British Government not backing UK Women for CEDAW Vacancies and UN Super-Agency for Women

British Government not backing UK Women for CEDAW Vacancies and the new UN Super-Agency For Women

Further to the response by Michael Foster to written Questions in the Commons from the MP Jo Swinson (see below at ‘Questions tabled and answered in the House of Commons’ ), the eminent human rights and equal opportunities Queen’s Counsel Lord Lester plans to table the following Questions in the Upper House:

Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are their reasons for having decided not to promote a UK candidate for membership of the UN Agency for Women or the UN Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to ascertain whether there are qualified UK candidates for membership of the UN Agency for Women or the UN Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Some background on Lord Lester below (also see http://www.blackstonechambers.com/people/barristers/lord_lester_of_herne.html )

Questions tabled and answered in the House of Commons

Question by Jo Swinson MP (East Dunbartonshire, Liberal Democrat)
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the Answer of 23 November 2009, Official Report,column 27W, on the United Nations: females, if his Department will prepare a list of UK women nationals to be considered for nomination to senior positions on (a) the Committee on the Elimination of Violence Against Women and (b)the United Nations Agency for Women.

Response from Michael Foster MP (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for International Development; Worcester, Labour)
The UK Government are committed to promoting a good quality field of candidates for the heads and senior leadership of all institutional institutions. In all cases we will promote open, transparent and merit-based processes. In some cases we may wish to promote a UK candidate where they are best qualified for the post. We have no plans to promote a UK candidate for either of these two appointments.

CEDAW

CEDAW is the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. It is described as an international Bill of Rights for women. Consisting of a preamble and 30 articles, it defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination. It was adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly. In CEDAW’s 30 years of existence British Governments have never nominated anyone for the influential CEDAW Committee. Several vacancies occur in 2010.

More information by UN DAW at www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/cedaw.htm

The new United Nations ‘Super-Agency’ For Women

In 2010 four existing United Nations agencies and offices - UNIFEM, INSTRAW, OSAGI, DAW - will be amalgamated to create a new single entity within the Organization to promote the rights and well-being of women worldwide and to work towards gender equality. The Head of this ‘Super-Agency For Women’ will have Under Secretary-General standing and an annual budget mooted at around US$1 billion. S/he will be appointed in the Spring 2010 and will seek nominations for senior posts from UN Member States including the UK. This Agency should become the most powerful entity in the world for the more rapid advance of the rights, opportunities and well-being of the Earth’s 3.5 billion women.

Further info: ‘Finally, a UN agency for women.’ Guardian article by Dod’s UK Political Journalist of The Year 2009 Lesley Abdela:
www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/may/27/un-super-agency-women

UN News Centre release: www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=32066&Cr=women&Cr1=

Biography of Lord Lester QC

Lord Lester QC is recognised by Chambers UK 2009 as a leading silk in administrative and public law and human rights practice areas and has been described as “one of the most knowledgeable and authoritative figures in the field of human rights”.

The Legal 500 2008 describes Lord Lester QC as "one of the leading civil liberties and human rights lawyers in Britain" and ranks him as a leading silk in the following areas: Administrative and public law, employment law and civil liberties/human rights law.

Lord Lester QC was named in The Times Law 100 2009 listing the most influential lawyers in Britain. Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC, a “leading public and constitutional lawyer, is still changing the law and pushing the boundaries of reform”.

Co-founder and former Chairman, The Runnymede Trust
Governor, British Institute of Human Rights
The Judges Award For a lifetime of achievement in the service of human rights, Liberty/JUSTICE Human Rights Awards (2007)

• Special Adviser to Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights for Northern Ireland, 1975-77
• UK legal expert on EEC Commission’s Network Committee on Equal Pay and Sex Discrimination, 1983-93
• Chairman, Institute for Public Policy Research’s Judiciary Working Group on “A British Bill of Rights”, 1990
• Liberty Human Rights Lawyer of the Year Award (1997)
• Hansard Society Commission on “Women at the Top” (Report, 1990)
• Editor-in-Chief, Butterworths’ Human Rights Cases
• Editorial Board, International Journal of Discrimination and the Law
• Chair, National Committee for the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1998
• Member, Advisory Committee, Centre for Public Law, University of Cambridge, 1999-
• Member, Executive Board, Open Society Institute Justice Initiative, 2000-
• Independent Adviser to the Justice Secretary on certain aspects of constitutional reform, 2007-2008

Michael Foster MP Labour, Worcester

· Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for International Development (since 6 Oct 2008)
· Entered Parliament on 1 May 1997 General election
· Majority: 3,144 votes. this majority puts him 524th out of 643 MPs.

