Among the great challenges of international human rights has been the de facto extension of the application of internationally recognised human rights norms to cover women. Despite the fact that the fundamental human rights norms laid down in the UN Charter and the subsequent human rights documents explicitly refer to securing these rights also for women on the basis of equality and
non-discrimina-382. The Vienna Document also refers to the right to seek and enjoy in other countries asy-lum from persecution, to the right to return one’s own country, and to the special needs of women and children. Part I, para. 23.
383. A brief paragraph on the issue was inserted in the 1989 Vienna Document under the head-ing “Questions relathead-ing to security in Europe”, para. 22.
384. See e.g. the 1992 Helsinki Document, Decisions, Chapter VI, paras 30–45, the 1994 Buda-pest Document, Decisions, Chapter VIII, para. 32, and the 1996 Lisbon Document, paras 9 and 10.
385. See e.g. the 1996 Lisbon Document, para. 9.
386. See e.g. the 1999 Charter for European Security, para. 22.
387. See the 1996 Lisbon Document, para. 10, and the 1999 Charter for European Security, para. 22.
388. See the remarks infra in chapter 2.2.1.2.
The OSCE Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality adopted in 2004 raises the need to pay due regard to gender dimensions of international protection. It refers to the UNHCR Guidelines on International Protection on Gender-Related Persecution. See para.
42. See also the remarks on the OSCE Action Plan supra in chapter 2.1.3.2.
389. Refugees and asylum-seekers are discussed in connection with social cohesion. Declaration, para. 7, subpara 4.
390. See art. 22. See also the remarks infra in chapter 2.1.3.2.
tion,391 the actual record shows tremendous gaps in this area. Due to the persistent obstacles to ensuring human rights also for women, states have concluded sepa-rate international human rights instruments to specifically address the situation of women in this regard.
The most important international human rights instruments392 that apply spe-cifically to women have been adopted within the framework of the UN;393 they include the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (the CEDAW), adopted in 1979,394 and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (the Beijing Document), adopted at the fourth World Conference on the Status of Women in 1995.395 In general, these two instruments underline the im-portance of guaranteeing women the exercise and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms on the basis of equality with men.396 They also reflect a shift in focus from the protection of women underscored in earlier international instru-ments towards stressing equality and equal opportunities.397 While both documents underline the importance of the full and equal participation of women with men in various aspect of life, including general decision-making processes,398 the Beijing Document, which has numerous provisions emphasising the importance of women’s
391. In addition to race, sex has been placed on the lists of forbidden grounds of discrimination in essentially all human rights instrument of general application. Equality between men and women and non-discrimination on the basis of sex (or gender) has also been underlined in specific provisions of human rights instruments. See the remarks infra in chapter 2.3.
392. The attention drawn to women in various human rights contexts, including the areas of anti-racist action and combating trafficking in human beings, should also be noted. Equal-ity of the sexes has been addressed e.g. in the norms concerning indigenous peoples. See the remarks supra in chapter 2.1.2. It is of some interest that international minority norms do not explicitly deal with the question.
393. For international standard-setting specifically concerning women, see Reanda (1992), pp.
268–300.
394. For the CEDAW, including its special features, see Pentikäinen (1999), pp. 27–41. See also the remarks on the Convention infra in chapter 2.3.
395. The four UN World Conferences on Women organised so far have been important contexts within which various issues of concern for women, including human rights, have been con-sidered. The Beijing Document is the most substantial of the conference documents.
396. CEDAW, art. 3. The Beijing Document emphasises equal rights and opportunities. See e.g.
the Declaration, paras 15 and 16.
397. The international norms adopted earlier had a strong focus on the protection of women more generally so that they visibly aimed at protecting and maintaining the role of a woman as wife and mother. These kinds of norms have been viewed as problematic from wom-en’s viewpoint in that they allow discriminatory and even damaging practices against them.
Pentikäinen (1999), pp. 21–22. For categorising international norms addressing women as protective, corrective and non-discriminatory, see Hevener (1983), pp. 3–4. For the remarks on these norms, see also Pentikäinen (1999), pp. 21–27.
