A revised U.N. reporting schedule for 2005 is now available. Among other countries, the following nations have reports due this year:

• Albania (CRC)
• Mongolia (CRC)
• Bosnia-Herzegovina (CRC)
• Russian Federation (CRC)
• Turkey (CEDAW)
• Croatia (CEDAW)
• Former Yugoslav (CEDAW)
• Azerbaijan (CERD)
• Georgia (CERD)
• Lithuania (CERD)
• Turkmenistan (CERD)
• Uzbekistan (ICCPR)
• Slovenia (ICCPR)
• Tajikistan (ICCPR)
• Serbia and Montenegro (ICESCR)
• Uzbekistan (ICESCR)
• Slovenia (ICESCR)
• Albania (CAT)
• Hungary (CAT)
• Bosnia-Herzegovina (CAT)

Reporting Schedule   (PDF, 3 pages)

Sociometer, an independent sociological center, recently conducted a public opinion poll on sexual harassment in Armenia. The poll concluded that 78 percent of Armenian women consider themselves subject to violence and sexual harassment. In Yerevan and the regions of Shirak, Lori and Aragatsotn, 63 to 64 percent of women interviewed claimed to have experienced sexual harassment at their places of employment. According to the poll, such treatment causes one in every five women to quit her job and 5 percent of women have been forced into unwanted relationships with a male co-worker in a superior position within the company.

The poll documents that sexual harassment is most prevalent in government positions at the state-level and, oftentimes, the targets of sexual harassment are highly educated women who have postponed marriage to further their careers.

Upon release of the poll, Lilit Avetisyan, leader of the NGO, Women’s Forum, underlined the importance of passing certain amendments to the Labor Code of Armenia presented to the Armenian Parliament in November 2003.

Compiled from: Violence Against Armenian Women, News, The Network of East-West Women-Polska, www.neww.org, 25 February 2005.

The Executive Director of AWID, Joanna Kerr, explains the key processes associated with the Millennium Development Goals. The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were created in 2000 during a meeting of world leaders, and in September of 2005, leaders will once again meet at the Millennium Summit in New York. The Summit has a three part agenda: 1) reviewing achievements made towards the Millenniumm Declaration 2) discussing terrorism and security issues and 3) discussing UN reform. Kerr explains that the third Millennium Development is the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women, and sees the indicator for this goal as the eradication of gender disparity in primary and secondary educational institutions. This frustrates many women’s organizations because issues such as violence against women, reproductive and sexual rights, and women’s labour rights are not reflected in goal 3. Despite this, several UN agencies utilize the MDGs and Millennium Summit to advance gender equality—and the Department for Economic and Social Affairs at the UN is working to expand the scope of targets and indicators for goal 3. There are also groups working outside of the UN system—such as the Millennium Project—which has several task forces researching how to successfully achieve the eight Millennium Goals as well as gender equality. Kerr sees the top feminist priorities for 2005 as: making sure that the Beijing +10 meeting feeds into the Millennium Summit, and that issues of violence against women and reproductive rights, among many other issues, are considered by governments.

Compiled from: "Demystifying the MDG's Processes," The Network of East—West Women—Polska/NEWW

In order to call on governments to fully reaffirm the Beijing Platform for Action, letters in English, Czech, Bulgarian and Slovak are being sent. If you would like to sign the letter, send an e-mail to ngocsw49@yahoo.com with the name of your organization and country. Because most of the negotiations regarding the political declaration will occur before the Beijing +10 meeting, it is important that work be done on a national scale prior to the meeting. At the commencement of the Beijing+10 meeting, if the political declaration is still under negotiation, this letter (and its signatures) will be used in the media and for other purposes in New York. Hence, the more organizations that sign-on to the letter—the greater the impact and message the letter will hold. The letter, titled, “A Sign-on Letter Calling on Governments to Universally Reaffirm and Implement the Beijing Platform for Action,” and the number of signatures collected will be available at www.peacewomen.org.

Compiled from: "Urgent Action--Letters from CEE," The Network of East—West Women—Polska/NEWW; www.un.org/womenwatch/

News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International

AI Index: ACT 77/006/2005 24 February 2005

Beijing +10: No rollback on rights

On the eve of the 49th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), Amnesty International is calling on all governments attending the session to uphold and protect women’s human rights.

As part of its Stop Violence Against Women (SVAW) campaign, Amnesty International’s research has shown that women’s human rights continue to be grossly violated despite government commitments to promote and protect them. Today Amnesty International is launching a report, No turning back -- full implementation of women's human rights, in which the organization draws attention to violations of women's human rights in a number of countries and urges governments to take immediate steps to end such abuse and bring the perpetrators to justice.

