消除对妇女歧视委员会与民间社会利益攸关方开展会议（部分翻译）

消除对妇女歧视委员会 

2014年7月7日

下午

消除对妇女歧视委员会今天下午与非政府组织和一个国家人权机构的代表举行了会谈，听取了关于格鲁吉亚、立陶宛和斯威士兰妇女状况的信息，这些国家的报告将由委员会在本周与中非共和国的报告一道接受审议。

格鲁吉亚非政府组织代表提请注意贫困对女性的重大影响、针对性别的选择性流产和被视为社会弃儿的吸毒妇女的状况。无效的性别机制和缺少国家资源导致了对妇女权利的保护不足。

落实实际的性别平等措施，包括资助性别机制，是立陶宛的当务之急。目前遗留的重要问题包括：缺少区分性别的政策和临时特别措施，高水平的暴力侵害妇女行为，特别是性暴力。

斯威士兰非政府组织的发言人描述了该国妇女面对的问题，包括缺少在国家立法中融入《公约》的政治意愿，日益严重的暴力侵害妇女问题，以及有害传统做法，例如守丧和缺少继承权。

格鲁吉亚副公设辩护人巴塔·贝尔塔泽（Paata Beltadze）表示，有效落实家庭暴力受害者的保护措施依然问题重重，并对越来越多杀戮女性、早婚和绑架女童的事件表示担忧。性别平等方面的关键挑战在于妇女政治参与度低，议会中只有21%的女性。

在讨论期间发言的有来自沙帕里联合会（Union Sapari）、赫拉二十一协会（Association Hera XXI）、格鲁吉亚减灾网络（Georgian Harm Reduction Network）、妇女信息中心（Women’s Information Centre）、社会创新基金（Social Innovation Fund）、平等进步中心（Centre for Equality Advancement）、斯威士兰青年妇女网络（Swaziland Young Women’s Network）和性别联合会（Gender Consortium）的代表

没有非政府组织到场谈论中非共和国的状况。

委员会将在7月8日（周二）上午10点继续公开会议，届时将开始审议格鲁吉亚第四和第五次合并定期报告（CEDAW/C/GEO/4-5）。

Statements by Non-Governmental Organizations

Georgia

A speaker for Union Sapari drew attention to the feminization of poverty and said that, irrespective of the legal norms, no sanctions were imposed for sexual harassment.  Referring to the situation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons, the speaker said that the State was unwilling to implement non-discrimination measures.
 
Association Hera XXI spoke about child marriage, access to abortion and the practice of sex selective abortion.
 
Harm Reduction Network highlighted several issues of concern related to drug users and said that women who used drugs were regarded as outcasts and were often pushed away from families and communities, and even their children.  The rate of violence against women who used drugs was extremely high, and 80 per cent of them experienced violence.
 
Women’s Information Centre spoke about the gender machinery and noted that ineffective mechanisms and lack of State resources led to the ineffective protection of the rights of women.  There were no legal provisions guaranteeing the political participation of women and representation in decision-making which was extremely low.
 
Lithuania
 
A speaker from Social Innovation Fund expressed concern about the implementation of de facto gender equality, including the financing of gender machinery.  The capacity of the unit set up by the Government to implement gender equality programmes was inadequate.  Further, there was a huge gap between the demand and offer for child care services, which were often provided by women in need of money, and the sector was largely unregulated.
 
Important concerns remained about the lack of gendered policies and temporary special measures, as well as high levels of violence against women, especially sexual violence, said the Centre for Equality Advancement.  The new law on protection from domestic violence was gender-blind, lacked an effective mechanism to enforce protection orders, and excessively relied on reconciliation measures.
 
Swaziland
 
A representative of Swaziland Young Women’s Network said that there was no political will to domesticate the Convention in the national legislation, while the Government had taken no steps to address the growing problem of violence against women.  Harmful traditional practices, such as mourning and lack of the right to inherit, were still observed.
 
Gender Consortium said that political representation and the participation of women were affected by traditional values and by the low income status of women who could not afford to run for seats. 
 
Questions by Committee Members

An Expert asked whether the National Human Rights Commission of Swaziland was operational, what the delays were in passing the law against violence against women, and about the procedure to obtain royal assent.  Did the new security legislation restrict the operation of women’s NGOs?
 
Another Expert asked about child abuse, particularly against girls, in Lithuania and Georgia and the portrayal of women in the Lithuanian media.

Response by non-governmental organizations

Representatives of non-governmental organizations from Georgia said that the child abuse problem was related to the problems of street children, corporal punishment and the abduction of children for early marriages.
 
Children who were witnesses of violence in the family were considered victims in Lithuania.  Trafficking of children was another problem.
 
In terms of amended legislation on gender equality in Swaziland, women were not satisfied because it still lacked in establishing gender equality as it was not linked to the administration of estates, and because the Government failed to ensure the right of women to access land which was practically free.  The National Human Rights Commission had been in place since 2009, but it did not have clear terms of reference, and it was poorly resourced both financially and in terms of personnel.  The Sexual Offences Bill was not yet in force because of the lack of the commitment of the Government to address many of the traditional practices such as polygamy, age of consent and others.  The bill had not been prioritized because the Parliament was male-dominated.
 
Dialogue with National Human Rights Institution of Georgia
 
PAATA BELTADZE, Deputy Public Defender of Georgia, welcomed the adoption in May 2014 of the law on the elimination of all forms of discrimination and the signing of the Istanbul Convention.  Domestic violence had been criminalized in 2012, and interagency coordination and effective implementation of protective measures for victims of domestic violence remained problematic.  The growing number of cases of femicide was alarming, and 21 cases had been registered in 2013, mainly committed by husbands and partners; the Ministry of Interior must establish urgent strategies to address this issue and provide protection.  A key challenge for gender equality was the low level of political participation of women, only 21 per cent in Parliament.  Lack of attention and action by authorities to address the practice of early marriages and abduction of girls for purposes of marriages, particularly in the Azerbaijani ethnic communities, and exchange of young girls for money or cattle, was alarming.
 
An Expert asked whether resources were provided to the Office of the Public Defender to serve as an equality body as per the new act on the elimination of discrimination.  Answering, Mr. Beltadze confirmed the new role for the Office and said that new resources had not yet been received.
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For use of the information media; not an official record