International Helsinki Federation For Human Rights Report
WOMEN 2000 Report for Slovakia

The SVU Women's Issues Standing Committee invites you to visit the website of the International Helsinki Federation For Human Rights Report WOMEN 2000 -
http://www.ihf-hr.org/appeals/001109b.htm   - and go subsite to the CZECH REPUBLIC, and to SLOVAKIA. Reports for other countries in the Region are also available
on this website.

Examples of sections in these comprehensive Helsinki Federation Reports on Women in Slovakia and the Czech Republic are:
*Gender Equality: Legal and Institutional Framework On Women's Rights
*Women's Social and Economic Rights
-Women and Education
-Women and the Labor Market
-Women in the Family
*Women's Political Rights and Participation in Public Life
*Violence Against Women
-Domestic Violence
-Sexual Abuse
-Women and Sexual Exploitation

An editorial analysis on the Helsinki Women 2000 Report regarding the Stastus of Women's Rights in Central and South-Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States follows:

Are there similarities between women's experiences in Central and South-Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States?

A summary of the synopsis of findings in the report: Women 2000: An Investigation into the Status of Women's Rights in Central and South-Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States.
By Janice Duddy, AWID - Association of Women's Rights in Development - http://www.awid.org

Women 2000: An Investigation into the Status of Women's Rights in Central and South-Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States. International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights: Austria, 2000. http://www.ihf-hr.org/appeals/001109b.htm

This report was the result of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights' (IHF) first project on the rights of women. The IHF felt that because of changing gender policy in the countries of the Central and South Eastern-European region it was time to scrutinize not only the various traditional aspects related to women's rights such as domestic violence, reproductive rights, access to healthcare, and poverty but scrutinize such things as the legal framework and national machinery
> addressing discrimination against women, educational opportunities, women's participation in sectors of society, violence against women, women's exploitation, and the situation of minority groups of women. Twenty-nine countries participated in this project by completing countrysurveys and reports on the human rights of women. This is the first time that all of these countries have been presented together in a way that examines this extensive list of women's rights. This resulted in a broader picture of the realities of each country individually as well as in comparison with one another.

The book makes a comparison between countries possible because "the ways in which all these countries treat more than half of their population, namely their women, make them suitable for a common analysis" (7). It was suggested that at the state level the appropriate gender-equality rhetoric is used but when one examines the actual positions of women in these countries it is shown that very few mechanisms have been set or made functional to ensure the full inclusion and empowerment of women. It is noted in the book that an existence of a well-developed and strong civil society greatly impacts the way in which a country responds to injustice towards women.

The aim of the introductory chapter entitled: "What we Found: A Synopsis" was not to go into great detail on each topic covered in the country reports that follow but it "aims at emphasising several situations and similarities that relate to discrimination against women and at pointing out some good practice that could inspire further action"(7). The chapter goes on to introduce these topics of comparison in a very succinct and beneficial manner. I will outline a few of these similarities here.

It was found that there is no single Constitution in any of the countries surveyed that would not mention that the principle of equality on the basis of gender is of the highest importance and that discrimination based on sex is forbidden. However, there is no clear basis as to what is forbidden because there is no clear definition as to what discrimination involves. "In practical terms this means that each state authority, each judge, each employer and employee should either guess or determine for themselves what discrimination is and how it may be identified" (7). This fluid definition does not allow for the protection of anyone.

It was also found that there was inadequate national machinery, in laws and institutions, to ensure the protection of women's rights. This is illustrated through the delineation of national departments or ministries. The majority of countries have set up their national machinery to address the needs of women and families together - thus politically supporting the idea that a woman's needs are tied to that of her family.

A common experience in the vast majority of countries is a "the lack of accountability of those who discriminate against women and the almost non-existent judicial or other types of remedies for victims"(8). In many countries the very concept of "institutional responsibility" and "civil remedy" for victims of gender-based discrimination does not exist in the legal framework. In many ways this compels women to avoid reporting discrimination limiting their fight to the restoration of a specific rights that were violated.

Another common practice is the discrimination of women in the work force. Although women are protected through many constitutional and legal guarantees there is not a single country where women are not discriminated against when it comes to access to jobs. The practice is that employers will not hire a women likely to become pregnant or with small children. This leads to many discriminatory types of hiring practices that often require the answering of very personal questions. At the same time in many countries there is overprotective legislation that prevents pregnant women or women with small children from participating in certain activities.
This legislation denies women the power to make their own informed choices and continues to put them in unfavourable positions in the workforce.

These are a few of the findings of this ambitious undertaking. The country reports from the twenty-nine participating countries are included in this document. In closing the facilitators of this project stated that "as the results of this project show, the time has come for human rights organisations to share their experience with women and other groups within the NGO community, to bring all energies together in order to identify and implement viable solutions for all of us"(5) and this document is a tool that may allow this collaboration to begin.

~~~

SVU HOME PAGE, FOCUS ON WOMEN