"Governments must be held to account and resist any attempts to go back on earlier commitments," said Hilary Fisher, Director of the Stop Violence Against Women Campaign.

The CSW session, which begins on 28 February, will review and appraise governments' progress toward implementing the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (PfA), adopted at the Fourth United Nations (UN) World Conference on Women in September 1995 in Beijing, China. The review will focus on assessing the implementation at the national level of these documents as well as of the outcome document from the five-year review by the Special Session of the General Assembly in 2000.

Together with other NGOs based at the UN in New York, Amnesty International is calling on governments to universally reaffirm all three of these human rights documents, to re-commit to full and prompt implementation at the national level, and to emphasize the integral connection between respecting women’s human rights and realizing the Millennium Declaration and Millennium Development Goals. This powerful call from civil society to governments in the form of a global sign-on letter is available at http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maaddLoabev0Pbe1UKub/

In partnership with other NGOs, Amnesty International will host a number of events on the fringes of the CSW session, including an activist workshop on due diligence, a panel on discriminatory legislation, and a third event with partner organisations Oxfam and International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) around the launch in Johannesburg of the SVAW & Control Arms Campaign report "The Impact of Guns on Women’s Lives" , which shows that women are paying an increasingly heavy price for the unregulated billion-dollar trade in small arms.

For a full copy of the report No turning back -- full implementation of women's human rights please go to: http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maaddLoabev0Qbe1UKub/

Background

In June 2000, the UN General Assembly convened in Special Session to review the progress achieved and remaining obstacles to implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Beijing Platform for Action. Amnesty International and other NGOs were dismayed at the rollback of progress made on women’s human rights, including in other international forums, such as the World Conference on Human Rights, by the Special Session. Some states challenged the basic premise that women’s rights are human rights, questioned the responsibility of states to protect the human rights of women, and succeeded in removing references to human rights treaties from the outcome document for the session.

For further information please contact: Saria Rees-Roberts on + 44 7778 472 173

Stop Violence Against Women campaign website at http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maaddLoabev0Rbe1UKub/

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The United Nations Population Fund website on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment has recently been updated.  New features include a resource page on UNFPA and the Beijing at Ten review, as well as a new story on a women’s empowerment program in Viet Nam.  See the site for these features, as well as to learn more about the connections between UNFPA and the Beijing at 10 review.

Please visit:

www.unfpa.org/gender

Compiled from:  United Nations Population Fund:  Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, www.unfpa.org/gender, 21st February, 2005

International Discrimination Law: A Handbook for Practitioners has just been published by INTERIGHTS.  Integrating theory of equality with reviews of international equality standards, the Handbook for Practitioners is designed to be an invaluable resource to any practitioners developing and identifying discrimination cases.  The book covers key concepts of equality and discrimination law with relevant provisions of regional and international human rights instruments, as well as looking at practical challenges such as procedural and evidential issues in claiming discrimination. 

The Handbook for Practitioners will be updated annually to ensure that it is fully up to date with international discrimination law.  For more information and to download the Handbook, please visit: 

http://www.interights.org/pubs/discriminationhandbook.asp.

compiled from: International Discrimination Law: A Handbook for Practitioners, www.interights.org,  21^st February, 2005

News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International AI
Index: IOR 30/003/2005 21 February 2005

Council of Europe: Protect victims of people trafficking

JOINT PRESS RELEASE
Amnesty International and Anti-Slavery International

Amnesty International and Anti-Slavery International are calling on European countries to focus new anti-trafficking measures on protecting victims - not just national borders.

The call comes as a drafting group of representatives of the 46 Council of Europe member states (known as the CAHTEH) are due to begin their last meeting in Strasbourg on 22 February to finalise the draft European Convention Against Trafficking in Human Beings.

“The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has already set out a blueprint for a convention that will focus on protecting the rights of trafficked people. Council of Europe member states must set a high standard when it comes to protecting trafficked peoples' rights - rather than settling for the lowest common denominator standards,” said Mary Cunneen, Director of Anti-Slavery International, which has been working to eradicate slavery for over 160 years.

"It is of vital importance that the 25 European Union (EU) member states - which form the majority of the Council of Europe states - support the higher standards embodied in the PACE recommendations. This will require that most of the states agree to include provisions in the Council of Europe treaty which are more protective of the rights of trafficked persons than those set out in their national law or EU legislation. Many existing laws focus more on criminalization and border control; they link assistance and protection to a trafficked person's willingness to participate in law enforcement efforts against the traffickers. The focus should be on respect and protection of trafficked persons human rights", said Jill Heine, Legal Adviser for Amnesty International.

