Annex A. International and regional standards on women’s rights
Child marriage is recognised in international legal instruments as a serious violation of a child’s human rights:
The Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages (1962) establishes that all States Parties should take “legislative action to specify a minimum age of marriage” (Arts. 1, 2 and 3) (United Nations, 1962[1]).
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) (1979) states that “the betrothal and the marriage of a child shall have no legal effect” (Art. 16 (2)) (United Nations, 1979[2]).
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) precludes States Parties from permitting or giving validity to a marriage between persons who have not attained the age of majority (United Nations, 1989[3]).
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development aims to “eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage” under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 5.3 (United Nations, 2016[4]).
The Montevideo Strategy for Implementation of the Regional Gender Agenda within the Sustainable Development Framework by 2030 reaffirms the right to a life free of all forms of violence, including forced marriage and cohabitation imposed on girls and adolescents (ECLAC, 2017[5]).
The right to gender equality in the family sphere is enshrined in international treaties and benefits from a wide international consensus, including the following:
The CEDAW (1979) affirms women’s and men’s equal rights and responsibilities as parents (Art. 16 (c)) and acknowledges that women have the same rights and responsibilities as men concerning guardianship, wardship and trusteeship of children (Art. 16 (g)) (United Nations, 1979[2]).
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) promotes men and women sharing equal responsibility for the family and considers equality’s critical role in their well-being and that of their families (Art. 15) (Fourth World Conference on Women, 1995[6]).
Target 5.4 of the SDGs (2015) advocates “the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family” and highlights the need to “recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work” (United Nations, 2016[4]).
The Montevideo Strategy for Implementation of the Regional Gender Agenda within the Sustainable Development Framework by 2030 recognises the economic, social and cultural rights with respect to unpaid care work performed by the female head of household (ECLAC, 2017[5]).
Although women’s entitlement to equality on and after divorce is not considered a human right, it has been acknowledged by the CEDAW:
The CEDAW (1979) calls on States Parties to eliminate discrimination against women at the inception of and during marriage, and at its dissolution by divorce (Art. 16 (1)) (United Nations, 1979[2]).
The poverty incidence as a result of women’s restricted inheritance rights has been recognised:
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) calls on governments to undertake legislative and administrative reforms to give women and girls full rights to the inheritance of land and other property (para. 60 (f)), and to review national inheritance tax systems to eliminate any existing bias against women (para. 165 (f)) (Fourth World Conference on Women, 1995[6]).
The General recommendation No. 29 on article 16 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution) (2013) establishes the principle of equal treatment of surviving females and males, and prohibits the disinheritance of the surviving spouse (para. 53) (United Nations, 2013[7]).
Target 5.A of the SDGs (2015) calls on all governments to “undertake reforms to give women equal rights to […] inheritance” (United Nations, 2016[4]).
Violence against women is widely recognised as a fundamental rights violation:
The Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women (also known as the Convention of Belém do Pará) (1994) has been ratified by all countries in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), except Cuba. It guarantees every woman “the right to be free from violence in both the public and private spheres” (Art. 3), and outlines States’ obligation to “condemn all forms of violence against women and agree to pursue, by all appropriate means and without delay, policies to prevent, punish and eradicate such violence” (Art. 7) (OAS, 1994[8]).
CEDAW General recommendation No. 19: Violence against women obliges States Parties to “ensure that laws against family violence and abuse, rape, sexual assault and other gender-based violence give adequate protection to all women, and respect their integrity and dignity”, and to provide “appropriate protective and support services” to victims (United Nations, 1992[9]).
The Brasilia Consensus (2010) has called for preventative and punitive measures that further the eradication of all forms of violence against women in the public and private spheres, with special attention to afro-descendant, indigenous, lesbian, transgender and migrant women, and women who live in rural areas (United Nations, 2010[10]).
Female genital mutilation is internationally recognised as a harmful practice and a violation of women’s and girls’ human rights:
The CEDAW, in particular General recommendation No. 14: Female circumcision (1990), calls on States Parties to “take appropriate and effective measures with a view to eradicating the practice of female circumcision” (United Nations, 1990[11]).