398. The CEDAW underlines the equal participation and non-discrimination of women in the political and public life of the country, including in the formulation of governmental policy.
See art. 7.
participation, has been called the agenda for women’s empowerment.399 The Beijing Document also associates equality with development, peace, democracy,400 as well as justice.401 Women’s equal participation in decision-making is mentioned as being not only a requirement of simple justice or democracy but also a necessary condition for women’s interests to be taken into account. Democracy is seen as being both strengthened and promoted when decision-making provides a balance reflecting the composition of society.402 Additionally, the Beijing Document calls for sensitive policies and programmes403 and cites multiple barriers to the empower-ment and advanceempower-ment of women and girls due to such factors as their race, age, language, ethnicity, culture, religion, disability, or their indigenous background.404 The Beijing Document also draws some attention to the additional barriers to the enjoyment of the human rights encountered by women of migrant background, in-cluding women migrant workers (inin-cluding domestic workers),405 displaced women and women refugees.406 Additionally, the instrument contains some remarks on re-ligion worthy of note, pointing out, for instance, the significance of and full respect for various religious and ethical values of individuals407 and the inalienability and universality of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.408 All forms of extremism are noted as having a negative impact on women, potentially leading to violence and discrimination.409 The Beijing Document also calls for the prohi-bition and elimination of any harmful aspect of certain traditional, customary or modern practices that violates the rights of women.410
The international norms that apply specifically to women do not, as a rule, deal with issues of identity. The Beijing Document makes an exception to this by men-tioning the identity of indigenous women.411 In general, norms specific to women recognise certain differences between men and women, essentially with respect to
399. Platform for Action, para. 1. For the remarks on the empowerment of women, see also the Declaration, paras 7, 13 and 32.
400. Declaration, paras 10, 13 and 15.
401. Platform for Action, para. 5. Para. 43 mentions the achievement of equality between wom-en and mwom-en as a condition for social justice.
402. Ibid., para. 183.
403. Declaration, paras 19 and 38. For the need to integrate gender perspectives and for promot-ing an active and visible policy of mainstreampromot-ing a gender perspective in all policies and programmes, see also the Platform for Action, paras 157 and 191.
404. Declaration, para. 32. See also the Platform for Action, paras 48 and 226.
405. Platform for Action, paras 156 and 226.
406. Ibid., para. 226.
407. Ibid., para. 9.
408. Ibid., para. 25.
409. Ibid. See also para. 225.
410. Ibid., para. 225.
411. Ibid., para. 34.
women’s role in reproduction.412 Sexual and reproductive rights, which are often of fundamental importance for women in that they concern the possibilities of women to make decisions regarding their own lives, have been among the issues that have triggered the most spirited exchanges of views.413 While women-specific interna-tional instruments openly address the marginalisation, exclusion and even isolation of women,414 they are not particularly forthcoming when it comes to the integration of women. The term “integration” does appear in the texts, however, for instance, when the integration of the gender dimension in policy-making is called for.415
The Vienna Document of the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights, which in-corporates some provisions of a general nature on women, is an exception to the above-mentioned main rule of avoiding express references to integration in connec-tion with women in that it states an explicit link between the issues of full partici-pation and integration of women.416 The Vienna Document also reflects the rocky road towards the enjoyment of human rights faced by women (and girls), since al-most fifty years after laying the foundation for the UN human rights regime there was still a need to declare that the human rights of women and girls are an inalien-able, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights.417 In fact, the same statement was reiterated in 1995 in the Beijing Document.418 The provisions of the Vienna Document addressing the human rights of women also refer to the harmful effects on women of certain traditional or customary practices, cultural prejudices and religious extremism.419
Of the international organisations relevant in Europe, the CoE has adopted no separate human rights instruments specifically addressing the situation of women;
rather, it operates essentially on the basis of the provisions on equality and non-discrimination incorporated into various human rights instruments, including the ECHR and the European Social Charter, stressing that the rights and freedoms set out in those instruments are to be safeguarded without discrimination on the
412. This has been viewed as necessitating the protection of women e.g. during pregnancy. E.g.
the CEDAW contains a note on the protection of women’s health, including the safeguard-ing the function of reproduction. See art. 11(f). It is also stressed that maternity is a social function and both women and men have responsibilities in the upbringing and development of their children. See art. 5(b).
