Report - Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights

O<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong>mes arising from <strong>the</strong> Fiji consultation included <strong>the</strong> particular difficulties encountered by
women belonging to particularly vulnerable groups, such as women suffering from disabilities,
indigenous women, and lesbians, as well as <strong>the</strong> recurrent inconsistencies between customary law and
national and international laws and constitutional provisions that guarantee equal rights for women.
The ongoing retrogression in women’s enjoyment <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> right to adequate housing and land was also
addressed, which was complemented by an examination <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> impacts <strong>of</strong> urbanization, armed conflict,
development and globalization. For many women throughout <strong>the</strong> Pacific region, <strong>the</strong> loss or sacrifice
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir rights has become a routine occurrence, <strong>of</strong>ten with no recourse or remedy in sight.
The use <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> concept <strong>of</strong> violence against women, as an inroads to understanding <strong>the</strong> ways in which
women experience violations <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir right to adequate housing, has proved particularly effective in
fur<strong>the</strong>ring our understanding <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> contexts within which women’s rights are violated. Of particular
note is <strong>the</strong> predominant use – <strong>of</strong>ten with impunity - <strong>of</strong> violence against women by State and non-State
actors as a tool <strong>of</strong> patriarchal systems and structures that both prevents women from realizing <strong>the</strong>ir
right to housing, and fur<strong>the</strong>r entrenches <strong>the</strong> pervasive culture <strong>of</strong> silence that, heret<strong>of</strong>ore, has hindered
efforts at a thorough and rigorous treatment <strong>of</strong> women’s housing issues.
During <strong>the</strong> Consultation as, one by one, participants shared <strong>the</strong>ir moving personal testimonies, it became
clear that women in <strong>the</strong> region tend to experience discrimination on multiple levels. Grounding <strong>the</strong>
understanding <strong>of</strong> women’s rights and <strong>the</strong>ir violation in women’s experiences elucidated fur<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong>
need to apply a substantive equality approach to issues <strong>of</strong> gender equality, and an intersectionality
approach to non-discrimination. By implementing such approaches, we become better able to address
both structural and individual inequalities, as well as more closely examine <strong>the</strong> differential
manifestation <strong>of</strong> adequate housing between individuals due to <strong>the</strong> compounded effect <strong>of</strong> converging
sources <strong>of</strong> discrimination.
The many problems highlighted throughout <strong>the</strong> Fiji Consultation led participants to agree upon <strong>the</strong>
need for much greater civil society and UN agency attention on <strong>the</strong>se issues. They also <strong>of</strong>fered several
practical recommendations regarding <strong>the</strong> review <strong>of</strong> existing laws and revision <strong>of</strong> formal and customary
legal practices that deny women equal access to housing, land and inheritance, <strong>the</strong> fostering <strong>of</strong> women’s
participation in decision-making processes relevant to housing and land, <strong>the</strong> creation <strong>of</strong> collaborative
mechanisms to foster interaction with <strong>the</strong> United Nations, and <strong>the</strong> encouragement <strong>of</strong> fur<strong>the</strong>r cooperation
between women’s interest groups and housing organizations.
It becomes clear, <strong>the</strong>refore, that <strong>the</strong> experiences <strong>of</strong> women shared during <strong>the</strong> consultations can contribute
significantly to both streng<strong>the</strong>ning standard setting at <strong>the</strong> national and international level, as well as
informing processes <strong>of</strong> policy formation. Throughout <strong>the</strong> ongoing consultations, women demonstrated
tremendous personal strength and tenacity through continual efforts to reassert <strong>the</strong>ir agency. This is
reflected in <strong>the</strong> strategies identified for <strong>the</strong> local, national and international level, in <strong>the</strong> areas <strong>of</strong> legal
strategies, state regulation, economic strategies, social mobilization and awareness raising, research,
and direct action.
These regional consultations, begun in 2003, have inaugurated a process that since has extended to
o<strong>the</strong>r regions <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> world, including Asia, east Africa, <strong>the</strong> Middle East and North Africa, Latin America,
North America, Eastern Europe/Central Asia and <strong>the</strong> western Mediterranean Basin. Of all <strong>the</strong> positive
outcomes that <strong>the</strong>se consultations have engendered, one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> most fruitful has been <strong>the</strong> cross-
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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