States have an obligation to eliminate discriminatory practices leading to the phenomenon of missing women:
The American Convention on Human Rights “Pact of San José, Costa Rica” (1969) entitles “every person” to have the right to life “protected by law and, in general, from the moment of conception” (Art. 4.1) (Organization of American States, 1969[12]).
The CEDAW (1979) (Art. 5) and the Convention of Belém do Pará (Art. 8b) require States Parties to “modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices, customs and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or superiority of either of the sexes” (United Nations, 1979[2]).
Women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights are enshrined in international agreements despite being a controversial issue in the LAC region:
The CEDAW (1979) calls on States Parties to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, “the same rights to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to the information, education and means to enable them to exercise these rights” (Art. 16), and to take all “appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of health care in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, access to health care services, including those related to family planning” (Art. 12) (United Nations, 1979[2]).
The Santo Domingo Consensus (2013) calls for the implementation of measures to guarantee access to quality health services – including sexual and reproductive health services – for women, adolescent girls, young women, indigenous and afro-descendant women, rural women, and women with disabilities (ECLAC, 2013[13]).
Women’s equal access to, use of and control over land is grounded in core international human rights instruments:
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) recognises the right to property for all individuals (Art. 2) (United Nations, 1948[14]).
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1976) guarantees equality between women and men (Art. 3) (United Nations, 1966[15]).
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1976) calls on States Parties “to ensure the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights” (Art. 3) (United Nations, 1966[15]).
The CEDAW (1979) acknowledges that “States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in rural areas in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, that they participate in and benefit from rural development” (Art. 14.2). Furthermore, the CEDAW Committee considers “women’s rights to land, natural resources, as well as fisheries as fundamental human rights” (United Nations, 1979[2]).
The International Labour Organization’s (ILO’s) Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention (1989) (No. 169) states that “the rights of ownership and possession of the peoples concerned over the lands which they traditionally occupy shall be recognised” (Art. 14.1) (ILO, 1989[16]).
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) calls on governments to “ensure women’s equal access to economic resources, including land”, and “to formulate and implement policies and programmes that provide access to and control of land” (para. 58(n)) (Fourth World Conference on Women, 1995[6]).
The Habitat Agenda (1996) commits governments to providing “legal security of tenure and equal access to land to all people, including women and those living in poverty”, and to undertaking “legislative and administrative reforms to give women full and equal access to economic resources, including the right to inheritance and to ownership of land” (para. 40 (b)) (United Nations, 1996[17]).
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognises women’s secure access to land as a key pillar of women’s economic empowerment. The international community has committed to securing, enforcing and monitoring progress on women’s land rights in order to achieve the SDGs by including land-specific SDG indicators (1.4.2 and 5.a.1) (United Nations, 1979[2]).
Numerous international and regional instruments guarantee women’s right to own property and non-land assets:
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) establishes the right of everyone to own property regardless of sex (Arts. 17.1 and 2) (United Nations, 1948[14]).
The CEDAW (1979) explicitly calls on States Parties to take all appropriate measures to ensure “the same rights for both spouses in respect of the ownership, acquisition, management, administration, enjoyment and disposition of property” (Art. 16.1 (h)) (United Nations, 1979[2]).
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) calls on national and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and women’s groups to protect women’s right to full and equal access to economic resources, including the right to inherit land and other property (para. 60) (Fourth World Conference on Women, 1995[6]).
Women’s access to formal financial services is enshrined in a number of international treaties:
The CEDAW (1979) calls on States Parties “to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in other areas of economic and social life in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, the same rights, in particular: the right to bank loans, mortgages and other forms of financial credit” (Art. 13 (b)) (United Nations, 1979[2]).
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) states that governments should “promote and support women’s self-employment and the development of small enterprises, and strengthen women’s access to credit and capital on appropriate terms equal to those of men through the scaling up of institutions dedicated to promoting women’s entrepreneurship, including, as appropriate, non-traditional and mutual credit schemes, as well as innovative linkages with financial institutions” (para. 166 (a)) (Fourth World Conference on Women, 1995[6]).