"A stronger treaty would be an indispensable tool in the fight against this serious human rights violation, whose incidence has increased dramatically within Europe over the past 10 years," said the representatives of Amnesty International and Anti-Slavery International, who will be attending the CAHTEH meeting in Strasbourg.

In particular, Amnesty International and Anti-Slavery International call on CAHTEH to ensure that the European Convention against Trafficking requires that:

- trafficked persons are given access to necessary medical assistance;

- a minimum recovery and reflection period of at least 3 months is offered to all trafficked persons, and that the person's presence in the country is regularized and recognized during this time;

- minimum 6 months-renewable and permanent residence permits are issued to trafficked persons on the basis of the needs and risks of their personal situation and/or to ensure their presence during proceedings (against the traffickers and/or for compensation), and family reunification is available;

- trafficked persons are not detained, charged, or prosecuted for illegal entry or residence and activities which are a direct consequence of their situation as trafficked persons.

In addition provisions for monitoring implementation of this treaty by states should be strengthened. There should be one single independent expert body (called “GRETA”) which monitors the implementation of the Convention by EU and non-EU member states alike, and is mandated to consider collective complaints from non-governmental organizations alleging the non-fulfilment of a state’s obligations under the Convention.

These recommendations draw from existing international standards, echo those of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in its Opinion adopted in January 2005, and reflect the recommendations expressed by 179 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working for or on behalf of trafficked persons.

Background

The European Convention against Trafficking in Human Beings is being drafted by the Ad Hoc Committee on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (CAHTEH). At its January 2005 plenary session, PACE adopted an Opinion on the December 2004 draft European Convention against Trafficking prepared by the CAHTEH (see link: http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maadcPgabepz4be1UKub/ ).

The CAHTEH will forward the draft Convention to the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers at the end of their meeting. It is expected that the Committee of Ministers will then review, debate and adopt the European Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings in March 2005. The Convention will then be opened for signature at the Council of Europe's Third Summit of Heads of State and Government on 16/17 May 2005.

Amnesty International and Anti-Slavery International presented their latest comments on the draft Convention in a document entitled : Council of Europe: Recommendations to strengthen the December 2004 Draft European Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (AI Index: IOR 61/001/2005 http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maadcPgabepz5be1UKub/ ).

To arrange an interview or for further information contact: Amnesty International's Press Officer Lydia Aroyo on +44 (0) 20 7413 5599, +44 (0) 7771 796350, e-mail laroyo@amnesty.org or Legal Adviser Jill Heine on +44 (0) 7932 086 178 or Anti-Slavery International's Press Officer Beth Herzfeld on +44 (0) 20 7501 8934, email b.herzfeld@antislavery.org

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In response to the rising level of migration into Europe, The European Contact Group (EKS) has sponsored a series of meetings for ethnic minority women. These meetings have enabled minority women to voice their opinions on and experience with racism, discrimination and lack of tolerance, difficulty with asylum procedures, employment abuse and other day-to-day problems.

The Women's Human Rights Resources website contains legal information pertinent to women's international human rights standards and regional and national enforcement mechanisms.

An article by Maria Ross, Manager of the Association of Autonomous Austrian Women’s Refugees, examines how women are still at risk for poverty based on gender. She examines how the social inequality of men and women has impacted women and how this trend is in danger of increasing.

Her discussion focuses on how women earn less than men and tend to gain income from informal forms of employment, e.g. short-term employment, temporary work, contracts for services out of the home, etc. Factors such as single motherhood, migration, age, disability, and homelessness also aggravate women's susceptibility to poverty.

Domestic violence is another factor that increases the risk of female poverty. Poverty can cause violence and addictions, which can restrict a woman's decision making ability and explain why women often stay with their abusive partners. Violence and poverty are interrelated.

A major prerequisite for women to escape violence and violent relationships is financial safeguarding and independence.

Compiled from: "Women at Risk of Poverty," Maria Ross, The Network of East-West Women-Polska/NEWW, 14 February 2005 (source cited:  www.wave-network.org).

