Women Have Rights!

High-Level Session On 4-15 March At The United Nations Every year the U.N. hosts a high-level meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). This year, from 4-15 March, it was the 57th time the commission convened and with a great number of delegates from all over the world attended. The topic of this year’s session was elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls. There were more than 100 side-events at the U.N. and more than 70 cabinet ministers attended from various states.

The Estonian Delegation was headed by H.E. Mr. Urmas Paet, Minister of Foreign Affairs. The other members of the delegation were Mrs. Liina Kanter, Head of Gender Equality Department from the Ministry of Social Affairs, Mrs. Eha Reitelmann, Chair of the Estonian Women’s Associations Roundtable (EWAR), Ms. Helen Sӧӧl, Chief Specialist at Gender Equality Department from the Ministry of Social Affairs, and Ms. Pille Kesler, diplomat from the Estonian Mission to the U.N. Mrs. Michelle Bachelet, Director of UN Women, gave the opening statement. She said, “We are here in this Commission on the Status of Women because every person has the right to live free of violence and discrimination. The world can no longer afford the cost of violence against women and girls neither the price of the the deep human pain and suffering and the social and economic expen-ses involved. My message is: Now is the time for action.” On 4 March Estonian and Armenian missions to the U.N. organized a side-event titled “U.N. Security Council resolution 1325 “What Lies Ahead?” This Security Council’s resolution “Women, Peace and Security” was adopted in 2000 to acknowledge the disproportionate effect of war and conflicts on women and children. Foreign Minister Paet was one of the panelists of our side-event. He said, “Estonia remains concerned about the lack of accountability when it comes to those who have committed gross violations of human rights.” He added, “Resolution 1325 binds the elements of security, development and human rights indivisibly and contains elements of such concepts and topics as responsibility to protect, humanitarian and development cooperation, children in armed conflicts, sexual violence, education, etc.” He underlined that Ambassador Tiina Intelmann, President of the Assembly of States Parties of the International Criminal Court, has repeatedly raised the issue of sexual violence against women and girls, which can amount to the international crimes. Mrs. Bineta Diop, founder and president of Femmes Africa Solidarite, was another member of the panel. Mrs. Diop has led numerous peacebuilding programs in Africa and was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2011. The participation at our side-event was great due to active advertising and assistance from the Armenian NGOs. Foreign Minister Paet also spoke at the U.N. among other ministers. He said, ”On the justice system side we have the Guidelines for Development of Criminal Policy until 2018, which provide that Estonia must have a sufficient number of shelters for victims of criminal offences, including victims of domestic violence and trafficking. In addition, Estonia has a National Action Plan for the implementation of the Security Council resolution 1325 with the goal of defining and systematizing our activities in the field of international peace missions and development cooperation.” During the official visit to the U.N., Foreign Minister Paet had a bilateral meeting with Mrs. Bachelet. This is an entity of the U.N. that focuses on gender equality and empowerment of women. Mrs. Bachelet, a former Chilean president in 2006-2010, has herself suffered torture under the Pinochet regime. It’s noteworthy that she found time to meet our minister despite her busy schedule. Foreign Minister Paet also met with Mrs. Zainab Hawa Bangura, the U.N.’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict. Our minister underlined that use of sexual violence as a weapon of war is unacceptable.

Mrs. Reitelmann, who is active in the Estonian Women’s Associations Round-table, attended the CSW for the first time. According to her, there is still insufficient understanding of the importance of gender equality in Estonia. She said that stereotyping is still very common. She had a brochure containing old-fashioned myths about how women are supposed to behave and what roles to fill. It’s upsetting that women are often seen as mothers and caretakers while men see themselves as the main breadwinners. Women should have a free choice to decide which path to choose. According to the EWAR website, “Estonian women have joined together for the purpose of finding solutions to women’s problems: violence against women, wages lower than men’s, general lack of men’s involvement in raising children, general lack of women in positions where important decisions are made.” Please visit www.enu.ee for more information. It was a great honor for Estonia that Mrs. Liina Kanter was selected to speak at the Commission’s priority panel. She stated, “As a strong supporter of the rights-based approach, Estonia remains committed to the principle of equality between women and men as a fundamental right. This principle has its roots in our constitution, dating from 1920, whereas the right to participate in elections was granted to women already in 1918.” “My experience shows that surprisingly it is the women themselves who are frequently the ones that protest boisterously against gender equality,” said Mrs. Kanter. Women should pursue a career if possible and get a good education, so in the future they can provide a better life for their children. Mrs. Kanter and Mrs. Reitelmann visited the Estonian House on 8 March and left a nice inscription in the guest book. They found the house very cozy and were surprised how lucky we are to have such a quiet haven and a beautiful club in the big city.

At the Commission was clear that among world states there are various attitudes towards women’s rights. While the Western countries consider the human rights universal, there are countries which argue that different religious and cultural values must be taken into account as well. Negotiations were very intense and often lasted into the late evening hours.

At the end the Commission adopted a final document, called “Agreed Conclusions” which says that violence against women and girls must end and that all states have the obligation, at all levels, to use all appropriate means of a legislative, political, economic, social and administrative nature in order to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls. All states must punish the perpetrators of violence against women and girls and end the impunity.

Anne McCullom