasing level of 'in-work poverty' with its impact on family incomes and child poverty. It will exacerbate future income inequality for women in retirement as a result of a lifetime of lower wages than their male counterparts,' the Women's Rights Party said.

IOL News
24-07-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Addressing domestic violence: The unfulfilled promises of CEDAW in South Africa
Women's Legal Centre asked the government to implement recommendations set out by the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) to end domestic violence. Image: File The government has been requested to put the recommendations of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) into action to eliminate domestic violence in the country. The Women's Legal Centre (WLC) said there are many recommendations that the government has not implemented five years later, following CEDAW's visit. The centre, through its Gender Responsive Research and Advocacy on CEDAW (GRACE) Project, established that the situation remains dire despite the recommendations set out by the committee. During its three-day visit in 2019, the CEDAW committee engaged with experts, survivors, and civil society organisations. Video Player is loading. 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Next Stay Close ✕ This was after the WLC, along with partner organisations, in 2013, formed a National Task Team and submitted a formal request to the CEDAW committee to investigate South Africa's response to domestic violence, reporting that the high levels of domestic violence in South Africa amount to a grave concern CEDAW's findings in 2021 were unequivocal: the South African government was in grave and systemic violations of its due diligence obligation to prevent and investigate acts of domestic violence, prosecute and punish perpetrators of domestic violence, and provide effective remedies for victims of domestic violence. The committee further noted various violations of rights under the convention, including the right to live free from domestic violence, the right to access to justice, and victim support. In response to these failures, CEDAW issued 21 formal recommendations, including the prevention, investigation and punishment of all forms of domestic violence, the implementation of a National Strategic Plan on gender-based violence (GBV) with dedicated funding and the adoption of the Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill, prohibiting discrimination. The committee also suggested that the government should institutionalise affordable or free legal aid for domestic violence victims, strengthen accountability measures for SAPS officers, and ensure prompt handling of domestic violence cases. It added that offenders should be prosecuted, denied bail, and penalised adequately, and that drug and alcohol treatment and education programmes in communities and schools should be implemented, adding that civil society organisations conducting awareness should be financially supported. The WLC said the Grace research report, conducted in 2025, found that the situation remains dire. According to the research, the country had the highest number of reported rape cases per capita in the world in 2022. SAPS data confirms that 40,035 rapes were reported in 2017 to 2018, rising to 42,780 in 2022 to 2023, and slightly decreasing to 42,569 in 2023 to 2024. In the same timeframe, femicide surged. Between 2021 and 2024, the number of women murdered rose by 33.8%, from 3,771 to 5,578. From 2023 to 2024, 80% of all reported sexual offences were rapes, accounting for more than 42,500 cases. The centre said these findings reinforce what survivors and advocates have long said, that South Africa's laws are not implemented effectively and are not protecting women in practice. Meanwhile, the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities said there is no backlog for GBVF cases, adding that since the establishment of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and SAPS project, a total of 52,101 cases were prioritised for analysis and finalised as directed by the court and NPA. The department said the successful finalisation of all GBVF case backlogs and the significant number of cases prioritised and finalised by the NPA and SAPS project represent a major achievement in ensuring timely justice for survivors. The department said 223 healthcare facilities were designated across nine provinces and their services include medical examination, DNA evidence collection, PEP/HIV testing, compulsory HIV test for sex offenders, and medical reports for the court. The department added that 95% of child support grants are paid to women, and an inter-ministerial committee on GBVF and substance abuse was established to deal with interlinked social ills. However, WLC said the legal framework is strong on paper but frequently fails due to poor enforcement, chronic underfunding, and fragmented implementation. The centre added that there is a widespread lack of accountability, adding that government actors often face no consequences when they fail in their duties. 'Frontline workers, including police and court officials, lack training, and awareness of domestic violence law. Protection orders are inconsistently applied, often ignored, and in some cases, women were murdered despite having one in place,' said WLC, adding that there is also a lack of meaningful partnership between government and civil society, with some organisations afraid to speak out due to funding risks. 'CEDAW is not just symbolic; it is legally binding. The government didn't just sign it; it committed to it by its ratification of the convention. And yet, women are still experiencing violence and being killed.'


Irish Independent
13-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Independent
David Quinn: Thought you'd had your say on women in the home? The UN wants you to think again
Bureaucrats in Geneva and Brussels should not be interfering in how governments run their countries The United Nations has asked us to hold another referendum on mothers in the home. To be more precise, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) has done so. They did not like the answer we gave last year when we voted by almost three to one to keep the Constitution as it is, so they want us to try again and do better. Does this remind you of anything? It should. Do you recall when we were asked by the EU to go to the polls again when we rejected the Nice Treaty in 2002 and the Lisbon Treaty in 2008?