Amnesty International and Anti-Slavery International are calling on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to strengthen the draft European Convention against Trafficking in Human Beings. They are urging PACE to require states to provide comprehensive protection and support and assistance measures that will allow victims to begin the recovery process. Specifically, Amnesty International and Anti-Slavery International want the December 2004 draft European Convention strengthened so that states are required to guarantee a wide range of services for victims, including necessary medical treatment, shelters, counseling, and physical protection for all victims and members of their families as necessary; access to education and employment; permission to remain in the country during a reflection period of at least three months; prohibition against detention or prosecution of trafficked persons for illegal entry or residence in the country or for activities that are a direct consequence of being a trafficked person; and the establishment of an effective monitoring of the implementation of the Convention, among other recommendations. More than 170 other NGOs from 30 countries have joined Amnesty International and Anti-Slavery International in urging the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers to strengthen the draft European Convention against Trafficking in Human Beings. For more information, visit www.amnesty.org.

Compiled from: The Network of East—West Women—Polska/NEWW, “Better protection of Trafficked Persons, 11 February, 2005

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, trafficking in women has become an increasing problem across Europe. Due to an ever-higher demand for women within sex industries, criminal networks have organized to recruit, buy, sell and enslave women from places such as the Ukraine and other former Soviet states. These women are then used in brothels, massage parlors, bars on stretches of streets as prostitutes, a modern form of enslavement.

Trafficking in women has become an extremely lucrative market for those criminal networks that facilitate the trade. Local communities from which the trafficked women come, have not fared as well. Organized crime networks have grown to such an extent that they now pose treats to the wellbeing of citizens of such communities and to the legal economic, social and political institutions therein.

The legalization of prostitution is sometimes offered up as a possible remedy to the problem of trafficking. However, certain evidence points to the possibility that legalization would simply exacerbate the phenomenon. Instead, legal remedies that address the demand side as well as supply side, such as those found within national legislation in Sweden and at the UN level provide more viable solutions.

Compiled from: "Shadow Market of Trafficking in Women," News from Europe, The Network of East-West Women, Polska/NEWW, www.neww.org, 7 February 2005.

Based on meetings with representatives from the Federal Government and civil society, as well as through testimonies taken from victims of human rights violations, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women Yakin Ertürk has concluded that the Russian Federation had a number of improvements to make with regard to its human rights record.

While Ms. Ertürk commended the Government for ratifying the Optional Protocol to CEDAW, she also pointed to the persistent problems of violence against women in the home, discrimination against women, and in particular, those women in Chechnya who have been subjected to "disappearance," extrajudicial execution, torture, and ill-treatment allegedly by members of the Russian security.

In response to her observations, the Special Rapporteur issued a list of recommendations to the Russian Federation Government, including:

-Prioritize women's rights in judicial and non-judicial mechanisms, policies and programmes;
-Amend legislation in conformity with international standards and enact legislation specifically criminalizing domestic violence and provide shelters for those in need; -Launch gender awareness campaigns and provide training to law enforcement officers and security forces;
-Provide political and financial support to civil society initiatives promoting human rights;
-Ensure that all laws, policies and practices to counter terrorism fully meet fundamental principles of international law and international human rights standards;
-Investigate, prosecute, and punish those responsible for violations of human rights and provide compensation to victims or their families;
-Ensure safe and voluntary return of IDPs;
-Establish a protection programme for human rights defenders, witnesses and victims who are at risk of harm.

Please click here to read the U.N. Press Release documenting these recommendations.

Compiled from: Women's Rights in Russia: UN Official Sees Need for Improvement, www.penelopes.org, February 2005.

Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Vladimir Špidla, today expressed his thanks to the Luxembourg Presidency for organising the Beijing+10 Conference with the support of the Commission.

The Conference reviews the implementation of the goals stated at the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995. The Beijing Platform set out 12 areas for improvement. They are:

• Women and poverty
• Education and training of women
• Women and health
• Violence against women
• Women and armed conflict
• Women and the economy
• Women in power and decision -making
• Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women
• Human rights of women
• Women and the media
• Women and the environment
• The plight of young girls

Women's situation has improved in education, where they now outnumber men in upper secondary education and graduate in greater numbers than men in the EU, their employment rate has increased faster than men's and their higher qualifications led to more women than men entering high level and managerial posts during the 1990s in most EU Member States.

Improvements were achieved through three main factors: an ongoing legislation as established in the Treaty, a political will as stated in the Lisbon, Stockholm and Barcelona objectives and through a continuous and constructive dialogue with civil society, social partners and NGOs.

But much remains to be done. Worldwide, women still represent around 70% of those in poverty. In the EU there is still a 16% gap between men's employment rate and women’s.

