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UNIFEM Rallies Jamaican Women on CEDAW Optional Protocol  

By Dawn Marie Roper , Freelance Writer

Kingston, July 19, 2006 (Panos) - Life for at least one disadvantaged Jamaican woman has already been changed for the better, after she learned about the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW.)

Donna Drummond, a resident of Trench Town was one of 30 women who recently participated in a series of workshops on CEDAW. Thanks to her newfound knowledge she and her five children will soon move into their own three-bedroom home, after years of living in a “captured” house in Trench Town .

Miss Drummond was invited to share her experience at a public forum on the Optional Protocol to CEDAW, held at the Courtleigh Hotel in Kingston recently (June 28).

“Now I understand when article 14 (of CEDAW) speaks about women’s rights for housing,” she said.

Miss Drummond described her life as a former higgler, and her struggles to improve conditions for herself and her children. She said she could not save money in a bank because she was unable to furnish proper proof of address. She was hopeful when she heard that CEDAW required governments to ensure that women have access to adequate housing. From the CEDAW workshops she also learned that the National Housing Trust could help her despite having no proper documents. She immediately went to find out for herself and that was how she turned her situation around.

“I am willing to go out there and get women with six, seven children who need to live somewhere to get them to go to the NHT, get the facts and put in their applications,” she said.

But Miss Drummond’s right to housing is one matter. What of other Jamaican women who live with discrimination simply because they are women? The Optional Protocol to CEDAW was created to consider the needs of such women, provided they have exhausted all the legal recourses in their country.

The Optional Protocol to CEDAW came into force six years ago. Recognising the need for constant vigilance and pressure to force governments to implement the rights set out in CEDAW, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women adopted the Optional Protocol on December 22, 2000 . Since its adoption 79 countries have signed or acceded to the Optional Protocol.

The public forum at the end of June, was organized by the United Nations Develo pme nt Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Bureau of Women’s Affairs and Freidrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), as part of a Caribbean advocacy tour to encourage governments to ratify the Optional Protocol on CEDAW. The touring party comprises Justice Desiree Bernard, Judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice and native of Guyana ; and Professor Joycelin Massiah, native of Barbados and independent consultant in gender and Caribbean develo pme nt. Dr. Glenda Simms, independent gender consultant and CEDAW Committee member joined Justice Bernard and Professor Massiah in addressing the forum.

“We would like the Jamaican government to ratify the optional protocol,” Dr. Simms said. She added that although Jamaica has ratified CEDAW and already had the legislative framework to ensure women’s rights, atrocities against women still continue. She highlighted some of the problems of disabled Jamaican women, particularly deaf women, whom she says suffer from frequent rapes. Their disabilities make them easy targets and poor witnesses. The Optional Protocol on CEDAW would allow persons who are not getting redress in Jamaica to appeal outside of the island for justice.

“There comes a time when an individual must have an alternative to the state apparatus to find justice. That is what the Optional Protocol will do,” Dr. Simms said.

But it is not only poor, disadvantaged or disabled women who need the Optional Protocol. The panelists spoke of the need for Jamaica to sign to the Optional Protocol citing it’s relevance to all women.

“Let me assure you that many of the women who are supposed to be successful women are also experiencing the worst kind of discrimination” said Professor Massiah. “This country has witnessed the improvement of women in a variety of areas. But in many instances that improvement is to be found only in certain sectors of the society. Don’t let the figures fool you. By and large the masses of women are still experiencing severe discrimination.”

A section of the audience supported this claim, citing the frequent incidence of wife battering in “high society.”

The panelists invited Jamaican women’s rights groups and NGOs to advocate strongly for the government to ratify the optional protocol. Dr. Simms called for Jamaican women to unite in this cause.

“Many of us are perhaps quite satisfied with our situation. We are probably protected. We are probably not confronted with the atrocities that many of our women in Jamaica face, but we have a responsibility,” she said.

Dr. Simms pointed out that Jamaica did not indicate any official objection to ratifying the Protocol, but neither was the country in a hurry. She said nothing would happen if Jamaican women were not more vocal about it.

Ms. Roberta Clark, Regional Representative to UNIFEM explained that some governments do feel threatened by the Optional Protocol to CEDAW. She said that many governments do not want individuals to take them to any international arena and embarrass them.

But hopes are high for Jamaica . The members of the Optional Protocol advocacy tour have so far met with Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, the Jamaican Bar Association, and officials from the Attorney General and Solicitor General offices to raise awareness.

According to the Professor Massiah, Jamaica is off to a powerful beginning as Prime Minister Simpson Miller has already indicated her willingness to ratify the Protocol.

The tour goes to Guyana next.