International Women's Day
Published 2nd March 2007, 3:48pm
On March 8th, the HRC joins with human rights groups around the world to recognize and celebrate International Women's Day, as a day when women of different ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political backgrounds can come together to commemorate decades of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development.
As part of this on-going struggle, the HRC would like to take the opportunity offered by International Women’s Day 2007 to once again press for the ratification of the United Nations convention on the elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The HRC believes that this ratification, backed up by any necessary local legislation to ensure that the Cayman Islands is in full compliance with CEDAW, would make a significant impact upon the human rights of women in this jurisdiction.
Looking beyond the Cayman Islands, much progress has been made in recent years. On a worldwide level, women’s access to education and proper health care has increased; their participation in the rapid labour force has grown; and legislation that promises equal opportunities for women and respect for their human rights has been adopted in many countries. The world also has an ever-growing number of women participating in society as policy-makers. However, this day is also a reminder that for the majority of the world's women daily life remains a difficult and sometimes dangerous struggle. Further steps still need to be taken to address the issues and difficulties that women, in particular, face.
This year’s International Women’s Day will focus on the international community's commitment to addressing the devastating impact of armed conflict on women. It is one of the tragic features of modern conflict that women and girls suffer its impact increasingly and disproportionately. They are often neither the initiators nor the prosecutors of conflicts and yet they are specifically targeted; sometimes through rape, sexual slavery and assault; by combatants who routinely flout the international humanitarian standards that guarantee their protection.
While women are frequently the first victims of armed conflict, paradoxically, they are also often the key to the solution. On many occasions, it is women who play a critical role in peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding.
The HRC therefore supports the United Nations in its assertion that -
"We must recognize that peace and social progress require the active participation and equality of women, and to acknowledge the contribution of women to peace and security. Until men and women work together to secure the rights and full potential of women, lasting solutions to the world’s most serious social, economic and political problems are likely to be found."
More information on the International Women's Day can be found at: www.un.org and www.internationalwomensday.com.
To find out more about how International Women's Day is being commemorated in the Cayman Islands, the HRC strongly urges you to support the activities organized by the Women’s Resource Centre which can be found on www.gov.ky/wrc.
More information on the work of the HRC can be obtained by visiting the HRC's website at www.humanrights.ky. If you would like to contact the HRC, please address written correspondence to PO Box 30664, Grand Cayman, KY1-1203 or alternatively, emails can be sent to committee@humanrights.ky.
For further information contact: Human Rights Committee