Women in Latin America and the Caribbean - Cepal

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The greatest difficulties, however, have arisen with the practical application of this standard.
Unlike other international instruments, the Convention was formulated without any specific enforcement
mechanism. The need for a complaints system was discussed early on, but some countries argued that
discrimination against women did not warrant such a mechanism because it was not considered to be so
serious a violation of human rights at the time.
Thus began a process of discussion which culminated in a new landmark, the Optional Protocol to
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which was adopted in
October 1999 and opened for signature on 10 December 2000. Most countries have opted to ratify the
Optional Protocol. As far back as 1993, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action called upon
States to consider accepting all the available optional communication procedures (paragraph 90). It also
proposed that other methods should be examined, such as a system of indicators to measure progress in
the materialization of the rights set forth in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, and urged the Commission on the Status of Women and the Committee for the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women to quickly examine the possibility of introducing the right of petition
through the preparation of an optional protocol to the Convention.
The Convention provides sufficient resources to build the concepts of discrimination and genuine
equality into the structural fabric of the labour, penal and civil reforms now taking shape in the region and
thus to contribute to the effort to make this new millennium a fairer and more equitable one. The next step
is to work for the proper implementation of these standards, which entails venturing into the domain of
judicial reform. This is one of the greatest challenges for the region: the need to harmonize the framework
of human rights that the existing institutional reforms have developed so amply over the past decade. The
judicial reforms under way in many countries represent an opportunity to address some of the problems
that have arisen in connection with the application of the Convention, such as a lack of familiarity with it
on the part of lawyers, judges and the general public and the failure to disseminate information about
representative cases in which the Convention has been used to serve the cause of justice. Accordingly, the
Convention and the Optional Protocol thereto, as well as other international treaties in force, need to be
integrated into professional training programmes, the instruction provided in law schools and public
information schemes in order to change not only legal standards and institutions but also the culture and
day-to-day practices as well. National mechanisms for the enforcement of rules must therefore be
improved and authorities’ awareness increased in order to build the Convention and the Optional Protocol
into the overall effort to strengthen human rights legislation.
B. THE CONTEXT OF GENDER EQUALITY
The struggle for equality between women and men is played out in a world context that is being shaped
by complex processes, including a very sharp reduction in poverty in some countries, such as China and
India, which contrasts with rising poverty in dozens of others. This is evidence that, in many parts of the
world, the benefits of economic growth are not being fairly distributed. Threats to peace and security
include not just international war and conflict but civil disturbances, organized crime, terrorism and
weapons of mass destruction. They include, too, poverty, deadly infectious diseases and environmental
degradation, since these phenomena can have equally catastrophic consequences. This has led to an effort
to strengthen international institutions in order to address the challenges on the global agenda: migration,
science and technology, natural disasters, development assistance, HIV/AIDS, climate change and
environmental sustainability, trade, national debt, education and health, human rights, democracy and the
rule of law. Progress in all of these areas could be furthered by redoubled efforts to build up synergies