The CEDAW Committee, in its General recommendation No. 25: Article 4, paragraph 1, of the Convention (temporary special measures) (2004), noted that States Parties should implement special temporary measures where necessary in the areas of credit and loans, as well as legal awareness. Such measures should be directed at women who are subject to multiple forms of discrimination, including rural women (United Nations, 2004[18]).
States have international and regional legal obligations to protect women’s workplace rights:
The CEDAW (1979) calls on States Parties to “take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of employment in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, the same rights, in particular:
The right to work as an inalienable right of all human beings;
The right to the same employment opportunities, including the application of the same criteria for selection in matters of employment;
The right to free choice of profession and employment, the right to promotion, job security and all benefits and conditions of service, and the right to receive vocational training and retraining, including apprenticeships, advanced vocational training and recurrent training;
The right to equal remuneration, including benefits, and to equal treatment in respect of work of equal value, as well as equality of treatment in the evaluation of the quality of work” (United Nations, 1979[2]).
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) underlines the need to take appropriate measures in consideration of women’s reproductive role and functions and “eliminate discriminatory practices by employers […] such as the denial of employment and dismissal due to pregnancy or breastfeeding, or requiring proof of contraceptive use, and take effective measures to ensure that pregnant women, women on maternity leave or women re-entering the labour market after childbearing are not discriminated against” (para. 165 (c)) (Fourth World Conference on Women, 1995[6]).
Core ILO Conventions establish key labour standards that promote effective equality between women and men in employment:
The Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) (ILO, 1951[19])
The Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) (ILO, 1958[20])
The Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981 (No. 156) (ILO, 1981[21])
The Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183) (ILO, 2000[22])
The Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189) (ILO, 2011[23]).
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2015) recognises the importance of “achieving full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, and equal work for work of equal value” in Target 8.5 (United Nations, 2016[24]).
The right to a nationality is mandatory under a number of international and regional agreements:
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) states that “everyone has the right to a nationality” and that “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality” (Art. 15) (United Nations, 1948[14]).
The American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man (1948), which is non-binding, specifies that “every person has the right to the nationality to which he is entitled by law and to change it, if he so wishes, for the nationality of any other country that is willing to grant it to him” (Art. 19) (Organization of American States, 1958[25]).
The American Convention on Human Rights “Pact of San José, Costa Rica” (1969) states that “(a) every person has the right to a nationality; (b) every person has the right to the nationality of the state in whose territory he was born if he does not have the right to any other nationality; (c) no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality or of the right to change it” (Art. 20) (Organization of American States, 1969[12]).
The Convention on the Nationality of Married Women (1957) specifies that “neither the celebration nor the dissolution of a marriage […] shall automatically affect the nationality of the wife” (Art. 1) (United Nations, 1957[26]).
The CEDAW (1979) explicitly calls on States Parties to “grant women equal rights with men to acquire, change or retain their nationality”, as well as to “grant women equal rights with men with respect to the nationality of their children” (Art. 9) (United Nations, 1979[2]).
The Brasilia Consensus, held between 13 and 16 July 2010 in Brasilia, Brazil, involved 33 LAC countries. Among other actions, the Consensus calls on authorities and governments in the LAC region to strengthen women’s citizenship and to enhance their participation in decision-making processes and in the echelons of power (United Nations, 2010[10]).
Resolution 32/7 on the right to a nationality (women’s equal nationality rights in law and in practice) adopted by the Human Rights Council (2016) urges States to “adopt and implement nationality legislation consistent with their obligations under international law, including with respect to the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and girls in nationality-related matters” (para. 3) (Human Rights Council, 2016[27]).
Equal access to publicly elected bodies and balanced representation of men and women in public life have been acknowledged by the international and regional community:
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) states that “everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country” and “to equal access to public service in his country” (Art. 21) (United Nations, 1948[14]).
The Inter-American Convention on the Granting of Political Rights to Women (1948) states that “the High Contracting Parties agree that the right to vote and to be elected to national office shall not be denied or abridged by reasons of sex” (United Nations, n.d.[28]).