[The blogpost above has been posted with due credit to Acronym Institute of Disarmament Diplomacy for sharing this with us]

Women Challenge Security

Written by Talyn Rahman

As part of an annual seminar hosted by Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, this year’s topic was based on our current campaign regarding women versus militarism and nuclear weapons. Speakers included Rebecca Johnson (Acronym Institute), Diane Perrons (LSE Gender Institute), Tamsin Osmond (Climate Rush) and Nicola Pratt (University of Warwick) discussing insecurities and how they impact women. The seminar was then followed by workshops with a close look at WILPF’s core campaigns: and Voice of African Women, Human Security not Military Security,Strengthening Women’s Rights.

To start, Diane Perrons introduced the affect economic insecurity has on women. At least 73% of world’s workers are affected by economic insecurity, be it the interference of climate change, the global economic crisis, food security or physical security. The financial crisis has been spread by highly paid men, and now we are seeing gender biased cuts in government expenditures. The percentage of women working in health and education sector is high, and it is these sectors that are suffering the most from budget cuts. Public sectors are in difficulty due to cutbacks as there are now shortages of staff in hospitals further burdening women to take on more responsibility for less pay.

Nicola Pratt stated that $40-70 billion is being spent towards Trident renewal, money which could have gone towards expanding and improving public services which are led and supported by women. However, a society that fought for 20 years is a society that has become militarised, and as a member of the UN Security Council member, the UK’s military position is about power, placing public services at the bottom of the list. This situation is common for many countries, both developed and developing. In civilian war-torn countries like Afghanistan, women and girls are forced to pull out of work and schools for their own protection, which results in loss of earnings and education. Of course, war and financial crisis affect men too as shown by the increasing unemployment figures but men are overrepresented in regular employment in the labour market which explains why the number of female unemployment is barely mentioned. While the expansion of wealth to women have timidly gone up, income share of labour and workers earnings have fallen, leading to a rise in inequality.

Environment insecurity is also a challenge especially to women living in developing countries. Women engage in subsistent agriculture with 60-80% who grow their own food and collect fire and water. However, Tamsin Omond stressed that climate change should be viewed as a “one Earth way” that affects everyone in spite of gender and race. Just by living in western world, we expel too much carbon, even if one tries to live holistically. Over-consumption is one of the biggest problems in the West indulging in luxuries, as well as the rate of over-population across the world. 50 million unwanted pregnancies occur due to lack of contraceptives, education and the force of war. Educating children and women is key to reducing over-population, giving them the tools to take control, however educating soldiers too may help reduce the rate of rape and violence in war-torn countries, earning respect and common solidarity.

As Rebecca Johnson stated, military-industrial complexes drive human insecurity. Global military expenditure stands at over $1.46 trillion in arrival expenditure. Since the Cold War, the UK has been involved in the Korean War, Vietnam conflict, war in Afghanistan, Persian Gulf War, Iraq War and many others. The UK is ranked 4 on military sending in 2008 with a world share of 4.5%. The UK also has the largest arms producing companies which include Boeing as the number one arms investor with BAE Systems and Cockhead Martin leading second and third. Judging by these statistics, we need to start working on our nuclear policy in the West before moving into other regions to gain solidarity for disarmament and unjustified spending. Sixth of the people do not have enough food to eat as it is a lack of priority. Race and violence against women is a function of war. War itself is a destruction of the environment, and arms production and trade fuel conflict encourages patriarchy.

Female insecurity in economy, environment and militarism is a circle that has common links. Nuclear weapons cannot be abolished without demilitarising, therefore as a first step, we must try to reach a ‘Global Zero’ level and promote alternative policies that support victims of war, conflict and oppression. Challenging religious, political fundamentalism and racism is also a step towards challenging patriarchy and securing security for women all over the world.