UNIFEM

This document explains how the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) can be used to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic from a gender perspective. The authors argue that women are increasingly infected due to discrimination and inequality. In order to protect their health women need to know the rights they have under CEDAW, such as the right to access to prevention information, the right to be free from sexual coercion under threat of violence, and the right to equal access to healthcare. [CEDAW Convention - International, Reproductive Rights - HIV/AIDS]

Noting the pandemic of violence against women and the silence of governments and the general public, this report demands action. It examines achievements and challenges, and assesses past practices in order to identify future strategies. It argues that while there have been moderate successes, "too many governments have made commitments, established legal frameworks and created policies and action plans to end violence, yet have not lived up to these commitments".

This study seeks to show how CEDAW can be used to advance the rights of women migrant workers throughout the migration process. It begins with an introduction to CEDAW and the elements of a gender sensitive, rights-based perspective. The second section looks at the feminization of global labour migration and push and pull factors, emphasizing the need for gender-based analyses and responses. The last section of the study discusses how women migrants can claim human rights through CEDAW and uses examples to demonstrate good practices by governments, NGOs and the CEDAW Committee.

This briefing paper aims to assist advocates advance women migrants' rights, with a special focus on women migrants in the domestic work sector. The paper discusses human rights violations and abuses suffered by migrant women workers and looks at potential remedies via international law.

This edition of the Progress of the World's Women report focuses on the impact of globalization upon women and the economic dimensions of women's rights. The report studies the advancement of women through a number of gender-sensitive indicators such as the ratio of girls enrolled in secondary schools compared to boys, women's share of paid employment in non-agricultural occupations, and the gender composition of national parliamentary seats. The report emphasizes governments' obligation to mainstream gender in their policies, programs and practices.

This report begins by noting that women are receiving insufficient information to protect themselves from the HIV/AIDS virus. There is a review of the obligations of governments under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women to address this deficit in education. The report also considers certain distinct issues facing women in protecting themselves from HIV/AIDS and specifically outlines the consideration of these issues under the Convention and by the Committee.

These documents are presentations made at the ministerial roundtables organized by UNIFEM in April 2003 in New York in preparation for ECOSOC meetings in July 2003 in Geneva. The roundtable talks focused on issues such as: the relationship between the spread of HIV/AIDS and food insecurity, women's work in the food production industry, the impact water privatization on poverty, and how economic policies and poverty reduction frameworks can respond.