413. This also came to the fore in the Beijing Conference. Despite disputes and controversies over the subject, the Beijing Document incorporated some provisions on it. See the Plat-form for Action, paras 96, 97 and 223.
414. Ibid., para. 33.
415. Ibid., para. 183.
416. Part II, para. 36.
417. Part I, para. 18. See also the remarks on this paragraph supra in chapter 2.1.1.1.2.
418. Platform for Action, paras 2 and 11. The provisions on national and regional particularities incorporated in the Vienna Document are also reflected in the Beijing Document. See ibid., paras 9 and 213.
419. Part II, para. 38.
basis of sex.420 The CoE actions taken with respect to women are also based on the central UN documents, in particular the CEDAW.421 The documents adopted at the CoE summits address to some extent the special concerns of women, including discrimination, violence, and participation.422 Equal participation of both women and men is also linked to both democracy and real equality.423
The OSCE commitments on women underline the non-discriminatory application of human rights and fundamental freedoms with respect to women,424 equal rights and opportunities of men and women, and the equal and effective participation of both men and women in political, economic, social and cultural life. Full and true equality between men and women is linked to a just and democratic society (one based on the rule of law).425 In 2004 the OSCE states adopted an OSCE Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality, which underlines such issues as (full and equal) participation of women and men, equality of rights and equal opportunities, and the importance of gender mainstreaming.426
From children’s viewpoint the Child Convention, adopted within the UN in 1989, is the cornerstone in the area of human rights,427 its aim being to address and elaborate special needs that children have due to their vulnerable situation as minors.428 The
420. The European Social Charter in both of its original and revised forms also refers to the protection of women. See e.g. art. 8.
421. In the Action Plan of the third CoE summit the CoE member states also committed them-selves to enhancing the implementation of the Beijing Document. See Part I, para. 3, sub-para. 3.
422. See the Declaration of the second summit, para. 6, subpara. 5, and para. 8, subpara. 4; and the Declaration of the third summit, para. 9, and the Action Plan of the third summit, Part II, para. 4, and Part III, para. 6, subpara. 1.
423. The CoE member states committed themselves to strengthening their national actions to achieve real equality between women and men e.g. by applying gender mainstreaming in national policies. See the Action Plan of the third summit, Part I, para. 3, subpara. 3. The Action Plan also underscores the importance of the active involvement of both men and women in the context of fostering intercultural and inter-faith dialogue. See Part III, para.
6, subpara. 1. See also the remarks on women supra in chapter 2.1.1.3.3.
424. The OSCE states have also referred to the importance of the implementation of e.g. the CEDAW. See e.g. the 1991 Moscow Document, para. 40.2.
425. See e.g. the 1989 Vienna Document, “Questions relating to Security in Europe”, para. 15, the 1991 Moscow Document, para. 40, and the 1999 Charter for European Security, paras 23 and 24.
426. The Action Plan also refers to the importance of the CEDAW. See para. 42.
427. The Child Convention has also become the most widely ratified human rights convention.
In 2000, two Optional Protocols were added to the framework of the Convention: the Op-tional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, and the OpOp-tional Pro-tocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography.
428. For the purposes of the UN Child Convention, a child means every human being below the age of eighteen unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.
