A Digest of Case Law on the Human Rights of Women - Asia Pacific ...

CEDAW Country Ratification Report
India
Ratification
The Government <strong>of</strong> India signed CEDAW on 30 July 1980 and ratified it on 9 July
1993, soon after the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993.
Declarations
The Government modified its obligations in relation to Articles 5(a), 16(1) and 16(2)
<strong>of</strong> the Convention with two declarations. First, in relation to Articles 5(a) and 16(1)
it declared that it would continue to abide by its policy <strong>of</strong> non-interference in the
personal affairs <strong>of</strong> any community without its initiative and consent.
Second, in relation to Article 16(2) the Government declared that although in
principle it fully supports the principle <strong>of</strong> compulsory registration <strong>of</strong> marriages, it
is not practical to enforce it in a vast country like India where there are variety <strong>of</strong>
customs, religions and differing levels <strong>of</strong> literacy.
Reservations
The Government declared that it was not bound by Paragraph 1 <strong>of</strong> Article 29 <strong>of</strong> the
Convention.
Impact
CEDAW’s impact is evident in the legislative changes and the legal challenges being
made in the Indian courts. After signing the Convention but prior to its ratification
the Citizenship Act 1955 was amended in 1986 with the express purpose <strong>of</strong> making
it consistent with the Convention’s provisions on citizenship. As a result <strong>of</strong> the
amendment, all citizens regardless <strong>of</strong> sex, can confer citizenship on their children
and foreign spouses removing the discrimination that had previously existed between
male and female citizens.
In 1997 after the ratification <strong>of</strong> CEDAW, the Supreme Court <strong>of</strong> India applied General
Recommendation 19 to lay down guidelines relating to sexual harassment in the
workplace in the case <strong>of</strong> Vishaka v State <strong>of</strong> Rajasthan 1997 6 Supreme Court <strong>Case</strong>s
241. According to the Court the absence <strong>of</strong> law on this issue, despite the State’s
undertaking to eliminate discrimination, amounted to discrimination against women.
Hence, guidelines on law on sexual harassment in the workplace came into being
through judicial activism, with directions to the legislature to enact a law.
The Indian women’s movement continues to debate and challenge the Government’s
policy <strong>of</strong> non-interference with religious-based family laws and the two declarations
and reservation in relation to the Convention. They argue that religious-based family
laws disadvantage women in different ways and a policy <strong>of</strong> non-interference by the
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