DHARAMSHALA, December 12: The Tibetan Women’s Association has appealed the UN team leaving for China today to investigate China’s “progress” in achieving gender equality and the protection and promotion of women’s rights. The UN team represents the ‘United Nations Working Group on Discrimination against Women in Law and in Practice’.
The Tibetan Women’s Association with 16000 members worldwide has urged Frances Raday, head of the UN team, to remember promise to “assess the legislative reforms and policies that have been implemented by the Government of China to promote women’s rights and gender equality.”
The Tibetan women’s group also asked the UN team to pay special attention to the status of Tibetan women inside Tibet in addition to the UN team’s area of focus – ‘women’s economic and social life, achievements and good practices to eliminate discrimination against women and also obstacles to their empowerment.’
The TWA on Dec. 10 launched its report, ‘The Status of Tibetan Women inside Tibet Mirrors China’s Critical Disengagement with its International and National Commitments-2013’, documenting the status of Tibetan women in the fields of Education, Employment, Healthcare, Family-Planning Policy, Justice, Torture, Religious Freedom, Political Freedom and Employment etc.
With 15 recommendations for the Chinese Government and the United Nations to follow, the TWA called for international intervention to address the status of women in Tibet while sensing the need for adequate reforms to improve the living standards of women in Tibet.
TWA said it will closely follow the delegation’s preliminary findings which will be made public on December 19 in Beijing. The UN team will present its detailed report to the 26th session of the UN Human Rights Council in June 2014.