See art. 1. The Convention addresses a number of human rights found also in other human
Convention also takes up issues such as the development of the child’s personality429 and respect for the child’s parents as well as his or her cultural identity, language and values.430 Also noted in the Convention are the importance of the traditions and cultural values of each people for the protection and harmonious development of the child431 and the possibility to establish and manage educational institutions.432 The instrument includes explicit references to children belonging to an ethnic, religious or linguistic minority or who are of indigenous origin by incorporating a provision resembling that laid down in article 27 of the ICCPR.433 Additionally, the Conven-tion states that when soluConven-tions for alternative care for a child are considered, due regard is to be given to the desirability of continuity in a child’s upbringing and to the child’s ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic background.434
rights instruments by adding a child-specific aspect to them. The specific features of the Convention are its provisions on the principle of the best interest of the child, and responsi-bilities, rights and duties of parents (or other persons responsible for the child). See arts 3.1, 5 and 18. The protection of children is addressed in a number of provisions. See e.g. arts 19, 35 and 36. Children seeking refugee status or who are refugees and disabled children are dealt with specifically. See arts 22 and 23.
429. Preambular para. 7, and art. 29.1(a) concerning education.
430. Identity is dealt with in arts 8 and 29. Art. 8 refers e.g. to the states parties’ undertaking to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name and family relations. Respect for the child’s parents, his or her own cultural identity, language and values is mentined in the context of education. According to art. 29.1(c), the education of the child is to be directed to “the development of respect for the child’s parents, his or her own cultural identity, language and values, for the national values of the country in which the child is living, the country from which he or she may originate, and for civilizations dif-ferent from his or her own”.
Art. 29.1(b) refers to the development of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and for the principles enshrined in the UN Charter, and art. 29.1(d) to the prep-aration of the child for responsible life “in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of indigenous origin”.
431. Preambular para. 13.
432. Art. 29.2 refers to the liberty of individuals and bodies to establish and direct educational institutions, but notes that this is subject to the observance of the principle set forth in art.
29.1 (see the remarks supra (n. 430)) and to the requirements that the education given in such institutions shall conform to such minimum standards as may be laid down by the state.
433. Art. 30. This provision is similar to art. 27 of the ICCPR with the exception that the former also includes an explicit reference to a child of indigenous origin. See also the remarks supra in chapter 2.1.1.1.2.
References to minority and indigenous children are made also in the provision on the mass media, which encourages “the mass media to have particular regard to the linguistic needs of the child who belongs to a minority group or who is indigenous”. See art. 17(d).
References to ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of indigenous origin are also made in art. 29.1(d) addressing education. See the remarks supra (n. 430).
434. Art. 20.3.
With regard to integration, the Child Convention includes some express refer-ences to, for example, the social integration of disabled children435 and the social reintegration of child victims of various forms of exploitation or abuse.436 The provi-sions on education call for respecting the identity, language and values of children and teaching the national values of the country in which the child is living. Whilst there are no express remarks on integration in this connection, the latter require-ment may be said to have some bearing on the issue of incorporation in(to) society.
In addition to the Child Convention, the situation of children has been ad-dressed in a number of other international instruments, some of which also raise issues similar to those found in the UN Convention.437 In general, the other in-struments underline the significance of the Child Convention.438 The CoE has also addressed the situation of children in some of its own human rights instruments.439 Both the ILO and the OSCE have conspicuously raised concern over the protec-tion of children from exploitaprotec-tion.440 Where the right to education is concerned, the OSCE commitments also touch upon the question of the cultural identity of children belonging to national minorities or regional cultures.441
435. Art. 23.1 refers to the possibility of a disabled child to enjoy a full and decent life, in condi-tions which ensure dignity, promote self-reliance and facilitate the child’s active participa-tion in the community. Art. 23.3 refers to ensuring that a disabled child has effective access to and receives education, training, health care services, rehabilitation services, preparation for employment and recreation opportunities in a manner conducive to the child’s achiev-ing the fullest possible social integration and individual development, includachiev-ing his or her cultural and spiritual development.
436. Art. 39. Reintegration into society is also mentioned in the provision addressing the special treatment of the child alleged to have, accused of having, or recognised as having infringed the penal law. See art. 40.
436. Art. 39. Reintegration into society is also mentioned in the provision addressing the special treatment of the child alleged to have, accused of having, or recognised as having infringed the penal law. See art. 40.