Promoting Women’s Rights

Women make up slightly more than half of the human population, yet “women’s
issues” are often defined narrowly. The OAS Inter-American Commission of Women (known by its Spanish acronym, CIM) is working to change that. The Commission developed a comprehensive program that seeks to incorporate the issue of gender equality into all programs and policies that affect people’s lives, whether these have to do with economic development, legal rights, education, health care or political decision-making.  

The Inter-American Program on the Promotion of Women’s Human Rights and Gender Equity and Equality was endorsed in April 2001 by the hemisphere’s presidents and prime ministers at the Third Summit of the Americas. The program calls on governments to strengthen national institutions responsible for women’s development, adopt public policies aimed at promoting fairness, bring national legal institutions in line with international conventions, and improve women’s access to justice, among other steps. The OAS and other multilateral organizations, for their part, are asked to incorporate a gender perspective throughout the inter-American system, ensure greater participation of women in decision-making, and strengthen the Inter-American Commission of Women. The program also urges civil society organizations to work closely on women’s rights issues with government agencies, conduct research on the status of women, and examine ways to promote the rights of girls and women in schools.  

The Inter-American Program was developed by the CIM and fine-tuned in April 2000, at the first-ever ministerial-level meeting of ministers and other top government officials who formulate policies on the advancement of women. The OAS General Assembly adopted the Inter-American Program in June 2000 in Windsor, Canada. 

At the April 2001 Summit of the Americas, held in Quebec City, Canada, the hemisphere’s leaders expressed their commitment to promoting gender equality. They agreed to “integrate a gender perspective” at the national and international level, “to ensure that women’s experiences and gender equality are an integral dimension of the design, implementation and evaluation of government and inter-American policies and programs in all spheres.” The Quebec City Plan of Action calls for “an appropriate level of resources” to be allocated to the CIM so it can “carry out its role as the principal hemispheric policy-generating forum for the advancement of the human rights of women and particularly of gender equality.”

Other CIM Priorities 

Since the Inter-American Commission of Women was created in 1928, it has advanced a range of issues important to women and men throughout the Americas. One of its key achievements has been the development of the Inter-American Convention to Prevent, Sanction and Eradicate Violence against Women. The landmark treaty, adopted in 1994 by the OAS General Assembly in Belem do Para, Brazil, has been ratified by 30 OAS member states to date. 

In the year 2000, the CIM conducted a follow-up study of the Convention of Belem do Para, in cooperation with the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy, based in Vancouver, Canada, and the United Nations Latin American Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, in San Jose, Costa Rica. The project received financial assistance from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). 

The study—”Violence in the Americas: A Regional Analysis Including a Review on the Convention of Belem do Para”—concluded that despite a greater understanding of violence against women as a human rights violation, the countries of the Americas have fallen far short of eliminating the problem. “The drive which once existed to bring about meaningful change appears to have been somewhat eroded,” the report says, adding that in many countries ratification of the Convention of Belem do Pará has been seen as a high point in women’s rights, rather than a point of departure. The report underscores the need to find new ways to sustain and enhance efforts to consolidate gains that have been achieved. 

Some positive trends were noted. Many countries, for example, have raised public awareness of the issue of violence against women and many have made progress in criminalizing gender-based violence, in some cases establishing family courts to handle such cases. However, the report identified numerous obstacles to fully implementing the programs and measures called for by the treaty, including a lack of political leadership, funding limitations, persistent discriminatory attitudes and a pervasive culture of violence. 

The CIM and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) have been holding a series of subregional meetings of experts, including government and civil society representatives, to analyze the study and recommend strategies to accelerate compliance with the Convention of Belem do Para’s objectives. The first such meeting was held in Montevideo, Uruguay, in December 2000; subsequent meetings were held in Ecuador in June and Panama in August. The place and date for the Caribbean subregional meeting have yet to be determined.  

Research is also underway on the trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation in the Americas. The CIM and the Inter-American Children’s Institute are working on this issue with the International Human Rights Law Institute at DePaul University College of Law in Chicago. DePaul is conducting a study to determine the extent to which women and children in the region are subject to being sold or traded for commercial sexual exploitation, including pornography, prostitution or “sexual tourism.” 

The study initially focused on eight countries but has since been expanded to 14. Long-term goals are to increase awareness of the commercial sexual exploitation of women and children, bring about effective domestic laws and make recommendations to the countries of the hemisphere on how to end this type of human rights abuse. This study, which began with a grant from the U.S. mission to the OAS, has received grants from USAID, the International Labor Organization and the government of the United Kingdom.

For more information: Carmen Lomellin, CIM Executive Secretary

Tel: (202) 458-6084
Fax: (202) 458-6094

clomellin@oas.org 

Last updated: September 2001