And the average gender pay gap in the EU has dropped only by 1% since 2001 to 15%. Women have difficulty to re-enter into the labour market after maternity leave. The possibilities of parental leave for fathers need to become more flexible.

'Men and women need to share professional and private responsibilities. This will be essential if the EU wants to create a modern society that is also competitive globally,' Mr Špidla said.

The EU conference and ministerial meeting will contribute to the Beijing Platform for Action 10th anniversary international meeting at the United Nations, New York in March. The event will be attended by politicians and NGOs from all over the world to assess progress made and call for increased efforts needed towards the global goal of gender equality.

Published in: Commissioner Špidla emphasises that the fight for gender equality must go on, Press Release, European Union Commission, Brussels, 3 February 2005.

A European Commission report has found that European women face a fifteen percent pay gap and a sixteen percent employment rate gap to that of men, despite outnumbering men in higher education. The E.U. Social Affairs Commissioner, Vladimir Spidla, will announce plans for addressing gender inequality in the E.U. Social Agenda for 2006-2010. Expected among the new initiatives is a European Gender Institute, which will be responsible for monitoring the implementation of E.U. laws on gender equality.

Compiled from: “Women in Europe get higher education—but lower pay,” euobserver.com, 4 February, 2005.

4 February 2005

The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) has released a new report entitled, Pathway to Gender Equality, which outlines the importance of Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Beijing Platform for Action in realizing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

According to UNIFEM, the report identifies connecting points between the three processes with regard to monitoring and reporting. Further, it focuses on critical gender equality concerns for each MDG and identifies the specific measures governments have the duty to uphold in these areas. The report also provides useful gender equality resources for practitioners.

Compiled from: Pathway to Gender Equality: CEDAW, Beijing and the MDGs, Women's Human Rights Bulletin, Amnesty International, February 2005.

News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International

AI Index: EUR 70/001/2005                                        

Serbia and Montenegro: Shameful investigation into sex-trafficking case

The government of Montenegro must re-open as a matter of priority a high-profile sex-trafficking case in which Montenegrin politicians, judges, police and civil servants are implicated, Amnesty International said in a letter to the Minister of the Interior of Montenegro. The Moldovan woman in the centre of the case alleges that Montenegrin politicians, judges, police and civil servants had tortured and raped her and other East European women who like her had been trafficked and held as sex-slaves.

"We are concerned that the government-appointed commission to investigate the actions of the police and judicial authorities in the case failed to adequately address the issues, giving rise to suspicions of an attempt to cover-up alleged official complicity in the trafficking of women and girls for forced prostitution in Montenegro," Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International said.

The Moldovan woman, known as S. C., is believed to have been trafficked into Montenegro and forcibly made to work as a prostitute in the period from 1999 to November 2002, when she found shelter in a Women's Safe House in the capital Podgorica. The 28-year-old mother of two, suffered horrendous physical and sexual abuse for over three years resulting in severe injuries including seven broken bones, internal injuries so that she could not sit down without pain, scars from handcuffs, cigarette burns on her genitals, and bruises in her mouth.

A criminal investigation was opened into the case and four people including Deputy State Prosecutor Zoran Piperovic were arrested on suspicion of being involved in trafficking women for the purposes of forced prostitution. In 2003, the case against the four suspects was dropped ostensibly for lack of evidence. Under international pressure, the Montenegrin government allowed for an inspection into the legality of the case. In November 2004, a government-appointed commission completed its investigation in the actions of the police and the judicial authorities in the case. The Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is monitoring the case, expressed its dissatisfaction with the commission's findings.

On its part, Amnesty International is seriously concerned that the Commission:

- portrays S. C. as a criminal rather than as a victim of serious human rights violations;

- makes derogatory references to her character;

- gives rise once again to suspicions of an attempt to cover-up apparent official complicity in the trafficking of women and girls for forced prostitution.

"The Montenegrin authorities are duty bound by domestic and international law to bring the perpetrators to justice and ensure that S. E. is offered the possibility for compensation for damage suffered. However, to Amnesty International's knowledge, nobody has been brought to justice for the trafficking for forced prostitution and torture of S. C., and she has not received any compensation," Irene Khan said.

Amnesty International considers that the Commission has failed to address the issues in an acceptable manner, and urges the Montenegrin authorities to re-open the case. Furthermore, the organization is seeking information as to whether there has been any disciplinary or criminal measures initiated against members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for dereliction of duty in line with the Commissions findings.

View all documents on Serbia and Montenegro at http://amnesty-news.c.topica.com/maac8AoabdPe3be1UKub/

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