V. RECOMMENDATIONS The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights adopts the following recommendations presented by the Special Rapporteur: 1. The Rapporteurship on Women Rights should be transformed into a Working Group on the Rights of Women, coordinated by a Commissioner and comprising experts appointed by the Commission. This is of special importance, inter alia, in order to achieve greater participation of civil society, and given the present composition of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The Working Group will formulate recommendations to the Commission on how the case system and internationally protected rights may be made more accessible to women (i.e. training, materials, and internships). The Working Group will submit to the Commission draft reports on issues with which it has been entrusted by the Commission, acting within the scope of its Convention and Regulation-based attributes. The first report will center on violence against women in the hemisphere and the Inter-American System for Protection of Human Rights. This report will propose inter alia measures to the Commission that will make it possible to protect women more effectively against violence. 2. The Commission will establish a Voluntary Fund on Women's Rights. The exclusive purpose of this fund will be to obtain material resources so that the Commission can perform the functions entrusted to it under the OAS Charter, the American Convention, the American Declaration, and the Convention of Belém do Pará. This includes carrying out or providing support for training on its case system and women's rights, conducting studies, and preparing materials. 3. The Commission within its powers will take steps to stress still further the promotion and protection of women's rights, and to this end will:
1. The States are urged, in accordance with the international obligations they have freely assumed, to take such steps forthwith as are necessary to fulfill their commitment to abolish all laws that discriminate against women, so that by the year 2000 at the latest such inequality will be eliminated and the full capacity of women in all areas of life will be recognized. The Commission proposes that the continent of the Americas commence the twenty-first century "Without Discrimination Against Women", this being understood to mean:
(Article 1 of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women). To this end, the Commission urges the States to undertake a broad review of their legislation in order to identify provisions establishing distinctions, exclusions, or restrictions on the basis of sex, that have the purpose or effect of preventing recognition or exercise of human rights by women, and to amend such laws or abolish them. 2. The OAS member States that have not yet done so should ratify the regional human rights instruments, and in particular, the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence Against Women as a demonstration of their commitment to observing and protecting the human rights of women who are the victims of violence.50 1. The States need to fulfill Articles 1, 3, and 24 of the American Convention, and Articles 2 and 17 of the American Declaration, which establish the right to equality before the law and recognition of juridical personality and civil rights of women. This includes recognizing equal rights for women in and outside of marriage, their right to dispose of their own assets and equality in parental authority. Furthermore, in accordance with Articles 20 and 24 of the American Declaration and Article 23 of the American Convention, the Commission urges the States to continue and expand measures to encourage participation by women in decision-making in the public sphere, including positive measures. As well, the Commission urges that they assure that women have appropriate representation at all levels of government, at the local, provincial, state and national levels; develop strategies to increase the integration of women in political parties; and take further steps to fully incorporate the sectors of civil society, including those that represent the interests of women, in the process of developing and implementing policies and programs. 2. The States must eliminate the serious restrictions placed on women as a result of the conferral of conjugal representation or head of household status on the husband, and the limitation of the role of women to the domestic sphere. These restrictions include: the authority of the husband to prevent his wife from exercising a profession or trade, or operating a business, when that is considered to be harmful to the interests and care of the children and other domestic obligations; the designation of the husband as administrator of conjugal assets; and the conferral of parental authority upon the husband/father. Moreover, the duty to recognize children born outside of marriage must be binding for a man as well as for a woman. 3. The Commission urges the States, in accordance with Articles 1 and 11 of the American Declaration, Articles 4 and 5 of the American Convention, and Article 7 of the Convention of Belém do Pará, to adopt suitable legislation on violence against women, ensuring that violence, intrafamilial or domestic violence, or that is either caused or tolerated by agents of the State, is duly investigated, tried before a court, and punished. The response capacity of the public and private sectors in training law enforcement and judicial personnel needs to be strengthened in order to provide proper treatment for the causes and effects of violence. Lastly, the States need to fully implement the programs and laws on domestic violence that already exist, which for lack of sufficient resources frequently have yet to be initiated or are only partially implemented. 4. Recognizing the right to health of women, the States need to adopt measures to keep proper statistical data and to have the necessary resources in order to ensure plans and programs that allow women to fully exercise this important right. Recognizing the growing participation by women in the labor market and in national economies, and that disparities in the remuneration levels of men and women for the same work persist, the Commission urges the States to take such additional steps as are necessary to correct the disparities in income between men and women possessing equal qualifications and performing the same tasks; to ensure equal employment opportunities for women and men; to review legislation and judicial resources to ensure that the reproductive functions of women are not transformed into a cause for discrimination in the hiring, placement, promotion, or firing of women; and to prevent, punish, and eradicate sexual harassment in the work place. 5. The Commission urges the States to amend criminal codes that declare rapists who marry their victims free of any responsibility or penalty; to ensure that women who are detained are treated with respect for their dignity, that their cases are processed swiftly before a judicial authority and subject to judicial supervision, that they have quick access to legal assistance and medical care, and that inspections of women detained are conducted with the proper guarantees and care; that sexual crimes classified until now as crimes against decency and good morals be classified as crimes against personal integrity, liberty and privacy. It is further recommended that conduct not covered in certain criminal codes, such as incest, be defined as a crime; that the definition of rape be broadened to include situations not traditionally considered as such, that because of new modalities are by their nature a violation of personal integrity and the freedom and privacy of women; and that any mention of the concept of decency, honor, and related notions, be eliminated as extenuating circumstances. The Commission urges the States to ensure that those women most vulnerable, women campesinos, young girls, and indigenous women have due access to the mechanisms afforded by the legal system. The Commission endorses General Recommendation 19 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) adopted in 1992 through which it is affirmed that violence against women constitutes a violation of human rights, stressing that the States may be liable for private acts if they fail to act with due diligence to prevent violations of rights, or to investigate and punish acts of violence, or fail to provide measures of reparation or compensation (E/CN.4/1996/53, 5 February 1996, Commission on Human Rights, p.10, paragraph 34). In keeping with the criterion set out by the CEDAW, the Commission recommends that the States revise and amend domestic legislation for the purpose of reflecting the progress achieved in international law with respect to the rights of women, punishing conduct that has not yet been defined as a crime such as sexual harassment, amending procedures in the investigation stage that are discriminatory and/or prejudicial because the victim is a woman engaging in "immoral conduct" and to investigate and punish cases of domestic violence with due diligence through prompt and simple judicial remedies.
50. At the writing of this report, Antigua and Barbuda, Canada, Cuba, Grenada, Jamaica, Mexico, Suriname, and the United States had not yet ratified that Convention. [ Table of Contents | Previous | Next ] |
