manual: women workers' rights and gender equality - International ...

issue but consensus on this agreement is growing worldwide, in an increasing number of
countries, irrespective of their level of development.
However application of basic human rights, laid down at the international level and in national laws
and rules is often problematic as rights can only be enforced when there is a remedy i.e. a law,
legal rule or procedure and a working judicial system (courts and application machinery). This is a
problem in many countries. One of the more recent new mechanisms to provide vulnerable groups
with a means to protect their basic human rights is the set up of National Human Rights
Commissions in many countries.
1.2 Women’s Human Rights
The United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW) is another significant instrument. This Convention was adopted by the General
Assembly in 1979 to reinforce the provisions of existing international instruments designed to
combat the continuing discrimination against women. It identifies many specific areas where there
has been significant and substantial discrimination against women, for example in regard to
political rights, marriage and the family, and employment. In these and other areas the Convention
spells out specific goals and measures that need to be taken to facilitate the creation of a global
society in which women enjoy full equality with men and thus full realization of their guaranteed
human rights 22 .
Women’s human rights, laid down in international human rights are often violated because cultural
and social norms imply that they are second class citizens. Therefore there is sometimes a
reluctance (i) to grant women and men equal rights in all spheres of life and/or (ii) to apply existing
laws. Examples of the first category are countries where the national laws do not provide for
protecting women from rape, or where women are not entitled by law to own property or land. This
type of direct discrimination against women by law is becoming less common, but some forms of
discrimination still exist, for example rape within marriage is not recognized within the national law
in Thailand. In Cambodia, the Domestic Violence Law drafted by civil society organizations and the
Ministry of Women and Veteran’s Affairs (MOWVA) was already approved by the Royal
Government of Cambodia in June 2002 and has been sent to the National Assembly. However in
the draft, rape within the marriage is not recognized as a crime.
The second problem that existing laws are not applied is still very common in all countries
worldwide. For example: laws in most countries forbid rape by outsiders and indicate women have
rights to property, but these laws are not enforced in practice. For instance Women’s Rights to
property in Cambodia are fully protected by the national laws: Article 44 of the Constitution stated
that “All persons, individually or collectively, shall have the right to ownership”, Article 32 of the
Family Law (1989) stated that “A husband and wife have equal right to use, obtain interests and
manage the joint property” and article 70 of the same law indicate that “If there is no agreement,
each spouse takes only his/ her own property which he or she had prior to marriage and any
property which he or she has received by inheritance, gift or devise, during the existence of the
marriage. In addition to these, each spouse is entitled to receive one-half of the joint property” and
Article 5 of the Land Law (2001) stated that “No person may be deprived of his ownership, unless it
is in the public interest”, however in real situation most women still suffer from the property issues.
The reasons are: There are (1) Little protection by the law; (2) Weak enforcement of the law; (3)
Traditional custom (Problem of heritage succession): most people do not have custom to having
land titles.
It is, therefore, very useful to educate women on the laws and rules in their country, as well as on
women’s rights as defined in the international human rights standards, so that women:
22 http://www.unhcr.ch
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