The Convention on the Political Rights of Women (1952) establishes that women shall be “entitled to vote in all elections”, “eligible for election to all publicly elected bodies” and “entitled to hold public office and to exercise all public functions” on equal terms with men (Arts. 1, 2 and 3) (United Nations, 1953[29]).
The American Convention on Human Rights “Pact of San José, Costa Rica” (1969) states that “every citizen shall enjoy the following rights and political opportunities: (a) to take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely elected representatives; (b) to vote and be elected in genuine periodic elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and by secret ballot, that guarantees the free expression of the will of the electors; (c) to have access, under general conditions of equality, to public service in his country” (Art. 23) (Organization of American States, 1969[12]).
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has repeatedly stressed that the participation and adequate representation of women at all levels of government is a necessary prerequisite for the strengthening of democracy in the Americas.
The CEDAW (1979) calls on States Parties to “take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the political and public life of the country” (Art. 7). In its General recommendation No. 23: Political and public life (1997), it further encourages “the use of temporary special measures in order to give full effect to articles 7 and 8” (United Nations, 1979[2]).
The Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women (Convention of Belém do Pará) (1994) states in Article 4 that “every woman has (j) the right to equal access to public service in her country and to take part in the conduct of public affairs, including decision-making” (OAS, 1994[8]).
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) lists women in power and decision-making positions among its 12 Strategic Objectives. Specifically, it instructs States to “take measures that encourage political parties to integrate women in elective and non-elective public positions in the same proportion and at the same level as men” (Strategic Objective G.1.b) (Fourth World Conference on Women, 1995[6]).
Resolution 66/130 on women and political participation adopted by the General Assembly (2011) calls on States to “enhance the political participation of women” (para. 3) (United Nations, 2011[30]).
The Declaration on Political Harassment and Violence against Women (2015) was adopted by the Committee of Experts of the Follow-Up Mechanism to the Belém do Pará Convention. It represents the first comprehensive regional instrument on violence against women in politics and calls on political parties, political and social organisations, and trade unions to create their own internal instruments and mechanisms to prevent, punish and eliminate violence against women in politics, and to conduct internal awareness-raising and training activities (Organization of American States, 2015[31]).
The Inter-American Model Law on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women in Political Life (2016) was adopted by the Committee of Experts of the Follow-Up Mechanism to the Belém do Pará Convention. It defines such violence as “any action, conduct or omission carried out directly or through third parties that, based on gender, causes harm or suffering to a woman or to various women, which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women of their political rights” (Art. 3). The purpose of the law is to assist in the process of harmonisation of national legal frameworks with the Convention on this issue (Organization of American States, 2017[32]).
SDG Target 5.5 explicitly calls on States to “ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life” (United Nations, 2016[4]).
Freedom of movement is a universal human right recognised in the following instruments:
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) states that “everyone has the right to freedom of movement” and “to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country” (Art. 13) (United Nations, 1948[14]).
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) reaffirms that everyone shall “have the right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose his residence” and “be free to leave any country” (Art. 12). (United Nations, 1966[15]).
The American Convention on Human Rights “Pact of San José, Costa Rica” (1969), with Article 22 on “Freedom of Movement and Residence”, establishes that “every person lawfully in the territory of a State Party has the right to move about in it, and to reside in it subject to the provisions of the law” (Organization of American States, 1969[12]).
The CEDAW (1979) calls on States Parties to “accord to men and women the same rights with regards to the law relating to the movement of persons and the freedom to choose their residence and domicile” (Art. 15) (United Nations, 1979[2]).
More recently, the necessity to “provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces” (SDG Target 11.7) and to “significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere” (SDG Target 16.1) has been integrated into the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (United Nations, 2016[33]; United Nations, 2016[34]).
The right of access to justice, and equality between men and women in this regard, are guaranteed in the following international instruments:
The CEDAW (1979) calls on States Parties to “accord to women, in civil matters, a legal capacity identical to that of men and the same opportunities to exercise that capacity” (Art. 15). Its General recommendation No. 33 on women’s access to justice (2015) recalls the “obligations of State Parties to ensure that women have access to justice” (United Nations, 1979[2]).
SDG Target 16.3 aims to “promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all” (United Nations, 2016[34]).